Prologue
You shift the groceries to your left hand, digging through your pockets with your right hand. You finally grab the key and turn it in the lock.
“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” you scream, bursting through the doorway. Everything is quiet. Too quiet.
“Mom? Dad?” You set the groceries on the table next to you. Silence again. Your heart picks up its pace. What if something happened? You are panicking, but you swallow hard before you ascend the staircase. The old stairs creak under your weight, and you climb faster and faster, higher and higher, finally landing on the upper floor. You suddenly gasp at what you see and freeze in shock. On the wall in front of you lay a bloody handprint. It dragged into a room, behind the closed door. Your parents’ room. Oh no, no, this can’t be happening. You are shaking in fear but you open the door anyway. In front of you lay a horrible sight. Your mom and dad were sprawled across the wood floor, cuts and scrapes all over their bodies. Blood was splattered on the walls and on the floor, also pooled around their bodies. You suddenly drop to the ground, tears rising up.
“Mom..... Dad..” you cry, but you stop when you hear a muffled footstep behind you. You slowly turn to see a figure in the doorway, staring at you. It cackles.
“Why...” you manage to say before the pain sank in. My parents are dead. Suddenly you were shaken from your thoughts by an invisible force slamming you into a wall. The figure comes closer, observing you. You look around for a weapon, anything you could use to protect yourself. You see a pocket knife a few inches away from your right hand. You reach for it, your hand merely grazing the handle. You reach farther as the figure gets closer. You make out a sort of blade in their hand. You finally are able to reach the blade and stab the figure. It disappears and you don’t think twice. You run. You run down the steps, out of the house. You run for what seems like hours before your feet start complaining. You check your pockets for anything, cash, phone, anything. You find your cell and you take it out with shaking hands. You open it, your fingers fumbling through the contacts. You must’ve looked like hell because people would pass by giving you weird glances. Your eyes skim over a contact and you suddenly recall a memory of when you first got your phone.
It was your 13th birthday. Your mom handed you a little box carefully wrapped. You open it and practically jump with glee at the thought of finally having your own phone to yourself. As you explored it, you had found a contact already added to your list. You looked up at your mom curiously.
“In case of a real emergency, if something happens to us, call this number. Don’t hesitate. Just call this number and tell them your location. You’ll be in safe hands.” your mother had said. You just nodded, not really listening or caring.
But now you remembered. You pressed the call button and a breath hitched in your throat as the phone ringed, your hands still shaking from what you had seen.
“Hello?” you hear a voice grunt, and you quickly explain and tell them the location of a motel near you. You weren’t really sure if you could trust them, but this was your only hope of staying alive. You knew you couldn’t live in the humble house you had called home, not after today. You walked over to the motel lobby, sitting down in a plush chair, taking a moment to calm down and process everything new that had happened to you. You stare at the faces of all the people coming in, looking for the mysterious man on the phone. Suddenly you hear a deep voice behind you.
“Y/n is it?” You turn to see a man behind you. His face was hidden and you were scared if you could trust this man but you tried to anyway.
“Y-yeah,” You say shakily. You hear a grunt come from him before he turns to you again.
“Great, come with me and I want you to tell me everything.”
