Chapter 12
Just when Jordan and Ivan don’t think that Mark’s a threat to him because he’s too weak to do anything to retaliate against them, besides talking nonsense to make them lose their jobs, Mark devises something that will change everyone’s life forever—to kidnap Little Aaron. Aaron went to school, five days after being admitted to the hospital for the second time, because the doctors wanted to check on him and make sure that the operation was still helping him, otherwise they would have to perform another one--and today was just like any other day. He started chatting with his friends and having a good time, as always. Suddenly, very close to where he and the boys were, a car pulled up. The car looked just like his father’s car. It was bizarre how Mark and his men pulled that one out because there were many Kia Rio Cinco station wagons here in the state of Florida, but not in that peculiar blue-green color. The only reason why Ivan’s car was that color was because he had had the people at the dealership paint it that color right after he paid it in full. The car was originally black, and Ivan didn’t like black cars. He didn’t mind riding one because he couldn’t tell his friends or family members what color car they should have, but he didn’t like driving a black car. The last time he did, at sixteen, he was parked in front of Wal-Mart and it was an old car that his father had just bought for him for six hundred dollars, a car that was valued at $3,500 in the Kelley Blue Book. It was only ten years old, a Toyota Camry, pretty and somewhat luxurious, but the air conditioner had just broken down, and Jake didn’t know that. He had to wait for his friends to shop at Wal-Mart for three agonizing hours. They figured he wasn’t a baby or a toddler, so he’d be all right. They were wrong. Dead wrong. Next thing they knew, 911 had to be called because Ivan was suffering from severe heatstroke, and doctors had to pour their hearts and souls out, and paramedics had to do the same, to save his life. Since then, Ivan’s had a phobia for driving black cars, and when riding a black car, he would demand that the car’s air conditioner be perfect. Otherwise, his friends would either have to take the car home and bring another car of a different color, or he wouldn’t go out with them at all. The men didn’t allow Aaron to see them for a few moments. They succeeded in making him think that this was his daddy picking him up. Aaron got in the car thinking that his father had come pick him up to take him to an emergency doctor’s appointment or for a check-up, and he’d forgotten about that yesterday, and he just remembered, so he returned to pick him up and take him. The innocent, sweet little boy couldn’t be more wrong. The two men were in the back seat, and once that Aaron sat in between them, they couldn’t fool him anymore, and Mark was in the driver’s seat. One of the men lifted Aaron, feeling awkward about having him in the middle of them, and moved him to be right by the window. Then, the other minion made Mark pull over and he took the passenger seat as soon as Mark complied. They didn’t intend to hurt Aaron. They intended to hurt Ivan, by making him think that he’d never see his son again. The men didn’t even want a ransom. They wanted to break Ivan’s heart, teach him a lesson for disrespecting Mark the way he did. The men acted friendly with the little boy. He was nice and they didn’t want to mistreat him. He was an innocent child who hadn’t done anything to them, and he didn’t deserve to get hurt.
“Who are you? Did my dad send you?”
“No, your dad didn’t send us. It’s time that we quit lying.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re here to get revenge against your dad, and we’re using you to get to him because your dad’s a bad man.”
“Why is he a bad man? My dad has never hurt anyone. Quite the contrary, he’s helped people get back on their feet again, helped them rehabilitate. He’s taken people who were in vegetative state and had them walking. He makes house calls for those people. He provides medical equipment to the handicapped. He’s a very good man. He has lots of friends. If he were a bad man like you say he is, no one would want to be around him.”
The man got next to his ear and whispered, “You’re right?”
When he was about to ask, “What?” the man covered his mouth with his hand and got next to his ear again to tell him something else. “Be quiet. Don’t talk to us. We’re just telling you what Mark wants us to say. He wants us to set you against your father. We are going to take you to a cabin, and then you’ll have a chance to ask all the questions you want there because Mark’s going to leave so that the police don’t get him into this, but you have to shut up. Otherwise, Mark’s going to kill both of us and make you disappear. Mark is the bad man. Very bad. Don’t buy his act when he starts being nice to you.”
