Chapter 4 - I Love You Nat

I awake to the sound of someone barreling down the stairs; thudding loudly with each footstep pounding on the stairs one after another.

Why is someone running down the stairs; especially that fast at... I look over at my small digital clock on my end table; it glows the numbers 2:57 am in a blue color that glares onto my end table with the faint blue color glowing on a portion of the table.

What?

Immediately I assume that something's wrong and without even thinking I jump out of bed and quietly open my door. I see that my parent's door to their room that's across the hall from mine is closed shut.

Maybe I was just dreaming....

Maybe it's just a dream right now...?

I know in my head this is all too real to be a dream though.

Because I feel crappy in my pajamas and hate it when anyone sees me in them, I slip on some clothes. Plus, who knows who's down there. Once I'm done I lurk my way to the top of the stairs listening for anything unusual as I go and avoiding the creaky floor boards as I try to stay light on my feet.

There's muffled voices I cannot make out coming from below me. I can only tell that they don't sound too happy.

I now am at the wall that is right next to the stairs. Cautiously I move my head to peek around the corner and down the stairs.

Dang it. Nothing. Just the front door, locked up as usual every night.

I mentally groan.

Now what?

No matter how badly I don't want to do this, I really want to know what's going on down there and whose voices those are. Taking a deep breath and holding it I go and quietly put my foot on the top stair. I add a little weight and it creaks a little. I suck in a breath and freeze.

The muffled voices continue.

Phew. They didn't hear me.

I quietly get down three more stairs without being heard. Only two more left, then I will be visible to anyone or anything in the living room because of the wall continuing all the way down the wooden stairs.

Times like this I wish we had carpeted stairs... That would've made this so much easier.

Once I make it to the last stair I put my back to the wall closest to the living room side and listen.

"Just calm down. You're okay, just calm down!" I hear dad whisper yelling.

"Put it down. Just put it down or hand it to me honey." I hear his voice get louder with a tone of panic."

"No." I hear the feminine voice I rarely hear of my mother say fairly loud. "No. It's better this way!" She yells.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I pull away from the protection of the wall. I run off the stairs and turn to see a terrifying sight I would've never expected.

I gasp, holding my hand over my mouth as my legs begin to feel like jelly and I feel my face pale.

There's my mother a few steps away from my father....

One of our bigger kitchen knives in her hand, aimed right at my father's stomach.

"Ma.... Ma-- Mom?" I stutter. "D-- Da-- Dad?"

"Nat. Get out of here. Everything's fine, just go up to your room. I love you Nat."

I barrel up the stairs, almost tripping multiple times from the tears blurring my vision.

I freeze when there's a really loud yell coming from down stairs followed with a huge thump.

I know all too well what happened, but I don't have time to ponder on it. I hear footsteps coming upstairs basically telling me that I have to move or I could be next.

Never would I have guessed any of this would be happening at three in the morning; or at anytime, anywhere, whenever.

I never would have even thought of my mother; a murder.

I wonder what caused her to go off like this; a ticking time bomb her whole life, just exploding now.

I close my bedroom door and lock it and prop my desk chair up under the doorknob. I know that won't keep her out long, but it ought to buy me some time.

I hope.

I grab my pillow and yank off the pillowcase around it that I keep my notebook in. Then I go over to my desk and grab the family picture we got done a few years ago propped up in a small wooden frame. I throw that in the pillowcase.

Then I grab my house key and throw that in, even though I probably won't be coming back here, I take it just in case.

I grab a small blanket I've had basically my whole childhood up till now and throw that in. It takes up more space than anything else, but it may come in handy.

I suck in a breath when the doorknob moves but doesn't open. Then there's a tiny knocking on the door; sounding almost metallic.

Then it hits me.

She's knocking on the door with a knife.

The same sharp kitchen knife that she murdered my father with minutes; seconds ago.

"Come on Natalie." Her soft voice says in a delirious maniac tone. "Lets join your father."

I sob of terror escapes me as I grab one last thing; a flashlight. Then I tie my pillowcase into a knot at the top so o don't loose anything.

The jiggling of the doorknob gets rougher as I almost hear a clock ticking in the back of my head; a clock telling me how much time I have to live or not.

The one thing I didn't think about...

How the heck am I going to get outa here?!

Frantically I look for a place to hide if I don't get out in time.

The bed?

No, too obvious.

The closet?

Yes. If I burry myself under clothes and lock the closet door that will work... I hope.

Okay. Now how to get out...?

The window! My mind screams.

There's a little awning off of the window that I could get on and then jump off that and make a run for it. It's a high jump, but it's not as bad as jumping straight out the window without the awning. It's closer to the ground a little bit.

I unlock and open the window quietly so maybe she won't hear where I'm going out.

I slide up the window and then un click the screen to keep bugs out when the window is open. I lay it down quietly and then jump up, failing to get out the window my first time.

I hear the doorknob clicking a different way; more like metal on metal.

She's picking the lock.

I use that as motivation to push myself up even harder and this time succeed to get out the window.

I kneel on the awning and quietly close the window behind me so just maybe she won't know I got out and go looking for me outside.

I take one last glance at my room; basically my childhood and think of my father's last words to me:

I love you Nat.

His words echo through my head as I scramble down the awning wondering what awaits me next.

A/N-

Hey humans!!

So wow. I had no clue I was capable of writing this intense and well, almost like a horror book/ movie. I'm not really into horror anything, so I don't know where this came from! Wow! Haha

Sorry it's been like YEARS since I updated. It's marching band season and I've been totally stressing and super busy with that and will be until November so sorry!!

Anyways...

229 reads!!

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