Life Inside of a Cookie

Today is a normal day for Alicia Prescott. She wakes up at 8am, spends 5 or 6 hours at school, comes home, eats her favourite snack- carrots and hummus- and lounges as she completes her homework and watches television. Later that night, she calls her boyfriend, Bradley Collins who has just finished up a night class and they catch up.

"Pathology is really tough this semester. I have two assignments to finish by tonight and I will be done for the week." He tells her.

Nothing out of the ordinary was said in their conversation. This night was like any other night. The couple soon calls it a night, says their goodbyes and go to sleep.

The next morning, the sky was tar black and the clouds were moving rapidly. The rain was falling hard and hitting the ground strong. Alicia has a busy day ahead of her. She has two three hour lectures at school then has her best friend, Jessica Robertson's 20th birthday party. The two girls have been friends for 10 years and have always been inseparable. As kids, the Alicia and Jessica loved to eat Chinese food. For Jessica's 20th birthday, and as a 10 year tribute to their friendship, they decided to celebrate at their all-time favourite childhood restaurant, Lo Mein. Alicia spends a couple hours getting ready and waits on Bradley to pick her up so they can go to the birthday together.

The night is amazing and everyone is enjoying spending time with each other. All of a sudden Bradley stands up.

"First of all, I would like to wish Jessica a happy birthday. Thank you for being such a great friend to Alicia, I don't think you will ever understand how much she truly loves and cares about you."

Jessica smiles and gives Bradley an enormous hug. Bradley does not sit down after his speech, instead he clears his throat and continues on.

"Alicia, you know I love you. I've loved you for four years now. You are truly an amazing young woman and I have never felt this way about anyone else. There is nothing more that I want in this world than to spend my lie with you." He gets down on one knee. "Will you marry me?" Alicia is shocked but immediately jumps up and screams "Yes!!!" She kisses him and the entire restaurant claps.

They are coming to an end of the night and Alicia could not be happier. She is surrounded by all the people that she loves and is having an overall amazing time. The waitress comes with the bill and the fortune cookies. Alicia automatically jumps at the table and grabs a cookie because she loves them. She cracks it open and takes the paper out.

"SAY NOTHING. You are in danger. Serious danger. You must leave the state immediately and never come back. Do not repeat this out loud. Say absolutely nothing."

Alicia has no clue what do and is extremely terrified. Does she leave? Does she stay? Does she say something? Does she stay quiet? She begins to panic on the inside.

"Why should I trust what a fortune cookie is trying to tell me? This is probably some sick joke that Jessica set up to freak me out..." She thinks to herself.

Alicia let's every get ready to go and say their goodbyes in hopes that Jessica will reveal the prank that she is trying to pull on her.

Sadly enough, nothing is revealed and soon enough she is in the car with Bradley on their way home.

"I'm so happy that you said yes, babe." He says to her.

She is resistant, knowing that she may possibly be in a lot of danger, "Me too" she responds.

When they finally arrive at her house, she gives him a long passionate kiss goodnight keeping in the back of her mind what she read in that fortune cookie. She walks inside her house and it seems oddly quite which only worries her more. She takes her shoes off and goes to find her family. "Mom?! Dad?! Anthony?!" She calls. "Guys, where are you? This isn't funny!" She tries to call her mom's cellphone. Voicemail. Right after she tries her dad's. Voicemail. She begins panicking and doesn't know exactly what to do if her brother doesn't pick up. She dials, and thankfully the phone is ringing. There is silence for a second, she is finally relieved. "You read the cookie." A deep, manly, voice which she doesn't recognize tells her. Alicia screams and hangs up the phone. She understands that at this point, that the fortune was not a joke. She sprints to her room and packs her bags as fast as she can, breathing heavily, tears falling down her face.

Alicia has been on the train on her way to the airport for about 45 minutes now and she has never felt this way before. No one in her family has answered the phone and she is truly starting to believe that she could be in serious danger. She does not want to believe that her family could truly be gone. She did not get to say her proper goodbyes to her family, best friend, or boyfriend and that truly saddens her. The tears start rolling down her face.

She finally arrives at the airport and the situation finally becomes a reality. She is about to get on a plane to Canada and does not know if she is ever going to come back. She boards the plane as she fights the tears that are about to stream down her face. She has never been so worried or terrified in her life. A hotel is booked for a week in Vancouver and Alicia is hoping that by that point she will have more information on the current situation and the whereabouts of her family.

The flight is a long, turbulent flight which is not enjoyable for her since she has a slight fear of planes. When the plane finally lands, she feels relief to be off, but she has a million knots in her stomach because she has no idea what is going to happen next. She gets her baggage and walks out of the airport.

It is about 10pm and she walking down the street to find a taxi to transport her to her hotel. She waves one over, and gets in. After she gives the driver the address there is a normal silence. Then quickly the driver takes a sharp turn and Alicia gets frightened. He begins to speed and gets on the highway.

"Where are you taking me?!" She asks with deep concern.

"You left the country. Great job we didn't think you were dumb enough to actually fall for that. You're ours now." The mysterious driver says and he keeps his eyes on the road.

Alicia fights and struggles to push open the back doors of the car but is unsuccessful. The driver acts as if nothing has happened and continues driving in silence. "Get me out of here!!" Alicia yells. "Who are you and why are you doing this to me?!?!" She exclaims. "Calm down honey, it will all be over soon." The man says in an extremely relaxed voice.

There are so many tholughts racing through Alicias head at the moment and she cannot believe that she was stupid enough to fall for this. She cannot help but wonder where her family is so she scrounges for her phone is her purse but cannot seem to find it.

"Sweetheart, that phone is long gone." The man driving the taxi tells her.

At this point, Alicia is sobbing and screaming at the same time. What do they want and why did they choose her to traumatize?

The car stops.

The driver gets out and grabs Alicia by the arm only to drag her into a dark, minuscule motel room.

"I am Andre. I've been watching you for about 3 years now. I live in Seattle near you and I waited until the perfect time to snatch you up. Don't worry about it, your family is fine, a little bit of sleeping medication did just the trick for all of them. Soon they will wake up and think that they had been home all night. I have wanted to have you all to myself for a very long time and I couldn't bear to see that Bradley character love you the way I can. So, my dear Alicia, this is your life now. Come on, don't cry, be happy you`re with me now."

Alicia can hardly speak with the tears rolling down her face. "Bring me back home. I want my family. Please."

"I know you're sad now sweetheart, but you'll warm up in no time. We are going to spend the rest of our lives together." He explains to her.

He then places his hand over her mouth, and within seconds, Alicia passes out.