Chapter 1
Sirens. It had blared in my ears from that night. A sound I couldn't forget. It had seemed all to fake, all unrealistic when the cops showed up that night. I had been with a friend, someone who I would never see again. They took me outside and explained what happened. The humidity made my hair frizzy. The dark sky made shadows dance around.
They had died. My parents. My younger brother. Everyone was dead. The grass was wet when I fell down. Unable to comprehend that people I had seen just a few hours ago were dead. The murder was messy from the photos that I caught a glimpse of. They suffered. They died.
A few days had passed. I didn't have any family that was alive. They couldn't get a hold of my older brother. He was at college anyway, just a few hours away. Though the dean said they hadn't seen him.
"Ma'am," One of the officers said. He was tall and lean. He must have a family. My tears were stained to my cheeks and my hair was a mess. "I know that this is a bad time," He began but stopped when I looked up. My eyes were puffy and bloodshot. "We found a tape in your room, we were wondering if you could possibly identify the person who did this?" I nodded numbly as I got up.
They had given me new clothes but they still wrinkled. I hadn't slept in nearly two days. I was lead into a room with two other men. They had this look in their eyes, everyone did.
They handed me a pair of headphones and told me to listen.
"Ellie, I see you're not here. Bummer how fun it would be to kill you on your birthday. I'm coming for you though, soon." The recording shut off as the recognizable voice played in my head. It was him.
"Did you recognize the voice at all?" He asked as tears sprung up to my eyes once again. I nodded once.
"It's Alex," I said my voice raspy. "Alex who?" The one police officer asked.
"Jacobson," I finished. Silence in the air thickened. "My brother," I spit out. He had done this. My brother whom I had always loved had done this. He had killed our family. My family.
"Are you sure?" He asked, I nodded. "He," I started again before pulling out my phone. The back screen was our family dog.
"Is Chloe okay?" I questioned, looking at the small bulldog. "She was locked in the kennel. She's at the pound right now," He explained.
"Can you answer the question please?" He asked and I nodded.
"He left me a voice message a month ago when he went back to college." Going through my voicemail.
"Here," I pressed the speaker button.
"Hey Ellie, I just got settled in. You'll be fine without me, look out for Ollie and give kisses to Chloe for me. I'll see you soon, bye," The call finished out.
"Can we take your phone and run it through the system for comparison," I nodded.
"We are going to set you up in a hotel in town with twenty four hour security. No one is going to be getting in or out without us knowing." One of the officers said. I nodded and hugged my knees to my chest.
"Can Chloe be there?" I asked. Chloe was all that was left of my family.
"We can make the exception." He said and I nodded.
My family was dead. I had no one else. I was next. He wasn't going to stop until I was dead.
