Once Aliana’s mom headed out of the door we all sat on the couch, peacefully watching the movie. All of sudden I heard a knock at the door.


“Has five minutes passed?,” I asked Aliana.


“Yeah! A long time ago. You know my mom was going to take a while.’’ Aliana said. I figured it was ok to open the door, but I didn’t.


“Are you going to get the door?,” Aleeyah asked.

“No! If it was Aliana’s mom, I’m pretty sure she would’ve unlocked it. I mean, she has keys right?,” I said feeling worried.

“Yeah she has keys.,” Aliana said.

“Okay then. I’m not going to open the door. Have you guys even noticed that car outside? Ali, that car has been out there since we got here. I haven’t seen anyone come out.,” I said.

“I really think you need to calm down Yazmin.,” Beyonce said. The knock at the door repeated until Aliana got tired of it. She quickly got up from her seat and answered the door.

“Ali!,” I yelled, as a man stood at the door.

“Hello girls.,” the man said wearing a dark blue shirt and pants.
All of us were speechless at the sight of him. None of us knew who this man was. We all screamed and ran to the back door. Aliana tried to run behind us, but the man snatched her up and took her outside. She struggled very hard to get free, but she couldn’t.


“Ali!,” I screamed. I ran out the door after her.
Aleeyah and Beyonce followed and rushed behind me. When I caught up to the man, he was already tossing Aliana in the car. The driver’s door was open. I heard her shouting for help. He locked the door just in time, before she could open it. He put her in the exact same mysterious car from earlier. Aliana tried as hard as she could to get out. I jumped on the man’s back as quick as I could. The man threw me off of him by elbowing me in my nose. He jumped in the car and the twins finally caught up to me, but they were too late. The man drove off with Aliana. Aleeyah and Beyonce helped me up from the ground. The blood from my nose dripped down to my shirt.

“We have to get her back.” Beyonce said. Aleeyah and Beyonce looked up at me as my eyes were fixed on the car driving further and further away from us.

“Who are you? What do you want with me,” Aliana questioned the man. Blindfolded and hands tied behind her back, she struggled to get out.

“ I’m your worst nightmare,” he replied.

“What do you want with me,” she yelled again.

“It’ not what we want with you, it’s what we want with your mom,” the man said.

“What do you want from her,” she asked.

“Revenge,” he said. He then grabbed a small bottle, and shook it up.

“What is tha-,” Aliana tried to say. The man sprayed whatever was in the bottle at her, and she fell unconscious.



Aliana’s house
“How are we going to get her back,” Beyonce asked me.
“I don’t know,” I told her. My nose was aching with pain, and I could feel it starting to swell.
“Nothing will help us find her,” Ashley said.
“The license plate,” I said excited.
“Well…….do you remember what it said,” questioned Isabel.
“Only the first two letters.” I exclaimed. “They were NE.”
“What are we going to do with just that,” Isabel asked.
“I don’t know. We have to figure out something,” I said. Then I heard what sounded like a whole bunch of bells jingling outside. It’s not Christmas, I thought. Everyone’s attention was turned to the door. I watched the lock on the door twist slowly. Aliana’s mom shoved open the door. Lots of bags filled her arms. It looked like she just finished grocery shopping.
“Sorry I took so long girls. You wouldn’t believe how long the lines were. Turns out many other people besides me went candy shopping late,” she complained. She kicked the door closed with her right foot and dumped the bags on the couch. She looked at the TV. The “Hunger Games” was still playing, but it was almost over. Then I saw her attention turn towards me. “Yazmin, are you ok? What happened to your nose? Do you need a washcloth,” She looked around for Aliana, but she was nowhere in sight. “Where’s Aliana? She should’ve got you one,” she said.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Oh, and …….” I paused for a moment. “Aliana, she’s gone.” It hurt me to say so.
“Psh, this has got to be a prank. Aliana! Come out come out where ever you are,”
her mom joked. She walked into the wonderfully decorated kitchen and opened both the refrigerator, and the fridge. An orange Crush soda was in her left hand and in her right was some ice. Then she slammed both doors shut with the side of her body. “Aliana! I’m not kidding. You have guest,” her mom yelled again. She tossed the ice on the kitchen counter and it all shattered into little clear pieces. The soda was carefully placed behind it. It would have been fun to see her shake it. I love the fizz that it makes when you open it. “Aliana,” she screamed again. Her mom ran up the stairs before anyone else could say anything. The little bits of ice melted into tiny puddles of water. We heard her mom shouting from upstairs. She kept on calling her but no one answered. Her mom came stomping her feet down the steps. “Where’s Aliana,” she tried to say in the calmest way possible. I looked down at my cold stiff hands.
“She…… she was taken,” said Isabel. I rose my head up to find Aliana’s mom standing a couple feet away from me.
“No she’s not. She can’t be. You guys are joking. Seriously, where’s Aliana,” she asked. We all just stared at her with serious expressions on our face.
“Were not kidding! She’s gone,” I yelled at her. I didn’t want to cry, but the tears that began filling my eyes made it burn. I closed my eyes to try and take the feeling away. Once I opened them, a tear came gliding down.

