Emily was a sweet little girl who suddenly disappeared after her parents, Rick and Sarah, went to the park with her. One second they saw her in the playground, and the next second she was gone, literally gone. After 10 years of being missing, there she was all of a sudden, right on her parents’ doorstep.  Emily’s mother almost fainted when she saw her. Emily responded: “Mom, I need to tell you something” Emily’s mother, Sarah, looked at her daughter in disbelief. “Is that really you, Emily?” She said while tears rolled down her cheeks. She hadn’t seen her daughter since she was five years old. She had changed a lot, but Emily recognized her mother immediately. “Yes, mom. It’s me. I’m home.” Sarah took Emily in her arms and just sobbed. She called for her husband to come and he too couldn’t believe his eyes. “But how?” he said in disbelief. “My, girl, how is this possible?” Emily let it all happen and sink in. She had waited for this moment for ten years. And now, she was finally home. But it hadn’t been easy for her. She had been through a lot these past years and fought hard to get back to her parents. Always keeping them in her mind as a motivation to push through, no matter how horrific the situation was. And now that she was finally safe, she felt ready to tell her story. It all started that day, ten years ago, when her parents took Emily to the park. It was early in the afternoon, and Rick and Sarah took their daughter outside. There was a park near their house they visited often. So, they let Emily roam freely as they sat on a bench watching her.  Emily played on the slide and around the monkey bars and was in sight the whole time. But her parents made one tiny mistake. They had been to this park so often that they trusted nothing bad would happen, so, for a moment, they took their eyes off their daughter. They lost sight of their daughter as they laughed and talked to their neighbor. It was a brief conversation, no longer than two minutes, but it was enough. Rick looked back at the playground, and Emily was gone. His mind filled with panic as he shot up and ran circles around the playground, shouting his daughter’s name. Rick and Sarah spend the next few minutes in total panic. The neighbor searched the surroundings with them, but Emily was nowhere to be found. Sarah knew she had to be taken by someone, so they immediately called the police. Meanwhile, Emily was in a situation she wouldn’t be able to get away from for the next ten years… Emily could hear her parents shout for her to come back, but she was unable to answer. The person who took her held his hand over her mouth as he carried her to the back of his van. She tried to bite him, but his gloves were too thick. He opened the sliding door and threw her in. The man sped away and even drove past Emily’s parents, but they were in too much panic to notice. Emily banged her little fists on the van’s back window and yelled as hard as she could, but no one could hear her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched her parents become little dots in the distance.  Ever since that moment, she had been in survival mode. The kidnapper drove for what seemed like an eternity. And when he finally stopped, it was already getting darker outside. The man got out of the van and left Emily inside for a few minutes. She looked through the back window to see if she recognized anything, but it was in vain. Emily noticed two people standing across the street. She started yelling hoping they would hear her, but they didn’t even flinch. Suddenly the van door flew open, and the kidnapper rushed in. He immediately started the car and sped off. “Quiet!” he yelled at her. Emily knew it was over… They drove for another few hours. It was already pitch black outside when they finally arrived at their final destination. The man opened the van door and grabbed Emily by her arm. He yanked her out of the car. Emily looked around, but all she saw was an empty, dark forest. They entered a little wooden cabin. It reeked of spoiled food, and there were many empty pizza boxes inside. The man opened a hatch in the ground that led to an underground cellar. He threw Emily down the stairs and closed the hatch again, leaving her alone. Emily felt devastated, but it wasn’t over yet.  Emily looked around her as her vision adjusted to the darkness. She could make out a thin little mattress on the ground and a bucket in the corner of the room. She was little enough to stand up, so she shuffled around the walls to feel if there would be any windows, but there weren’t.  Emily felt the stairs and climbed up them until she reached the hatch. She tried to push it open, but it was locked from the other side. She banged against it with her fists but got startled as the kidnapper stomped on the hatch as a reaction. “Shut up!” he yelled at her. “Let me out!” she yelled back. The kidnapper kept her in the basement for what felt like a month. There were no windows, so it was dark 24/7. This made her lose track of time. He only opened the hatch to throw food down at her so she could eat or to give her a bowl of water.  One day, the hatch opened. And to Emily’s surprise, it stayed open. She slowly got up on her feet and shuffled to the staircase. Her clothes were dirty from the ground, and she reeked of sweat and tears. She climbed up the stairs and had to squint her eyes because of the light.  “What is your name, little girl?” Emily blinked a few times and looked at the man who had taken her. “Emily,” she said silently. “It’s time to clean you up,” he said with a smirk on his face. “I ran you a bath.” Emily was confused by this but followed him into the bathroom.  The man told her to get undressed and take a quick bath. But to Emily’s surprise, he left the room and locked it behind him. Emily immediately went into full escape mode and looked around her. There was a small window, but it was too high for her to reach. And sadly, there weren’t any sharp objects. She didn’t want to upset the man, so she undressed and bathed herself. She washed her hair and started to feel a little normal again. Maybe this man wasn’t so bad after all? But that was exactly what he wanted her little naïve mind to think. Emily got out of the bath and put on the clean pajamas he had left for her. “I’m done,” she said with a shaky voice. She heard a few clicks as the lock opened and looked as the door slowly opened. “Ah, you found the pajamas I left for you. Do you like them?” he asked her. “Yes, thank you.” The kidnapper’s face lit up as he heard those words. But he wasn’t as nice as he seemed.  In the first few years of Emily’s captivity, she thought the man to be nicer than she thought. But as Emily got older, she saw right through his schemes. He made sure Emily was always clean and dressed in doll-like white dresses. She had to obey him and do as he asked.  