Almost immediately after coming up with his idea, Jim left his room and walked into the kitchen. Anthony sat at the dining room table, eating a sandwich.
"Hey Anthony," Jim said, walking up to the table.
A look of surprise appeared on Anthony's face. It sure had been a while since Jim directly approached him and talked to him.
"Do you need something?" Anthony asked, putting his sandwich down.
"Can I borrow some money?" Jim asked.
"Umm...sure. If you don't mind me asking, what do you need money for? Are you-"
"I do mind you asking."
"Oh...okay. Well Jim, I was just going to say if you're really, really hungry, I can-"
"Can you please just lend me some money?" Jim's tone of voice sounded quite agitated.
Anthony took a deep breath.
"How much would you like?" He asked, taking his wallet out of his pocket.
"At least a hundred dollars," Jim answered.
Anthony reached into his wallet and pulled out two one hundred dollar bills.
"I'll give you two hundred. Just in case you need extra."
"Thanks."
Jim took the money and put it into his pocket. Without saying another word, he left the house.
Jim started up his car and pulled out of the driveway. It was only about one in the afternoon. If he didn't make any stops, he should've been able to arrive in Concord by the following afternoon. Anthony's two hundred would be more than enough to get him there.
Don't worry, my little princesses, Jim thought as he drove onto the highway. Daddy's coming. He's going to be with you very soon.
As Jim made it out of Houston, several questions began to pop into his mind. How would he be able to approach the girls without Julia noticing? How would he convince the girls to go with him? There was no doubt that they would be excited to see him, but would they be fine if they found out they were being kidnapped? What could Jim tell them so that they didn't think it was a kidnapping? And most importantly, where would Jim go once the girls were finally with him? When Julia finds out the girls are missing, she's going to immediately suspect it was him and send the cops after him. The girls wouldn't be able to live a normal life if they had to spend the next several years in hiding. Jim more than likely would have to leave the country.
Well, Canada is right by New Hampshire, Jim thought. Let's hope border patrol isn't that big an issue.
Jim's feelings of excitement began to rise the more and more he drove. He was not only very excited about getting to see the girls again, but that he would finally be able to raise them full time again. Once they were all out of the country, Jim and the girls could live happily together and never have to worry about Julia's antics again. As long as nobody knew where Jim was going, it would be extremely unlikely that Julia would ever find him.
Jim didn't feel the least bit bad about what he was doing. He was once a strict follower of the law and now he no longer even cared about it. After all, the law was the reason why he was no longer allowed to see the girls in the first place. He was also sure that people would view him as an evil human being after hearing about him on the news (especially since the news would more than likely speak of the molestation accusations), but Jim didn't care about any of them either. By this point, Jim had developed a great hatred for society in general. Society thought it was wrong for a man to want custody of his own children under any circumstance. Society had been attacking him maliciously for several years simply because of his gender. Society was the reason why he had already missed out on a large portion of Cassie and Meagan's childhood. Society was the evil one, not him.
Well guess what, society? Jim thought. I'm going to have the last laugh. The girls are coming home with me and you can't do a thing about it. You can call me the devil all you want and it won't change a thing. I'm going to get my girls back.
Jim ended up arriving in Concord around noon. He hadn't stopped to eat or sleep once during the entire trip, but he wasn't feeling the least bit hungry or tired. The only thing he felt was excitement, nervousness, and determination.
As Jim reached the apartment complex that he used to live in, he pulled his car to the side of the road and thought for a moment. How was he going to do this? He couldn't just pull into Julia's street. If Julia spotted Jim's car, she would instantly call the police on him. He had to take the girls when she wasn't looking. This would give Jim plenty of time to hit the road before Julia even realized the girls were missing. If Jim planned everything perfectly, he could be out of the country with the girls by the time the police were after him.
It was Saturday, so the girls were more than likely at home. Jim would have to hide somewhere close by Julia's house and wait for the girls to go outside and play by themselves. Julia would more than likely not be outside with them since she always preferred to spend time with whatever guy she was dating (that or sleeping). Jim could easily get the girls once they were out on the front sidewalk playing hopscotch (if they still liked hopscotch). Jim's only real issue at this point was getting the girls to go with him and to quickly leave the neighborhood as fast as possible before Julia had a chance to spot them.
If, for whatever reason, the girls never went outside by themselves, Jim's only other option was to wait until Monday morning and go pick them up from school. He would have to search for every elementary school he could find in Concord and ask each office if Cassie and Meagan were students there. Once he found the right one, he could check them out and immediately take off. If anything, doing this would give Jim a lot more time to get out of the country before Julia even realized that the girls had been taken.
