Buried Secrets

The apartment is cold.

The shades are pulled tightly shut, but that doesn't stop the night air from entering. A young woman sits by a fire clutching a small child to her chest. The baby is covered in worn, faded blankets and fast asleep. They rock back and forth, listening to the sounds coming from outside. The apartment is old but it is all the young couple can afford. The young woman, Amber, and her boyfriend Ben have only lived here for a few months. Ben had left about an hour ago to get dinner, but still hasn't returned. She sits and waits, but at every creak and bump of the old building, she jumps.

Her phone rings on a table nearby, she jolts forward. The baby whimpers but doesn't wake, Amber comforts her and the phone continues to ring. She slowly leans forward to pick it up.

“Hello?” She whispers. The phone had said Unknown was calling, no number. No one says anything and all she hears is deep breathing and scuffling. "Hello" she says again, but louder. When there is no answer, she closes her eyes and then ends the call. She holds the baby tighter and wills Ben to get home. The window across from her creaks, and the curtains around it bend, as if in the shape of a person. Amber, already on edge, stands and rushes to the bedroom. She puts the baby in the crib and then goes to the kitchen.

Shaking, she grabs a large knife out of a drawer and holds it out in front of her. She stands with her back to the wall and starts to move around the room and back to the living room. There are no lights on in the apartment, the only light being from the fire. She peeks through the doorway and into the living room where she sees two figures. They looked identical other than the height difference and the fact that the short one had long hair.

“Amber.” The tall man whispers in a rough voice. “Amber.” He says it again, but louder "We know you are here". After turning in a full circle, observing their surroundings, they slowly start walking towards the bedroom, to the baby. She closes her eyes, looks toward the ceiling and then steps out to the living room.

“I am right here.” She says quietly. “What do you want?” The man turns abruptly to look at her. She has the steak knife behind her back, but shudders when she realizes that there is a gun that is pointed towards her.

“We want you.” He says it simply, inching towards her.

“What do you want with me?” The other figure hasn’t moved, she is still standing close to the window and seems unsure of what to do.

“We want you to die.” Again, he says it easily, like he takes pleasure in scaring her.

“Who else is here?” He says it as a command. He starts looking around the apartment while keeping the gun pointed towards her.

“No one, it’s just me.” She motions wildly with the hand without the knife, trying to take his attention off searching the house. “I have money, I have car keys, I have whatever you want, just please leave me alone.” Her voice breaks. She wants to stall them, at least till Ben got home and then maybe they would leave, in fear of being caught.

“I already told you what I want. I don’t want any of the other stuff, so stop talking.” He turns to her, about to say something else but he hears keys and footsteps outside. The gun goes off before anyone can say anything more. Amber falls backwards as the bullet goes straight through her. The knife clatters and falls away from her. The baby screams from another room and muffled voices are coming from the outside of the front door.

The man and women grab the baby and race out the window as Ben Lourd and neighbors come bursting in. Ben sees Amber on the ground in a puddle of blood. His face is pale as he races to her side. Tears slowly start running down Ben’s face when he doesn’t feel a pulse in Amber’s wrist. She hangs limply as he grabs her and pulls her close.

The window bangs open, causing a picture to fall off the wall, shattering. Sirens can be heard in the distance growing closer every second. More people have rushed into the apartment, curious about what has happened.

He remembers his daughter; he runs to her crib but does not see her, he looks everywhere and finds her missing with no trace of who had taken her.

“Nooooo!” He screams, but the wind and sirens drown him out.