Break of Dawn

A Story by maddie

“Goodnight Ethan”, I say kissing his forehead and gently tucking his cover over his chest.

“Goodnight Mommy” he replies obviously worn out.

“I love you, see you in the morning”.

“Okay, I love you too Mommy”. I shut off Ethan’s light, walk nextdoor, collapse onto my bed, and close my eyes. Being a single mother of a three-year-old is an exhausting task but Ethan has changed my life. I’m the person I am today because of him and I would do anything for his well being.

Bark bark bark. The hysteria of Shelby’s barking awakens me from my blissful slumber. Usually, I would respond to this by yelling at her to shut up, but the pit of my stomach is flashing red. I leap out of my bed and run downstairs to find her barking her head off in the living room. I make a detour to the kitchen so that I can grab a kitchen knife for protection and slowly make my way to the living room. As I’m rounding the corner to the living room I hear a whack followed by a clinking of metal on the hardwood floor. Moments later I hear the loud thump of my body falling to the floor.

My eyes flutter open to a pitch black room and I am surprised to find my mouth taped shut and my appendages tied together. I try to recall what just happened but find it difficult to put the pieces together. After what seemed like hours of lying in this dark room confused with a throbbing headache, a single light flashed right in my eyes. I squint from the blinding ray. “Good morning”, a deep voice rumbles, “glad you could stop by to spend it with me”.

Instantly my veins run cold with fear. The previous series of events is all rushing back to me. Shelby barking, the knife, the figure in the window, getting knocked out. The light beam inches closer and closer to me along with the heavy footsteps of whoever produced that horrendous voice. A large man dressed in black with a black ski mask on begins to emerge from the shadows. He shines his flashlight directly into my eyes, examines my face, and then unsparingly rips off the duct tape from my mouth.

"Who are you?" I ask in a weak voice, my retinas still burning from the harsh beam of the flashlight.

"You don’t need to worry about that” he replied.

“What do you want with me?”

"Entertainment."

Right after he said that my stomach dropped. Suddenly I remembered. "What did you do with Ethan!" I yelled.

"Who is this 'Ethan' you speak of?"

"Ethan, my son, what did you do with him" I yell at him trying to sound as intimidating as possible.

"Oh! The little boy that was sleeping soundly in the bedroom next to yours! I thought that was your brother. No offense but you look pretty young to have a kid"

"What did you do with him!" I screamed again.

“Relax. You’re son is safe and sound for the time being” he says.

“Bring him to me now!” I scream at him in a decibel I didn’t even know I could reach.

“Sorry, no can do” he says, “but don’t worry, you’ll see him soon enough”. And then he violently put the duct tape back on my mouth. I tried to scream but the only sound audible was low and muffled.

He picked me up off of the cold, concrete floor and threw me in an old, rusty wheelbarrow. I flung myself around but with my arms and legs being tied up I was immobile. I couldn’t see much as he wheeled me out of whatever strange room I had been trapped in and into the foggy dawn air.

After what seemed like hours, he finally stopped and rested the wheelbarrow on the ground. I sat up to take in my surroundings. Corn husks as far as the fog would allow me to see. Bizarre considering Ethan and I live in the suburbs and there aren’t any corn fields within a 15 mile radius of our house. I considered attempting to scream again but decided not to because I knew no one would be able to hear me.

I feel a sudden change in direction in my stomach and shortly after realize that the wheelbarrow I’m sitting in has been turned 180 degrees. There are no corn husks to be seen on this side. Only a faint figure blurred by the fog in the distance. It looks almost as if it were an oddly-shaped scarecrow. I squint at the figure for a while trying to decipher exactly what it is.

“Mommy!” I hear the figure scream. Ethan. In that moment, my entire body implodes within itself.

“I told you that you would see him soon enough” the voice bellows as he wheels me closer and closer to Ethan. My heart shatters and tears uncontrollably stream down my face when I see his innocent body tied up to a wooden stake.

The man drops me about 100 feet from Ethan and walks the remaining distance by himself. When he arrives, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Zippo lighter. I scream at the top of my lungs so loud that the duct tape over my mouth isn’t even an obstacle and burry my face in my arms to avoid watching my son getting burned alive.

I heard the sound of the lighter hitting the ground followed the ignition of gasoline and then the helpless screams of Ethan. “Mommy! Mommy!” he yelped, “Help! Mommy!”. I looked up just for a second and saw Ethan enveloped in a roaring inferno. Everything I love, the only thing I love, being devoured by flames.