Several hours later, the men arrived at the cabin with the boy. From the car, Mark gave the men explicit instructions on how to deal with Aaron. They weren’t to lay a hand on him because they were way too big and strong and they could kill him just by slapping him, but they were to let him starve. This morning’s breakfast was to be his last meal. They were also to let him dry out with thirst, torturing him by denying him his basic needs as a human being. The men nodded, and the child hadn’t heard this because he’d already run into the cabin, and Mark left. Mark didn’t know that his minions would do the exact opposite of what they were just told to do. The first thing Spaulding, the first accomplice did, was to go out and get Aaron a happy meal from Mc. Donald’s. One of Mark’s biggest mistakes in this crime was trusting his men completely, leaving the cabin for the first time, never to return, until the boy would starve to death, and not even calling his minions to see how the boy was suffering. He thought he was doing this right because he shouldn’t be in contact with his minions. He thought that Aaron would hear his voice and recognize him when the police would gather different men and ask him who his kidnapper was, his true kidnapper, the mastermind, the bad man. The men kept feeding the little angel until he earned half a pound in a lapse of one day.
Mark knew that Ivan was going crazy at home, wondering what had happened to his son. He decided to call him and torment him some more.
Ivan picked up the phone, expecting a call from the kidnapper, asking for a ransom, and he’d even gathered all the money he’d just found out that he had in the bank to pay for such ransom. Ivan didn’t say hi or anything, he just got to the point. In the meantime, Jordan was composing him a text message telling him that it was all over between them because she didn’t want him and his family to keep getting hurt because of her. Besides, she could no longer sleep with a man she was aware belonged to another woman. Ivan’s body didn’t belong to Nicole in any means, but his heart did belong to her, and that was something that either Jordan or no other woman could fight against. She sent the text message, but Ivan wouldn’t get it just yet. He was talking to the kidnapper on the phone without knowing who he or she was. “Listen, I’ve got the money for the ransom. I’ve got 1.5 million dollars in my dining room table, in a black suitcase in front of me right now, and if you want more, I’ll ask the bank for a loan, or ask a friend for the money, but please, please, for the love of God, don’t hurt my little angel.”
Mark smiled. He was so wrong-wired it wasn’t even funny. To enjoy someone else’s pain was far beyond evil. “I don’t want your money. Keep your money, Northwood.”
“So what you want is to kill my child, just like you’ve killed so many others?”
“What are you talking about? That hideous creature would be my first victim,” Mark said, playing innocent.
“Cut the crap and give me my child back. I will give you all the money in the world, just give him back!” Ivan felt his heart pounding in his chest. He expected anyone to turn out to be the kidnapper, anyone but Mark Saunders. This just showed Ivan how weak and wimpy Mark was. He couldn’t face him and fight like a real man, so he targeted his child.
“I am not giving your child back to you. I instructed my men to keep him in the cabin I took him to and let him starve to death. You are never going to see him again. You are going to pay for what you’ve done to me.”
“Doing all this for a couple words I said to you? Are you crazy? Why would you ever hurt a child because someone hurt your feelings? You are wired wrong, man, you need help!”
A call came in the other line and this was Ivan’s chance to interrupt Mark’s call before Mark would tell him that now he’d really done it and he was never going to see Aaron again because he would take him out of this world in a much quicker, but more painful way. Crying, Ivan said, “Hello.”
“Ivan Northwood?”
“Yes?”
“I’m just going to tell you one thing. Look out your window.”
