Chapter 12: Recording the Evidence

During the week, Yudia stayed at Lazarus' house in his childhood tree house while Emuna, Lazarus and Zaboulon went to work on Monday through Thursday. Lazarus sneakily provided Yudia with some food and water as well as Emuna and Zaboulon visited her at that time. Emuna blessed Elohim of the good news for her aunt's health was doing a bit so much better, that she expected her aunt to be discharged from the hospital in Kesaf on Friday.

Yudia's parents tried to find their daughter all over the city including the authorities, and they still couldn't find her. Emuna, Lazarus and Zaboulon comforted them while their hid their anger towards Mr. Valmont. They patiently waited for their time to carry out their plan against him.

After Emuna, Zaboulon and Lazarus performed their ministry work on Friday morning with Emuna's grandparents, they headed for Lazarus' house and snuck Yudia out of his house from the backyard. While they exited his house, they walked forward on the sidewalk. They saw cars sitting there at the sidewalks' edge on both sides of the road, clear sky, shiny sun, children either playing in their front yards or throughout the neighborhood, and neighbors chatting with one another.

Emuna turned to her friends. "Alright, guys. You guys know the plan, right?"

"What's the plan again?" Zaboulon asked.

"Y'know…how to gather some evidence against Mr. Valmont," Emuna annoyedly answered.

"Oh, yeah. Of course! I can't believe I forgot! Sorry 'bout that! Ha-ha-ha!" Zaboulon embarrassingly stated, scratching the back of his head, closing his eyes.

"So we're headin' for Red Alley, right?" Yudia questioned.

"Yep," Emuna replied when turning to Yudia with a smile on her face. "And once we get there, we'll contact Mr. Valmont to go there. When you and your dad are alone, we'll closely record you from Zaboulon's camcorder while we'll be a bit closer to you.

"Once we get the evidence, one of us will call the authorities and prevent Mr. Valmont from takin' Yudia. When the authorities arrive, they'll arrest and place him in jail;Yudia gets to go home with her mother and our friendship will get back to normal in no time."

"Yep, you got that right, bro!" Lazarus exclaimed.

"Mhn," Yudia agreed, shaking her head while they exited Lazarus' neighborhood.

****

Once Emuna and her friends made it to Red Alley, Yudia leaned against the wall as well as Emuna and her friends hid behind the window inside the abandoned building. Emuna curiously surveyed the alley in amazement.

-Ey, yo! This place is amazing. I wonder why people abandoned this place though is a total mystery to me.

The alley was red-colored and abandoned. Silence echoed across the area. No one was around in there, and some vines spread across certain spots on each wall.

Emuna, Lazarus and Zaboulon watched her with Zaboulon pulling out his orange camcorder from his pocket. Emuna turned to Lazarus. "Well, Lazarus. You know what to do."

Lazarus shook his head. "Right."

Lazarus pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed it, waiting for a few seconds. "Hi, Mr. Valmont. How are you doin' today?...Oh, great. I'm doin' jus' fine…Well, I found your daughter this time…Oh, yea. She's standing right here with me…We're in Red Alley…Uh-huh…Uh-huh…Oh, your wife's not home?...Uh-huh, I see. Well, I'll see you when you get here, sir…Good-bye…"

After Lazarus hung up his phone and placed it in his pocket, Emuna widened her eyes when she looked him in the eye. "Well? What did he say?"

"He said he's on his way and his wife was too busy helpin' out her parents with their Mom and Pops store," Lazarus responded.

"Perfect! We should be able to capture the evidence soon!" Emuna exclaimed with her eyes closed.

"Yep, totally, bro," Lazarus said.

Then Emuna turned to Zaboulon. "You got the camcorder ready to go, right?"

"Oh, yeah! I got that covered, Emuna!" Zaboulon exclaimed, turning to Emuna with a smile on his face and his eyes closed.

"Good!" Emuna said, shaking her head. She looked up at the sky and grinned, covering her forehead with her hand.

-Thank You, Elohim. For helpin' us in providing Yudia justice. We appreciate what You've done for us as we couldn't without You. In Yeshua's name, Amen.

Emuna and her friends waited for a while until the footsteps echoed from the right. A shadow stretched forward from the sunlight. Yudia quickly turned to that sound's direction, widening her fearful eyes.

Emuna turned to Zaboulon, whispering, "Alright, Zaboulon. Turn on the camcorder."

