| CHAPTER 2 |
| Dillan's alarm doesn't wake her up this morning. Could it be? No! She never over sleeps. Except this morning. She wakes up gently and looks at the clock. Shocked at the time, she races out of bed and into her bathroom. Ten minutes to get ready and get to work. As she brushed her teeth, an unwelcome stare reflected off of the mirror as she couldn't believe she forgot to set her alarm last night. No "I love myself" was said today. The day didn't seem right to her. She felt uneasy all day long. She tried to shake off the anxiety and presume about her day as just like yesturday. But something was going to happen. She could feel it in her. Everyone was in such a cheery mood and that was scary. 'Is this all a dream,' she thought. Five minutes and counting. I'm sorry, four minutes. Four minutes until the paid day is over. "Maybe something is going to break in my car," Dillan says to Josie, a fellow co-worker and best friend, as the two were standing up at the register making gift bags. "Nah, you're just freaking out," she says as she eyes a guy who's looking at some cards. "Hey, D. Check him out over there." "Who?" "Him! He's over in the wedding section." The same guy came up to the register that Dillan was in front of and smiled. She smiled back, "Hi. How are you doing?" "Pretty good and yourself," he asks as he sets his cards on the counter. Josie walks behind Dillan to get tissue and whispers, "Why do you get all the cute ones?" The man chuckles as does Dillan. "Your total is going to be 4.55," Dillan says not trying to laugh too hard. He hands her his credit card, and she asks to see some ID. She check his birth date: he'll be 22 next month. Not too old for Dillan. The man has very dark brown hair, with the lightest green eyes, and his smile is so perfect it would make any woman giggle. Dillan had him sign a receipt, and sent him on his way with his cards. After she saw him walk out the store she turned to Josie, "Okay, Jos. You think you could have said that any louder?!" "Did I say it that loud? I thought he was backed up." "Umm, no! He was right here. He heard it just as well as I did." "Oh my gosh! I can't believe that." Dillan clocks off, and turns around to put her time card into the box. When she turns back around, she sees the same cute guy. She greets him with a friendly smile, and he shoves a gun in her face. "I told you I found where you work. Come with me," he said as he motioned to go out of the store. Dillan followed him without hesitation. She knew she wasn't stepping foot outside the store, let alone the mall, with him. She knew she had to do something. Before they got out of the store, she pushed him into a rack of poles and flags and ran to the back of the store, almost pushing some customers to the ground. The door to the back room flew open and Dillan ran out the emergency exit. She ran down the stairs as fast as she could nearly tripping over her own feet, and out another pair of doors. She was now outside and on the first level. She ran back into the mall and ran to the security office. With tears in her eyes and a shortness of breath, she pointed to her name tag and made a gun with her hand. One of the officers gave her a seat and a glass of water as he radioed for security to go to Hallmark. "Okay, now what happened," one of the men asked. "I helped this guy check out," she said still trying to catch her breath. "And then he came back a few seconds later with a guy and tried to take me with him. Hurry, if you go now you might still be able to catch him." "I've sent men over there to get him, don't worry." "He's an internet stalker," Dillan said a few minutes later when she calmed down. "I've tried countless times to block him but he keeps making new names and finds me again." The police were called and Dillan was taken to the station with them. She looked through numerous photos of guys to identify him, but no luck. She was finally released at about 3 am. As soon as she got home she crawled in bed with her cat following and fell fast asleep. Chapter 3 Featured Stories Main Page |