Nightmare

Bang! I jolted awake and looked over at my husband who amazingly was still sleeping. “Blake wake up” I said.

He slowly opened his eyes groaning “what is it?” he mumbled.

“I heard something crash” I said.

“So it’s probably a stray dog knocking over the garbage bin” he said and was about to go back to sleep.

“No it came from inside the house” I said.

Blake rolled his eyes then stood up. “Fine I’ll go check it out” he said.

I watched him walk out the door and heard him walking down the stairs. Part of me wanted to follow him but I was too scared. What if it was someone broke in.

I heard a gunshot and I screamed. I jumped out of bed and ran to the stairs. “Blake” I cried out as I saw the crumpled body on the ground. There was blood all over the wall. It was too dark to tell but I knew it was Blake. I was about to run downstairs when I heard footsteps in the kitchen. Someone was still in the house and whoever it was killed my husband.

I immediately thought of the kids. I ran to the nearest bedroom the one that belonged to my youngest son Cane. He was sitting in his bed half asleep and looked confused. “Quick get in the cupboard” I told him helping him out of bed.

“Mummy what’s wrong?” he asked me as I quickly shoved him in the closet.

“Nothing honey just stay in here and don’t ever come out till I tell you” I told him. He nodded his head then I closed the door and hurried to Jordan’s room. He met me at his bedroom door fear clearly shown in his blue eyes.

“Quick hide” I told him as I heard footsteps loudly walking up the stairs.

“What about you?” he asked me.

“I’m fine hurry” I said and I pushed him in his room. I closed the door and then started hurrying to Cane’s room to hide with him but it was too late. The killer had already reached the top of the stairs and he was staring right at me. He was right across from Cane’s bedroom door.

I looked at the person who killed my husband standing less than 5 feet away from me. In his hand was a shotgun. I tried looking at his face but it was hidden behind a hoodie. I couldn’t even tell if it was a male or female.

I knew I was about to die but I didn’t care. All I cared about was keeping Cane and Jordan safe.

Then Cane’s bedroom door opened and Cane walked out wearing his cute big bird pyjamas.

“Mummy who is this?” he asked but then there was a loud gunshot and he collapsed to the ground.

“No” I screamed.

I gasped as I woke up in my bed sweating. I was breathing hard. I felt like I ran a 10 kilometre run. I looked over to the little sweet boy sleeping beside me.

I softly traced the small scar on his face that was left after the paramedics miraculously saved my son’s life. His eyes shot open and he stared up at me. I looked into his blue eyes that were exactly like his fathers and brothers. I never knew till then how much he looked like his father. He had the same soft curly brown hair the same high cheekbones and the dazzling blue eyes that always intrigued me.

“Mum are you ok? Why are you crying?” he asked.

I realised tears were travelling down my face. I quickly wiped it away “it’s ok Cane” I said.

He got to his knees and then wrapped his arms around me and said “it’s ok mum. That bad men will never come back I’ll protect you” he said. That made me cry even more. He was only 7 years old and he was so brave.

It’s been 2 weeks since the shooting and we were both left alone. Jordan had also died and there was nothing I could do to protect him. I’m not sure why but the intruder spared me and left leaving me alone with the dead bodies. Fortunately my neighbours had heard the gunshots and called an ambulance and the police then quickly came over to find me kneeling next to Cane and Jordan’s body sobbing.

The ambulance arrived and I was so shocked when I heard one of the paramedics say Cane still had a faint pulse. I went with him to the hospital by his side the whole time he died twice on the way to hospital but they revived him. I never left his side. I stayed there by his bedside holding his hand never daring to close my eyes in case if somebody took him away.

A police officer came to ask me questions the next morning. He introduced himself as Detective Dale Richards and even showed me his badge. He looked down at my hand that was clutching Cane’s tiny pale hand.

“I’m sorry about your loss Mrs Adams” he said staring deep into my eyes.

I slowly nodded fighting back the tears.

I heard the door open and saw my best friend Hannah walk through the door.

“Oh my god Holly I only just heard on the news are you ok?” she asked saying all this in a second.

I broke down then and Hannah walked over to wrap me in a hug. She glared accusingly at the detective as if he was the reason I started crying.

“What do you want?” she demanded.

“It is protocol to ask the witness some questions that might help in the case” Detective Richards said calmly without even flinching.

“Well can’t you see she’s depressed right now.  She just bloody lost her husband and son and look at her youngest son” she snapped.

Detective Richards looked at the ground sheepishly “I’m sorry but I have my orders” he murmured not meeting her gaze.

It almost made me laugh Hannah could scare anyone with her glare even a fully grown detective.

“It’s ok Hannah he has to do his job” I told her wiping away the tears.

“Are you sure Holly?” she asked.

I smiled Hannah and I have been friends since high school. We were practically like sisters we even looked a little alike we both had long blonde hair and soft green eyes. Except she was short and a little chubby where I was tall and skinny as a rake. We were always there for each other through the years until tragedy struck.

