Chapter Two
She was playing in her room all by herself. Mom must have finally realized she wasn’t a baby anymore. She’d gone to visit old Mrs. Welsh and actually allowed her to stay home. Mrs. Welsh’s house was so boring. Daddy was at work and Nikki was probably out sucking face with her stupid boyfriend. Boys were gross. All they did was call you names and push you around. Nikki told her it meant they liked you. Well, how would a boy like a punch in the eye to show she liked him? The only boy she needed was Daddy and he told her she never had to bother with silly boys.
Looking outside, she noticed the sun had set and the streetlights were coming on. She wasn’t worried. She knew Mom was coming home soon to make dinner and Daddy would be getting back from work. She walked away from the window and took a handful of colored pencils out of her craft box. Mom said she was a future artist and one day people would pay money to see her drawings. That made her laugh, to think about someone paying money to see her silly drawing of the beach.
Suddenly, she heard a loud banging coming from downstairs. Dropping her pencils on the carpet, she ran to the top of the stairs. She guessed maybe her dad or mom had forgotten their keys and were trying to get inside. The sound of glass breaking startled her. Would they break a window if they couldn’t find their keys? From her standpoint, she could see the front door and no one was knocking or ringing the bell to come inside. Whoever it was must be entering through the back door. “Daddy,” she called and bounded down the stairs. She ran straight into a dark figure with a ski mask concealing his face.
“Hi, are you here by yourself? Does your rich daddy know his little girl is all alone?” he asked in a throaty growl.
“Help!” she screamed and began to race back up the stairs. He was too quick—his hand pulled her back by her hair. A gloved hand covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
“Now, you’re going to be a good little girl and let me know where Mommy keeps all of her pretty jewelry. I don’t want to hurt you, but if you scream, you’re gonna make me,” he hissed into her ear.
She had never been this scared in her whole entire life. She couldn’t stop shaking and pointed towards her parents’ bedroom. While the intruder dragged her along, she felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she felt a warm trickle down her legs. Commanding her to stay still, he tore through the bedroom. He began to fill large duffle bags with valuables. She wondered if she should scream. Would he kill her if she did? Maybe if she ran as fast as she did on field day, she could get away from him.
Before she knew what she was doing, a terrified scream erupted from her throat and she made a mad dash. She made it as far as the stairs before the man was directly behind her. As he reached to grab her, she lost her footing. She felt every stair painfully slam into her body as she tumbled down. A sharp pain erupted in her head before all went black.