She was running in the dark, running in the hall that used to be so very familiar to her. She was running for pure instinct to keep alive, but thinking for sheer cleverness that would find her somewhere to hide. Not a lot of places to hide in this house she had to admit, but then she remembered. As she changed her course (she had been running towards the living room), she shot forward to the the attic. She flew up the stairs and bust open the shattered door, and ducked behind the first thing she could feel for. Hands feeling in pitch black, she found a spot: the old cardboard boxes that had her old dolls in it it. She made a small fort quickly, making sure to build a place where her body would be hidden. A couple seconds later, she eased her self into a safe spot.

She was still so tired from running, her chest fell up and down, practically eating up the air around her. It almost wasn’t enough air to breath. Suddenly, behind her, the noise escalated. She panted from exhaustion. Running away from the man had drained her energy, but she knew that this was just the beginning. The wooden floor boards creeked, and as it did, her heart’s already frantic beating stopped in its tracks. She was silently panicking to herself, not moving a muscle. Frantically, she tried to stop her blood from pounding in her veins, afraid that the pulsing would give her location away. His footsteps were inching around the room now, making the floor boards give an eerie sound.
Squeak. Squack. Creeeeeeek.
Squeak. Squack. Creeeeeeek.
Now, she stopped her cold, miniscule sweat from dropping of the edge of her chin.
He turned on the tiny lightbulb in the attic, the yellow, dim light, casting illuminated shadows across the room.

“Well, here we are. We’ve been playing hide and seek so long that it’s hard to imagine that I may have finally caught you. Now, you know I got you Sweetie, so you may as well come out now.”
Silence overcame the room. She was running and hiding for good cause. This was her house after all, and he had no right to be here, after all the things this sick man had done to her and her family.
“I know your there. No need to be afraid Sweetie. You know I love you and your family and would never dare put a finger on you.”
Never the less, she was still afraid half out of her mind. She let the Silence overcome the room once more.
“Sweetie, hide and seek is over now. You can come out now.”
Nothing.
Silence.
“You know I don’t want to hurt you. I couldn’t imagine it! Now what happened to your family, I admit was because of me. True, I killed them. But you know,” he took a slight pause to scratch the wall, “that was when I was a little, how do you say, Crazy?”
His haunting laugh echoed throughout the house.
“Now, I didn’t kill you Sweetie. Be thankful for that. Be thankful that I missed you, and that I’ve only played hide and seek with you. So if you want to still be alive and thankful, you’ll come out right now.”
Nothing.
Dead.
Silence.
“Swwwwweeeeetttttiiiieeeee…….”
…
…
…
…
“It’s all over now.”

With a great bellow, he yelled in aggravation. He screamed and shouted and yelled as he tore apart the room. She was scared stiff, but her mind was still contemplating everything, analyzing everything. Her mind knew he was rampaging around the room, clockwise. He knocked over the old sofa first, then the beautiful antique lamp. Next, he pushed down the old dresser. If he was going to keep this clockwise thing up, he was heading for the vases next, then the wedding pictures of her parents, then the two bookcases, and next, her hiding spot. She had to think quick and control her fear fast, because he already knocked down the vases. As she heard the shards of glass skid across the old floor, screeching like nails against chalkboard, she looked for a crack in the floor, a hole in the wall, someplace to escape (He already started to rip the wedding pictures, the shreds of photographs flying in the air. The small, jagged, pieces of paper reminded her of snow). Each one has a different size, shape, and character. Each one flew in a certain direction, and one in particular, the one she fixated on, had flew for a few feet. It landed about five inches away from her escape: a ventilator. The vent was already rusting away, but it was big enough for her to fit in, and she could only hope that it led outside. She crawled quietly to it, and made her way even faster as she heard him throw the first bookcase against the wall. When she finally made it, she lifted the remains of the vent and contorted herself into various twists and knots to fit. As she slithered her way through the vent, and when she was a good three feet away from the opening, she heard him knock over the cardboard boxes. When he found no one behind them, he screamed at himself. She figured it would be a good thirty seconds until he found out that she escaped through the vent.
At five seconds, she was squirming aimlessly through the vents, and he was cursing at himself. At ten seconds she saw a small crack of light from outside, and he was checking the room once more to make sure he didn’t miss a spot. At fifteen seconds, she was only feet away from the now steady source of light, and he was still checking the attic out. At twenty seconds, she was outside and running towards the truck, and he had finally spotted the rusted away vent, and realized she escaped through there. Twenty five seconds, she was reaching for the handle of the white van, and he was running towards the entrance of the house. Thirty seconds, she was driving away in the van at 70 miles per hour, and he was chasing after the white van with no hope. He had found out 10 seconds earlier then she expected, a record for the stupid man.
She soon could not see her house, and she was happy that she had gotten away with her life. Sighing in relief, she reached for what she had taken from her house that he inhabited now: her mothers locket. It was now hanging on her neck, and she was content that it was with her once more. That locket was all she needed, she could face anything if she had that with her. Ever since that man had killed her family, and very narrowly missed her, she had been scared and kept to herself. That had been seven years ago, seven years she had been without the locket she decided to leave in her room the day of the murders. But having it empowered, filling her with something she had lost so long ago.

Just as she was about to relax and let down her guard, she heard the last thing she wanted to hear.
“Hey Sweetie, ya’ think you would get away from me that easily?”
He was in the passenger seat in the car.
She didn’t dare look.
“Sweetie, you know I love you.”
He said this as he swiftly wrapped his hands around her neck, and tightened his grip. The car swerved and crashed into a tree, and she gasped for breath as he had pinned her against the window. The grip tightened and tightened, and soon she began to lose her sight, then she went numb. She was limp, and was going to die. She never thought it was going to end this way, she didn’t want it end so soon. She felt her neck close in on her, and to not have the ability to breath.
“Sweetie…….”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Her screams vibrated through the hospital. She sat up in bed, and had her hands over her eyes. She was crying from fear and sadness, gasping for breath. Sweat drenched her hospital gown, and her legs were pulled up to her chest. Her arms had needles in them, connecting to IV’s. Her heart rate was going up to drastic levels. Her screaming continued, until she calmed down three minutes later. When she stopped, she was so exhausted that she fell back into bed. When she got back into bed, she only then had realized she was somewhere she didn’t remember being last. Actually, she didn’t even remember where she was last. Her eyes searched the hospital room, and she looked to see where she was. There was an IV, she was in a hospital gown, and the rooms had the air of sick people. So, she figured she was in a hospital. No one else was in the room, but as soon as she screamed, a doctor came running. The doctor then opened the door, and she saw him standing there in the doorway.
“Are you alright Sweetie? Your screaming scared me half out of my wits, then again you’ve been a in a coma for the past ten years…. ”
She looked at him.
When she found her voice, she stammered out,
“Wh-wh-what did you call me?”
“Huh?”
“What did you call me?”
“Sweetie…”
She screamed once more, then fainted.