By Theresa
About a week before Christmas, Charlie walked home from school with her brother Luke. They walked in the cold slowly, so they wouldn't trip. When they arrived home, they found a note from their parents saying that they were picking up some things from the grocery store. The Smith family was the kind of family that liked Christmas but only put up a tree. Charlie was fourteen years old, and her brother Luke was seventeen, about to graduate from high school at the end of the year. Charlie went to middle school, and she was in eighth grade. Luke went to high school as a senior. They always enjoyed spending time with their parents, but Luke thought there was always something wrong with them. He would complain and go on and on to Charlie saying how they were unusual parents. Charlie would sneer and role her eyes at him. The two got along together pretty well, but they had their differences.
That same night, the Smith parents got home around eleven o'clock. Luke did more and more researching everyday, and by researching he spied on his parents for hours. His parents didn’t even notice, but Charlie did.
“Oh, would you stop spying on them?” Charlie rolled her eyes for the hundredth time that day.
“No, I’m not going to stop spying on them because they went to the store to get a few things then got home at eleven at night! No, I will not stop spying on them,” Luke went on and on as Charlie rolled her eyes again.
Charlie always thought she was more responsible than her brother because he would sit around and stare at stupid things like milk cartons or little smudges on the windows. She didn’t really care, as long as he didn’t do anything stupid. Luke stared for about an hour, finding nothing satisfying. Charlie was already asleep when Luke was up until one in the morning, looking at all the notes that he found.
“Still nothing weird,” Luke pouted.
Five days passed and now Charlie and Luke were on winter break. Luke stayed in his room all day, trying to see if their parents were spies or something cool.
“Give it up, Luke. Come on, it's the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas time,” Charlie tried to get Luke away from his laptop.
“Stop, Charlie. I’m only doing this because our parents leave the house at six in the morning and get home at eleven at night. Don’t you think that’s a little strange?” Luke didn’t take an eye off his laptop screen.
Charlie thought for a moment and did realize that her parents did do that. Their parents’ names’ were Judy and George Smith. Charlie thought some more as she sat down on Luke’s bed. Luke finally looked up from his laptop.
“Hey, are you okay?” Luke questioned suddenly.
“I’m starting to realize that they leave early and get home really late almost everyday, and their names are a little silly sounding…. Do you really think we could even be related?” Charlie was the one who was going on and on this time.
“Why would you think such a thing?” Luke felt anger rising.
“We don’t look a single thing like them. Come on, Luke. You have brown hair and brown eyes, while I have blond hair and blue eyes, yet our so-called parents have red hair with hazel eyes. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Charlie pointed out.
“I guess I never really thought about it,” Luke was stunned in shock.
Christmas Eve rolled around within a second. Charlie and Luke were making pizza for their family tradition, Christmas Eve dinner. They were halfway down, as the smoke alarm started going off. Luke ran over with a dish towel and started waving it in the air to make the alarm stop. A few minutes later, Charlie pulled the pizza out of the oven and put it on the table, along with some plates.
“This is really good!” Judy, Charlie and Luke’s mom, said with a grin on her face.
“I agree,” George added.
As the clock struck six o’clock, Judy and George jumped up from their seats and grabbed their car keys and were heading for the door.
“I’ll be home for Christmas, so don’t worry kids. We’ll see you in the morning,” Judy said as the door slammed shut. Charlie and Luke were confused.
“Why would they leave at this time on Christmas Eve? I just don’t get it,” Luke was getting frustrated.
“I don’t get it either, but at least they will be home for Christmas,” Charlie tried to calm Luke down.
About four hours later, Charlie put out some homemade pizza, along with cookies and milk for Santa Claus. Then the two slowly walked up to there rooms, feeling tired and sad that their parents weren’t there with them.
BOOM! A loud crash noise came from downstairs. Charlie and Luke both hopped out of bed and ran to go check it out. Broken glass was everywhere, but no one was around. The two searched around the house, but they couldn’t find any evidence of anyone having been there.
“Mom and Dad’s car is not in the driveway,” Charlie pointed out of the window.
“It’s two am. Why are they not home yet?” Luke was confused.
The kids looked by the tree: there were presents but no sign of their parents. They started getting worried now that the window was shattered into a million pieces. The kids sat on the couch, still half-asleep. They couldn’t go back to bed now that the window was broken. They didn’t want anyone to break in again, assuming someone did break in earlier. About an hour had passed, when suddenly Charlie screamed, waking Luke up.
“Charlie?” Luke looked around the room, when all went dark.
Suddenly no one was in the house. The window was shattered, and the door was busted down, and the kids were gone.
