Working at my desk, waiting for the big hand to reach the three and the little hand to reach the two, to check up on my patients’, I hear a squeal from one of the rooms. Little Allison, eight years old, was watching Home Alone on FX and is curled up in her blankie waiting for her favorite part. She was the smartest little girl I had ever met and she was also the sweetest. She hated being in the hospital when I wasn’t there, she was like a daughter to me. “Allison, hunny, why are you screaming?” I say with a little panic in my voice and then a smile. “Sami, you know I love this movie and I wasn’t screaming I was excited.” Allison said hugging her blanket with blushed cheeks. “Wouldn’t it be so terrible to get taken, especially as a little girl? I don’t even know what I would do if someone broke into my house and took me.” I cringe at the thought, “I can’t even imagine Ali, but you’re the toughest girl I know I bet you could handle it.” I say with a nudge and a wink. “I’m only tough because I have to be for my mom and dad. They know my time is coming don’t they? I can’t beat this can I?” Allison said looking down at her blanket. “I think you can beat anything especially your cancer.” I give her a kiss on the forehead and walk away.
Looking at the clock I sigh and sit down remembering what Ali had said. Wouldn’t it be so terrible to get taken, especially as a little girl? I still remember it as if it was yesterday. It was the first snowfall of the year and I jumped out of bed to look out my window on the second floor of our house. Getting a huge grin on my face, seeing the snow glimmer from the sunlight, I scurry to my brother’s room and jump on him. He pushed me off his bed and then rolled over and told me to get out. I rolled my eyes and ran as fast as I could downstairs with my footsie pajamas on. I went straight to the closet, where my winter dressings are. I jump up and down trying to reach my bright pink snow pants and blue puffy coat. My fifth jump and they fall off of their hangers and over the top of me. I giggle at the sound of me falling on the floor. Struggling to put my snow pants on I hurry to my feet and do a little wiggle dance to help get them on. After I put my snow pants and coat on I put my boots on and then my gloves and hat; trying my hardest to keep my excitement contained. As soon as I opened the door I could feel the cool crisp air on my cheeks and I could hear the trees laughing in the wind. I never would have thought after I opened that door that it would be the most terrifying thing to ever happen to a seven year old girl. My brother and I were the only ones home and of course he didn’t care that there was snow on the ground. He stayed up all night playing computer games and watching TV, just like he always did. As soon as I took my first step in the snow I plopped down and started making a snow angel. I slowly got up to look at my creation, making sure I didn’t wreck it when I stood up. I smiled at my amazing art in the snow. I looked up and saw this grey van parked outside of my house, not noticing it before. I look closely and there are two guys looking at me play in the snow. I smile and wave at them and continue to play; I started by making a snowball and then rolling it on the ground to make a snowman. Putting it in the spot I wanted, I look up and the guys are no longer in the van. All of a sudden everything goes black and I am picked up. I scream at the top of my lungs for only a second then they cover my mouth so no one can hear me. Squirming to escape from their grip, they throw me into their van I assume and I hit my head on something and every sound and feeling fades away from my thoughts.