Jim stepped out of his car and quickly began walking towards Julia's street. As he came closer, more thoughts began to come to his mind. How was he going to spy on Julia's house and not look suspicious? If any neighbors saw him hiding in one spot constantly trying to catch a glimpse at Julia's front yard, they would suspect something. Jim couldn't risk getting the police called on him before even getting a chance to see the girls. He needed to be as inconspicuous as possible when doing this.
As Jim finally made it too Julia's street, he made a very lucky discovery. He hadn't really noticed it until then, but Julia's house was at the very end of the neighborhood. Right behind Julia's back fence was a street and sidewalk. Not only that, but Julia had no neighbors living to the right of her house. At that very moment, Jim decided that he would spy on Julia's yard from the side rather than from the front. He could find somewhere to hide by the fence and quickly stop hiding if a car ever passed by. He just needed to listen very closely for the sounds of the Cassie and Meagan's voices.
Here goes nothing, Jim thought.
As quickly as possible, Jim ran past the block that Julia's house was one and all the way to the back sidewalk. He quickly looked behind him to make sure that Julia hadn't spotted him. He then sighed of relief and very carefully gazed over at Julia's side yard. To his very luck, there a was very large tree right by her fence.
Perfect, Jim thought.
Jim rushed over to the tree and positioned himself directly behind it. He took a look behind himself to make sure that no cars were passing by. He took a very deep breath and peered to Julia's front yard as best as he could.
At that very moment, Jim heard the sound of laughter. His heart nearly skipping a beat, he turned around to make sure nobody was watching him and then listened closer. The laughter was coming from Julia's backyard. It also sounded like laughter from young girls.
Shaking, Jim walked away from the tree and began looking through the cracks on Julia's fence. There appeared to be two little girls hopping up and down on a trampoline. Jim then caught a glimpse of blonde hair.
GO!! Jim screamed in his head.
Jim quickly leaped up onto the fence and climbed up. Pressing his hands into the wood hurt quite a bit, but he tried his hardest to ignore it. He pulled himself up over the fence and took a look.
There they were. Cassie and Meagan were indeed happily playing on a large trampoline. They were both barefoot and wearing adorable t-shirts and shorts. Of course, they both looked much older than they had the last time Jim saw them. Jim wanted to be stunned and amazed about how beautiful his daughters had grown to be, but he knew he had very little time to think. He needed to act as fast as possible.
Jim quickly hopped down from the fence. Upon hearing him hit the ground, Cassie and Meagan stopped laughing and looked over at him. Their excited expressions quickly changed into expressions of shock.
Jim looked over at the girls and smiled very largely.
"Hi girls," Jim said.
Cassie and Meagan sat completely still on the trampoline. The shocked expressions did not leave their faces.
"Girls, it's Daddy," Jim said, walking up to the trampoline and holding out his arms for a hug. "I've missed you so much."
As Jim neared the trampoline, Cassie and Meagan climbed off of it and began to back up away from it. They now both looked very scared.
Jim's smile immediately left his face.
"Girls?" He asked. "Don't you remember me?"
Cassie and Meagan continued to back up from Jim the more that he walked towards them. Jim was completely dumbstruck. What was going on? Why were the girls afraid of him all of a sudden? Had they actually forgotten about him?
No, Jim thought. There's no way that they could have forgotten about our weekend together. There's no way. There has to be something else going on here.
Cassie and Meagan kept on backing up until they were close to the house. They still looked very scared. Jim soon stopped walking. Tears began to form in Jim's eyes.
"G...Girls...please," Jim stammered, still holding his arms out. "I've really, really missed you. Please come give your daddy a hug. Please. He loves you so much."
At that moment, the back door opened. A man wearing a green shirt and blue jeans walked outside. He had short brown hair and a beard.
"Girls, have you seen my keys?" The man asked upon walking outside.
He then noticed Jim. A very angry expression suddenly appeared on his face
"Excuse me," The man said, walking up to Jim. "Who are you?"
Jim said nothing. He was still completely stunned about Cassie and Meagan's sudden fear of him.
"What the hell are you doing in my yard?" The man asked furiously.
Jim said nothing.
"Girls, go in the house," The man said to Cassie and Meagan.
The girls quickly rushed inside the house. A giant lump began to form in Jim's throat.
"Are you mentally retarded or something?" The man said to Jim. "Talk!"
