Writing Prompt: “Who among us wants to live?” he asked. I wasn’t sure of my answer.
“You’re in the lead heading into the last lap, finish strong!” a voice blared over the radio. “I’m trying but 23 is on my ass” Aiden yelled over the roar of his engine. “Just watch him in that corner, don’t let him take the inside”, the voice commanded. Aiden flew into the corner and was able to successfully block his rival from taking over the lead. Only a half mile stood between Aiden and his first victory on the professional racing circuit.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP rang out from somewhere near his vehicle. Aiden quickly checked the dash for signs of what may be awry. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Aiden looked around confused. Was this coming from his opponent’s vehicle? BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. “Fuck me”, Aiden said as he finally realized what the noise was. Aiden opened his eyes to a pale white ceiling, the morning sun’s glow just barely peeking its way in through the window. Aiden turned over and shut off his alarm clock. “So close” he murmured to no one in particular.
This was a fairly normal start of the day for Aiden. The few seconds between Aiden waking up, and remembering who he is was his favorite part of the day. That feeling is quickly dashed by Aiden’s least favorite part of the day, checking his morning emails. Aiden grabbed his iPhone from the nightstand and started to look at the hell that he was going to be stepping into in a few short hours. There sat an email from Brenda, subject “Break Room Coffee”. “Fucking great” he muttered as he opened the email and began to read it aloud. “Aiden, it has been brought to my attention that you have not been donating to the office coffee fund. Please contribute if you are going to continue to drink coffee at the office”. Aiden smacked the reply button and feverishly typed his reply. “Brenda – The last time I checked, Sticktech makes 2.5 million dollars in profit per month off the backs of hard working employees such as myself. Furthermore, I have been working an average of 55 hours a week for the past 6 months. At my current salary, divided by the number of hours that i’ve been working, I would actually make more money working at McDonalds than for our organization. Frankly, Coffee seems like the least that Sticktech can do for its employees. If there is a problem, kindly shove it up your ass. Sincerely, Aiden”. Aiden’s finger hovered over the send button. He’s always wanted to put Brenda in her place, and he knew he’d be an office legend. If that is, he could just hit this one button. “Press the button, Aiden” he said, trying to psych himself up. Aiden did indeed hit the button, the backspace button that is. “Thanks Brenda, I will do so next time” he typed and smacked SEND. He tossed his phone across the bed and headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Ding, Ding, a reminder went off on Aiden’s phone that read “Drop off Expense Check at Bank”.
Another out of town trip for this company that doesn’t give a shit. Executives that don’t know what the company does, managers with their heads too far up the executives’ collective asses to realize what would be best for the company, and peons that are too broke to give a shit. Aiden had been at Sticktech for 10 years. 10 goddamn years. He felt like it had aged him at least 20. He looked into the mirror, wiping the steam from the glass. For fucks sake it looked like he had aged 20 years. Aiden finished shaving and styling his hair in an “I didn’t try too hard” manner and went to the closet to get dressed. Same style of relaxed fit black dress pants and company logo polo shirt he wore every Monday through Friday. He grabbed a matching pair of black socks and his phone off the bed as he walked out of the bedroom door. He silently walked down the hall through his plain undecorated apartment. Dim sunlight cascaded through the slightly opened curtains. “At least it isn’t raining” he thought sarcastically, not that it really mattered. He donned his black dress shoes and headed out the door.
Aiden dug through his pockets to find the keys to his Toyota Corolla, wondering why he even bothered locking the car. He didn’t have anything of value in it, and if he was honest, he couldn’t have cared any less about it. The car was a symbol of everything that Aiden was as a person. Old, boring and safe. He hated it with every fiber of his being.
Aiden arrived at the bank at 8:35 AM, 25 minutes before the bank opened. He had been there many times before, he knew that one of the tellers would unlock the door around 8:55 and he would be able to go into the lobby. Aiden looked down the street at the coffee shop. “Ehh thats too much effort” he thought to himself. Instead, he set a 20 minute alarm on his phone and closed his eyes. Aiden enjoyed napping in his car between appointments, anything was better than being awake. And after all, he was in no rush to start yet another day in his own personal Hell, a day that most refer to as a “typical weekday”.
Thunk, click, click, click. Aiden was startled by one of the bank tellers, Taylor, emerging from her vehicle and grabbing a bag out of her trunk. Taylor was a very tall woman that looked to be in her mid 20s. She had long blonde hair that she frequently wore in a ponytail and was dressed in a blue shirt, gray skirt and black heels. Aiden had always fantasized about asking Taylor out, but he could never muster the courage to do so. As Aiden was a frequent visitor at the bank, he knew that Taylor would let him in the lobby. He waited back for a few minutes, as to not appear as if he was stalking her and headed in the direction of the front door.
