Chapter Two

Amy's brother enters the scene...Towards the end of the chapter something happens which has Amy fear for her life!

    Amy placed a reluctant hand onto the brass knob to the entrance of her home. She had had so much fun with Susan today and really didn't want for it to end…and real soon all of her fun would come to an end as soon as her brother came home. With a heavy sigh, she turned back to face her friend, a sweet smile plastered to her face. “Ok, Susan. I’ll see you later!” She turned back to the door, pushing it open and entering, before Susan even had the chance to say her goodbyes.

    Closing the door silently behind her, she let out a long deep breath before slipping off her shoes. “Mom! Dad! I’m home!” She called, placing her shoes neatly to the side before walking into the living room towards the kitchen.

    The living room wasn’t very spacious as were the rest of the rooms within the house. This room was decorated in the standard way with the appropriate furniture: a couch with two end tables on either side, with a fifteen inch TV set against the wall directly across from the couch. Above the TV was an enlarged family picture; her mother always said it added a nice touch to their living room. Amy always thought that was funny considering she thought their living room was hideous and had the tackiest shade of green paint she’d ever seen. Towards the right side of the room was a staircase leading up to the second floor; that is where the family's bedrooms were.

    “Mom? Dad?” She called again as she entered the kitchen.

    The kitchen was plain white with a stove, a refrigerator, and a few cabinets; an everyday ordinary kitchen. In the center of the room was a small dinner table with four chairs. And sitting in the chair facing the doorway leading into the kitchen, was her brother reading a newspaper.

    “Oh, no… what are you doing here so early? I thought you weren’t coming home until six o’clock tonight.” Amy said disappointed.

    He looked up from the paper before folded it up and setting it down on the table. “Well then, I guess that‘s what you get for thinking then, pipsqueak.”

    Chris was four years older then Amy, who was sixteen. He had brown hair like his father that is before it begun to ‘thin’ out. His eyes were like his mother’s; a dark brown that seemed to be able to see right through the person they talked to. He was still wearing his military clothes, which was a custom at the college he was enrolled in.

    “Where are Mom and Dad?” She asked, paying no mind to his insults as she walked over to the refrigerator pulling out a can of soda.

    He walked over to her taking the soda she had just opened. “Thanks, I was thirsty.” He took a sip from the can. “Mom is out shopping, and Dad is working overtime at the office.”

    Amy was opening another soda she retrieved from the refrigerator. “Again? That’s the third time this week.” She commented on her father's busy work schedule as she took a long swig of her drink.

    He grinned placing his can of soda onto the table. “Well, you know how Dad loves his work. I wouldn’t mind it either if I had his secretaries.”

    “Shut up! Dad isn’t like that!” Amy cried, slamming her soda onto the table aside of his, nearly knocking the two cans over.

    Chris glanced down to the cans before looking back to her; his smile not once fading. “Yeah right. That’s why he’s always leaving for weeks at a time-”

    “That’s because he’s working overtime on business trips! How else do you think he can pay the bills with Mom out of work?”

    “Humph. Believe what you want to, but I know the truth, as does mom." He crossed his arms out before him as he looked to the side. "Why do you think she’s always sleeping when she’s home? It’s because of those damn pills she has to take. They keep her from becoming a mental case.” He the walked passed her to the stairs. “You need to open your eyes, pipsqueak. Everything isn’t how it used to be.”

    Amy sat down at the table as she heard Chris climb the stairs to the second floor. She placed her face in her hands as her body began to tremble with anger. You don’t know how right you are. But you got the wrong one… She stood and walked over to one of the kitchen windows as she remembered what had happened that day. Poor dad, he was putting in yet another hard days work…

 

    “Mom?” Amy called as she walked through the upstairs hallway to her parent’s room.

Amy was ten when she witnessed her mother’s first friend. She was had been sick that day and had to stay home from school. “Mom?” She called again.

    Amy came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, confusion creeping from the corner of her mind. Her mother was walking out of the bedroom with a man she never seen before. He had blonde hair and blue eyes and was smiling about something, along with her mother. However, once her mother finally noticed Amy standing there her smile was soon wiped clean from her face. She rushed over towards Amy, grabbing her arm tightly.

    “Amy! What are you out of bed? Are you trying to be sent to school?” Her mother questioned cruelly.

    Amy couldn’t take her eyes off the man who was still smiling. “Mommy, who’s that?” She asked as she was being pulled into her room.

    “That’s just one of Mommy’s friends.” She said nastily tucking Amy into her bed. “Now go to sleep.”

 

    Humph, friend my a*s!  Amy had made her way through the kitchen and wan now climbing up the stairs.  I wonder how many 'friends' she actally had!  Once she had reached the top of the stairs she could hear a strange noise coming from down the hall.

     “Hm?” She walked a little bit farther down the hallway, noticing the noise was coming from within her parent’s bedroom. I thought Chris said Mom was out?

     She walked over towards the door, noting it hadn't even been pulled shut all the way. With a slight push with her hand the door slowly swung open revealing the darkened room. Looking behind her into the hall, she cautiously entered the room, closing the door silently behind her. Running her hand along the side of the wall, she was able to find the switch to the lights, flicking them on to see what was going on within this room. But, there was nothing there to see. Just her parent’s bed with the headboard set against the center of the wall and the dressers that were placed on either side of the room.

    However, the noise didn’t cease once the lights were turned on. If anything, Amy could have sworn the noise grew louder, sounding almost like some sort of scratching sound coming from the center of the room. She looked toward the bed, seeing a shadow move from beneath.

    Maybe I should go get Chris…She placed her hand onto the door’s handle before allowing her hand to fall back down to her side as another thought crossed her mind. Why should I? He’s just going to make an a*s out of me about it anyway. She then turned around toward the bed again, taking cautious strides in that direction.

    She knelt down aside of the bed. “Ok, now all I have to do is look-” And as she pulled the covers away from the bottom of the bed to look underneath, she felt a blood curdling scream arise within her chest as something jumped out at her, slicing at her throat.