Escaping Trepidation

Chapter 1

Mr. Kidd showed no remorse towards the little girl with long black hair and brown eyes as he pushed her into the hole. She was too scared to run off or fight back, and even if she did not lack the courage, she had nowhere to go. They had abducted her while she was walking home from school and had dragged her to a foreign country where they had a hole dug in the middle of the wilderness. The hole was lined with wood, so she would not be sitting in the dirt, and it was small, barely large enough for her to fit.

“Don’t even bother calling for help. There will be no one to hear you,” Mr. Mcrae said.

Mr. Kidd chuckled while he threw a small water bottle at her. “Let’s seal her up.”

Mr. Mcrae nodded and picked up the wooden panel that would become her roof. The girl suddenly began to fidget when she learned what they were about to do. Her worst fears began to take over her mind and she wished that someone would help her. The only thing she did not have to worry about was suffocation; a metal breathing tube had been placed in the middle of the wooden door giving her enough air to survive.

The little girl’s world became dark and she gained a sense of claustrophobia causing her to bang on the wood above her, screaming. She carried on for hours until she became too exhausted and began to cry silently to herself.

Miles away, the two kidnappers celebrated their success and began to carry out the second half of their dark plan.

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Two Days Later

Emma took a deep breath and looked around. She was about 250 feet above the ground, or about halfway up the cliff. The morning air was cool against her skin and she was glad to be climbing once more. Two years ago, her mother had died after suffering a head injury from climbing and she had become afraid, even though climbing had been her greatest passion. Her friend Alison encouraged her to overcome her fear and after much consideration, she decided to spend her holiday in the Scottish Highlands with her friends, dragging Ed, her boyfriend, along as well.

He was a climber, much to her dismay, but he also told her to stop living in fear. “It’s in your blood to be a mountaineer,” he had told her. What happened to her mother was a fluke, and they helped realize that.

“As long as I trust the people I climb with and we use proper equipment, I guess I will go climbing again,” she said before deciding to go on the trip.

A bird flew overhead, cawing. “Is that a golden eagle?” Alison was holding Ed’s camera following the bird with the lens. The three of them were waiting on a wide ledge while Rob climbed to their third belay point.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a buzzard or something.” Ed really did not know his birds.

Emma squinted as she looked up at the sky, watching the bird fly gracefully away. “No, it’s much too big to be a buzzard. Did you get a picture of it?” She leaned over Alison’s shoulder.

“Barely."

“Let me see.” Alison ran the playback on the camera. “Yeah, I think it was a golden eagle. He’s massive.”

“All right girls, enough with the bird. Throw the camera at the money.”

Emma laughed, lightly. “Babe, I think we have plenty of pictures of you.”

“Come on. I want people to see how high up we are. Just one more picture all right, and then I will put the camera away.”

“Fine,” Alison said, “if it gets you to stop pouting.”