It’d been a week since Kristina was captured. Alex called every day to mention that she’s all right, and that time is running out. The two days that he gave her was eventually spread out to a week. She had just gotten of the phone with him, where he said that she had a day left to make her decision. If she didn’t give him a decision, he would shoot her sister.
She now sat on Zac’s lap in the living room, her head on his shoulder. Taylor, Roni, and Isaac were sitting around, confused. They’d all done everything they could, everyone had done everything they could, but nothing had worked. The silence was unbearable. “I’m going,” she said, suddenly. “I’m taking her spot, it’s bad enough that she’s been there a week, God knows what he’s done to her.”
“You can’t be serious,” Isaac said. “He’s going to kill you and your baby.” Ginger let her head fall back, onto Zac.
“I’m going. Someone has to be there and someone has to help me out cause I can’t go alone. If I do there is no chance that either of us will come out alive. I don’t think he’s going to let either of us go.”
“I’ll go,” Taylor said. “If he doesn’t let Kristina out then I have nothing else left.” He had tears in his eyes. Ginger looked at him gratefully, taking Zac’s hand in hers and clenching it.
"No, Taylor. He won't take you." He sat back and sighed. “So when he calls tomorrow, I’ll tell him to take me. There’s a chance that I’ll come out of there alive, but there’s a smaller chance that the both of us will.” She sighed. Zac wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. She stared at the television. It was off now. Before they had looked at it and of course Kristina’s story was on there. It was more popular than it should have been, only because of the boys’ fame. She looked at Taylor who was trying his best to hide his tears. It affected all of them so much, but it affected Taylor the most. He was supposed to be watching her when it happened, and now he felt horrible. Now Ginger was basically giving up her own life to get her back.
She placed her hand on her stomach, feeling the baby wiggle around inside of her. The hardest part of the entire thing was that she was still pregnant with her baby, and she was endangering it as much as herself. Next week she has an ultrasound to go to, and the doctor said she probably would be able to find out what gender her baby is. Now she wasn’t so sure she was going to find out.
An officer walked in the room and asked if they had any ideas. Taylor explained to him Ginger's plan, and he immediately declined against it. “With all do respect, ma’am, there’s other ways to get out of this.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Well actually there aren’t other ways to get out of this, I was just hoping you would decline against putting yourself and your friends in danger. If you plan carefully, you might be able to pull it off.”
“Would you and the others help me out?” she asked. He nodded.
“Yes, we would devote everything to it. All we want to do now is get your sister back and as much as seems confusing, put your brother behind bars.”
“I don’t want my brother behind bars,” she said, certainly, “I want him killed.” Taylor looked at Ginger, rather shocked.
“That is the maximum charge, ma’am. It depends on the trial if he is sentenced to death.” The officer was obviously surprised by her blunt reply. “I’ll tell the others.” He walked back into the kitchen. She looked around the room to the array of mixed looks.
“What have we been talking about?” she asked. “We’ve been talking about Alex killing me and/or Kristina! If a person kills someone else intentionally like that then they deserve to die themselves.”
“We know that,” Roni said. “But it’s all weird and stuff. We always thought Alex was a good, clean guy and now we find out he’s a cold-hearted freak…weird.” Roni shook her head to clear her thoughts. They had been down all day long, right now they needed something to clear their thoughts and cheer them up.
“Y’all hear that Harrison Ford is coming out with a new movie?” she asked.
“Dude!” Taylor commented, sounding a bit too much like Kristina. Ginger had to try and ignore it. “I remember I always wanted to be him.”
“I always wanted to date him,” Ginger admitted. Roni nodded.
“Yeah me too! Even though he’s old enough to be my grandfather. If not, close to it.” Ginger sighed. “Whatever happened to those dreams?” She glanced back at Zac and kissed him before answering.
“Mine came true.”
She watched Zac’s cheeks redden and he put his hands over his face. Her mouth dropped to see that he was actually blushing. She’d seen him blush maybe once before in the entire time she knew him. She put her arms around him and pulled herself close to him.
