I want to thank 
For those of you keeping score out there, I am way behind on my NaNoWriMo novel but I continue to move forward. I think 1,667 words are possible every day of the week, but in this case, I keep going back and trying to add in specifics where I only use generic terms. When November is over, if I haven't finished, I'll be continuing my freewrites and hoping that they'll spark some creativity into me like they did today.
Debt.
"So, hey, where's this house we going to?" The gruff voice belonged to the big man beside Julie, the one holding the gun, that had her life in his hands.
"It's on that hill over there, hidden back in the trees," The Italian said while driving. Julie had only heard two men and two car doors slam before they left the convenience store, but who knew how many there might have been?
"That hill? Didn't know there were roads going up there." Gruff said.
"Yeah, you just gotta know where to look," the Italian said matter-of-factly. "B.J.'s got a house up there. We'll take them there and then wait for further instructions."
"Man, if I were this woman's husband, I'd be freaking out about now."
"Nah, you know those rich types. The guy stays out all night, partying and spending all the money, the gal stays home with the kids." Julie could imagine the Italian guy, tall and stocky, a cigar waving about in one hand as he talked.
"Still, I'd be freaking out when I found out my wife and kids had disappeared," Gruff said, his voice slightly muffled. Maybe he was looking out the window?
"Ah, don't you worry none about that. We have a surprise being delivered to him in the casino in a couple hours." The Italian guy laughed as though something was funny, but only to him.
"Now you've got me thinking about cartoons. Bugs Bunny and the like--"
"Yeah, but they had bombs or at least something that explodes. Us, we don't use that. B.J.'s sending him a small letter. Then he'll freak the fuck out."
The conversation droned on. Julie could hear what the two men were discussing but she wasn't quite sure if she really cared enough to listen. Mike had tried to keep his gambling debt hidden from her the entire year, but she knew that he was taking out a few dollars here, a few dollars there. His gambling seemed as though it wouldn't be that bad when she married him ten years ago. Now, handcuffed and blindfolded in the back of a car, headed who knows where, she wished he was in front of her so she could smack the shit out of him.
That's why all this was happening: the kids, Nevie, herself... All kidnapped and held hostage because of Mike's debt to one of the casinos or more.
She wanted to say something, something about how she and the kids weren't involved, how they were innocent of Mike's debt, but she knew better than to speak. The guy with the gun in his lap sitting next to her scared her, but not as much as the Italian in the front seat. The word mob flashed through her head and her hands began to tremble, her knees pressed tightly together as her entire body began to lock up.
Not only that but they really weren't innocent -- not entirely, that was. Didn't they all come out on these vacation 'gambling trips'? She could have stopped them at any time. Hell, she could have stopped Mike and asked him what he was up to, with the withdrawals from their checking account every month. Julie took a deep pained breath and closed her eyes.
It wasn't just Mike's fault that she and the kids were in the predicament that they were in. She was just as culpable as he was.
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