“She can’t be gone! How?!? What happened,” her mom worried. I didn’t want to a say a word. Everyone sat still looking down at the floor except for her mom. She snatched the glasses from her face and wiped her tears with her sleeves. You could see her tears on her gray fleece sweater. Once she placed her glasses back on her face I knew she was ready to hear what happened.

. I was going to start, but I felt bad to say anything. All of it was my fault, I thought to myself. Then Beyonce began to tell her what had happened. She began with us watching the movie and went on. Me, I didn’t care about anything else besides getting Ali back. The guy knocking me back ran through my head. The force of his rock solid elbow hitting my face, and the pain, the pain was horrible. I could just imagine me falling down into the damp, muddy grass. It was now part of another horrid memory.
A couple of minutes later when Beyonce finished explaining we stayed there in silence and waited to see what Aliana’s mom was going to say. More tears slid down the side of her face. Watching her in pain made me angry. I then thought about how my mom would react to this if I were taken. I walked into the kitchen thinking to myself “How are we going to get her?” Once I made it to the counter I took the Crush soda, and poured some into cup I found in a cabinet. I left the crushed ice alone. When I entered the living room Aliana’s mom’s tears had cleared from her face. Everyone looked up at me in disbelief.
“You got soda and didn’t even bring us any,” Wendy said. I looked down at my soda, and felt like looking for Aliana just turned into a big joke. All of the girls began to giggle. Suddenly, it was like a stampede coming to trample over me. There was shoving going on by both of my shoulders and little droplets of soda came out of the cup. When they were in the kitchen I looked back down at Aliana’s mom. I took a tiny sip of my soda and once I swallowed it was hard to think of what to say next to her. “Just wing it,” I thought.
“I promise we’re going to get her back. Whoever they are we’re going to find them. I swear I will do-,” I tried to comfort her, but then she cut me off.
“Who’s we?!? I’m not going back! How-,” But I didn’t let her finish.
“What do you mean I’m not going back?!? Who are they,” I furiously yelled. By now all of the girls in the kitchen heard the yelling. They walked over with shocked looks on their faces. “Who are they,” I repeated. Everyone in the kitchen started to walk by Aliana’s mom and me. They took a seat in every empty seat they could find. “Who are they,” I asked a third time. She inhaled, and began to tell us her story.
“I was part of an agency that would find and kill threats for the U.S. There was a rule that outside of the agency agents weren’t allowed to make contact. They couldn’t make contact with each other, family, or friends. It was a very independent lifestyle. Another agent and I fell in love with each other and made contact outside of the agency. The agency never knew, but what we did was wrong. I was one of the top agents and I was sent to go on a mission a couple weeks later. Turned out I was pregnant. I could have gotten killed in this mission and I didn’t want to kill my child, so I refused to go on the mission. Later, they threatened to kill me if I wouldn’t go, but I decided to run away. Before I left one of the leaders caught me. He told me if I go they will come for me again, they will find me. He said I can’t speak of it to anyone. I never thought twelve years later they’d still come after me. Now Aliana is gone, and it’s all my fault,” she exclaimed, and tears began to fill her eyes again.
“What about her dad,” Wendy questioned. I gave her a serious look saying that it wasn’t the right time.
“I don’t know. Gone. I had to leave him. With what the leader told me, I didn’t want to risk his life as well. Aliana had to grow up without a father because of me. I want to be the best mother to her. Now she’s gone too and I know I have to get her back,” she said. I didn’t want to tear up, but it was impossible not to. It was so sad how she had to leave the father. How Aliana had to grow up without one.

Once I got myself back together I looked up at the other girls with tears in their eyes as well. I took a deep breath and swallowed, trying not to cry anymore.
“Do you remember where the facility was,” I asked.
“Yes, God knows what they’re doing to her right now,” she said, and more tears ran down her cheek. I was in pain inside all because she lost her only child.

“We need to go get her,” I exclaimed.

“I have to go get her. These people are dangerous. You could get killed. I’m not going to let that happen,” she told me.

“We can’t all just leave her there. I’m not going to let you go and then you don’t even have any help,” I said.

