Girls' Trip - The End

Sarah gasped to catch her breath after being jerked backwards by the hair. She instinctively reached up to rub at the wounded area, but winced when the barrel of the gun pushed into the side of her head.

“Now, everyone why don’t we all sit down and have a little conversation about what is going to happen next. First of all—, “ his head whipped in the direction of the sound of the back door being opened. The eyes of all four women filled with the hope of being rescued.

“Hey, did I miss anything?” Another man sauntered in with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes that instantly caused a wave of nausea to pass over Sarah.

“Did you get everything?” The man with the gun spoke.  Both of the men ignored the women and the hope that disappeared from their faces.

“Yep, and I finished moving their cars just like T asked, I think we're all set. It'll take awhile before anything is found.”

“Great! So -- where were we--"

“What do you want? You can have all of our money and we won’t tell anyone,” Dot interrupted. The man with the gun looked at each woman carefully. He eyes roamed over Dot, Melinda, and Sarah.  After staring directly into Terry’s eyes, he nodded to the newcomer. 

A loud crack tore through the cabin and all four women jumped as the newcomer immediately pulled his arm back and struck Dot across the face. 

Dot, fell over, grunting. She pushed her self up sobbing quietly and gently cradled her cheek in her hand. A small river of blood began to run from the side of her mouth.

“Now, where was I?” Once more, Sarah noticed the man with the gun look at Terry, and this time he smirked. 

Terry said she thought she might have known him. 

Sarah suspected they did in fact know each other, and what was going on now, was why she fled the bar. 

Did they date? Did he stalk her? For how long did she know him? Is he going to punish her by killing all of us? Or worse? What happened between them that led to this? He's probably just nuts, like those characters on Criminal Minds, or real life psychos like on Forensic Files.

A loud sigh interrupted her thoughts. She looked right into his eyes. They didn't really reflect any emotion, perhaps annoyance or boredom, Sarah thought.

“You know, maybe I should just skip story telling time and we’ll get this party started,” He stood up and grabbed Terry roughly by the arm, yanking her behind him toward the other room. She limped in her attempt to follow him, her foot still bleeding. She whimpered and cried out.

As Melinda, Dot, and Sarah sobbed, begged, and reached out to help their friend, Terry also cried and begged to be turned loose. They pleas did not go ignored.

“Get it together! You’ll all have your turn,” the newcomer oozed. He then produced a gun from the back of his pants.

Sarah knew that her and her three friends were in the biggest trouble they had ever been in all their lives. For the second time that evening, Sarah, Melinda, and Dot huddled close together, as the man with a gun, the stranger from the bar, dragged a slobbering, screaming Terry to the middle bedroom and the newcomer guarded them from escape.

After 20 minutes of silence from not only their room, but from the room where Terry was held, Melinda finally built up the nerve to speak.

“Who are these guys?” Melinda whispered. Dot fearfully looked at the newcomer waiting to see what would happen when Melinda spoke. He had no reaction.

“The guy I told you about earlier. It's the same guy from the bar.  Terry said she thought she knew him and then said it wasn’t him. Clearly it was, but why wouldn’t she tell us?”

“I don’t remember her ever mentioning this guy? Do you guys?” Dot added.

“No,” Melinda and Sarah spoke at the same time.

“Not before tonight, when we saw him at the bar." Sarah leaned in closer, "And who is this T person they mentioned? When will he get here?” 

“SHUT UP!” The newcomer shouted.

Sarah’s stomach swirled in fear and she wondered what was happening with Terry. Why hadn’t she screamed out this whole time? Was she dead?

They all looked up when the bedroom door creaked open slowly.  The newcomer turned his back to speak with the stranger from the bar. Sarah became jittery and watched them closely. As he inched closer to the other room, Sarah whispered, “I might try to run for help, it’s our only shot. If we have a shot.” The other two hesitantly nodded.

He took another step as the two men spoke in low voices. His body stood halfway in each room. She braced herself, her muscles tense.  One more step in and she knew she might have a shot, or they would.

The newcomer leaned an inch further into the room to look at something and Sarah pounced. She hit the door and barreled through it.  Screams from her friends chased after her, but she couldn’t determine if it was screams of pain or encouragement. Then one of the men yelled out “T!!!!!!!!!!” at the top of his lungs. That one could understand, he was calling for back up.

She didn’t want to stop to look around for the third mystery man, she had to get help. She flew down the porch steps and onto the black top sidewalk path that led back to the bar. She just needed to be faster than "T" and hopefully faster than anyone else that would try to hurt them.

She was only a mere 50 outside the cabin when she heard a snap in the darkness, like the branch of a tree. She slowed her run, her heart racing.

“Sarah!” A familiar female voice called out to her from the darkness. 

Now she merely walked quickly as she looked ahead of her, seeking out where the voice came from. Was that from the trees? She glanced to the left, but didn't see anything, at first.

Sarah’s eyes squinted, trying to see in the dark in the hopes of making out the figure that now presented itself to her.

“Terry, is that you? How did you ---" She stopped her approach to Terry and took one step back. “---get away?” Her voice drifted because she already had the answer. Based on the Terry's reply, her face must have given it away as well.

“Yeah, I know.” Terry emerged from the trees with a gun of her own, blocking Sarah's path to freedom.

Sarah's mouth fell open and her heart sank deep into her swirling stomach. She could think of nothing more to say, except to ask one question.

“Why Terry!?” a single tear rolled down her cheek. Sarah never flinched when the stranger from the bar snuck up behind her, wrapped both arms around her middle, arms included, and pulled her backward, slowly. She continued to look at the woman who used to be her friend, waiting for an answer.

“Why not? Now the party is a surprise party. Surprise!” Terry winked at her and threw her head back in laughter, as the stranger from the bar pulled her back to the cabin without any further fight from Sarah. 

The hope that had faded from her face an hour ago, now seeped out from every last pore in that moment, as she knew it would be her last.