Taken by Taxi | Teen Ink

Taken by Taxi

February 18, 2018
By allisonbuck BRONZE, Butler, Pennsylvania
allisonbuck BRONZE, Butler, Pennsylvania
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The bell rang.  Anna jumped out of her chair and ran for the school exit.  She had already gotten everything out of her locker, and was the first one out of school.  Anna’s dad, Steve Parker, was in his Mustang waiting for her by the main entrance. Steve owns Parker Inc., one of the biggest companies in the United States, and makes over one million dollars each year. Their very wealthy family lives in Michigan and are very protective of Anna and her siblings.  This summer Anna was finally able to convince her dad to let her and a friend go to New York City all by themselves. 
As they were driving home after a long last day of school, all Anna could think about was getting home to pack for her trip.  She wanted it to be the best trip ever, and she was determined to experience everything the city had to offer.  Her dad had given Anna two tickets, one for her and one for her best friend Olivia. When she got home she saw the first class plane tickets sitting on the counter, and she couldn’t help but smile as she thought about what the big apple would be like in person.
Anna got under her covers that night as she set her alarm for 4:30 am, and closed her eyes as she thought about what events were to come the next day.  She had a hard time falling asleep because of how anxious she was to leave for the trip, but she eventually dosed off.
Beep! Beep! Anna’s alarm clock went off on full volume and it made her leap right out of bed.  She put on her comfortable outfit for the plane ride and grabbed a banana for a quick breakfast before it was time to leave.  She saw her three bags sitting by the door, packed completely full and not even able to be zipped up the whole way, and got the feeling that she might’ve packed too much. Her dad threw her the keys to unlock the car and load all her stuff in.  As she was standing outside she heard a voice from one of the upstairs windows in her house.
“Have fun girl,” Shawna, Anna’s mom shouted, “But make sure that you stay safe.”
“I will don’t worry, and I’ll let you know how long it takes me to walk Central Park,” Anna joked.
Shawna blew her a kiss and said, “I love you.”
“I love you too mom,” Anna responded, “I’ll be back soon enough.”
She got in the car not long before her dad did and they were on their way to pick up Olivia, Anna’s best friend.  After she said her goodbyes to her family, Anna’s friend hopped in the backseat and threw her luggage on the floor beneath her.  They drove about 30 minutes to get to the airport and both Anna and Olivia had fallen asleep.  Steve woke them both up and they all got out of the car with their luggage and started walking towards the doors leading into security check. Anna let out a big yawn and then hugged her dad goodbye.
“Call me if you need anything, okay?” He said worryingly.
“I’ll look out for her Mr. Parker, there’s no need to worry,” Olivia insisted.
Anna and Olivia made it through the doors and were ready to be independent for their week in NYC.  They made it through security easily and made it to their gate early, about an hour before they had to catch their flight.
An hour had past and they heard the loud speaker say that their plane was now being boarded.  Each of them handed their tickets in and were ready to take off. The cart full of snacks strolled beside their seats, and they couldn’t help but buy a few snacks for the flight.  As Anna was eating her peanuts, she felt the airplane start to move faster underneath her and before she knew it she was up in the sky.  It was still pretty early in the morning so Anna decided that she was going to take a nap. She ended up sleeping the rest of the flight and Olivia had to wake her up when they arrived at the airport in New York.
“Anna, wake up!” Olivia whispered, “We’re here.”
“We made it, let’s get a taxi to take us to our hotel,” Anna replied with joy in her voice.
Once they found a taxi to take them all the way to the city from their airport, they jumped in with all their luggage and told the driver their destination.
“Where to?” the old man asked.
“866 3rd Avenue,” Anna answered confidently, “It’s a Courtyard hotel.”
Anna and Olivia arrived at their hotel, threw their luggage onto their two beds and were already ready for a day out at Ellis Island sightseeing The Statue of Liberty.
They took so many pictures but made their way back to their hotel after they got off of the ferry. 