"What lies has Julia been telling them?" Jim asked. "What horrible things has she been making up?! Tell me! Tell me right now!"
"Are you out of your freaking mind?" The man asked in a much angrier tone. "You trespass onto my yard and think you have right to start shouting at me? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Your yard?!"
"Yes, my yard! I've been living here for nearly six months now, so this is my house and my yard! And I don't tolerate idiot trespassers thinking they have the right to shout at me on my property! I swear, if you're not out of here in the next ten seconds, you're going to freaking regret it!"
"Look man, I have no idea who you are and I honestly don't care. But those two little girls that were out here just now are my children."
"Oh, really? So you're Julia's sick perverted ex. Just who I wanted to meet."
"I NEVER MOLESTED MY DAUGHTERS!! Julia made that bullcrap up so that she can keep the girls away from me! All I want is to be allowed to have a relationship with my own children and Julia just refuses to let me! That's why I'm here! I just want to see my own daughters again!"
"Oh shut up. You're so full of crap. You're just angry because you can't touch them anymore. Guess what, creep? It ain't happening. I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen. If you get anywhere near those girls, I'll make sure that you're never able to use your genitals properly again. You got that?"
Jim's eyes filled up with tears again. He took a very deep breath.
"Look, I love my daughters more than anything. Really. Being unable to see them hurts more than anything else. And I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, would touch them in any inappropriate way. All those horrible things that Julia told you about me are not true. She's been lying for several years to make me seem like a horrible person. I know you're not believing a word I'm saying since you're just so sure that everything Julia tells you is true, but I just wanted to tell you that. I've just had it with all of these lies being made about me."
"Well, if you're really all that innocent, then how come the girls were all scared of you just now? Yeah, I saw the looks on their faces when they were outside. They seemed pretty terrified. Why else would that be?"
Jim said nothing. Thinking about those expressions just made his heart sink. He still could not believe what he had just seen.
"Also, don't even try to cover up what you're trying to do. I know you're trying to kidnap the girls. Why else would you be trespassing into my backyard? Sorry buddy. Those girls are not going anywhere with you. They're too afraid to even get near you. And don't even think about taking them by force. Even if you did manage to make it out of here conscious, people out in the city will catch you and send the cops after before you even know it. Just face it, you're plan is a complete failure. Just give it up."
Jim said nothing. He wiped several tears from his eyes.
"You might as well just get out of here as soon as possible. How about a deal? If you leave right now and never come back again, I promise I won't call the cops on you. However, if you do decide to come back, I will not only call the cops on you, but I will also let them know about your previous visit. Sound fair?"
Without saying a word, Jim turned around and walked to the back fence. As he left, he heard the bearded man say: "That's what I thought."
The walk back to his car felt like the longest walk that Jim had ever taken. Everything that had just happened kept on racing through his mind all at once.
After returning to his car, Jim spent the next hour or so crying harder than he ever had in his life. He just couldn't get those scared expressions out of his head. These were the same little girls who happily hugging him, kissing him, and playing with him just three years earlier. And now they were afraid of him all of a sudden. Jim just refused to believe it.
There was no doubt about it. Julia had been filling the girl's heads with horrible lies about Jim ever since their visit with him. She had more than likely done it so much that the girls now actually believed what she told them. Either that, or the girls believed her just because she was the only one that they could even listen to. It wasn't like Jim was able to constantly remind the girls that what Julia told them wasn't true. It was also possible that the girls didn't actually believe Julia, but they listened to her anyway and stayed away from Jim so that they wouldn't get in trouble. Perhaps the fear on their faces was the fear of Julia's punishment.
Whatever it was, it didn't entirely matter. Cassie and Meagan were not going anywhere with Jim. The bearded man had been right. Jim's plan was a complete failure. The entire trip to Concord had been entirely pointless.
What upset Jim even more was that he knew he couldn't just stay parked in this spot and cry forever. He had to eventually drive back to Texas. He had to eventually drive back home without Cassie and Meagan.
Even after Jim finally stopped crying, he spent the next several minutes just staring blankly. His entire kidnapping idea was literally the only idea he had left. It was literally the only way he could form a relationship with his daughters again. And it failed.
Now he would have to drive all the way back to Texas with no other plans to get the girls back. He would back to the exact same position he was in just days earlier and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He had completely failed.
Jim took a very long breath and slowly turned his car on. Any minute now he would be on his way to drive out of Concord without Cassie and Meagan in his back seat. When he was back home, he would be back laying on his bed crying and doing nothing but thinking about Cassie and Meagan.