Almost exactly a year ago Hannah had lost her daughter. It was horrible. Her husband Jack was a horrible father to their daughter Sylvia and always made Hannah take her everywhere. So when Hannah and I decided to go out to a party Sylvia had to come with us. Fortunately there were other kids there so Sylvia had some friends to play with. All the parents were drinking but Hannah was reluctant. “What about Sylvia. I can’t drink in front of her” she said.

“It’s ok. She’s fine she’s playing with Jacob and Riley. A couple of drinks won’t hurt” I told her.

She finally gave in and soon we were taking tequila shots. I went to the bathroom halfway through and when I came back I saw her downing a whole bottle of vodka. “That’s enough. Don’t forget you’re driving home” I warned her.

“Ok okay” her words were slurred.

“Oh no you’re drunk catch a taxi home” I told her.

“No I’m not drunk. I can hold my booze Holly. We only live like 5 blocks away” she argued.

I rolled my eyes and told her I had to go home. I hugged her goodbye then walked to my silver Fiat. I climbed in and drove home to find Blake waiting for me the kids already in bed.

We walked up to the bedroom and immediately fell asleep.

I didn’t find out about the accident till the next morning. It was on the news and it showed a picture of a familiar car impaled by a tree. I recognised it immediately and quickly called Hannah. Jack answered and explained to me what happened when I heard Sylvia was dead and Hannah was alright I almost broke down.

Not long after the accident Jack divorced Hannah blaming her for what happened. I stayed by Hannah’s side the whole time doing my best to help her. She was depressed for a few months and I could see the scars on the wrist. I recommended her to a therapist and she finally agreed and gradually she got better and put the crash in the past.

I came back to the present and nodded at Detective Richards to begin.

“Can you please tell me everything that happened?” he asked.

I nodded and explained the story from the very start not missing any details. He nodded slowly encouraging me to go on. Hannah held my hand the whole time squeezing it tightly when I began shaking trying not to cry as I explained what happened to Blake, Jordan and Cane.

“Thanks. Did you ever have a good look at the intruder?” he asked me.

I shook my head.

“Can you try? Maybe it could be someone you know” he said.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Why would I know the person? Whoever it was broke in” I told him.

“Yes but there has been nothing stolen I presume. The door has been kicked in which was probably the bang that woke you up but that’s it. There’s no signs of any damage and nothing seems out of place” he told me.

I closed my eyes trying to picture the intruder. I remembered he was short but I couldn’t tell if he was overweight or not. The hoodie stopped me from getting a view of his face but I remembered the hands. There was a ring on the finger a wedding ring. The fingers were slim and small it could be a female not a male but I wasn’t too sure.

“He was wearing a wedding room a gold one. I remember that because all my eyes were focused on was the shotgun” I said.

Detective Richards nodded and wrote something in a notepad that I didn’t notice he was holding. I could see a lot of writing on it and I realised it was almost everything I told him about what happened.

I looked over at Cane and tears sprung to my eyes. I looked at his messy brown hair and pictured Jordan and Blake’s body. How their hair was spread out all over the floor as blood gushed from the bullet hole from their head.

“I think that’s enough for today. Thank you so much Holly. I will see you soon” he said standing up. He looked over at Cane once then his eyes met mine and he smiled sympathetically before leaving the room.

“A*****e” Hannah called after him when he closed the door.

I let out a small laugh and then Hannah laughed too.

“Oh god Hannah what am I going to do?” I asked. “I don’t think I can stand living in that house anymore.”

“You can live with me. There’s plenty of room now that I live alone” Hannah said.

“Oh no I couldn’t you’ve got too much on your mind” I said.

“Nonsense I would love it if you both live with me. I’m so alone all I got is Petra and all she does is sleep” Hannah mumbled. Petra was her Persian cat who slept all day.

“But what about the house?” I asked.

“Get it cleaned. Hire a professional cleaner and I will help you pack. I’ll take you now and we can get some clothes for you and Cane” she said.

I shuddered at the thought of entering the house again after what happened last time. “It’ll be okay Holly I’ll come in with you” she promised.

“But I don’t want to leave Cane” I said looking over at Cane.

“Fine I’ll go pack the clothes I know where everything is” Hannah said.

I felt immediately bad. “No it’s ok. I’m just so worried. Would you mind staying with Cane I kind of need some alone time and I would feel so much better if somebody’s here with Cane” I told her.

She reluctantly nodded I knew she would be reluctant to leave me alone. She gave me the keys to our car because my car was still at the house.

I parked around the corner from the house taking a deep breath. I was glad that the bodies had been removed last night and the blood was quickly cleaned. I parked in the driveway behind my Fiat and then slowly walked inside.

I looked at the stairs and collapsed to my knees sobbing. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I thought for a second that it was Hannah that somehow she got a taxi and followed me but then I heard a male voice.

Reviews

[SariahM]

I love it. You just need to add more emphasis on certain parts, like the bang. you could write it out as BANG!
at least its a start... Well writ.

---Sariah---

[Aventicus]

Interesting. I like the concept and plot. You only need to work on your phrasing and comma placement.

[KittyKatgirl]

Thank you I actually forgot about this till you reviewed. And I'm not too good with my grammar.

[Aventicus]

It's fine. The best way, or the best way that I have been told is to read other writing in order to improve on your own.

[KittyKatgirl]

That's good advice thank you :)