“Oh Zakky am I embarrassing you?” she asked. She lowered her voice. “Well you are my dream.” He smiled at her, a smile she loved and cherished. She had a feeling that those smiles wouldn’t be near her soon. It ate away at her smile but she tried to fight it.
Right now Kristina would be backing a comment, but she wasn’t there. The lightened mood suddenly became dark again, when Ginger laid against Zac. That was it, the mood would never be the same without Kris’s sarcasm and spontaneous comments. When she was younger her wit often got her in trouble with the adult authority but Ginger made sure she kept it around. They had so many good times together, why was it now—when she was gone—that Ginger realized how much they meant to me?
“Zac, I’m scared,” she whispered. Already she felt the regret of the decision she made. But now there were five to ten officers ready to assist her in it all.
“So am I.”
“Ma’am, we’ll escort you over there,” an officer said, the next day. He handed her a tiny transmitter. “For best results with this thing, and to make sure your brother doesn’t find it, I suggest you slip it in your bra.” She put it down her shirt. “We’ll be waiting outside, around the corner. We can hear everything through it, and if anything drastic happens we’ll be right there.”
He headed off to the car and Ginger turned to Zac. “You come back, got that?” he asked. She nodded. “You come back alive.” She held back her tears and nodded again. He held her tightly. “I love you.”
“I’ll bet you five bucks I love you more,” she whispered. She hadn’t said it like that to him in a while, not since his last concert. He kissed her, firmly and passionately. When she finally pulled away, he stuck his forehead against hers.
“You go kick some ass, honey.” She laughed and let go, tears in her eyes.
"I will." She had already said goodbye to Roni and Isaac, and Taylor was coming with hers. With a single look back, she got into the car and rode off. She figured with all the security in the city of Chicago that the police would find something better to do then to send her in there, but none of them had thought of anything. She was surprised that so many officers had taken care of her case. Chicago’s a metropolis, and she's just a normal person with a kidnapped sister. But her husband and his brothers aren’t normal; maybe that’s why they all helped out. In whatever way, she was glad she was helping out in getting her sister back. It made it seem like her really cared about her, and she did.
The car stopped in front of an abandoned building in the corner of Oak Park. Strange, she just might die in the same place where she was born. Taylor got out and ran to the side of the building, and Ginger knocked on the front door once the car was gone. Alex looked through the window on the second floor to see who was at the front door. He checked out the rest of the landscape for any patrol cars or unmarked unmoving cars. He didn’t see Taylor. Seeing that everything was set, he ran downstairs and opened the door.
“My, my, well isn’t it my little sister. Come to claim your prize?” he asked. Ginger looked straight into him, fear rushing through her veins. She took a step back. “I’m not coming in until Kristina comes out.” Alex shook his head and grabbed her, pulling her inside. “What the? Hey!” Alex didn’t say anything and bolted the door shut. He dragged her to the second level of the building and threw her against the wall. She noticed Kristina in the corner of the room. She was either out cold on the floor or she was already dead. The thought of it made her stiffen.
“Aren’t you so excited?” he asked. “We’re finally going to see our parents!” He seemed overwhelmed by the idea of killing himself. Ginger, on the other hand, feared it.
“Alex, you need to get over mom and dad’s death. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t my fault. There’s nothing we can do to get them back.”
“But there is a way to see them again.”
“I’m sure they’re looking down at us from heaven and watching over us!” Damn, there went the spiritual thing. “Seriously, Alex, there’s nothing you can do. Killing yourself is a mortal sin and you’ll go to hell for it.”
“Ginger, I just want to see them again. They’re our parents. Don’t you want to be with them?” she sighed.
“Maybe, but right now I have a life to live. I have a husband and friends and I’m pregnant. Don’t you want to see what my child is going to look like?” Alex snorted.
“With that pompous windbag you call a husband? I don’t think so.” She got up and smacked him.
“You shut up! My husband is not what you think he is! You don’t even know him!” Alex threw her against the wall.