Zaboulon turned back to Emuna and whispered, "I'm on it."

Zaboulon quietly turned on his camcorder and pressed the record button, aiming the camcorder at Yudia. Once the shadow closed in on Yudia, Emuna and her friends saw a man walk up to her. Yudia took a couple steps back when she saw her Mr. Valmont's face again.

Mr. Valmont wore his casual, blue summer shirt and shorts, along with his traditional men's watch. He had brown hair with some white hair on his head. He had a mature face and his hazel eyes.

"Yudia!" Mr. Valmont exclaimed, hugging Yudia for a bit. Then he moved his body away from her and curiously searched for Lazarus, still grabbing onto her arms. "Uh, where's Lazarus? Shouldn't he be supposed to be with you?"

"He's quickly taking a restroom break in one of the fast food joints," Yudia responded. "He should be coming out here to meet ya."

"Great! Good thing I got here just in time before you could escape," Mr. Valmont said out of relief. "We'll wait here for him to return here to meet us, as well as thanking him for capturing you before we head home." He then curiously returned his attention to Yudia. "So why are you traveling out here in a place like this?"

"I was curious about this place and I jus' wanna check it out, that's all," Yudia responded, getting Mr. Valmont's hands off of her, moving backwards. "I really don't wanna go back home with you, especially after what you did to me in the last several months!"

"Shush!" Mr. Valmont cried, turning behind him for a look around. He noticed people were just passing by and Then he returned to Yudia, walking towards her, grabbing one of her arms. "Don't talk about this, girl! Have you lost your damn mind?! Wait until we get home!

"Now what the hell were you thinkin', runnin' away from home like that, huh?! Do you have any idea your mother and I were worried sick 'bout you?! Once we get home, you're not only goin' to be grounded. You'll get a lot worse punishment than that. Much, much worse…"

Yudia glared at Mr. Valmont, resisting his hand. "Well, my point still stands. I will not go anywhere with you, especially since you sexually abused me and got me pregnant with your child. Never. Now let go of me!"

"Now don't you talk to me like that and fight me, little girl!" Mr. Valmont roared, grabbing Yudia's other arms, aggressively pulling her towards his angry face. "Not only I'm going to smack the shit out of ya, but I'm also going to lie to your mom about you losing your virginity to one of your homeroom classmates. You got that?!"

Yudia pretended to fear Mr. Valmont as she stopped resisting him. "No, please don't!"

"Yeah, that's right. You little bitch! I can publicly dishonor your family once I told your mother about this, so you better keep your mouth shut if ya know what's good for ya. You hear that?!"

"Yes, sir…" Yudia reluctantly agreed to his request, sadly looking down below her.

Mr. Valmont sighed in relaxation and grinned at Yudia. "Good…"

"What a sick bastard!" Zaboulon roared in a whisper.

"Uh-huh!" Lazarus and Emuna agreed in a whisper as well, shaking their heads. Emuna glared at Mr. Valmont more and more.

-Oooo, that man is clearly the worst! I can't wait to deliver him to the police with the Lord's help. I'm depending on Him more than ever.

Emuna looked up at the sky.

-Dear Elohim, please give me and my friends strength to deal with Mr. Valmont and save Yudia from this wicked man. In Yeshua's name, Amen.

As soon as Emuna returned to her focus on Yudia and Mr. Valmont, Mr. Valmont scanned his surroundings behind him, wondering what took Lazarus so long to return.

"Now, what's takin' Lazarus so long? He should be out of the bathroom by now," Mr. Valmont said.

"Oh, I dunno," Yudia answered, looking at Mr. Valmont's direction.

As soon as Mr. Valmont returned his attention to Yudia, Emuna turned to Zaboulon and whispered, "Okay, Zaboulon. You can stop recordin' now."

"Okie dokie!" Zaboulon said, quietly stopped recording. He powered off his camcorder and placed it back into his pocket.

Then Emuna turned to Lazarus, whispering, "OK, Lazarus. Take off your shoes, sneak out of here and call the authorities."

Lazarus shook his head. "Got it." He obeyed Emuna's words and successfully left the alley. Then Emuna and Zaboulon quietly sneaked up behind Mr. Valmont and yelled, "Hey!"

"Huh?!" Mr. Valmont cried, quickly turning around. He only saw Emuna and Zaboulon's angry eyes and their hands placed on their hips. They leaned forward a little.