Puzzled, Ivan hung up the phone, Mark taking this as utter disrespect and looking his cell phone like he wanted to destroy it to take out on it all the feelings that Ivan caused him to have, and went to his front door and started looking out the window. Those ten minutes it took him to get from the dining room, where he’d been sitting, to the front door, were the most dolorous. He looked out the glass part of the door where he could see the visitor before coming in. The caller told him to look out the window because he had no idea what Ivan’s house really looked like, and it was dark outside, so he couldn’t see the house really well. He thought that Ivan lived in the simplest of houses just because he wasn’t a multimillionaire, and anyone with a good job could accumulate one and a half million dollars in the bank. Ivan saw nothing but a car in the window at first, a car that seemed black, but looked just like his. The color of the car that ruined part of his life played a big part on his accident because it was said that black cars would let in more sunlight than other cars and got a lot hotter on the inside. Ivan didn’t know why, but he found out the hard way that this was true. He didn’t know if it was because of the car or because it was easier for his body temperature to rise than it was for other people and he would always be hot, and need the air-conditioner to be higher than normal. However, that wasn’t the case. What happened was the car’s fault. Black cars did let in more light than others. That’s why, when he was left in any other color car that didn’t have air conditioner, because he felt too sleepy to walk, get out, and go into whatever place his friends wanted to go to, he didn’t feel as hot. All it took was for him to have one of those fans that you had to swing constantly with your hand and he was good to go. That would keep him cool, along with keeping the windows down at all times. Nonetheless, his friends would do everything in their power to keep their air conditioners in their cars functioning correctly. They were the same friends Ivan had when he was younger, and they did not want to go through that with him again. It had taken them months to get over the guilt. Then he said, “Man, what’s this all about?” in his cell phone. “I’m not in the mood to look a black car out the window!”
“This car is blue-green, just like yours! Man, why is this street not well lit? People can’t go out by foot at night, really if that’s the case! Man, that’s messed up. Anyway, just wait. Somebody’s getting ready to get out of this car right now, and it’s someone that matters to you. He’s getting what remained of the food that we gave him.”
“Oh, my…”
“I guess I just gave you a hint. Come on, Aaron, your father’s waiting for you!”
Aaron got out of the car and ran to the front door of his father’s house, while his father opened it, ran to him at the same time, and wrapped him in his arms, holding him tight, thinking that if he let him go, he’d be taken away from him again. “Daddy, I love you!”
“Oh, man, I love you, too.”
The child was at home, safe, so the crooks left.
“You can finish that in the house. Come on.” They went in and Ivan closed the door behind them.
“That’s just it,” Aaron said as they walked through the entrance hallway, “I’m full. That’s why I didn’t finish it.”
“I don’t think junk food can really be saved for the next day just like other kinds of food can.” He took the food from his hand. “Bella already ate, but it took her a long time to do so because she knew you weren’t here or with Mama and Papa, but I’m going to feed this to her. As a matter of fact,” he gave the food back to Aaron, “why don’t you take it to her?”
A few minutes later, Aaron went out the back of the house to get to Bella. Bella was lying down, depressed, and she’d been crying since Aaron left for school. She had the feeling, somehow, that when he left this morning, he’d never come back, and she’d literally die of misery if that had really happened. Aaron noticed that she didn’t see him, so he called out to her. “Bella! Bella! It’s me, Aaron! I brought you something to eat! Come on, Bella!” It was a whole whopper meal, for adults, of which Aaron had only taken one bite. He couldn’t eat anymore because the men had contradicted Mark’s orders and overdone it, too, feeding him all day. As he walked to Bella, Bella got up and started running to him. When she got to him, she jumped on him. “Whoa!” he screamed.
Ivan had to go outside to make sure Bella wouldn’t trample Aaron. He ran, slightly, to get to them a little faster.
Bella started licking his hands, and the food was in the bag, beside her. Luckily it didn’t wind up scattered on the floor, inedible. Laughing, Aaron said, “Come on, let me get up! Your food’s right there.”
“Take it easy, Bella,” Ivan said, petting her, and undid the wrap from the burger for her, and then scattered the fries on top of the bag the food came on. Bella calmed down, but deep inside, she was still thrilled to the point of dying of joy because Aaron was back. This time, Aaron wouldn’t get away from both his homes until he were eighteen. They all planned to enjoy his company and everything he had to offer in the meantime.