“It’s to dangerous, I’m not going to be the one to break the news to your parents that your dead,” she said with a little firmness in her voice.

“Well I guess I should start writing my farewell now,” I exclaimed.
“Fine! Anyone else want to join us,” she questioned the other girls. They all began to wipe away their tears on their arms, and sweaters. No one answered her question. They all just stared at me like I was supposed to save them.
“You guys have got to come. We need to help save Aliana. She would do the same for us,” I told them. I felt very courageous, saying that I was actually going to go. I knew they were all scared to die.
“I’ll go,” said Wendy.
“Are you sure,” Aliana’s mom said in a softer voice.
“Yeah,” Wendy replied. Before Aliana’s mom could say anything, Beyonce cut her off.
“I’m coming too,” she said. Soon, everyone was coming.
“Wait, how are we going to defend ourselves? Isn’t there going to be a ton of agents there? If we can’t all get past them, then what are we going to do? They are all older than us, and know how to fight better,” I mentioned.
“Oh, I know how were going to take care of that,” said Aliana’s mom. We all gave her a strange look. “C’mon, I’ll show you where I keep my stash,” she said, and began walking upstairs. We all followed her, having no idea what she was talking about.

Once we got upstairs, she slowly walked towards her closet. It was one of those two door closets, where you have to slide the door open. Then she put her finger on her mouth like she was telling us to be quiet.
“You guys cannot tell anyone about this,” she exclaimed. I felt a little excited inside, just waiting to see what was behind the door. “You see, when I left the agency, I brought a couple of friends out with me,” she turned around with her back towards us, and put both of her hands on the door knobs, and pushed both sides of the door towards the wall. A large collection of clothes stood before us. In my mind I thought about my closet and how I had the same amount of clothes as her. What was so special about that, I though. Then I saw her split the clothes in half, and a secret door was hidden behind it. The metal was so clean, and shiny that I could see my reflection in it. A small panel took place next to the door. She quickly typed a code into the panel and the door rushed open. I thought smoke was going to come out like you would see in the movies, but nothing special happened. It was just a dark room.
She slowly stepped in and flicked a switch that was to her right. A bright light flooded the room and nearly blinded me. When I finally got used to the light, I held my eyes open for as long as I could before my eyes began to burn again.
We all walked into the room, and in the middle was a small island. On top of it was a large gun that was incased in glass. Another panel was by its side. I looked around the room, and there were very large walls that held guns, knives, and other devices that came in all different shapes and sizes.
“How did you get all of this here?,” I questioned.
“This equipment is only made for one person,” she said. All of us dropped our jaws at what we just heard. There were so many things in front of our eyes. I don’t see how she could carry all of it. “I hope you girls know how work a gun,” she exclaimed. Luckily I knew how. My dad had taken me to the shooting range before and it wasn’t that hard to work one.
“I know how,” Ashley said with excitement.
“How do you know how to do that,” she questioned.
“My dad has taken me to the shooting range once or twice,” she said. “They show you how to work one.”
“That’s good that you know how to work one, but remember this isn’t a toy,” she said in a serious tone. “Teach them how to work it,” she demanded. She handed Ashley a hand gun and walked away towards the small devices. I watched her stare at the items on the wall and I could tell she was having a terrible memory. When she was about to turn around, I quickly focused on how to work the gun. It didn’t take that long for us to understand.
Once our little lesson was over, I quickly turned towards the knives. There were so many different kinds. A lot of them looked very familiar. I have seen them on Call of Duty, a shooter game my step-dad plays, before.
“We’re going to be leaving soon. I hope you girls know what you getting yourselves into,” Aliana’s mom said.
“Yeah, I know that all of us may not make it out,” I said. “But I’d rather save someone before saving myself,” I exclaimed. Aliana’s mom just kept blinking her eyes, as if she was going to cry again.
“Here, why don’t you take a couple,” she said. I looked towards the knives, and she turned around to grab a belt. Then she took seven different knives from the wall and placed them in the small pockets of the belt. After that she walked towards the guns and grabbed three of them from there and placed them in the pockets. “Open your sweater,” she told me. She put the belt right above my waist line, and clipped the two sides together by the end of my spine. When the belt was fully secure, we walked by the small devices. She took down some tiny ear pieces and pushed a small button on it. “If you want to contact any of us, just push the small button on the side and speak at the same time. I nodded my head to say that I understood. She turned around again, grabbed some glasses, and placed them on my face. “Whatever you see, we see,” she said. Then she clicked another button on the side to activate the glasses.