Aiden noticed a black van parked across the street from the bank. He played through a fantasy in his mind of the FBI following him before coming back to reality. He tapped on the glass of the door to gain Taylor’s attention. She saw him and headed towards the front door. “Good morning Aiden” She said as she led him towards her booth. “I need just a couple of minutes to get logged in”. “No problem” he replied. “How was your weekend?” Aiden said in a desperate attempt to make small talk with Taylor. “Pretty good! I went and saw a comedy show with some friends” she said as she typed away on her computer. Aiden excitedly replied “Thats awesome! I love comedy shows! Who did you go see?”. This was in fact, a lie. Aiden didn’t much care for comedy but he was looking for any way to get Taylor interested in him. Taylor’s face turned from a friendly smile to one with a look of fear.”Fuck, what did I do?” Aiden thought to himself. BANG BANG. Two shots rang out as Aiden flinched. His ears still ringing, he turned around to see three masked men walking in the bank’s lobby.
“Well, this is new” he thought, then wondered why in the hell that was his reaction. He was in the middle of a bank heist and he was thankful for something out of his normal routine. The men yelled for everyone to get down. Taylor’s look of fear turned into a look of extreme disgust and resentment. Aiden’s feelings of excitement quickly faded as he remembered that he wasn’t the only one in this situation.
Aiden’s brain cleared of emotion and he started analyzing the situation. These men came here early in the day. They knew that not many people would be in the bank at this time. They were probably people that he had seen in the bank before if they had scouted the joint during this time previously. He tried to think of people he had seen during his times of coming to the bank but no one came to or stuck out in his mind. There was an elderly gentleman that was always friendly and waited by the door for Taylor to let him in and would bring her fresh flowers or candy in the spring. There was the lady from the coffee shop that came in at opening on Monday morning to do her weekly deposit. She would wink at Aiden and tell him to come by the shop sometime. Neither of those two were possible suspects. As Aiden looked at the three men trying to burn into his memory any distinct characteristics that might help the police later identify them he noticed they weren’t asking Taylor for money. They didn’t even glance at her once she had laid down on the floor. They were looking at him.
“Aiden Johnson get your ass up with your hands on your head.” The tall one shouted. Taylor looked at Aiden accusingly.
“She thinks I’m in on this” he realized. “Hey man, I don’t know what you guys want but whatever it is we are willing to comply just don’t do anything rash” Aiden said cautiously.
“Hah, this mother fucker actually thinks we are robbing the bank” one of the other men mocked. Aiden stood up slowly and automatically started wiping off the front of his clothes.
“Hands on your head, can you not follow basic instructions?” The third man started toward him. He looked down at Taylor in what he hoped was an apologetic manner. Her big green eyes met his and then black.
The next thing Aiden knew, he was riding in a vehicle with some kind of cloth blindfold covering his eyes. He could see through the fabric, but he couldn’t make out where he was. His hands were bound behind his back.
“Take the underpass, I don’t want them to see us coming”. Aiden recognized this as being one of the voices he had heard in the bank. The man spoke with a thick Russian accent that made him slightly difficult to understand. “Why the fuck do you care”, another voice answered. “Do what I say idiot!” the russian man yelled back.
As the men bickered, Aiden started feeling around to see if there was anything that he could use to escape. As he searched, he felt something warm which caused him to recoil. He slowly reached his hand back again trying to understand what this was. He could feel something warm, then cloth, hot air. He then finally realized he was feeling another person.
“Who is this?” Aiden thought to himself. His mind raced with possibilities. Could this be someone from the bank; could it be Taylor? Could it be another victim? “Wait a minute”, his mind stopped, “What the hell is going on?” he thought.
They came to a sudden stop which threw Aiden off balance. As he struggled to get back up, he felt something cool and pointy roll under his back. He regained his composure and grabbed the pointy object, and quickly shoved it inside his belt.
Unexpectedly, the vehicle doors opened and Aiden was hit with a burst of light. Someone grabbed Aiden by the arm and drug him out of the vehicle. “Walk!” the Russian man commanded. Aiden complied as he was led by the arm.
“Get up!” The other man was yelling behind him. Aiden could hear the person behind him struggling to make their way out of the vehicle. He turned back, as if he could do something, but was quickly jerked forward by his arm. Aiden recognized the smell of the water and the sounds of ships. He knew they must be somewhere near the docks, but where?
Aiden was led inside a building and was forced down into a cold metal chair. “Sit while we get the other one” the Russian man said as he walked away.
Aiden was terrified. He had no idea what was happening, why it was happening or what was going to happen next. He thought back to that van he saw outside of the bank. Could that have been the vehicle he was just pulled out of? Had he ever seen it before? What do these people want? All these thoughts were racing through Aidens mind as he heard another chair being dragged along the floor across the room.
“This one is still sleepy” One of the kidnappers said as it sounded like he was pushing someone down into a chair. Aiden heard footsteps behind him, he tensed up as his blindfold was released, and he could finally see who he was in the room with.
He blinked rapidly trying to force his eyes to adjust to the change in lighting.
“Aiden?” A female voice cracked as she said his name.
“Brenda?” Thousands of questions ran through Aiden’s mind. What the fuck was going on? Where was he? Why was she here of all people? Did this have something to do with Sticktech? Was this some sick game like those movies with that creepy doll?
