January 16, 2016      Saturday

    So I’m being held custody but I don’t know where I am. I’m just writing to pass time and get out my feelings and stuff. I was walking behind the tennis court by the road and the shed, and felt the random impulse to hide from the people in the parking lot who were headed toward their car. I ducked behind the shed and peaked out every now and then to see if the car had gone yet.

    After the car was gone, I walked around the corner of the shed to the wall that faced the parking lot. I was right next to the tree on that side when one of the guys jumped off the shed and knocked me to the ground, and also knocked me unconcious.

    When I woke up--probably only a few seconds later

(Bathroom break. There’s a bucket to crap in. Hopefully they don’t walk in.)

Ok, back. So, when I woke up there were five guys standing around me, and the when who was closest asked me something in Korean. When I didn’t answer, he asked me who I was in Arabic. I actually know Arabic but since I was scared, I didn’t want them knowing I understood them. I thought I could listen to them behind their backs secretly. It was surprising that he didn’t ask me--a white girl in the United States--who I was in English first, so I wondered if they knew English at all.

     I told him “I speak English.” He looked at me for a second and I repeated myself.

    He turned to look at the others and asked in Arabic “what language is that?” (I would be writing what he said in Arabic, but if they look in my journal, I don’t want them seeing that I’ve been able to understand them this whole time. I mean, I’m pretty sure they don’t know English)

     They talked about me a little while then told me to stand up--in Arabic, of course. They spoke clearly and forcefully while motioning what they wanted me to do, so that I could understand what they wanted even without knowing their language. When I stood up, the one that knocked me out and spoke to me directly (clearly the leader), pinned my arms behind my back. It was a little uncomfortable but it wasn’t too bad. He ordered me to start walking and shoved me forward a little. We walked in between the tennis court and the gym. Two of the boys directly in front of me, one in front and slightly to the right, and the fourth behind us, while the leader kept my arms pinned. As we passed by the gym, I looked inside the well-lit interior and watched people lift weights.

    DANG IT! I could’ve screamed! Why didn’t I? Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! I guess--thinking back on it--I was really curious and wanted to see where they would take me. Maybe…   I mean, there was something really weird about being in California, having a couple of Asian guys jump out of hiding to knock you unconscious, then accusing you of being a spy in Arabic--which seems to be their natural tongue. (by the way, they asked each other if they thought I was a spy)

    Whatever. What’s done is done and now I’m here. So they led me to the woods along a dirt path. It wasn’t super dark out because of the moon, and deeper in the woods, there started to be a few dim streetlights every now and then. Eventually we came across a small shack with dim/warm light glowing through the closed blinds.

    Real quick rewind--When I looked through the gym windows, the leader told me to look forward and turned my head forcefully with his--I’m pretty sure--left hand, still managing to keep my arms pinned with his right hand.

    The guys started talking to each other on the walk. I had a little trouble focusing so I missed some of what they were saying. But they were talking about how they didn’t think I was a spy (from a particular group that I didn’t quite catch the name of) because I didn’t speak Arabic or Korean or whatever other languages that I would’ve needed to know in order to be a spy. At any rate, they decided all they could do was keep me hostage until they got where they were going and let somebody else (seemingly and older adult) come see me and declare what should be done.

    So, I wish I could write all of this in order and edit my phrasing and stuff, but I only brought my new (fancy) journal and not my laptop, so I don’t have microsoft word. Not that I regret bringing a journal, because one: who knew I’d be here? Two: A laptop might’ve gotten broken. And three: It would look really sketchy if they walked in and saw that, but I could probably get away with writing in a notebook.

    Anyway, we got in the shack, which looked very old-fashioned and simple. It was made  of wood, had a fire place and had lanterns hanging from the ceiling. It was a restaurant because it had tables, chairs, and a bar/counter (all made of wood), and wooden booths. They sat me at the booth in the seat right up against the wall so I couldn’t escape. Three sat across from me, the leader sat next to me, and another sat next to him. One of the guys ordered food and the worker had sushi prepared within the next several minutes. The guy that ordered for us brought the sushi to our table as well as chopsticks. It was all kind of weird.

    After about  15-20 minutes, we left again. This time, I was led off of the trail and deeper into the woods. After about maybe two or three miles (I did the estimate based on what time it was when we left the restaurant and what time it was when we arrived) we came to this REALLY COOL tree-house community. There were all these treehouses in giant trees connected by bridges and stuff. It looked so cool at night with the glimmer of fire flickering through the windows and stuff. Not far into the community, they led me into one of the houses, using a mechanical/pulley-based elevator to lead me up to the “porch.”

     One of the guys grabbed some firewood that was on the porch and used a lighter to start a fire in the fireplace of this treehouse. Then they locked me in here and two of them are standing watch out on the porch. There are some small windows, but I’d be dumb to try and escape. I’m in a tree.

    I can’t really hear what they’re saying out there so I stopped trying to listen. There’s nothing in here but the crapper and the fireplace, which is exactly opposite the door. It’s about 10 PM so I’d say it’s been approximately four hours since I was abducted. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens next…

    I’m not really sure how big the “community” is. I’ve only seen maybe seven treehouses up close but it looks like there are more deeper in the forest. If there are a lot, however, they must all be blocked by trees. This is actually kind of of cool. Anyways, I’m getting kind of bored from writing, so I think I’m just going to put this back in my pocket for now.