Hannah sat there, next to her mother and saw her pale, dead face. Those eyes used to be alive, she thought to herself. Hannah caught a breeze from the open door and heard a car pull up into her driveway. It was Carter.

She scrambled to find her cell phone in her purse and instantly call her father on speed dial. He was at work. When the secretary picked up she screamed, “Harold Jones, hurry please, it’s an emergency!” Her father picked up.

“What’s wrong, bun?”

“It’s mom! She was strangled and she’s not breathing! Come quick!”

Hannah could here the phone fall and hit the ground and the rapid, excelling footsteps. Her next instinct was to call 911. She told them her address and waited next to her mother’s cold body.

Carter immediately saw the crime scene and ran toward Hannah. He seemed nervous, in an unintentional way. He seemed to murmur something as he was running. Hannah couldn’t hear what he said, though.

“She’s…dead,” Hannah stated in shock. “My mother, she’s gone!” She was completely sobbing now.

Carter didn’t know what to do. You could obviously tell by his stuttering movements. “I’m so sorry,” he began to chant. “I’m so sorry,” Carter reached in to finally hug Hannah. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…”

Hannah perked her head up from where it had laid on Carter’s chest, “You didn’t mean what?” She was piercing eyes of hatred right into his.

“Ummm…...” he paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “Nothing,” he paused a second time. “I meant for this night to begin like this.”

Mr. Jones car pulled up into the driveway. As Hannah stood up Carter spoke softly, “I’ll leave you two alone. Call me when you need me.” He took a few slow steps, looked back at Hannah, and ran to his car.

Hannah ran towards her father and he ran towards his deceased spouse. Together they cried until the siren of the ambulance came to the curb of the front lawn. As the men climbed out and onto the grass, there were five police cars also with sirens extremely loud and a man with a bullhorn telling everyone where to go and what to do.

“We are very sorry about your loss,” the police man paused to take off his black baseball cap. “We promise we will solve this case.”

The following week was the worst for Hannah and the new widower. Hannah’s grades started plunging and the funeral was to take place; not to mention that Mr. Jones lost his job because he disappointed his boss on a big proposal.
The funeral was not what Hannah needed. No one brought her spirits up and she had a big test to study for, which she was not looking forward to.
At the funeral, every man and woman would walk by her and say the same thing, “You look just like your mother. She would be so proud of you,” then again, they didn’t know she was failing almost every subject, and honestly, she didn’t care.
As soon as they were lowering the casket into the grave, a gray car pulled up out of the gray horizon, and men ran out of their car, and quickly snatched Hannah before she could scream, “Dad!!” Everyone ran for their lives except for Harold Jones because he would rather save his daughter’s; after all, he truly couldn’t live without another human he had loved so dearly.

“She’s only 18! We should let her go! Especially before the cops come to get us,” Hannah heard as she awoke tiredly.
“NO! No time for second thoughts. It’s too late now. Don’t worry ‘bout the cops, we didn’t leave one track of evidence. They’ll never find us.” Hannah was still bewildered, yet completely aware of what was going on now. She had been captured by men, but who were the men? Where was she?
“We will hold the girl hostage so we can finally get our money back,” Hannah heard the same voice speaking as before. She was tied up in a box with one little hole the size of a rat’s nose. As she peeked through the slit, she saw a man walking by the box and crouched back down. “Hopefully, we will be able to get more than what that teenager borrowed from us.” Hannah was incredibly curious and interested about who had borrowed the money from the Loan Sharks and caused her mother’s death and her capture. Who would do such a thing?
As Hannah lay in her box, she wept quietly. She prayed that her father would come and take her home; she prayed that this was a dream, actually, a nightmare. That night she cried herself to sleep for the 9th time in a row.

As she woke up she found herself somewhere in the open; perhaps in a room. Hannah saw a light beneath the door. She longed to see what the sun looked like; it had been three days, yet it seemed like three years, that she had been outside and seen Carter and her father.
She crawled into a box located in her locked room and feel asleep, hoping to dream of something fine and good.
A man rushed through the door with a ski mask on. He pulled Hannah to her feet with an angry force. As she opened her sleepy, crying eyes, she immediately closed them again due to a fright. She saw a fist and felt the man’s knuckles against her aching, starving stomach.
“Who did you call?! Where is your phone?!” he held up another fist and then put it down. When she didn’t answer, he slammed his head into Hannah’s.
“No one,” Hannah tried to scream but ended up coming out as a shriek. “I don’t have a phone. Not even at home or here!” she paused and got down on her weak knees. “Please! Please! Please believe me!” Hannah let her tears rush down her face. She was not ashamed to cry anymore.
“Well, some cops are on their way to our location! And we need to move!” he forced her body on his shoulder and carried her into the trunk of the car that she had been captured in.
When the car stopped, she was pulled out into some deserted part of the town. The men opened the trunk and threw Hannah onto the ground, leaving her tied up, squirming on the road.
A few minutes later, there was an ambulance, and several cop cars coming to her rescue; after all, they had been following the Sharks’ car from when they saw them at a street corner.
“HANNAH!!” her father screamed so joyfully. She tried to get up from the ground but she just stumbled like a little toddler learning how to stand and walk for the first time. Mr. Jones was so incredibly jubilant to see his daughter that he tripped over his own feet because he was running so fast.
“TOODDIIIEEEE!” Hannah said when she meant “DADDY!” because of the Duck Tape located on her mouth.
“THANK GOD YOU’RE ALIVE! I couldn’t live without my baby girl!” Hannah’s father said with a tear slowly rolling down his cheek. Hannah joined him with tears falling down her face.

When Hannah got home a week later from being in the hospital, Carter was there with a dozen roses and flower petals all over her room. Although all this looked appealing, he had a serious and nervous expression painted on his face. Hannah, however, apparently did not notice this uncertainty in his features that day because that night, he took her out to dinner and purposed; even though, he was under pressure.