He would beat her and throw her back in the basement if she refused. That was his favorite threat, throwing her in the basement, because he knew how much she hated it. So, afraid to get hurt, she obeyed him blindly. She had to sleep next to him, and as she got older, she also had to cook and clean for him.  As she got older, the man got more and more aggressive. It had been almost ten years since she was taken, and Emily was about to turn sixteen years old. She had grown up in captivity, and it felt normal to her. She knew nothing else about life outside of the cabin. Until one day, something changed.  One day, her captor left her alone in the cabin. He did that sometimes, but this time was different. Usually, he would hide the remote of the tv, so she had no way of entertaining herself. But today, he forgot, and Emily thanked God he had forgotten.  Emily watched as he closed the door behind him and immediately grabbed the remote. She had no idea how to work it because she had never used electronics before. She tried every button she could find and after a while, she finally succeeded.  She pressed the buttons from the top of the remote, and the tv jumped on. She watched with amazement at the screen, not knowing what she was actually looking at. But moments later this NewsChannel would save her life…. She saw two people sitting at a desk, talking about a missing girl. Emily thought about what that poor girl would be going through. But after having a closer look, she saw something that changed her life forever. She couldn’t believe it…. A man and a woman came on the screen. They talked about the missing girl and showed a picture of her, from the day she went missing. Emily’s heart began to race as she watched closely. It felt like she had a panic attack, but she did not take her eyes off the TV screen.  Suddenly, she saw a picture of what the girl would look like today. And she looked just like her! Emily couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She felt confused and shocked. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes when she suddenly realized what was going on… Out of nowhere, she remembered everything. This wasn’t her home. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She had parents who were still looking for her. All of a sudden, she remembered that she had been taken by the man at the park. She needed to escape as soon as possible!! Emily turned off the tv and hid the remote. Her body was filled with adrenaline as all her old memories flooded her mind. She knew her captor could be back any minute, so she had to act fast. She wanted to get back to her parents and tell them that she was still alive, even after all these years… She inspected all the windows to see if her captor might have left some open, but to her disappointment, everything was locked. She needed to act quick here, so Emily was searching for any possibility to leave this horrific place. And just as she was about to give up, she heard an engine in the distance. Emily’s heart dropped. Her captor was back, and she had no way out. She searched through the kitchen, hoping to find a weapon of some sort. They always used plastic knives, so there were no sharp objects in the kitchen drawers. By now, she heard the car getting closer and closer. She frantically looked around her and finally found something. This would definitely help her in her attempt to escape this place.  There, underneath the couch, she saw a metal pipe sticking out. She ran to it, grabbed it, and hid behind the door. Her heart was racing as she knew this was her only chance of ever getting out. She had to get this right the first time, or it would be game-over.  Emily grabbed the pipe tightly as she listened to his footsteps, getting closer and closer to the door. The gravel crackled underneath his heavy boots, and she knew he could walk through the door any minute now.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion. The door handle slowly twisted, and the door opened. The man walked through the door, and before he could do anything, Emily hit him on the head with the metal pipe without any hesitation.  Emily watched as the man dropped to the floor. She had no time to think. She immediately ran outside barefoot and ran for her life. She ran deep into the forest and as far as she possibly could but she didn’t know which direction to go. She just ran randomly hoping to see other people.  Every sound she heard scared her. Emily had no idea if her captor had followed her or not. So she had to be very careful. She walked and walked without really knowing where she was going. She just hoped that she would eventually come across some people which could help her. She walked through the woods for a few days and finally reached a gas station. All she knew was her life in the cabin, so when she saw that gas station, she was a bit hesitant. She didn’t know where to start, but she grabbed herself together.  The bright lights scared her, but she knew she had to eat. Her tummy had been growling for a while, and she felt weak. She had no idea what she would find inside the gas station, but she had to try in order to survive.  As soon as she walked in, she felt all eyes on her. She grabbed a bag of chips and started eating. But after a little bit, a woman walked up to her. She asked Emily if everything was alright, but the look on her face gave away that she knew something was up. Emily looked at the woman with sadness in her eyes, She didn’t know if she could trust her, but she looked so nice. Emily finally felt safe for the first time in her life. And as she opened her mouth to tell the woman everything, she burst into tears. The woman took Emily in her arms and escorted her to the back. There she sat her down and gave her water and a blanket. The woman then called the police and asked them to come immediately, this was urgent!!! Emily could hear the sirens in the distance. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she was reunited with her parents. The police officers asked her name, and they brought her home as soon as she said it. She felt so relieved that she would finally see her parents back again.  “And now I’m here, mom,” she said quietly. Emily’s mother cried as everything sunk in. She hugged her daughter tightly as her husband let the police officers inside the house. Both Emily’s parents were in shock because they thought she was probably dead… The police had to bring Emily to the police station for questioning, but they wanted to reunite her with her parents first. So Sarah and Rick came with their daughter to the station and watched as she made a statement.  Emily was very overwhelmed and asked the police officers if they would arrest the man who did this to her. They promised her they would do everything they could to stop the man and bring him to justice. And after all the information Emily provided, the officers were able to track her kidnapper down and arrest him. Emily spent the rest of her life with her loving parents and grew up to become a private detective. The end.