A Costly Shortcut

It was a cold, winter day in Chicago as Mason watched another 18 inches of snow hit the railyard track. Mason came from a middle-class household and believed in strong family values. Today was his daughter's fourth birthday, and he couldn’t wait to get home and see the look on her face when she opened her present.

*RING*.

“Mason, you know the drill, I need you to work overtime tonight”, Bill, Mason’s supervisor, said in a monotonous voice.

“Did everyone else turn down the work?” Mason asked.

“Yup.” Bill replied.

“Alright.” Mason’s voice deflated.

Mason belonged to a Union and having the least seniority meant that he would be required to work. In the dreary conditions, no one wanted to be out in below freezing temperatures scraping away ice to get the railcars moving.

Mason was in his late twenties and felt that everything in life had a purpose. His mother was diagnosed with cancer, and he had lost his father early on. To make ends meet, Mason went straight to work after high school.

Mason ended his shift exhausted but the thought of seeing his family got him excited to drive home. He opened the door to his car, turned on his radio, and began driving home.

“...another gang related shootout in the Southside. Two killed and several injured.” He heard a reporter saying.

He was passing by the neighborhood he grew up in as his car’s low fuel light turned on, and he pulled over at a gas station. As he struggled with the gas hose, his phone rang, again.

*RING*

It was Bill. “Hey, Mason, there’s an emergency, there was a major derailment in the Southside terminal. I need you to head over there pronto.”

Mason took a long deep breath and responded, “I’m on my way.”

Luckily, the location was nearby, and he knew a shortcut just past an abandoned warehouse he used to play by as a teenager. Mason finished filling up his car, drove to the warehouse, and parked. The tracks were on the other side, and he knew he’d save time by walking through. Normally, safety-conscious Mason would think twice before going through an abandoned building but this was his hometown, and he was already late to his daughter’s birthday so he took the chance and went in. In the distance, he heard the police sirens.

Mason took out his flashlight and began walking slowly through the dark warehouse. The warehouse would receive shipments of coal via the railway. Because the tracks were no longer maintained, there must have been ice-buildup that caused the derailment.

Passing an office space, Mason took a quick glance at the door. It was slightly open. He thought he heard faint footsteps.

“Don’t move!” a teenager yelled, armed with a 45-caliber aimed straight at his face.

He was tall and slender with scratches across his face.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Mason raised his hands, and a million thoughts rushed through his mind. Would I ever see my daughter again? Why did I take a shortcut? Is this just a kid? Do I really have a gun pointed to my face?

“I said, who are you?” he repeated as he cocked his gun.

Mason immediately snapped out of his trance. He could no longer feel the coldness of the air. Panicking, Mason stammered, “Uh, my na-name is M-Mason. I work for the railcar company. I’m just trying to get to the tracks. I really mean you no harm. I have a family, please.”

The sirens could still be heard in the distance. Only their breaths remained in the air as the perpetrator thought to himself.

He reached for his phone and called someone while he kept the gun pointed at Mason’s face.

“Rudy! Come upstairs now! I think I just figured how we can keep the cops off our tails. Oh…and bring a bag and some duct tape”, he hushed over the phone.

Louder footsteps could be heard, presumably Rudy’s. Another teenager entered the room with a surprised look on his face.

“What are you doing Charles? Who is he?” Rudy perplexed.

“We’re taking him hostage. The boss will be so proud of us.” Charles smugly said.

If it wasn’t so cold, Mason would feel the sweat down his body as he tried to make sense of his predicament.

“Turn around slowly, and put your hands behind your back!” Charles proclaimed.

Hesitant Rudy promptly began taping Mason’s hands. He ushered Mason to squat so he could put the bag over his head. It became clearer to Mason that the adolescents had no idea what they were doing. He was terrified of the gun, and he wanted to start thinking about what he would do next to escape, but he started to feel dizzy.

“Not like that Rudy! He’ll suffocate! Charles cried.

Rudy promptly took the bag off as Mason gasped for air. Sheepishly, using his Swiss army knife, Rudy made a few holes, and then he put it back on Mason’s head. Mason knew then that this was their first attempt at any kind of hostage situation but he didn’t want to exacerbate the situation. This was his first time being a hostage, too. He just wanted to stay alive.

Mason could see a little bit, but he felt the gun on his back as the two teenagers guided him through the building. He then heard some keys jangling and what sounded like the hood of a trunk opening. He could make out the shape of a vehicle and was suddenly pushed in.

It was dark and crampy. He didn’t know where he was being taken but there were a lot of twists and turns. The entire ride was bumpy. Mason vowed to himself that if he made it out alive then he would never take another short cut. Planning his escape at the same time, he just needed to grab his phone out of his pocket. He managed to get the bag off his head. It wasn’t tied or anything so it easily came off.

