When Jackie and Jason got home, they were immediately filled with anxiety. They were worried that they suddenly had lost me. Mrs. Sturbridge noticed that they were home, so she waved at them to come over.
“Lilian, what happened?” Jackie asked as she rushed over to me and gave me a big hug.
“Someone just walked into our house and started eating chips,” I replied as normal as possible even though I was shaking and shuttering.
“Lilian, that is so dangerous we are getting you a phone! Jason and I are so sorry, we should have told you that we were going shopping today and not going to work.”
“Yay, what kind of phone, a fancy phone?” I asked throwing out suggestions—more like sneaking in suggestions to get what I want as we stayed sitting in the Sturbridge living room.
“No, probably a flip phone.”
“They still make those?” I asked horrifyingly. Even my grandparents have fancy phones!
“Uh, I don’t know.”
“Hey,” the officer said walking into the house after Mrs. Sturbridge welcomed him into her home, “Mr. and Mrs. Parker?”
“Yes,” Jackie answered as she shot up to meet the same height as the cop. The cop was short and plump. His belly hung over his belt he must love his donuts. He was balding on the top of his head but had some brown hair left.
“Maybe, I could talk to you guys outside,” he said looking over at me hinting that it might not be safe for me to hear. I am old enough to hear whatever he was going to say anyway.
That night Jason and Jackie did not bring up the man again, they thought I was too young. They thought if they talked of him, I might be traumatized. And yeah, I would be upset but my golly to think that they would not even share why he was here with me. Now I am going to wander my tail off.
I did not stay up and think about my day like I usually did I was way too tired. I was so tired in fact that night that I even snored, but I did not start snoring until eleven because I was still shaking. To be honest, I didn’t know that I was still shaking until I stopped. It felt kind of like a normal thing.
* * *
A COUPLE OF DAYS PAST and Ashley and I were nearing our due date for our song.
“Meet me at my house? Tomorrow?” Ashley asked precisely, she was starting to come out of her shell when she was around me. Which made me happy, I finally have more friends than the scumbags that left me.
“Sure,” I replied with a sweet tender smile, which was FAKE. “Wait tomorrow is Saturday and I don’t know where you live,” I replied, I seriously did not want to go to her house because she was the girl from the haunted house.
“Oh,” She sounded a little sad. “I just remembered that I’m busy tomorrow.”
Ashley looked at the calendar hanging up on the supply’s cabinet, she must have good eyes because from where we are sitting, I could barely see it.
“I don’t mean to rain on your Saturday parade,” she started, “but I don’t think tomorrow is Saturday I think that it is Friday.”
I looked at her in surprise, “Ugh, ever since that guy I’ve been all messed up, I am so sorry Ashley.”
“Oh, it’s fine I just thought you didn’t want to come to my house.” Of course, I do not! For one, her mother sounds crazy. She stole a whole refrigerator from the local hardware store a couple of towns away. I heard she gets out of prison soon. (I definitely did not research her.) Oh, and for two, she lives in that freaking haunted house down the street!
“No, I wasn’t blowing you off! I just really want to,” think of something fast Lilian, “go on that date with Hayden, you know.”
“Oh, cool! Have fun, walk home with me after school tomorrow to my house! See ya, bye.”
Welp, I did not get out of that one.
“Please God, make something happen that I don’t have to go to her house. I mean I do love her to death and her dad sounds nice but God, I don’t want her felon mother to be there.”
I whispered that prayer under my breath after we went our separate ways. I took the long way still because I am petrified.
When I got home, I entered an empty house, weird. It would not have been weird if they had been working today but they both took this day off. They must still be trying to find that guy’s parents. There is no luck in that field. But I am just going to keep this to myself, they should probably check the cemetery.
The man was sick and in his forties. His parents are probably dead, just like my mama.
* * *
THE NIGHT WAS NOT SATURDAY, and I went to bed later than usual. After I fell asleep, I was suddenly awoken by a crash noise. It was unusual, I could hear some noises from outside my window, hopefully, the wind. They were very muffled, but I could definitely tell that they were voices.
“Sir, I learned a lot about the girl, I mean her aunt and uncle are extremely gullible they fell for the lost parent’s thing,” the first voice said. “It will be as easy as master told us.”
Master? Like ninjas? I was freaking out, but Master is just a weird phrase to use especially when they are talking about me.
