The day began just like any other day. I woke up and made myself some tea. I the TV to watch the news for a little while. Of course they were talking about the president and about war and all the normal things. The only thing different was that there was a hit and run last night someplace in Los Angeles. That was normal as well. We just live in a depressing world.

            I walked over to my closet and picked out my outfit for the day. I chose my black button up shirt and a pair of jeans. I wanted to look a bit professional but casual at the same time. I went over to my bathroom and brushed my teeth and washed my face. After that brushed my hair and put it up into a ponytail. Then I applied all of my make-up. Then I put on deodorant and I was all set.

            I grabbed a piece of toast and then my purse then I was out of the door. I didn’t like being late for work at all. In journalism every minute counts. With my company the sooner you get your report in, the more likely it’ll be in the paper or a magazine. I wanted my report to be in one of those so badly.

            As usual I caught the bus and met the usual people. The bus doesn’t take me all the way to where my office is but it does stop close by. I usually get off at the fifth stop and walk to work from there. It really isn’t a long walk but I usually hate walking.

            As soon as I got to my desk I got to work. I was almost done with the article that I had written. I just had to type out a few more paragraphs and then I was done with it. I really wanted to get this article over with. It was about some of the homeless people living in California. It was a good article but boring and I knew it. But if I got it in soon and if they find it not totally boring, which it isn’t, then they’ll publish it.

            I finished and submitted my article just before I had to leave to go have lunch with Maria. I emailed the article to the publisher and packed up for the time being and left the office for my lunch break.

            I caught the bus to meet up with Maria at a nearby café. When I was dropped off I had a little bit of a walk again. I never really had a far walk to anywhere. I was smart enough to plan my day out that way.

            I walked into the café and Maria was waiting for me as usual. She had a seat by the window in the café. We usually liked to sit there when we could. The light felt really warming and comforting.

            I looked at my watch and saw that it was noon. For some reason I felt uneasy. I started looking around as if there was something to look for. Every time someone walked by I always looked at them with cautious feeling. Maria seemed to pick up on it all.

          “Sam, is everything alright? You seem to be on edge.” Maria said.

           I looked at her and sighed. “I’m fine. I don’t know why I’m like this. I just feel very, cautious I guess.” I replied.

          “Is something going on at work or something else?” Maria asked me.

          “It’s really nothing. Besides I really have no reason to be this way. I just seem to be having a bit of an off day.” I said to her.

          She looked suspicious. I didn’t say anything more about why I was cautious. “I’m going to order. Do you want anything?” I asked her.

          “No I’m good Sam. I already have my coffee.” Maria said holding up her cup. “Thank you though.”

           I nodded and went off to the counted and ordered a tuna sandwich along with a coffee. I brought them back to the table and sat back down. Maria and I talked a bit more. She was telling me about how she was getting lonely around the house. I told her that she should get a cat or a dog. She laughed and I laughed along with her.

           When twelve thirty rolled around Maria had to leave to go home to get ready for a party and I had to get back to work. I had to decide on what I was going to write about for my next article.

           “Sam, if you want I can give you a ride back to work. It really wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Maria offered.

           “No it’s alright. You need to go to that dinner tonight with dad so you need to get ready. Plus I don’t mind taking the bus.” I explained to her.

           She sighed and shook her head. “Since when have you become so independent?” She asked me.

           “I don’t know. College and having a steady job really makes you have to do things on your own. I can’t have my parents cover for me all the time. I’ve learned to take care of myself.” I explained.

           “I guess you have a point. Well if you need anything just remember to call me. Plus you should come home one of these days. Your father hasn’t seen you in a long time.” Maria said.

           “Okay, I promise that one of these days I’ll come and visit you guys.” I replied.

           “Thank you honey. Now you go and have a good day at work.” Maria said.

            “Is that even possible?” I said joking with her.

            “Hey you never know. Maybe one day through your work you can meet a nice man.” Maria said hinting to me.

            "Maria, I’m really not in the mood to be dating guys right now. I want to focus on my career right now.” I protested.

             “I know sweetie. Well I’ll see you later.” She said and then gave me a hug.

             “Drive safe Maria. I also hope that you have a good time tonight with dad.” I said. I then pulled away from her hug.