“Hey Ginger, guess what?” Alex said. “You don’t either! You were eighteen fucking years old when you married the guy! You don’t know him at all.”
“Alex we’ve been married for over a year now, I know him now and he’s the same he was before.”
“Yeah, I said it, a pompous windbag.” She took a breath to calm herself down. It was impossible to get through to him. He turned to the window, being very suspicious about the whole thing. He checked for cars and anything else that could be out there and possibly watching him.
They sat in there for hours. He didn’t say anything to her, or let her say anything to him. She spent the time thinking about Kristina. He wouldn't let her look at her, and every time she tried to sneak a glance he caught her before she could and hit me yet again. It was dark outside and she was about to fall asleep from boredom when Alex finally turned to her again. “Ginger, why are you the way you are?” he asked. She gave him a confused look. She knew better by now than to ask him what he was talking about. “Well you’re defiant and you’re defensive. If I said anything to you about anyone, you’d get all upset and bite my head off.”
“Why is my sister lying over there? Why won’t you let me see her?” she asked. He slapped her, the force hitting the side of her head against the wooden wall. She took the advantage to sneak a glance at her sister. “What’d you do to her?” He grabbed her face and forced it back to look at him.
“You are not to see her. She’s not your real sister.”
“I know that, but she’s more a sibling then you ever will be.” He mockingly smiled at her, and then smacked her head against the wall. She heard him say a final sentence before she blacked out.
“Go to sleep, sis.”
When she woke up it was morning. Kristina lay in the same position she did since she had gotten there. It made her worry. Alex noticed immediately that she was awake. He threw her a gun. She held in her laughter as the gun fell on the floor beside her, and she picked it up. “Um, aren’t you the one who’s supposed to kill me?” she asked.
“No I figured you should shoot yourself. If I kill you I’ll go to hell.” Was he really this stupid? “Come on, get it over with, once you do it then it’s my turn.” She stared at him blankly. “It’s all set, all you have to do is pull the trigger.” No way, he was not this stupid.
She looked at the gun, quickly pointed at him and pulled the trigger. He smiled and snapped his fingers when nothing happened. “That’s what I forgot!” he said. “I forgot to load it! Now that I know you were going to turn on me, I’ll just have to kill you myself.” He kicked the gun out of her hand and tried to pound me. She crawled out of the way, and ran over to the gun. There was a box of bullets that he carelessly left behind next to it.
Alex pulled out a loaded gun and pointed it at her. She froze, not being able to do anything but look at Kristina, in the corner. Her hair was ratted and she was all dirty. She probably didn’t smell very good because by the looks of it she hadn’t showered since before she got here. She wasn’t moving. Alex noticed her stare and smacked her with the butt of the gun.
“No looking at her,” he said, taking a few steps closer and putting the gun against her forehead. “I knocked her out before you came. You’re shit out of luck, Ginger.” Her eyes flickered back and forth between Kristina and Alex. He lowered the gun. “I can’t do it to you, you’re my sister.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“But I can do it to Kristina.” He turned around and with a loud bang, shot Kristina. She had to think fast. Well, she was sitting on the floor and he was standing. Her foot was right under him. Quickly she kicked him right where it hurt the most, and he lost his balance. She grabbed the gun and shot him in the leg. She heard the door being opened downstairs, and while Alex was down she shouted that they were on the second floor. Three uniformed officers and Taylor arrived at the doorway, and she threw the gun down. Two of them took care of Alex and another ran to see if she was all right.
Taylor noticed Kristina in the corner of the room. His eyes filled up and he checked to see if she was still alive. He found a faint pulse, and an occasional breath. “She’s still alive,” he called out. The officer that had checked Ginger out ran over to Kris and confirmed that she was still alive. He called over the radio for an ambulance. Ginger hadn’t noticed her tears, but she noticed the fact that she was scared to shit.
“You did a good job,” the particular officer that had been very kind to her the past few days said. “I’m proud of you.”