“Where are we?” Luke yelled, not knowing where he was or who he was with.
“I don’t know.” Charlie answered, frightened.
Soon, the bags were taken off the kids’ heads, and they were untied about a minute later. Then, standing in front of the kids, was their parents. Their parents kidnapped them and locked them in the basement, along with some rope and a chair.
“I’m confused,” Charlie said.
“Charlie, I told you these idiots were bad news!” Luke went on and on about his spying and other junk.
“We locked you up again because…” George started.
“Again?” The kids said in unison. Then their parents just left the room.
“So much for a good Christmas...” Charlie said, upset.
“Look,” Luke pointed to a door that was randomly in the middle of the basement wall. Luke got up to open the door, and surprisingly, it wasn’t locked. Inside was an office with a few filing cabinets located around the room. Charlie followed Luke in, slowly to help him investigate. They looked in every cabinet from top to bottom, but they didn’t find anything. After about ten minutes of looking, Charlie found a locked filing cabinet.
“Hey, Luke, this one is locked!” Charlie called Luke.
Luke came over with a key he found buried under a loose floorboard under one of the large filing cabinets. Luke put the key in the hole and twisted it. The drawer flew open, and there were a lot of folders in it.
“What are these?” Charlie asked as she picked up a few folders.
“They look like reports of other kids or something,” Luke took the folders from Charlie opening one.
“I have my phone, I could scan the photo or something to see if anything comes up,” Charlie suggested as she pulled out her phone. Before Charlie could scan one Luke jumped up, pointing at a photograph of a baby.
“That’s you!” Luke screamed.
Charlie snatched the picture from him.
“That is me, but h-how? Why?” Charlie looked through the other pictures. “And that’s you!” Charlie shoved a file into Luke’s hands. He looked stunned. Charlie first scanned the picture of her. A long report came up titled Stolen Baby, and the same thing came up for Luke’s picture, but in a different report.
“Everything makes sense now. Why we don’t look like them, why they leave early and come home late, and why they do strange things!” Luke breathed in for air.
“You’re right! That’s why we don’t look alike either!” Charlie added, her heart racing.
“Call the police!” Luke reached for Charlie’s phone as they heard footsteps. The two quickly rushed out of there and pretended to be asleep.
“WAKE UP!” George yelled.
“Food for the next three days,” Judy dropped a bag full of food and water in front of them. They ran up the stairs and locked the door again.
“I can’t take this anymore!” Charlie screamed, picking up her phone.
“Hello? 911, what’s your emergency?” a voice answered.
“My brother and I are trapped in a basement with little food and water!” Charlie stammered.
“How long have you been down there?” asked the voice on the phone.
“Luke, how many days? (Uh two I think) Two days,” responded Charlie.
“Ok, I’m sending over police and an ambulance to your address," the operator confirmed.
“Thank you!” Charlie exclaimed with relief.
“Everything will all be over soon,” the operator reassured her.
Within the next twenty minutes, the door was busted down.
“Are you guys ok?” a policeman asked.
“Yes!” Charlie and Luke said in unison.
They were checked out by a few doctors that said the two needed to go to the hospital. On the way into the vehicle, a policeman stopped them.
“Thank you for calling, we have been trying to catch these kidnappers for years now. You will be rewarded with the prize money within the next few days. Hope you two will be ok.”
When the doctor led them to their rooms, they each found a family waiting for them. Charlie had a nice looking mom, a nice looking dad, and five other siblings waiting for her. For Luke he just had his mom, dad, and slightly older sister waiting for him. They felt overjoyed, but sad at the same time.
“Hi, Charlie! I’m your mom. This is your dad, and here is your oldest sister, Chloe, your older brother, Carlos, your other older brother, Christopher, your younger sister, Clair, and your youngest brother, Gus,” Charlie’s mom said with a huge smile.
“I’m so happy to meet you all...” Charlie felt a little uncomfortable. Charlie turned to the doctor.
“You want to see Luke don’t you?” The doctor smiled. Charlie nodded and the doctor led her to his room.
“Oh, hi. I’m Luke’s dad. You must be Charlie,” Luke’s dad said politely.
“Charlie, that's my dad, my mom, and my older sister Lucy,” Luke didn’t look happy. Luke gave Charlie one more hug as they went with their families.
“That was the craziest but the best Christmas I have ever experienced,” Charlie got into her car.
“You bet,” Luke waved goodbye.
THE END!
Author's Note:
The kidnapping idea came from a Youtube video I watched. The channel is “My Story Animated” and maybe you should take a look at it on Youtube for more!
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