Waking up in a dark room I look around and I can’t see anyone around me. I am in a bed with unicorns and flowers all around me. The smell is like roses and the ocean mixed together. My eyes adjust and I notice some pictures on the wall. I stand and slowly walk over to the wall trying hard not to make a sound. There is a little girl who looks just like me sitting in a pumpkin patch with a man and a woman. All of a sudden the door slams open and I jump looking up at a guy in a ski mask. Scared out of my mind I back up until I am against the wall. “Why am I here?” I say with a shaky voice; squinting my eyes so I cannot only see his outline. “I need you.” With a dark mysterious voice the man said. He slowly starts walking towards me with his arms open wide. I try to back up some more but I can’t and the cement wall is cold against my back. “What?” I respond without fully understanding his statement. I shake my head and start to cry. “Can I go home? I miss my family!” “No, this is your home and I am your family. Okay! I am your father and you have to listen to me!” He said with a stern voice and almost anger within it. He stepped closer to me and I hid my face in the corner of the wall. “Your name is Jada now.” He said calmly as he sat on the bed beside me. “No, my name is Sam.” I said looking into his eyes that were full of anger as soon as those words left my mouth. I hear the high pitched sound before I feel it. He slapped the side of my face and said, “No, from now on your name will be Jada and you are my daughter!” He hugged me and I tried to push him away. “I love you Jada and you are MINE!” He said holding me tighter. “You are still here with me; nothing has changed since you were in the hospital. We can still be happy.” “Get away from me, my name is Sam!” I said crying again pushing against his body trying to escape his grasp on me. “Why are you doing this? Didn’t you miss me while you were sick? I wasn’t there for you but I should’ve been and I am now. I still love you!” He said still crushing me with his strength. “You’re not my daddy!” I yell pinching his chest as hard as I could. All of a sudden he lets go of me and throws me against the wall and everything goes black again.

I wake up and this time I am in a different room. This room isn’t full of happy things but full of absolutely… nothing. As soon as I try to sit up I realize I can’t and struggle to find that I am tied to the bed. He comes in the door and says, “Oh good you’re awake. I tied you up so you wouldn’t try to run away from me.” Not saying another word he walks towards me and hands me a glass of water. “If you drink this I will un-tie you.” He said with his eyebrows lifting. “You promise?” I asked wondering why such an easy task. I was really thirsty and my stomach growled as soon as I thought of the word food.”Yes I promise.” He said with his lips coming into a cricked smile. I took a sip and it tasted funny but it helped with my thirst. “Can I have some… uh..” I mumble, and all of a sudden my head feels ten times heavier. It started to throb and my hands were trembling. He started to un-tie my hands and feet and said, “Now Jada. I want you to know something.” He said with a straight forward warm soothing voice. He grabbed my hands and continued, “I’m doing this because I love you. I don’t want you to leave me. Giving you the water I know you won’t now. Try to walk. Let me see how strong you are.” Slowly I tried to stand but I couldn’t. I felt as if my legs were glued to the floor. “Good.” He said and I could hear the smile in his tone. He picked me up and walked me out into an open area, down some stairs, and through a locked door. While he was reaching for the keys I got up enough strength to lift my arm and slowly pull his ski mask off. He slapped my hand and then across my face before it came all the way off. He laughed and said, “No no Jada. You know better.” He slowly opened the door as I could feel my cheek start to turn pink. There was nothing in the room but I washing machine, dryer, fridge, sink, and oven. “W…what is t…this room?” I asked feeling as if something had been cutting off my air supply. His hands were around my throat. I started to wiggle using all my strength trying to get his hands off of me. “Stop talking! I don’t want you to talk! You sound different!” he said shaking my head back and forth making it feel even heavier. He stops. “Sorry, hunny. I didn’t mean to get mad. Just please be silent.” He said well rubbing my neck feeling the red marks from his fingers. The next thing I knew he was tying me to a post in the middle of the room. “I’ll be back soon.” Giving me a kiss on the forehead he walked away; and the last thing I heard was the lock being turned on the door. My eyes slowly started to close.
I woke up to a strange sound coming from the refrigerator. I didn’t know what time it was or how long I was asleep, but it seemed darker than it was when I first got in here. I was looking all over the place to try and see if there was anything close enough to me that I could reach to untie myself. There was something laying about a foot in front of me. I kicked my legs to try and get it in between my feet. I got it and hid it under my foot once I found out it was a knife. Right when it was no longer visible under my foot the lock on the door switched and it slammed open. “Jada! We need to leave right now! There are bad people after us! They want to take you away from me again! Please don’t fight with me just say yes and let’s go!” He said urgently while un-tying my hands from the pole. As soon as my hands were free I grabbed the knife from under my foot and used all the strength I had left in me and stabbed his hand into the pole and ran.
The stairs seemed so far away and my feet were not moving as fast as I wanted them to. While I climbed the stairs I heard him yelling, “JADA! GET BACK HERE! WHY IN THE H*** WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?” I tried to ignore him but I tripped while I was running up the stairs. A sharp pain went through my ankle and my scream didn’t come out of my mouth. By the time I tried to stand up; he grabbed me and wrapped his hand around my hand and pulled me towards him. He giggled. “Where do you think you’re going without me? Don’t you know that I locked the door when I came down here? I saw you hid the knife under your foot. I wanted to see what you would do.” Hearing his cricked smile under his mask he pulled a gun out of his pocket and put it up to my head. “Now, this is not something to mess with and neither was that knife. Look what you did to my hand.” He lifted his hand and shoved it in a face. I tried to scream but nothing would come out. “Oh yeah and while you were sleeping I made sure you couldn’t talk for awhile.” He said pinching my throat. Should I forgive you or should I just leave you here and have them find you dead? Choices, choices. I just wanted you back Jada but not like this.” He took the gun from my head and started putting bullets in. “I just need one.” He said looking at me with his eyes blazing. All of a sudden there is banging at the door and cops bust through window behind the fridge that I hadn’t noticed. Everything seemed to of changed into slow motion and all I could here was the pounding of my heart and the glass shattering on the floor. I felt the gun lift away from my forehead but then all of a sudden I was in the air in front of the man with the ski mask, my so called ‘father’. The men in all black with guns pointed at me are yelling something yet I can’t hear anything. The door suddenly flies down the stairs and more men come running down. “Put the guns down and she won’t get hurt.” said my ‘father’ as he points the gun, digging it into my side. I turn to look around the room and there is no way he can escape. Out of nowhere I hear a bang and my side is immediately aching and I am falling to the ground.
One of the men runs at me and picks me up as swiftly and softly as he possibly can. The others surround the man in the mask. “Jada don’t let them take you. They’re the bad guys, I am your father! I love you!” he yells trying to rip away from three guys grips. “You’re not my father! I hate you!” I scream back with tears rolling down my face and hugging the officer holding me. “Can I go home now?” I cry into his chest as he kissed my hair. “Yes, you’re safe now.” He says hugging me back letting me know nothing can hurt me anymore.