A couple of hours past and they decided they were ready for a night out.  As they stood outside they both looked around and saw a group of men on each side of them about ten feet away.  They looked just like the men Anna had seen on the ferry to Ellis Island earlier that day.  They looked at each other in fear, and felt as if though they were being watched. Coincidentally there was already a taxi parked nearby waiting for passengers.  Being in the taxi made the girls feel safer and they finally felt like they could enjoy the rest of their night.  The driver didn’t say much and because it was dark out, neither of them could really see him. They told the man their destination was Times Square.  The drive in the cab felt like forever and Anna wasn’t sure what was taking so long.
“Are we almost there?” Anna asked politely.
“It will be a couple of more minutes, we got stuck in some traffic,” the man said in a deep voice.
Olivia had the feeling that something was wary about this cab driver.  When she thought about what he had said, she knew he was lying because they had been driving the entire ride, so there couldn’t have been any traffic.
Suddenly, the cab came to a stop.
The man turned around slowly and said in a creepy tone of voice, “We’re here!”
One man opened the door on the side where Anna was sitting and dragged her out of the vehicle. While Olivia tried to pull Anna back, another man grabbed her arm and they were both taken into a small shed in the middle of nowhere. They screamed as loud as they possibly could, but it was no use, nobody could hear them. There was about twelve men surrounding them as they were being put in chairs and tied together, back to back.
“Hand over your bag miss,” one man said to Anna.
Anna had left all her money and contact information under the taxi seat after she realized that something was suspicious, so she willingly gave the man her bag.  As the men went behind the shack to rummage through her bag, Anna tried to come up with an escape plan.  She looked around and eventually spotted lawn clippers laying on a workbench right beside them.
“On the count of three, we’ll scooch closer to that workbench,” Anna commanded.
Each time Anna counted to three, they worked together to move closer to the table.  Once they were right beside it, Anna knocked the clippers off the workbench and onto the floor using her foot.  She was able to pick up the tool by tilting sideways and then cut herself loose.  Olivia used her phone that she still had in her pocket and dialed 911.  She told the dispatcher that she remembered seeing a gas station right before they were brought to the shed.  As soon as she finished the call, the men walked back into the shack upset that they didn’t find anything useful in the bookbag.  Anna pretended that she was still tied up waiting for the right time to make a move.  Olivia quietly and carefully began cutting herself loose.
“Give us your address along with your bank account information and we will let you go,” the man said as he took off his black sunglasses.
“No, my father works hard for his money and you can’t take that away from him,” Anna said proudly.
Anna then began asking the men a series of questions unrelated to their situation, trying to stall so that Olivia could finish cutting the rope.
   Olivia finished cutting and bolted out of the shed with Anna not far behind her.  They both jumped into the taxi and Olivia drove them to the nearby gas station that she had described to the 911 dispatcher.  When they arrived, three police cars were sitting in the parking lot.
“Are you the girls that reported a kidnapping around here?” a kind police officer asked.
“Yes, we are,” Anna explained, “A group of men dressed in black are located about half of a mile away from here.”
“Okay, you girls can get into one of our cars and we’ll make sure that you get home safe,” another officer offered.
Once Anna and Olivia returned to their hotel, they called Anna’s parents immediately.  Steve, worried for his daughter’s safety, flew in his private jet down to New York to bring them home.  He made it to their hotel room and Anna slowly opened the door.  Once she realized that it was her father she was relieved and overwhelmed with happiness.  They hugged each other tight and never wanted to let each other go again.  Olivia watched them as tears streamed down her face.
“I think this summer would’ve started off a lot better if you would’ve been here to protect us, Mr. Parker,” Olivia said.


The author's comments:

I have traveled to NYC before and I remembered when my dad had told me about fake taxi cabs roaming the city looking to kidnap people, and that if I were to ever get in a cab alone to make sure it was a safe one. I wrote this short story imagining what it would be like for a victim of a kidnapping such as this. I hope readers are entertained and intregued by this story.


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