It startles me. But then I remember that I turned off the porch light, but I forgot to bring the pumpkins back into the house. I make my way to the front of the house, and Natalie's light footsteps are right behind me. I grab the bowl of candy and head to the door. I open the door, and chills run through my spine. There, on our front porch, are three individuals. They are wearing regular dark clothes, but they all have masks on from which only the eyes are visible. The one on the left is wearing a werewolf mask, a black leather jacket and is around the same height as Michael. The tallest of the three, the one in the middle, is wearing a ghost mask and has slouched-down shoulders. His head is not upright like the other two. Perhaps he is making himself shorter to be the same height as his companions.
The last one on the right is my height, and he is wearing bandages all over his head and chest. I assume it is a mummy. I stare at them for a short instant, taken aback by their spooky appearance. I give them a nervous smile and a chirpy 'Hi,' thinking they are teenagers. Reaching down to grab some candy, I notice none of them has a candy bag. Instead, they are all wearing black leather gloves. My hand freezes; this is not normal. These are not teenagers trick-or-treating. The chills down my spine have now made the hairs on my neck stand up. I take a step back. Too late!
They are pushing me inside the house. I drop the bowl of candy near the entrance, and the plastic bowl bounces on the wooden floor, and the candy sprawl all over. The one wearing the werewolf mask grabs me by the neck and squeezes, preventing me from screaming out. He pushes me against the hall wall and, with his free hand, brings one finger to the mouth of his mask and shakes his head.
The one wearing the ghost mask goes for Natalie, who screams and runs towards me. 'No!' I want to scream out, but nothing comes out of my mouth. And so, I shake my head and motion her to run away. No use. Ghost scoops her up like a doll, and she releases a blood-curdling scream that horrifies me to my very core. All my body wants to reach out for her, but Werewolf is holding my neck so tight I can barely breathe.
Mummy closes the door and heads to the windows to close the curtains. Toby, who was asleep upstairs in his bed, comes running down the stairs growling and barking and attacks Ghost. He bites his leg, and Ghost shakes him off and rattles Natalie at the same time, but Toby will not let go. Taking advantage of the fact Werewolf is distracted by the chaos Toby has caused, I fight back and claw at him any way I can to free myself. But Werewolf pushes his body against mine and pins me to the wall.
Bastard! I grunt and make any noise to signal Toby to run away. But my sounds drown in Natalie's cries, and sensing something horrible will happen, my body tenses up, horrified and helpless. Mummy turns around, grabs the floor lamp in our living room and strikes Toby on his ribs. The impact is so violent; the dog goes sliding across the room. Toby's little body smashes against the living room wall opposite the window and remains immobile.
Werewolf's grip on my neck is so tight, my legs are thrashing beneath me, and my hands are pulling at his. Those bastards killed Toby! They're going to kill us too! I reach for Werewolf's mask to pull it off and attack his face, but he squeezes even tighter, and I fall to the floor with him over me. He leans down close to my face. His voice, muffled behind the mask, is the voice of a man.
"Now you listen, and you listen good, you fucking bitch. From now on, you do as I say, or I will beat your daughter to death with that lamp. Are we clear?" he sneers at me.
Natalie is still crying, and I search for her, but his grip is so tight I cannot turn my head. I close my eyes, pushing tears out of them. There is nothing left to do now but to cooperate. I open my eyes, and I nod at him, and he lets me go. I sit straight back up, gasping for air and holding my throat. Ghost has Natalie in a bear hug with his hand over her mouth, and she is looking at me, terrified. I move towards her without standing up, but someone pulls my hair from behind. It is Werewolf.
"You better keep her fucking quiet," he warns me.
"Pl—Please. Take whatever you want. Just don't hurt us. There is no need for that. Please," I plead, keeping my voice as steady as possible.
Keep calm. Act complaisant. Do what they say. All my being is calling inside of me to run, to scream, to fight back. But I cannot be stupid. No matter how scared I am, I know Natalie must be ten times more.
He pulls my hair even harder. That is not the answer he wants to hear.