They were alone in a small concrete room with a slit window at the top of one wall, just enough to let light in but way too small to fit through. He could still smell the salt from the ocean and knew he must be near the bay. Had he been in the car that long? He was having a difficult time collecting his thoughts. “Ask her what she knows” a voice in the back of his head commanded. He had no better ideas so he acquiesced.
“Brenda, what is going on? Do you know who these people are or why we are here?”
“Sure, I’m fine Aiden. Thank you for asking” She said sarcastically. Aiden could see now that there was a moderate amount of blood dripping down the side of her face and that the knees of her panty hose had runs and tears in them. He quickly apologized acknowledging how scared he was. “I know, I’m scared too, I was coping. I don’t know what’s happening..about ten minutes after I got your response about the coffee drama. I heard a knock on my door. I looked up from my desk and three men walked in who I had never seen before. Before I could ask who they were or what they needed there was a fucking bag over my head and my hands were zip tied in front of me. One of them threw me over his shoulder and carried me outside to the side alley. I had watched a video online about how to get out of zip ties once as part of a self defense class they recommend in college, so once the man set me down beside the van so they could put me inside I took action. I slipped the cuffs and tried to run. My goddamn panty hose tripped me up and I wiped out. Next thing I know all three guys are on me and then I woke up here, with you.” She finished slightly exasperated.
“You could have gotten yourself killed trying to escape like that”, Aiden responded but silently he was impressed. Who knew Brenda, uptight, rule following and enforcing Brenda would be the one who was willing to fight her way out of a situation.
Brenda rolled her eyes, “what did I have to lose? How do I know they aren’t going to kill me now or worse? I think it was probably worth the risk”.
Aiden remembered the object that he had stuck into his belt. He retrieved it from his waist and began to use it to work on the zip ties that bound his hands. “What are you doing over there” Brenda asked. “The same thing you tried to do” he replied. His mind was still racing, He wasn’t sure how long he had before the men returned. And then suddenly, his hands were free. He gazed down at his hands, to find that he was holding a pair of scissors. This isn’t what Aiden had imagined he was holding, but he wasn’t going to worry about that now. The Russian man walked back into the room dragging another wooden chair behind him. Aiden’s hands quickly returned behind his back, still gripping the scissors.
“You both know exactly why you are here, so why don’t we just cut to the part where you tell me what I need to know”. The Russian man sounded very frustrated.
“Can you be a little more specific?” Brenda quickly fired back at him. “I mean, can you tell us what it is you want?”
“You know exactly what you need to tell me you stupid fucking girl!”. The man pulled a large hunting knife from his belt and pointed it at Brenda.
“Could you give us a hint?”. Aiden was shocked by how Brenda was talking to their kidnapper while he was so terrified that he couldn’t open his mouth. “Sure I might know what you want, but you need to ask”.
The man chuckled. “And what is it you want girl?”
“To live, so why don’t you just tell us what you want so we can get out of here”
“Who among us wants to live?” the man asked. Aiden wasn’t sure of his answer. He was tired of his humdrum life. This was the most interesting thing that had ever happened to him in his 30 years of life, which made him unbearably sad. Then, Aiden made a decision. He was finally going to rise up, and take control of his life. Aiden was finally going to be the hero of his own story.
“What kind of question is that? What are you a troll under a bridge?” Brenda barked with a Morgan level of sarcasm.
The man pulled a flask from his pocket and took a drink. “I am tired of these games”. He plunged the knife into the chair and began walking towards Brenda, exposing the gun that he had stuck in the rear of his belt.
This was it, the moment that Aiden needed. He stood up from his chair. “I want to live”, he uttered. As the Russian man turned around, Aiden stuck the scissors into his eye, and with one swift motion, grabbed the gun from his belt. Aiden aimed the gun at the man, and squeezed the trigger.
The Russian man fell to the floor and stopped moving. Aiden stood there trembling.He had just killed another human being, but his mind was completely blank. He turned to look at Brenda,
“A little help?” she said as she motioned to the zip ties binding her hands. Aiden retrieved the knife from the chair and freed Brenda’s hands.
“Now who’s the brave one” Brenda said as he sprang up from the chair. She turned around and wrapped him in a tight hug. “Thank you, seriously”.
Aiden smiled. “Do you have any idea what this guy wanted?”.
Brenda, still with her arms wrapped around Aiden replied simply “No idea”.
“I don’t understand….”. Brenda interrupted him “Aiden you are my hero”. She leaned back and stared into his eyes. Aiden was thoroughly confused. They had been kidnapped and interrogated for mysterious information and now it appeared as though his story was about to turn into a cheesy romance novel. “I just didn’t want to see you hurt Brenda”. Brenda leaned in closer to Aiden, and Aiden closer to her.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP rang out from a distance. Aiden pushed Brenda behind him shielding her and turned around expecting the other man to have returned, but nothing. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Aiden turned to Brenda. “Do you hear that?” she simply shrugged and pulled Aiden closer. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Aiden’s shoulders dropped as he realized what the noise was.
Aiden opened his eyes to see the front of the bank. He shut off his phone alarm and sat back in his seat. All Aiden could do was sigh.