“Well never expect that to happen again. Never again do I want to leave my house.” She limped down the stairs and out of the building. She never wanted to see Alex again. He shot her sister and he led her to shoot him. She couldn't believe it. When she got out of the building, the ambulance was already there and quickly they took Kris and put her in the back of it. Taylor rode in the ambulance with Kristina while Ginger was there in the back of a patrol car. Her eyes were filled the whole trip there, but she had cried enough. She leaned against the cage and watched as the officer drove to the hospital.
The officer made sure someone checked her out before he left. Apparently she had broken a rib and needed stitches on five of her gashes. Her baby was okay. She wanted to go see Kristina but she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere until she was patched up. As she was finishing getting her cast on her leg, Zac entered the room. She gave him a big hug and a kiss before he even looked to see what was wrong. “What happened?” Zac asked.
“I never want to go through that again,” she said. She told him the whole story. She couldn’t believe it’d been a day since she’d last seen him. When she had finished her tale, the doctor commented before Zac did.
“I’d call you a hero, Ginger,” he said. “Saved yourself and your sister, and you caught the bad guy.”
“Well the bad guy happened to be my brother.” The doctor looked at her and shook his head. “I know, I have a messed up family.” She looked at Zac and he smiled at her.
“I’m just happy you’re safe.”
“I don’t know about Kristina, though. Once Doc gets finished up I’m going over there and checking her out.”
“Kristina?” the doctor asked.
“Yeah, do you know about her condition?” she asked. He nodded. “What is it, is she all right?” He looked away and found a wheelchair on the other side of the room.
“Well I think you should get over there, she’s knocking on death’s door.”
He helped Ginger into the wheelchair and Zac wheeled her into Kristina’s room. Taylor, Roni, and Isaac were already in there. All three of them were crying. They all knew it too. There was nothing the doctors could do, the bullet hit a vital organ and she was going to die. The doctors took the machines off her; she was awake and struggling now. She wanted to see both Zac and Ginger before she left. She took her sister's hand and let herself cry.
“Kris, my Kris,” she said. “You’ve shown me so much, you’ve shown me how to live. You’re my hero, Kris. I love you.” Kris weakly smiled at her and pointed out her cuts. “It’s just a few scratches, I’ll be all right.” It made her feel guilty that she was going to be all right and Kris was going to die.
“You’re my hero, Ginger,” Kris said. “Remember that.” The tears fell harder and she gripped her hand. “I love you.”
“Oh Kris don’t leave me,” she whispered. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’ll be with your parents. I’ll be watching over you,” she whispered, and then turned to everyone. “I’ll be watching over all of you.” She turned to look directly at Zac. “Zac take care of my sister. You know what to do, just take care of her for me. I want her to be all right. I’m not going to be here to look after her. You’ll do that for me, won’t you?” Zac wiped away his tears and nodded.
“Yes, I will.”
“Roni, you stay with Ike,” Kris said. Roni laughed. “I mean, I’m expecting wedding bells from you two. Ike, don’t be stupid, ask her to marry you.”
“I don’t have a ring.”
Kris took the engagement ring off her finger. “I won’t be needing it anymore.” She held it to Isaac, who gave it to Roni. Taylor let out his breath, seeing that his ring was going to be put to good use.
Kristina motioned for Taylor to come over to her. He walked over and knelt by her side, taking her hand. “I love you Taylor. I was stupid before to ever doubt my feelings for you. I so wanted to marry you. I wanted to spend our lives together, until we were old. That won’t be happening, but I so love you.”
“I love you even more, Kris. You’re the reason I stuck around.” She smiled and let him kiss her. A final kiss, before she was to leave. Kristina looked at all of them.
“I love you all. Thank you so much for making my life so wonderful. I couldn’t of wished for a better one.” She felt her life fading, so she closed her eyes. Zac and Ginger cried together, Roni and Isaac cried together, and Taylor cried into Kristina’s lifeless arm.
They all cried as their circle of six friends became five.