"Keep her quiet, I said," he repeats.
"I—I will. Please. Please," I answer, and this time, my voice trembles a little.
Satisfied with my reply, he lets go, but I remain where I am. Werewolf then motions to Ghost to release my daughter. Free from his grip, Natalie runs towards me, crying and screaming.
"Momma! Momma!"
She throws her little body into mine. I grab her like a lifeline and wrap my arms around her and turn my body away from them.
"Shh—shh. Baby. We must be quiet, ok? Shhhh," I shush her and stroke her hair.
My voice is trembling, and my chin wants to quiver, but I clench my jaw. I cannot cry. I cannot lose control of my emotions. Natalie needs me to stay strong, to stay focused. She buries her face in my chest and cries. I hold her tight and lower the sound of her sobbing with my arms around her head, afraid Werewolf might react, but he is just looking at us. Werewolf is standing a few feet from us, and Ghost sits on the armchair looking at us as well. Amused with this whole situation, he dangles one leg over the chair's armrest and swings it back and forth.
Mummy, who ran upstairs after hitting Toby, comes back down. From the sudden darkness surrounding us, I assume he closed all the curtains and turned off all the lights in the house. He even disconnected all the phones. The one sitting on the end table next to our grey sofa does not have its shining green light anymore. Mummy walks to the other end of the living room and leans on the wall turning his head away.
Poor Toby is still lying on his side. I think he is breathing, but it is hard to tell with the deemed lights of the street peering through the cream white curtains. He is probably just unconscious and not dead. I close my eyes and send a quick prayer up to the sky. Please don't wake up, Toby! Please don't wake up! If he wakes up, I am sure Mummy will finish him off.
I do not know how much time has passed. No one has moved from their spot for a while. What do they want? Why aren't they searching the house for valuables? The intruders must want something, and the sooner I find out what it is, the faster this whole ordeal will be over. We have not seen their faces. It must be a simple robbery, and I better give them what they want now. Best to avoid things from escalating any further.
"There is jewelry in a wooden box in the master bedroom. There is a safe in the closet. There is only about 3000$ cash in there. But we also have credit cards, and I can give you the PINs. The keys to my car are in a little green porcelain plate decorated with turtles on our dresser. Take anything you want. I won't call the police. We haven't seen your faces. Just please take what you want and leave," I tell them.
But I want to scream at them to get the hell out of my house. Ghost begins laughing this jerky laugh, and Werewolf saunters towards us. My instincts react, and I hold Natalie closer and back up against the wall behind me. He crouches in front of us and takes a deep breath, lifting his masked head, and like an animal, takes in our scent. With his right index, he brushes the hair off my face. I shudder, and my insides recoil. The gesture is repulsive.
"Oh, we will," he says in a breathy voice.
He then looks down at Natalie, and with the same finger, he reaches for her back, but I react without thinking and slap his hand away. Lucie, you stupid fool! Bracing myself for his reaction, I hold my breath, but he just laughs in return.
"Oh-oh, we will!" he tells me.
Standing back up, he continues laughing and walks back to where Mummy is. It dawns on me that this is not a simple robbery and that their intentions are much darker. I think I might puke. I want to scream. My throat is hurting from the choking, and my eyes are burning. I've been crying all this time!? Panic grips me, and my thoughts go dark. They will find our cold, naked, dead bodies lying in a ditch somewhere, aren't they?
The warmth of my daughter's little hand rips me out of those horrible images sliding through my brain. She is caressing my throat ever so gently and letting out these small little whimpers. Werewolf's grip must have left a mark. She has stopped crying, but her breathing has not relaxed yet, and she is shivering. Our eyes lock, and my panic fades away, replaced by boiling anger. How could I have been so stupid? I knew something was off with them at the door! Why didn’t I react quicker? And now what? They almost choke me; they grab my daughter and attack my dog? For what? They must have known we were alone. We were easy targets. But what do they want from us?
I sigh, close my eyes, and shake my head. It does not matter what they want. I need a plan, and I do not have much time to come up with one.