Fiction Friday: Chapter Eleven

There was a loud pop from the kitchen. In the living room downstairs, the girls were lit up by a bright light. The flash bang had gone off near their father, but you could hear and see it from where they were at. They were lucky to not be directly in the vacinity of it, it saved them from the temporary blindness and deafness.

The living room was long, along the whole back wall of the house, and sunk half beneath the ground. This meant the windows were along the top half of the wall and opened up onto the grass of the back yard. Normally, at this time of night, you could hear the crickets and various critters moving and signing in the night. They had all gone silent.

The girls mother was the first to snap out of her shock. She stood on the couch and opened the window behind her. Quicker than you would have thought possible she helped all of the girls out into the back yards. Sienna then Shelby, then the twins. Lastly, she handed the feather out to Sierra.

As the four of them moved away from the house, considering where they could hide in the neighborhood, a second flash of light came from living room, where they had just left.

They hopped the fence, into the little redhead girls yard and wound through the neighborhood. Sienna was scared, and crying. Sierra picked her up and in the moment they were both invisible. Shelby watched the man as he took both of her parents, packing them into his black card. The pointers in Savannah's vision told her they were getting further and further away.

The police were in from of their house. Police the girls thought would take them, if their parents were missing, so they moved to the woods around Newburgh Lake. These woods surrounded their neighborhood. They had been in them a few times, but at night, every noise was bigger. They imagined the man behind every tree. They could hear the expressway and the muted voices of police and firemen. It was a surreal game of hide and seek.

When Savannah's phone went off, they all jumped. The cheery ringtone seemed odd in this place, at this moment.

"It's Dad," she said, when his name came up on the little display.

When she answered a deep voice, the voice of the man came out at her. "If you want to see your parents again, you'll give me the feather. Don't talk to anyone. Don't try to be little heroes. I'll call tomorrow with details."

"We're not going to wait for details," whispered Sierra.

She sent Sarah a text, "Meet us in the woods behind your house."