Alice Weil - Kidnapped

She is known as Lili, and believe it or not, she owes this fact to her little sister who was unable to pronounce her proper name and shortened it to Lili. Its really her nickname, but sometimes when she is with her sisters and they call her Lili in front of their friends, they, too, call her Lili, not knowing any better. Her grandchildren also call her Lili, so as you can see, it has a lot of meaning for her. The sound of Lili is harmonious and she would even say it has a happy ring to it.

Lili had two things going for her: a very fine sense of humour and keen intuition. Her classmates at school would sometimes call her a witch, for whatever she said, always came true. This intuition never failed her. Being the eldest of five girls, and born into a prominent family, she always sensed that one day she would be kidnapped. Yes, that is the wordkidnapped. In those days, she used to smoke and therefore could not bear the thought of being kidnapped without having a pack of cigarettes, so she always made sure she had plenty in the car. A lot of good that did when the time came. But, dear Reader, I am getting ahead of myself so allow me to start from the beginning.

As I said, Lilis intuition never failed her and so, after having spoken her fears and anguish about not wanting to stay in Colombia, and not having been listened to, she went about her daily chores with a huge sense of unease, always expecting something to happen. When the day was over, she would invariably let out a sigh of relief, grateful that the unexpected had spared her once again. You could say it was a really weird situation.

She drove out to the farm one day, stopped at a gas station and filled up the car, bought an ice cream, then turned around and went home. Now, why did I do that? she asked herself time and time again. It would not be until many months later, under completely different circumstances, that she would find the answer.

Then there was the issue of her daughters fifteenth birthday. The persistent feeling that she would not be there to attend the party had her totally in its grip. So, when the important day finally came and went, and Lili was there with the rest of the family, she let out another huge sigh of relief. She asked herself out loud if her intuition could be sending the wrong messages.

I certainly hope so! she answered. But she was none too sure.

Life went on as usual and with every passing week, Lili was more and more convinced that her intuition had been playing tricks on her and that she had nothing to fear. What she didnt know was that she had only been granted some extra time. While in Europe for Christmas, she shared these fears with her family.

No need to worry, they only kidnap men, she was told. If only they had known how mistaken they were.