Ten years later I found out why he had done that. His daughter had died of cancer a year before he had taken me. He was taken away from her right before she was diagnosed. Jada’s mother filed for divorce way before and then she filed a restraining order on him because he was crazy obsessed about following them and trying to get his daughter back. I felt some sort of guilt inside when I found out about his daughter but then I shrugged it away because he was sick enough to kidnap a seven year old girl.

Coming back from my flashback of that horrible memory I sat there and thought about how I never asked for anyone else to get kidnapped and I am glad it was me and not someone else. I would never wish that upon someone. Was I supposed to get kidnapped as a child? Was that God’s plan for me after all? Looking at the clock I realized it was time to go check on my patients’. Getting up from my chair I smile at Allison knowing she thinks something is wrong.

A couple days later Allison passed away. Her parents didn’t have much to say, they knew she wasn’t going to make it much farther after her last Chemotherapy. Allison knew her time was coming to an end too and before it did she wrote me a letter. It read:
Sami, thank you for being there for me when I needed you most! You never gave up on me and I am very thankful! My life was short but it was also the best, you made sure of that! You were like my mom; actually more of a mom to me than my mom ever was. You were always there for me when I needed you. I want you to know that my life was probably filled with more love and happiness than people are in their 100’s and have lived so long. I know my time is coming and I know you are probably crying reading this but I want you to know that God and I both love you for who you are and all the help you do every day in your life! I will never forget you and you better not forget me! My cancer got to me but it took awhile to get there and I thank YOU for that! LOVE YOU SAMI, WITH ALL MY HEART! Love ALI and GOD!=) P.S One of the nurses told me about when you were 7 and I am sorry that happened to you but at the same time you might not of been there for me if that bad man didn’t kidnap you so in a way I’m glad he did. I’ll be watching out for you just like you always watched out for me! Never forget me! God and I love you!=)