The car came to a screeching halt. The trunk was unlatched.

“Ugh Rudy, you didn’t put the bag on right! Ok, it doesn’t matter. Time to get up.” Charles instructed as he manhandled Mason out of the car.

*RING*.

Mason wanted to cry, why did it have to ring now? These kids were plotting the worst kidnapping ever. He surely could have called for help when the time was right.

“Ugh! We forgot to check if he had a phone!” Charles yelled. Rudy searched Mason’s pants. He grabbed the phone and tossed it on the ground, stomping on it to destroy the phone completely.

Mason felt his hope go away as they took him inside of a building. He could see the shadow of another person and hear a lot of movement running around. There were a lot more people.

“WHY IS THIS PERSON HERE?” The person said in a deep, demanding voice. He was a lot older. Maybe in his 40s or 50s. Now, Mason could feel the hair stand on his neck.

Charles started to stutter. “W-We thought he would be a good hostage if we got st-stopped. Th-there were cops everywhere.”

“THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!” The person who appeared to be in charge shouted. “You both know NOTHING. Now, he KNOWS too much. He’s SEEN too much. For no reason at all.”

Charles and Rudy felt completely embarrassed. Their boss’s attention suddenly shifted as his walkie-talkie interrupted them.

“Boss!! There’s something wrong. You need to quickly come to the surveillance room.”

Their leader angrily pointed at Mason. “Get RID of your loose ends. It’s TIME for you both to grow up. He better not be here when I’m back.”

The man briskly walked away. Terrified Mason really wished he had escaped when he was in the warehouse when he was just dealing with youngsters. He could hear them whisper to themselves.

“Charles, I don’t know about this, we’ve never killed somebody before”.

“Let’s just do what the boss said, you remember what happened to Eddy”.

With thoughts soaring, he knew he had to take his chance now. “Listen to me, you guys don’t need to do this. I know you don’t want to do this.”

Rudy and Charles glanced over at Mason and looked apologetic. “We don’t have a choice. Otherwise, the boss…”

“I’ve been in your shoes. I grew up in the neighborhood. I know how it feels to not have food on the table or not being able to find any work. I know what it feels like to not have your parents around. I thought about working for someone like your boss before. Your boss may act like he is your protector, but all he cares about is his bottom line. He doesn’t care if you live or die. Trust me, there is a way out. You can get out of this way of life so that you don’t have to live like this.”

He could see the facial expression change on them as if maybe a part of them trusted him, and Mason sincerely wanted them to. He could see himself in them. He didn’t want to wait too long, especially not if the boss returned. Mason was about to take a run for it.

“DON’T MOVE!” Within seconds, a flash banged and gas appeared in the air all around him. He saw the frantic look on Rudy and Charles, and knew it wasn’t them. Windows started shattering as gun shots were heard. Blinded, Mason thought he couldn’t breathe again. Everything was turning dark, and he wondered if this is what death felt like as he lost consciousness. He didn’t even get a chance to give his daughter her gift.

Mason woke up in a hospital bed. Confused, he felt a throbbing headache.

“I’m so thankful you’re back, my love.”

Recognizing his wife’s soothing voice, Mason wondered if everything was just a terrible dream.

“What happened? Why am I in the hospital? I had the absolute worst dream, Jane. I really thought I was going to lose you and our baby girl.” Mason relieved.

“Mason…..I’m not sure everything you went through, but I’m so glad we found you. When you didn’t come home for your daughter’s birthday, I got really worried. So, I checked your location using ‘Find My.” Your last location didn’t really make sense, and your phone kept going to voicemail. I just ended up calling the police.” Jane explained. “Apparently…you were in the middle of a gang hideout.”

So, it wasn’t a dream. Mason started to remember everything.

“It turns out that the police were after this local gang for several months, and you led them straight to their operation so they rewarded us with $20,000.” Jane went on. “Our baby girl is at her grandma’s right now. She’s still waiting on you to give her a birthday gift.”

Mason was still processing all of the information, “Well, that’s unexpected.” He couldn’t believe that his dilemma led him to $20,000. He wanted to tell Jane everything that happened to him. What happened to Charles and Rudy he wondered.

“Her gift is in my inner jacket pocket, could you grab it for me?” Mason was thankful Rudy didn’t find it.

“Sure, is it this?” Jane pulled out a little black notebook.

“Yup, now that she can read, I wanted to give her my Moleskine notebook. I have been writing and drawing about all of the interesting things I’ve seen. But I think I just need to make one more entry before I give it to her.”

“What do you think we should do with the money?” Mason could tell Jane was processing everything, too.

“You know how I grew up, Jane…in the neighborhood. I think there’s a reason why this happened to me today. Maybe, with this money, we can invest in the community and help reduce the gun violence. Our youth really deserve to have better resources.”

The End.