AUTHORS NOTE: I'm rewritng this story
"Hurry up Gina, we have to go" Seventeen year-old Julie Wilkinson said to her best friend as she got in the driver's side of her Honda Civic that was parked in front of her house
"Sorry Jules" replied Gina Mancuso, who was almost two years younger than Julie, but had always considered Julie to be her best friend ever since her family had moved to town a few months before.
The girls were heading to the beach for the weekend to Julie's Uncle's beach house. It was a hot Friday afternoon when the girls took off for about a three-hour drive to the coast.
"Isn't this great Gina! Man I can't wait to get there. I can't believe that my parents let me go with you"
"I know. I still can't believe my parents agreed to this"
"Yeah, but your uncle is so cool though"
Julie then smiled at Gina
"That he is Gina, that he is"
"So is Ron going to show up?" Gina asked, referring to Julie's boyfriend
"Maybe, but he didn't think he could get off work. I'll have to call him later"
"You're so lucky Jules"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Ron is such a great guy and as for me…."
"You're still sort of new Gina & besides with all of your family's transitions to everything. We really haven't had time to go out much"
"You know you're right. This really is the first time we have done something big together"
"I bet there's some hot guys down there, even from school…Gina your too pretty not to find someone special"
Gina just smiled & blushed. Julie was right. Gina was very pretty. Her brunette hair wasn't as long as Julie's, but she had that girl next door face that guys could die for. Her family had moved a lot in her fifteen years & because of that, she always had trouble with meeting people. She had thanked God that Julie was in her life & hope that her family had finally settled down for good.
About an hour had passed. The girls had played several CD's & Gina had gotten around to even taking a nap. Julie looked around. She didn't recognize any of the surroundings of the highway, a highway that she took several times with her family
"Oh man, I hope I didn't miss the turn off" She thought "Way to go Julie, we'll probably be late now..."
Gina had awakened & saw her friend's puzzled face.
"What's wrong Jules?"
"I think I missed the turnoff. I must have been daydreaming or something"
"Thinking of Ron again?" Gina said slyly
Julie then stuck her tongue out at her & playfully punched her bare leg.
"Hand me my cell phone"
Gina reached in the back seat & into Julie's bag. She got the phone out & handed it to Julie
"Who you calling?"
"Uncle Jim.I have to let him know that we'll probably be late"
Julie tried to call, but her face turned to anxiety
"Oh great…no signal"
Gina then rolled her eyes. "What now?"
"We passed a service station about five miles back. I think they're open, I saw some cars there. We can ask for directions, Then I can use their phone to call Uncle Jim if I still have no signal"
About fifteen minutes later, Julie pulled her Honda into the service station. The lot was full of cars, but the place looked closed. Julie tried her cell phone again. Her eyes beamed as she dialed her Uncle's number. The signal was weak, but it went through.
"Hello! Uncle Jim….hello?…It's Julie…. Hello?"
"Oh no" Gina replied
"Damn signal"
"Did he hear you?"
"I don't know, but I heard him for a couple of seconds. This area is obviously not good for a cell phone, come on we can use the phone inside"
The girls made it out of the car & went up to the door
"This place is closed Julie"
"Maybe these cars are ones that need fixing"
Julie tried the door. To her surprise, it was open
"That's weird"
The girls went inside & looked around
"Hello?… anybody here?…"
"This place looks creepy Jules, in fact this whole road has been creepy"
"If we can just get directions, or find a phone"
"You think there would be someone around don't you think?"
"Why was the door open then?" Julie replied as she called out loudly
"Hello?….Anybody here?…."
"I don't like this "
"Let's look around, find a map, phone"
"Julie!" Gina scolded, rolling her eyes at her best friend's headstrong attitude
Julie looked around & saw nothing. Then she opened a door & saw a garage full of cars that were being worked on. Julie then saw a man's legs underneath
"Hello? Excuse me? Didn't you hear me call?"
The man got up from underneath the car. The man was a muscularly built man in his late twenties.
"Can I help you miss?" he said with a nervous sneer "How did you get in here?"
"What do you mean? The front door was unlocked. Look, me & my friend need to use your phone & if you can tell us where we are, I would appreciate it"
"Oh you would would you. You're where you shouldn't be" he sneered
"Damn right she is!" added a female voice behind Julie. Julie whipped around to face a woman around the same age as the man. Julie then realized she had seen them before, in the newspaper in the last few weeks. Dani & Ed Carroll. They were brother & sister & they were wanted for carjacking & theft.
"I'm sorry to bother you" Julie said, her pulse picking up. "I'll just be on my way"
But before Julie could move, Gina had walked into the room. She was holding a news paper article on the duo, looking down at it while walking
"Hey Jules, look at…."
Gina then felt something hard stuck in her back. It was a gun held by Dani. The startled teen dropped the paper. She looked up to see Julie with a gun in her ribs, which Ed had quickly pulled on her. Dani then reached down and got the paper
"Oh my God!" Gina said, her heart starting to pound
Julie closed her eyes. She & Gina had walked right into the criminals hideout, & by the looks on their faces, they were none to pleased about it
"Looks like any plans you might have had have changed girls, you two are not going anywhere anytime soon" Dani said as she angrily crumpled the newspaper up "Damn nosy snoopers"
Dani then stared a hole right through Julie. Julie could only look at Gina, "Oh my God, what have I done..." She thought, blaming herself for being here at this place. "We're in the hands of two wanted thieves & nobody around to save us..."
TBC