He closed the door with a quiet sigh of relief. At least he'd gotten through the front door. He pulled off the bright red winter coat and hung it on its hook by the door. Mother had dropped him off at Alex's house down the street and told him to be walk home by 7. The security system sounded, alerting the quiet house of his presence.

Beep, beep, beep.

Soft, sock-covered feet padded down the hallway, pausing by the doorway to the living room. The 8 year old poked his head around the corner, looking in the empty room. The TV was still on, but it was just the news. Mother never watched the news, she said it made her more 'paranoid', whatever that meant. Maybe Tony was home?

He didn't like Tony. Tony would always make them act like a family in front of other people. Tony would pretend to be nice. He wasn't nice, and they weren't a family. He would always drink a lot of bottles of "adult drink" and then he would be creepy. Tony once followed him into his room, mumbling and laughing, and tried to get into the bed with him. Tony didn't listen when he had said it was too small for him. Mother had made him leave the room but she didn't make the man go away forever. So he was still mad at Mother. He didn't call her 'Mommy' anymore because she didn't like him saying 'Mother' and he wanted to make sure she knew he was mad.

He continued walking cautiously down the hallway, looking in the computer room. Tony was in there a lot. Mother said he played a game too much online, and now they didn't have a lot of money. She was sad a lot. He blamed Tony.

It was dark in the house, all the lights were out. That was weird. He reached up a short arm to flip on the light switch but it didn't do anything. Alex always made fun of how short he was. At least he was smart, or Mother said he was anyways.

"Mother?"

His voice echoed through the dark house, the only sound. Until there was another noise. He didn't know what it was, maybe it was Mother? Or Tony. Maybe Tony knew where Mother was at least. He toggled another light switch, flicking it back and forth, still no light. There were flashlights in the kitchen. Turning on his heels he whirled around to go to the other room.

Digging through the drawer of all the things he wasn't supposed to touch, he brandished a toy flashlight. It was a lizard and when you squeezed the stomach, the mouth lit up really bright. But it was taken away when he shined it in Tony's face, he just hadn't known that it would hurt the man.

Flashlight in hand, he hopped up onto the counter and grabbed the phone from the holder. It was for emergencies. He would keep it just in case. The light shining in front of his feet, he moved down the hallway to Mother's room.

The door creaked open and he shrunk back. It looked even darker in there than anywhere else. Alex said he was a scaredy-cat but this was really scary. He wanted Mother. What was going on? Taking a big breath and biting his lip he took a tiny step into the room.

He heard someone breathing really heavy and turned to run away. A giant hand clasped into his shoulder, keeping him in place.

"Hey, kid. Whatcha so scared of?"

He turned around and huffed. It was just Tony. Fear gone, annoyance in its place, he crossed his arms. "Where's Mother? Why didn't you say hi when I came in?" The man laughed, standing up, "She didn't tell me you'd be home tonight. I thought you were having a sleepover. I was trying to fix the lights."

"I thought you have to go outside for that?" The man's expression shifted for a second, to anger, but it was only a flash of emotion. Barely noticeable. "No, buddy, it's in here." He put a hand on the small boy's back and felt him tense.

Tony only called him 'buddy' when there were other people around. He tried to back up but the man pushed him forward. His voice sounded different now when he spoke, "I think you should come help me fix it, buddy."

Tony sounded like he was trying to be nice, but he was doing the thing where he put his teeth together really tight. He tried to back up again but the door slammed shut behind him. There was a click and one of the lamps on the corner got turned on.

He looked up at the 3 men who were in the room. He didn't know them, but Tony looked like he knew them. One of the men looked down at him and snorted. The other laughed, but it was a mean laugh. He looked up at Tony whose grip on his tiny shoulder had gotten very tight. It hurt too.

"Where's Mommy!?" He cried, bottom lip quivering a little. The men imitated him, pretending to sniffle and saying 'Mommy, Mommy'. Tony glared at them and they laughed.

"Hey kid-" one of them started. Tony interjected saying, "Don't" the man ignored him and continued. He pointed to the big bed, " There's your Mommy. "

He walked over, after Tony let his shoulder go, and stood at the edge of the bed. He gasped and stumbled back. Mother was lying face down on the bed, unmoving and pale. She was wearing the tie-dyed shirt they made together and the green pajama pants. The sheets were stained bright red.

He backed away, mind whirling. He looked up at Tony, who was looking at the body in the bed. "Wh-what did you do!? What did you do to Mommy?!" The man's face was expressionless and cold. He turned to the other men. They nodded and Tony put a hand on his shoulder. He fought to get away but was forced to look the man in the eye as he knelt down.

"What-what did you do! What are you doing! Let-let me go!"

He held a dirty white cloth in his hand and pressed it to the boy's mouth. The man watched as the light slowly faded out of the child's eyes, catching the body when it fell limp from unconsciousness. The last thing he heard was the man saying his name.

"Maddox"