“Easy, aye?” The second voice said. “We didn’t come this far for nothing. Master would never have us going after a little girl. But this little girl must have some importance.”
“Yeah,” he laughed, “This is her room,” the first voice replied with pleasure. He must have felt happy about murderer. Wait a minute, murderer? I am getting murdered. I was having a panic attack. My vision got all blurry and I was dizzy.
“Then you have to go in and get her. What does her name start with? An ‘L’ right?”
“Yes.”
“You go in and get the girl her name is Lauren or is it, Laci?”
“It is Lilian! Dummy, how many times do I have to tell you these things? I told Master I wouldn’t work well with you.”
A little later I heard a knock on my window and my heart sunk into my chest and I could not move. I had just fallen asleep and told myself it was sleep paralysis. The guy in the window was dressed in black and had big blue eyes, I made eye contact and I jerked my face away from the window. Then, I hid under my covers.
My breathing was really hard. I had to do something. What if they have guns? I cannot call the police; Jackie hadn’t gotten me a phone yet. We were going this weekend, why could they have waited just two more days to kill me?
I peeked my eyes out from under my covers, a lock. Praise Jesus there is a lock, he really does work in mysterious ways. I thought back to the prayer I said earlier.
Oh no, what if this is how I am not going to go to her house. They are here to kill me. God answered my prayers all right. No, God would never do that he is known for his mercy. They are not here to hurt me. Yes, they are, who am I kidding. God, will you please, please, please protect me?
* * *
BACK TO THAT LOCK, I am so happy I did not put it on my locker this year. Then—I would have never done this if I did not believe in God—I opened my window.
The two men entered sneakily. I locked the window with my lock and kept the key in my hand and found another lock on my vanity quickly and got it and locked my door from the outside. I am surprised the men did not try and stop me.
I then ran and grabbed Jackie’s phone off the kitchen table. I called the police they answered immediately just like expected.
“911 what’s your emergency?” The dispatcher asked.
“I live on Libby Lane and there are two men in my room I live in the white house,” I replied while breathing heavily, my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. Also, I was sweating, and my anxiety was lurching.
“Ok stay where you are; help is on the way.” The dispatcher replied as calmly as possible. How could he be calm?
“Should I wake my aunt and uncle?” The men were banging on the door.
“Yes, and tell them help is on the way, is that fine with you child?”
“Ok, I will wake them up,” I told the dispatcher picking up my feet that weighed five thousand pounds and ran panicky to my aunt and uncle’s room.
I woke Jackie and Jason up and they told me, “Lilian go back to bed.”
“No, I called the police there are two people in my bedroom and help is on the way! Can’t you hear them banging?”
“Ok stay in here and I guess talk to the dispatcher and follow their instructions,” Jackie answered not paying attention to me because she was tired and did not believe me. I got up and ran and locked Jackie and Jason’s door.
“Ok,” I said and then I got back on the phone to talk to the dispatcher.
“I woke up my aunt.”
“Ok, what is your name?”
“Lilian, yours?”
“My name is Jessie.”
“Nice to meet you Jessie where are the police?” The conversations were making me feel calm. How do they do that kind of stuff?
“Close to where you are don’t hang up until they get there.”
“Ok.”
The police came and walked into the house and I unlocked the door and ran to greet them, I turned off the phone with the dispatcher which felt mean but that is ok. I read the officer’s name tag at a glimpse. “Stanley, they are in my room.” I then looked out the door and my door was starting to bust.
“Where is your room?” Officer Stanley asked trying to get the lock off the door. They were still hitting it. The bust was not big enough for them to get through.
“Yeah, here is the key to unlock it,” Lilian said throwing the key to Officer Stanley.
Officer Stanley caught it. Then obviously, unlocked the tiny locker lock and entered the room dramatically with two other cops, just like in the movies.
“Put your hands in the air,” he said.
Cops are so dramatic; it is like they have two careers to choose from, acting and policing.
“Ok,” one of the men said to Officer Stanley.
“Why are you here?” Officer Stanley asked.
“We are here to take that little girl that lives here to Hawaii for her birthday which is next month, November!” The other man said. My birthday is not in November. Everyone knows that. July 19th, then a year later my mom died on July 19th.
“At this time of night?”
“Yeah,” the man started, “It was ordered by a close family friend,” He finished.