Soon after I was done getting ready everyone else jumped in. Once we all finished, Aliana’s mom took us downstairs to get ready to leave. While the girls were walking downstairs I went into Aliana’s room. There was large mirror by the edge of her bed. I looked into the mirror and even with all of the hidden equipment I still looked normal. I looked like an innocent little girl.
“Come on,” said a voice from behind. It was Aliana’s mom. “I know you miss her,” she said. I began walking out of the room without saying a word.
When I got downstairs everyone was ready to go. Aliana’s mom caught up to me quickly and told us to head to the garage. All of the other girls and I waited by the car for the doors to unlock.
“I hope you girls know that we’re not taking the van,” Aliana’s mom exclaimed.
“Why not,” Aleeyah questioned.
“We’d get caught instantly,” she said.
“Well than what are we going to use. You said you ran away not drove away,” Beyonce retorted. Aliana’s mom just walked by the light switch, and twisted it around. All of a sudden the car turned over, and an all-black Camaro was revealed under it.
“These are the kinds of cars that they drive. No one knew how to find us because our cars looked like something a regular person would drive,” she exclaimed.
“We all looked pretty convinced that they were hard to find. My face just lit up. I’ve always wanted to ride around in a Camaro. It was my brothers dream car as well. He always wanted it to look like Bumblebee from Transformers. I was the first one to run to the car without even thinking about it. Aliana’s mom unlocked the doors and I jumped in the backseat. The twins, Ashley, and Isabel jumped in the back with me. We were all squished to death in that backseat. Wendy got lucky because she got to sit in the front. I should’ve just run up there first. I was mad at her for about five minutes of the car ride.

It got dark very quick and it was a long ride. Two hours had already past and the trip began to look more and more familiar. This was the rode that my mom took when we were going to the beach. It had closed down years after we’d gone because of the many shark attacks that were going on. The waters became too dangerous for people to swim in. It has been abandoned for years.
“Where are we going,” I questioned.
“The beach,” Aliana’s mom responded.
“Why the beach,” I asked.
“Not to the beach, under the beach,” she exclaimed. I sat back pretending I knew what she was talking about. I leaned on the door when I felt something poke my thigh. I checked to see if it was one of the knives, but it wasn’t. It turned out to be one of my pens from school. I always kept one in my pocket just in case anyone needed it. I also found a note in the same pocket. It was the one Aliana and I used earlier in class. While the teacher was giving a boring lesson, we passed the note to each other back and forth, writing about the party after school. Half of the paper was blank and the other full of our conversation. I shoved the paper and pen back into my pocket. I knew we needed another half hour to get to the beach, so I just stared outside the window looking at the darkness that surrounded us.

Another twenty minutes passed and I could already see the beach. We took an exit to get off of the freeway. I thought of the beach and how simple of a place it was to hide a facility. As we kept going, there were many small trees that looked like people. It was starting to scare me to the point where I didn’t want to look out the window anymore. All of sudden I heard a loud roaring sound above us. I looked around curiously at everyone else. Then out of nowhere came a light that took over our vision. Aliana’s mom began to drive faster and faster. The light started to follow us as we zoomed through the road.
“What is it,” Ashley yelled.
“A helicopter! They’ve spotted us,” Aliana’s mom said. Fear struck my body. I thought we were going to die at that moment. I snatched the piece of paper and pen out of my pocket. I ripped the paper in half and began to write my farewells.
Aliana’s mom then crashed into some small trees, which caused me to drop my pen and paper.
“Get out! Let’s go,” Aliana’s mom yelled. I pushed the door open with such a force, that it made me fall out of the car. The twins jumped out behind me and Ashley jumped out after them. Isabel came from around the car and helped me up. Wendy and Aliana’s mom were already darting into the trees. The twins followed and soon I was on my feet running for the trees with Ashley and Isabel. I could already see ahead of us that there wasn’t going to be enough trees to keep us hidden. There was a strong sent of fish and seaweed that tickled my nose. The roaring waves became louder for me to hear. I turned around to find the enormous light getting closer to us. I looked foward to see where everyone else was running to. I kept running behind them until I felt a little off balance. We were already on the sand and I felt like I was going to fall at any moment.
All of a sudden a big wind hit us from behind. A large gust of sand sent us to the ground. The hood on my sweater came over my head. I looked back at the helicopter as I was still on the ground and noticed that it was landing. People with all black clothing came jumping out of the helicopter. I quickly moved forward on my elbows to try and get Ashley up. She slowly turned her body over. Sand covered one side of her cheek. Then I felt a strong force hit me in my back sending me to the ground again. I turned over and saw something large coming to strike me again. The next thing I knew, everything went black.