Trapped (Chapter Two) My eyes snap open and a huge grin spreads across my face. Today’s the day! I look at the clock and see that it’s already 70 a.m. Dad should be going soon, so I quickly get dressed and zoom down the stairs to the living room, just in time to see him leave for work. Today was carnival day. Dad was going to leave work at 120 p.m. just to come with the whole family. “Hey Mom, what’s for breakfast?” I call excitedly. She comes out of the kitchen holding a steaming plate of pancakes with lots of maple syrup, strawberries, and a huge pile of whip cream. “Pancakes!” She tells me with a gleam in her eye. “Awesome!” I run to her and take the plate into the dining room, and see there’s already a cool glass of milk waiting for me. I gobble all of the pancakes down, take a huge swig of milk, and then run upstairs to draw for a while. Lately I’ve been drawing this very strange man. He has bright blue eyes, long, brown hair, a perfect white smile and wears baggy, brown pants, a white, baggy T-shirt and a long black jacket. I sometimes even see him in my dreams. After a few hours it’s 11:30 a.m., so I decide to pack my bag for the day’s upcoming events. I also get dressed into my favorite summer dress and do my hair. By the time I’m done, I hear the back door open and Dad shout, “Who’s ready for a day at the carnival?” I shouted back, “I am!!!” I grab my bag and thump down the steps. Mom, Annie my little sister, and Dad stand at the back door waiting for me to come. As I get my shoes on there’s a loud crash at the front of the house that sounded like glass breaking. “What was that mommy?” asked Annie with a frightened look on her face. “I don’t know honey. Derrick, go check it out” she tells my Dad with a matching frightened look on her face. Dad gets a baseball bat and crept to the hall door way and stuck his head through the opening. He then started backing away quickly but wasn’t quick enough to dodge the blade the plunged right through his head. His dead body falls to the ground with a sickening thud. “AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” screamed Annie and Mom. I just stood there, gaping at Dad, with a blade sticking out of his head, and the blood trickling down his face, not making a sound. “Claire, take your sister outside right now and run. Do you understand me? RUN!!!” Mom says with fear. I grab Annie’s hand and drag her through the door as she screams and cries. When we get far from the house I take her behind a bush where we hide there, watching what happens inside. I see this man in black with a bloody blade in his hand, and see Mom kneeling on the ground holding her side. Then the man in black takes a step forward and whips the blade forward to slash Moms throat open. With one last breath she falls to the ground with her hand on the heart locket that I gave her for her birthday. Beside me, sitting quietly before, Annie screams again, but louder this time. The man in blacks head snaps toward us because he heard Annie scream. He takes the bloody blade and throws it right at us. “DUCK!!!!!” I yell at Annie as I do. For a while there’s silence, so I look at Annie. When my eyes meet her eyes, she falls backwards and lands with a sickening thud, just like Dad. I turn my body towards her fully and then see the blade sticking out of her chest. “No, no, no, no, no, NO!!!!! Please!! NO!!!” I put my hand on her wound. Blood had started to soak her clothes with every breath she takes, blood bubbles at her lips. “I love you” she whispers as she closes her eyes and her breathing slows to a stop. “I love you too” I whisper back as I rest my head on her stomach. Tears start to pour down my face onto her blood stained pink shirt. I stay there for a very long time, thinking of Mom, Dad, and Annie, the people I love, lost, until hands grab me around the waist and haul me up. “Let go of me!” I sob and yell, as I struggle against the strong hands, but they don’t budge. The person turns me around and another pair of hands lifts my chin up. My eyes then meet a pair of cold, #lifeless black eyes, which made my blood run cold. “What is your name?” the man’s voice was hard, cold and #lifeless just like his eyes. “Claire” I whispered so quietly that my voice was barely audible. The man smiled a perfect white toothed smile. “We have her”, my head started to swim and I got very cold and clammy. I remember that I fell to the ground, my vision fading until I could see nothing, my fear and sadness receding into blackness. ***