The two men were both arrested and were taken to answer some questions.
Jackie and Jason both woke up after all that happened. They had stormed in while the men were in cuffs. I am still confused about how they did not hear the banging.
“Lilian,” Jackie sat me down at the kitchen table, “I am so sorry, that I didn’t believe you.” They did a lot of apologizing in the next week or so.
None of us could sleep, my room was a crime scene, so I was not really allowed in there. Also, cops were in and out of our house all night asking us questions and going into my room.
I did finally get back to sleep even though the cops were still there, and Jackie and Jason were drinking coffee. They wanted to keep me safe.
They got me up a couple of hours later, my head burned. Also, my vision was blurry, and I ran into a wall. Jason snickered at me, but karma hit when he ran into the wall the exact same way. Though, in our defenses, the wall moved its spot to be mean.
For school, it was the same as normal but there was no drama. It was also the day Natalie was sick, which explained a lot.
* * *
IN MUSIC, MR. ERIC announced, “Today is October 18 and it is a Friday and I have let you have all week to work on your song. So, next Monday you will perform in front of the class and the two best will perform Wednesday in front of the school where they will vote. This means you still have another full week to work on it.”
I was filled up with anxiety and started breathing harder, why did he have to do this? Especially with what just had happened. Oh, wait, nobody gives a crap. I looked over at Ashley and saw the same look of anxiety on her face. We had barely started their song. (That may be an exaggeration. I do remember having quite a lot done.)
We decided to meet up at the library after school, which I was happy about. No more Ashley’s house.
When I was walking to the library, I saw Hayden and he began to follow me, which isn’t strange he does not live too far from me, then he asked, “Where are you going?”
“The library,” I answered in a nervous tone.
“Nerd, you know what, I want to be with you, let’s go together.”
“Ok nerd, what about your mom or your sisters, they probably want you home. Especially after what happened last night.”
I knew that he knew about last night, but I also knew that Summer was the type of person to tell him not to ask me about it. So, he ignored my comment.
“They will call me if they need me plus my sisters are at daycare. They are only five. Home is seriously boring, waiting like an hour at home alone with no one to annoy.”
“I wish I had someone to annoy, Jackie and Jason are no fun. Wait you told your mom that you had a phone?”
“Yeah, wait no. It will be fine not like they will miss me anyway.”
“Well, I have to meet up with Ashley to write a song.”
“For music, yeah we heard about that. Are you scared?”
“Yeah, it is half of our grade for this semester. I’ll probably die.”
“Oh, I thought music was participation points I should try harder!”
“Yeah, you should.”
“Well see you later.”
“I thought you were going to the library?”
“Yeah, but we are here I walked you there so that you wouldn’t be lonely,” he gave an innocent smile then walked away.
“Ok, bye,” I jokingly rolled my eyes at him and watched as he continued walking. He is such a sweet boy. I think I am in love.
When I walked into the library, I saw Ashley at a table with paper and pencils, her anxiety was flowing from every inch in her body. Ashley did not even notice when I walked in because she was so concentrated. I walked over to Ashley and wanted to calm her down by asking, “What’s wrong?”
“The song is due next MONDAY, and we haven’t started.”
“What is your name?” I asked just like the dispatcher had.
“Seriously, that is all you can think of. It is due next MONDAY!” I guess it was not going to work.
“Thanks for the attitude,” I mumbled.
“I did get bored last night so I wrote the chorus. Want to hear?” She was rambling.
“Yeah.” To be honest, I lied earlier about having any of it done.
“Ok,
“Bullying is bad,
it’s a fact
don’t dab.
Loving is good,
It’s really true dudes!”
“I like it!” I spoke. I did, but it needed work.
“It sounded better in my head.”
“Why don’t we change it?”
“K,” she said as she began to calm down and trust that she and I were going to get the song finished.
“Let us change it to:
“Bullying is bad,
In a lab.
It’s a fact,
Don’t dab.”
“That is better,” Ashley told me, “you must have superpowers!”
“Ok, meet you back here tomorrow I will write verse one if you write verse two.”
“Ok, can we have a rapping part?”
“Yeah, what about the old chorus?”
“Good idea, see you tomorrow.”
When I got home, I wrote my part of the song and watched television till Jackie and Jason came home. Jackie brought home fried chicken which my family ate together.