Short Story

It was a 1972 Cadillac El-dorado, and the faint glow of a match illuminated the trunk. A locked brief case, with a note placed on the top is all there is to be found. The glow of the match began to die. Lenny pulled out another match and lit it, he looked around some more, he couldn’t remember anything or how he got into the trunk of this car. The last thing he could remember was going home after work and when he got there the place was trashed. Lenny couldn’t remember anything after that; his mind was blank and empty. He noticed in the corner of the trunk a flashlight he reached for it and turned it on. The glow was dim the batteries must have been low and he didn’t have much time. Lenny picked up note. Four bold words in big letters read “YOU HAVE ONE HOUR.” Lenny spoke to himself “Shit! What the hell is this? Some kind of game?” He inhaled a deep breath to calm himself. It didn’t do much the, oxygen in the trunk was hot and stale. Lenny ran his hands through his short black hair and closed his eyes. His face looked pale and tired, dark circles lined the bottom of his eyes almost as if he hadn’t slept in days. They were always like that though; Lenny worked way too much and didn’t take much time to relax in his life. His eyes opened and he began to search for a way to get out of the trunk. The flashlight dimming more and more as each minute passed Lenny looked frantically for a clue and anything that could help him escape. Lenny glanced at is watch, he only had 26 minutes and 15 seconds left. As time passed it felt like the second hand was wrapped around his neck taking some more life as each tick, tocked around his Rolex. Back and forth the light went around the trunk until it seized to a stop. Part of the carpeting was pulled back a little in the upper corner of the trunk. Lenny set the light down and grabbed the carpet with both hands and gave one big tug. A small brown cherry oak box sat hidden behind the carpet. He grasped it in his hands and was slow to open it at first. He was petrified of what might be inside, as if it was Pandora’s Box about to bring around the next apocalypse.
The box lifted back and a key lay upon a cushion of blue felt like material. It was a small key and Lenny already new what it was for. He grabbed the key and reached for the briefcase now resting behind him. The key was slid in.” Perfect fit.” Lenny said to himself. The latches of the briefcase popped open and Lenny raised the top up….. A knife lay on top of a photo. Lenny reached down and shined the light on the photo. At first there was dead silence and then tremendous screams came from Lenny. It was a picture of his wife tied up. On the back of the picture another note read “Can you save her in time?” Now Lenny was pissed, and nothing was going to stop him. He clutched the knife and an arrow in blood ran down the blade and pointed at the back of the car seats. Lenny glanced back at his watch, with 5 minutes left he hacked away at the seat cushion like a mad man. It took 3 minutes to carve a hole big enough for him to fit through, not to mention the springs he had to rip out which created gashes on his hands. Once on the other side he opened the car door and leaped out. He ran into the brush away from the car. There was only 20 seconds left until an hour had passed and he needed to see what would happen…… maybe the man responsible for this would show up, who knows. More than 20 seconds had passed and nothing happened yet, just dead silence. Lenny began to rise and all of the sudden an explosion went off leaving the car in flames.
The man responsible for all of this must have been some sick psychopath that was very screwed up in the head. Lenny crawled out of the brush after a few moments and began to search around for more clues. He kept thinking to himself, why anyone would do this to him, he never wronged anybody before. Step after step searching desperately for anything that could help him find the location of his wife. He stumbled upon something on the ground; he reached down for a closer look. It was a Lotus pedal, his wife’s favorite flower, but how in the world could anybody know that but him?
Lenny looked ahead and saw a trail of the purple pedals resting upon the cold forest floor. He began to follow them, deeper and deeper with the outside world closing behind him as he entered the heart of the forest. It was quiet and just the sound of leaves rustling in the wind graced his ear. As the forest started to open up, fear began to grip Lenny. He wasn’t sure what he would come across. As he approached the last flower pedal, the dark shape of a building appeared ahead. It was an old log cabin with shattered windows and crooked door just barley hanging from its rusty decaying hinge.
Lenny wasn’t dumb; he wasn’t just going to walk in this place without checking it out. He approached the cabin slowly eyeing his surroundings as he walked making sure no one was following him. He approached the shattered window and glanced inside……nothing it was dark and he couldn’t see anything. He walked to front door and kicked it open, he waited for a moment to see if anything would happen. Perhaps someone was waiting in there for him. A cold sweat ran down Lonny’s face and his hands began to shake. He entered.
The door slammed shut behind him and then an intense rumble broke out, Lenny was struggling with someone trying to fight them off. It was no use though, he couldn’t see anything and the next thing he new was he was laying unconscious on the floor. Hours passed and his eyes began to open, there was a bright light, it was blinding. A dark figure stood above him. The man had a mask on so Lenny couldn’t recognize him. Lenny tried moving but he was bound to a chair by metal wire. It dug into his skin leaving deep gashes. Lenny glanced to his right side and saw his wife bound to a chair as well, only she was unconscious. Lenny spoke in a demanding tone “Why are you doing this to us?” The mysterious man lifted his hands up and slowly removed his mask. Lenny’s face immediately looked petrified, he couldn’t move and could barley speak. “Why? WHY!” Lenny asked. The man began to speak “Do you remember now! I lost everything when you fired me, my house my wife, EVERYTHING!” It all started coming back to Lenny. The mans name was Mark and Lenny fired him from the company. Lenny spoke “Mark I’m so sorry I didn’t know” Mark didn’t care for an apology; he started pouring gasoline all around the cabin. Nothing Lenny could say stopped him. Mark lit a mach and dropped it.
Mark walked away as the cabin went up in flames, each second the flames go closer and closer to Lenny and his wife, and he realized this was the end. He closed his eyes one last time.
A loud bolt of lighting struck and Roger shot up out of bed, He just dreamt a new idea for his next big movie hit. He was so excited and couldn’t help but to write it down that very second. Roger Pepperfield was his name and he was soon to have the biggest blockbuster hit ever, he was sure of it. He stumbled over to his desk and switched on the light, it flickered on and off for a little while. Roger began to write. “It was a 1972 Cadillac El-dorado, and the faint glow of a match illuminated the trunk.”