Bella ate the food in a matter of minutes. The next thing Ivan knew, the whole Northwood, Ainsworth, Haynes, Garcia, and Thornhart families, they parked their vans on the front of Ivan’s house. They used their biggest vans so that they didn’t have to use so many cars, carpooling in different groups, and to those that didn’t have vans, Daniel had bought one for each one of them, for the whole family, so they could carpool more often, and as always, they didn’t have to pay Daniel back for the cars. Daniel would spend money when he needed it, and every time he would do it, it would be anywhere from ten thousand to a hundred thousand dollars in one blow. Nevertheless, that was chump change for him because his company would only get more powerful every day that went by, and he would get richer.
Everybody got out of the car and started looking for Ivan and Aaron. One of Ivan’s neighbors called Langston and told him that his nephew was brought back and that’s how everyone ended up here. For a minute they thought that something horrible had happened to Aaron and Ivan was in the hospital with him. They panicked until Langston called Ivan. They even failed to notice how calm and collected, and happy Langston was. If they had been right about what they thought, Langston would’ve had a breakdown and would’ve been under a Baker Act. They were shocked when Langston said, “Hey, man, how are you doing? Ooh, why you sound so close?”
Walking back to the back door of the house, Ivan said, smiling, “Aaron and I are in the backyard feeding Bella.”
“Feeding Bella? Didn’t you already feed her? I know how careful you are with that.”
Ivan hung up the phone and in a matter of minutes, he approached his brother and hugged him. “I know, but the bastards that kidnapped my baby boy fed him like there was no tomorrow, and the last whopper meal they bought for him, Bella had to eat that because he was way too full.
Langston looked down at his nephew while Bryce hugged his cousin and didn’t want to let go of him. Then he got on his knees and Aaron said, “They were instructed not to give me anything, absolutely anything, to eat or drink, and from the moment Mark left, they fed me like there was no tomorrow. I’m tired of feeling full. I never told them I was full because I thought they’d kill me if I refused to eat all the food.”
“They didn’t lay their hands on you.”
“No, they didn’t. They said that if I was a man, they’d tortured me, but they don’t mess with women or children. That’s why Mark hates them, because they don’t hurt women…”
Langston cut him off. “I know what you mean.”
“And they don’t beat up children. They say women and children are sacred.”
“If Mark wanted them to do the full Monty to his victims, why doesn’t he just fire their asses?”
“Because he’s stupid.”
“You know, dear nephew, you’re smart.”
“Yes,” said Bryce, “you’re awesome. I love you. My world would’ve been destroyed if we had lost you. This family would’ve forever been left incomplete.”
The people couldn’t help shedding tears.
The cousins hugged. Then, Bryce asked, “Hey, Dad, would you please ask my parents if I can spend the night with my cousin tonight?”
“Actually, they told me that you needed to spend some time with your cousin because of what happened to him today, so yes, you’re spending the night. I came to know how everything was going, but overall, I came to leave you here with your cousin. Your adopted parents, your mother, her cousin lives next door, and they’re coming over to that house with her cousin, to spend the night and keep an eye on you.”
“Bet you they’re not going to be able to sleep over there and they’ll wind up spending the night here.”
“No problem,” Ivan said. “There’s more than enough room here. Of the four bedrooms in this house, only two are occupied.”
“So you’re basically inviting them in, Uncle Ivan.”
“Why not? I’d love to have the people who are raising you as my guests, Bryce!” Ivan said, holding his nephew’s hand. “As a matter of fact, I am going to call them up right now, tell them they can spend the night here because Fridda’s got her three kids in the house and they’ll be kind of uncomfortable. I don’t want Little Fridda, Willow or Omar to have to sleep on the couch tonight.”
“Oh, God…”
“I know they’re a little overprotective of you, Langston told me, but that will stop when you turn fifteen or sixteen, trust me. By then, you’ll only depend on them financially.”
“You don’t know my parents.”
“Better yet! I can get to know them and we’ll drink hot chocolate together, and crackers, and we will have fun.” He opted to send them a text message inviting him to spend the night at his house instead of Fridda’s so they could be even closer to Bryce, almost right next to him. “I’ll send you to the room farthest away so you can sleep without having to put up with our nonsense, ok?”
“I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like them protecting me and watching over me all the time,” Bryce said as he followed his uncle to the kitchen. “That’s what parents are supposed to do, but sometimes it’s a little too much. They want to know where I am, in the house, and what I’m doing, at all times. They smother me.”