             “I will. Bye Sam.” She said and then walked off to her car.

             “Bye Maria.” I said and waved. She got into her car and drove away.

             I started to walk back to the bus stop. It was getting late and if I missed the next bus then I was going to definitely be late for work. I really didn’t want that to happen so I started walking off to the bus stop right away.

             “Excuse me, is your name Samantha Joo?” I heard a voice ask me.

             I immediately turned around to see a man standing by a black car looking straight at me. I was trying to figure out if I knew him. His face really didn’t ring a bell to me. I really don’ think that he and I have ever met before. He looked a little bit older than me by maybe a few years. He wasn’t that bad looking either. I just wondered where and how he knew me and I also wondered who he was.

             “Yes that’s me. Who are you?” I asked him back.

             “Your father sent me to pick you up. He said that he wanted to talk to you about something important. It was something that he wanted to tell you face to face.” He told me. It was funny how Maria and I were just talking about how I should go see my father. But I didn’t think now was a very good time.

             “Oh, well I have to get back to work soon so is there any way that he can wait?” I asked the man. I hoped that he would say that it could wait.

             “I don’t think so Miss Joo. But he did say that it wouldn’t take up too much of your time. I’ll even drive you back afterwards if you want.” I was a bit upset because of that. My father knew that I was trying so hard to work but he insisted that he needed to see me. It had better be important. I sighed and looked at my watch.

             “Alright I’ll go with you. But afterwards you have to get me back to my office as fast as you can okay.” I demanded. I was in a bit of a bad mood now.

             The man just nodded and opened the back door for me. I got in and he closed the door for me. I still felt very uneasy. I didn’t know what it was but everything just didn’t feel right. Maybe I was just worried about if my article was going to be in the paper or not. That would explain a lot.

             We were just driving around in the car. I was thinking about how I should be happy to see my father. It really had been months since I’d seen him. Maybe he just wanted to catch up on things. He really didn’t go home to Maria that early so he can never really call me because it’s so late. I should be more reasonable.

              I was also thinking about the next topic that I could write for an article. I could really talk about anything as long as I could make it interesting. Maybe that was why I was having a hard time. With all the different topics in the world it was hard to just choose one.

              The driver was taking a turn into an alley when the tire blew out. The car jumped a bit and it jerked from the driver hitting the breaks. I was in shock for a little while but I was okay. I was worried about the driver.

              “Miss Joo are you alright?” The driver asked me. He seemed to be okay but I figured that I should ask how he was doing.

              “Yes I’m fine. Are you okay? What happened just now?” I asked him.

              “I think that the tire blew out. I’m going to go check. You should come outside just in case it’s not the car but something else.” He explained to me. I nodded and got out of the car.

              The driver bent down to observe the blown out tire. He was looking all around to see how it blew. I knew a thing about cars so I bent down next to him to try and see if I could figure it out. I ran my hand through my hair. There was nothing that I could see that could explain why it blew out.

              I stood up and looked around a little bit. We were in the middle of an alley. I wondered how we even ended up here. But that really didn’t matter. “Maybe we should call a mechanic.” I said.

              “We don’t need to do that. I have a spare tire in the trunk.” He said to me. I was relieved to hear that. I just hoped that he knew how to put on a spare tire. Even I didn’t know how to do that.

              “Okay if you say so.” I replied. If I doubted him then maybe he would feel like I’m just a snobby person. I wasn’t. I was just really stressed out.

              I could hear him take a few sniffs of the air. I wondered what he was doing. “Hey do you smell something?” He asked me.

              I really didn’t smell anything. “Smell what?” I asked him.

              That’s when things became a little unclear to me. He put a cloth with a strong fragrance smell to it over my nose and mouth. He then wrapped his other hand around me so that I couldn’t pull away from the smell. I tried to fight him off but I started to feel weak right away. I knew that I should have followed my gut and be more cautious. I out after that.

              I don’t know anything that happened over that period of time. All I knew was that my gut was trying to warn me about this the whole time. I should have known better to just get into a car with a stranger. My parents were my weak point. I wish that I had known better. None of this would have happened then.

               I could only imagine what this guy wanted. I didn’t really want to know but I knew that no matter which one I chose, it would involve me getting hurt or even killed. I was scared. I didn’t want this to happen.