I'll Leave the Light on

It had started so suddenly and the momentum was so high, there was absolute nothing I could do to slow it down or stop it.

They had guns and now my car was theirs. When they threw me in the trunk, my head banged on the side of the car. It was very dark in here and I shook with cold and fear. What were they going to do with me and would I be dead before the night was over? My family always wondering what had happened to me. James with his heart breaking.

They would find my car somewhere, maybe stripped or burned, with no trace of me . . . no fingerprints, no DNA, no nothing. Peggy would just be gone.

The road was full of potholes and the trunk threw me around with each new bump. My body was going to be covered with bruises and they wouldn’t be able to identify me except by my dental work or my tattoos.

We traveled for what seemed like hours before the car finally stopped. My heart was thumping so loud I was sure they could hear it before they even opened the trunk. I was blindfolded and led down a path in the woods.

Having grown up in the country, the smells of the nearby farms and the woods at night were normally all very calming sensations. But not tonight. The smell of manure would usually be very reassuring but right now, it just smelled like shit.

“Where are we going? What are you going to do with me?” I pleaded for answers. “Please, I will pay you anything you want and I won’t tell anyone. Just let me go.”

An EKG would have shown me quite close to heart failure by this point. My head was spinning, not only from this situation, but from being bounced around in the trunk.

My heart felt like it was going to explode and I was having trouble catching my breath now.

Passing out was a definite possibility at his point.

“Please, I can’t breath and I can’t walk anymore.”

“Shut up Peggy”, one of them growled.

They knew who I was. This was a revelation I hadn’t expected.

They were mumbling at each other. Something about calling me by name and ‘he was gonna be mad’.

I was light headed now and in imminent danger of collapsing. My heart was thumping completely out of control.

As I exhaled my last breath before I passed out, I remember thinking, “I’ll be dead by morning”.

Awakening in the hospital ER, dizzy and confused, I wondered how I had gotten here.

“Oh doctor, she’s awake.”

“Hi Peggy. How are you feeling? You gave us quite a scare.”

“I’m fine, I think. What happened?”

Just then James walked though the curtain and toward me, tears in his eyes. A genuine look of concern on his face.

“I’m fine, James. Really”. I assured him.

The doctor looked at me and then at James and said “Maybe it’s time to explain.”

James dropped to one knee, with a small black box in his hand.

“Oh my god”, I whispered breathlessly.

“Peggy, I love you very much and I will spend the rest of my life making this night up to you.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the ring, but as his words sunk in, I turned his face up to me and said “What?”

“I wanted tonight to be memorable and I got a little crazy. I had the guys kidnap you to bring you to my house but it didn’t occur to me that it might turn out this way. I’m so sorry!”

Now, I was delighted and angry at the same time. I loved James very much and was looking forward to the day he proposed. I just didn’t think it would end like this day had.

“Oh James, I was so frightened. And I’m angry right now. I think you should leave and come back later.”

James gently placed the box in my hand and walked away. He blew me a kiss before making his exit.

“I yelled after him,” If the answer is yes, I’ll leave the light on,” knowing full well, all the lights would be on when he returned.