“And it may get worse with what happened to my son,” Ivan replied.
“Oh, God, it’s like you’re putting a curse upon me. Look, Uncle Ivan, before they get here, I am going to take this chance to let it all out and say all the things that I can’t say in front of them, not because they get angry or punish me, ‘cause they don’t—but because they feel like cow dung afterwards, and I don’t like it when they feel sad because of me.”
“So, they don’t ground you or yell at you.”
“Me or my brother. They only get angry when we disobey them or when we hide things from them, but other than that, they don’t scold us or ground us for speaking our minds. They actually encourage us to tell them how we feel. My mom kept her anger in for my dad once and she thought she’d gotten over it, but then one day when they argued, she started reproaching him for it…”
“…Quite the vocabulary you’ve got there.”
“I read a lot, especially at home. Mom and Dad always rents books for us at the local library. I love reference books most of all. My mom bought us each a dictionary and a thesaurus, for kids our ages of course. We could read by age three, and that’s why we were always ahead of the other kids in class, not because we were smarter, but because by the time they were just learning to read, we’d read it all, except adult and teenage books of course.”
“Maybe you are smarter. Have you guys ever gotten an IQ test?”
“Yes, we did when we started kindergarten. We took some kind of test and that was weird because we hadn’t even started school yet. A test before starting school? I don’t understand that.”
“That was some kind of assessment test, to evaluate your skills and exactly where you were. That was an IQ test I think. Do you remember what you and your brother scored?”
“Brody scored 130 and I scored 132, but we don’t know what that test is. Even so, he got jealous because I scored better than him.”
“Such IQ tests were quite uncommon, especially when it comes to children your age. They were measuring your level of intelligence. Maybe in the back of his mind, Brody knows that you’re a wee bit smarter than him, according to the IQ test, but in reality, that’s not true. Just because someone scores better than you on a test doesn’t mean they are smarter or better than you. Remember that. It might mean that they concentrated more, than…” Bryce was recording Ivan’s words on a voice recording, on his phone, for Brody to listen to, from the moment they started talking about him. “Usual or maybe they studied more, you know what I mean? Sometimes a lower score indicates that you didn’t study, and that’s why you didn’t do well. It doesn’t mean you’re dumber than anybody else.”
“Thank you, Uncle Ivan.”
“Scores are just scores, and most of the time, they indicate nothing. They only mean something when you are at school or at the doctor’s office. People stress and get depressed over nothing. That’s why mental illness is so rampant, because most people drown in a glass of water. Ever since my son’s life was on the line, I’ve learned not to fuss about the small things.” He was serving himself a drink of fruit-punch juice. Bryce stopped the recording and sent the voice message to Brody’s cell phone. Big Brody taught them how to use all the features of the phone before letting them start to use it. That way they wouldn’t buy something online by accident or do something that was even worse without knowing it. “If I drop a glass of milk on the floor, do you think I’ll fret? No. I will pick up all the glass in a dust pan, throw it in the trash, the glass, and then I will take my mop and clean the floor. I won’t be like, ‘Oh, my god’…” he said the last thing imitating a little girl.
Bryce laughed.
“No. We have to stop that, you know? That’s called crying over spilled milk. No one in their right mind cries over spilled milk, not even if they’ve run out of milk after dropping the glass. They just go to the store and get more milk. Simple as that. They have no money? Go over to your neighbor’s house and ask for milk.”
“What if your neighbor’s mean or just plain greedy?”
“Well, you tell them thank you very much even if they gave you nothing and you go over to your next neighbor’s house and ask for milk, and if you have to walk through the whole neighborhood, do it. You got legs. If your legs don’t work right, you got a wheelchair. There’s always someone who’s willing to give you some milk, or sugar, or anything you need at the moment.” They walked back to the dining room and Ivan was drinking his juice. “I think you should know, little guy, that not everybody’s greedy or mean, or just ill-hearted. There are good people in this world, and they’re not as hard to find as you might think. Can you imagine what this world would be like if there were no good people left?”
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