The mother stared at the door for a small moment before slowly walking towards the door. She reached out to the door handle and right as she touched it she heard someone yell something throughout the house.

"We know you're in here somewhere! Come out, come out wherever you are!~" the soldier said in a loud laughter as the small group of soldiers walked closer to the bedroom door that the mother and her child were sitting inside.

***

The mother had heard these words and immediately pulled her arm away from the door frantically as she turned around to make sure her child was still okay. She slowly bent over to look underneath the bed and held her breath.

The child was there, trembling worse than the mother could ever recall. She lets out a sigh of relief...a little too loud...

The footsteps abruptly stopped and whispering could be heard from the other side of the door. The mother covers her mouth with her hand as her eyes widen when she realizes what she had done. She crouches nearby the bed and looks at her child. She then reaches out to the child and cups its cheek in her hand with teary eyes and states, "I love you" quietly.

She then puts her finger to her mouth and crawls back out from underneath the bed to grab the pipe. She gets up as she reaches for the pipe and then she realizes...

It's quiet...

Too quiet..?

She looks towards the door and locks eyes with the handle. Then that's when she heard it... the handle slowly turning open.

In a blur of movement, she grabs the pipe and starts running towards the door to lock it. But she was too late.