Jim continued to stare blankly after turning the car on. All the thoughts of Cassie and Meagan growing up without him returned to his head. All those special moments were back. Those special moments he would never get to be part of...
No, Jim thought. Absolutely not.
He quickly shut the car off and stepped out. He then began to walk back to Julia's street faster than ever.
This was not some job he had always wanted to get. This was not some money deal that he was ripped off on. This was getting his children back. Becoming a father had always been Jim's greatest dream. Cassie and Meagan were the most important things to him in the universe. He was not going to lose them because of a malicious woman's heinous acts and a society that kept on blindly supporting everything she did. He was not going to give up without a fight.
As Jim walked to Julia's home, several thoughts began to rush through his head all at once. What on earth was he going to do? Cassie and Meagan were already afraid of him. How was he going to get them to come with him? What was Julia going to do? Would the police become involved again? Would Jim have to physically fight anybody? How was he going to win?
There was only one thing he knew he for sure. He was going to do whatever it took to get Cassie and Meagan back.
Jim raced up to Julia's front door and banged on it harder than ever. After a minute, the bearded man from earlier answered. He did not look very pleased to see Jim.
"Didn't I tell you to get lost?!" The man said furiously.
"Get the hell out of my way," Jim said, shoving the man aside. He then marched inside the house.
"WHAT THE FREAKING HELL?!!" The man screamed.
He tried to lunge at Jim, but Jim quickly turned around and struck him in the face. While Jim wasn't a very strong person, there was no doubt that a blow to the nose was incredibly painful. The man staggered back and crashed into the wall, knocking down a framed photo. Jim quickly left the room.
He marched through the large home, trying to find Cassie and Meagan. They were nowhere to be found on the first floor. In a panic, he rushed up the stairs. He kept on expecting to run right into Julia, which he was fully prepared for.
After searching around the upstairs living room, Jim ran into a hallway that looked like it contained bedrooms. Sure enough, he could hear the sound of Cassie and Meagan's laughter coming from one of the doors. Jim took a deep breath and opened it up.
Cassie and Meagan were sitting on a bed playing with Barbie dolls. The instant that they saw Jim, those scared expressions returned to their faces.
"Girls!" Jim shouted, walking towards the bed. "I've never done anything wrong! Please don't believe those things your mom tells you! None of it is true! I love you so mu-"
Right as Jim neared the bed, Cassie and Meagan leaped off of it and raced out of the room. Jim turned around and raced after them.
"Girls!" Jim shouted. "Listen to me! PLEASE!!"
"MOMMY!!" Cassie and Meagan both shouted. "MOMMY!!"
Cassie and Meagan ran down the stairs and into the downstairs living room. As Jim quickly raced down the stairs himself, he heard Julia's voice.
"Girls, what's the matter?"
Jim ran into the living room and then immediately stopped in his tracks. Julia, wearing only a bra and panties, stood right in front of him. Cassie and Meagan had their arms around her and both had terrified expressions on their faces.
Before Julia had a chance to even react, Jim completely let out all his rage. He didn't think he had screamed even harder in his life.
"THIS IS THE END OF THIS, JULIA!! THIS IS THE FREAKING END!! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR STUPID GAMES!! SICK AND TIRED OF IT!! AND I'M OFFICIALLY DONE WITH PLAYING MR. NICE GUY THROUGH ALL OF IT!! I WANT MY DAUGHTERS BACK IN MY LIFE AND I WANT THEM NOW!!"
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!!" Julia roared back. "GET THE HELL OUT RIGHT NOW BEFORE I CUT YOUR OTHER BALL OFF!!"
"NO!! YOU TELL THE GIRLS THAT EVEYRTHING YOU TOLD THEM WAS A LIE!! RIGHT NOW!!"
"GET OUT!! GET OUT!!"
Cassie and Meagan both started to bawl loudly. They both kept their arms around Julia.
Just as Jim was about to let out another scream, he felt something strike him in the back of the head. He let out a gasp and fell face forward to the ground.
Before Jim could even had a chance to pull himself back up, Jim felt a hand grab him by the back of the shirt. The hand pulled him up and threw him against a wall. Jim suddenly became face to face with the bearded man, whose face was covered with blood.
"YOU'VE MADE A GIANT MISTAKE, PAL!!" The man screamed in Jim's face.
At that moment, the man began striking Jim in the face multiple times. With each punch, Jim's vision became less and less clear.
"Yeah! Get him, Roger!" was the very last thing that Jim heard before everything turned completely black.
ns 172.70.127.26da2