Romance of a Rock Band

Annie

“Bye-bye, Sweetheart!” she said to me.

“Bye-bye, Mommy!” I answered.

“If you need me before morning, just call home. Clair’s mom knows the number,” she told me.
“Okay!” I answered and she drove away. It was 6:15. It was Friday night. It was September 12. It was the night before my mother died. Maybe I should explain.

My mother had just dropped me off at Clair’s house so that I could spend the night. This was not unusual; Clair and I did this every weekend. Clair was my best friend at the time and she lived just down the street from me. It was raining, so my mother decided to drive me that short distance. I was six years old at the time.

I turned away from the street and headed for the front door. “Annie!” I heard someone shout. Clair was waiting for me with a big hug. “Wanna watch a movie?” she asked me. I nodded happily and we ran inside.

We watched three movies that night. We laughed and played games all night. We finally went to sleep sometime after 11:00. The next morning, we had a contest to see who could eat the most pancakes. I won with four pancakes and her with two-and-a-half. Finally at 11:25 A.M. Mrs. Martins said that she and Clair had to go shopping for new shoes. (Clair had gotten her others stuck in some mud at school the day before.) We got in her car and she dropped me off at my house. She waited for me until I got into the house using the spare key behind the mailbox.

Having to use the spare key was not unusual. My mother often played hide-and-seek with me when I came home. I thought this was just another game.

When I got in it was incredibly quiet. I looked around for my brother, Jack, who should have been sitting on the sofa waiting to tell me that Mommy was hiding. I then remembered that he had gone to my uncle’s house and that I would be going there later. I started looking around the first floor of the three my house had. Then I heard the scream. A loud piercing sound that I thought was right at the top of the stairs. I heard loud footsteps and a crash. My mother came running down the stairs. She turned to come into the living room, where I was, and she saw me. She looked at me with fear. We both heard footsteps coming from just at the top of the stairs. “Hide, Annie!” she whispered and turned and ran towards the kitchen. I hid behind the sofa. Then I heard Johnny come down.

Johnny was my step-father. He and my mother married only a year ago. I hated him, but I could never tell my mother that. He was a large man with blonde hair and brown eyes. He was also very tall and could be very threatening.

When he came down the stairs I could see him from my hiding place. I hoped he couldn’t see me. He was smiling an evil smile; one that I had never seen before. I saw him follow her into the kitchen. I knew something was wrong, so I waited a second and went through the living room, down the hall past the phone, and I stopped just outside the kitchen door. It was open a crack. I opened the door a little wider and peeked around. I saw my mother backed up to the table and Johnny back by the sink with a giant knife in his hand. I knew there was something I should do. He went at her quickly, but she managed to dodge him. I left and ran back to the phone. I dialed 911.

“Hello, what is your name?” a very calm woman’s voice asked.

“Annabelle,” I said.

“What is your emergency?” she asked me.

“Johnny is chasing mommy around the kitchen with a knife,” I whispered.

“Did he cut her?” she asked.

“I don’t think so, but he’s trying to,” I said.

“Find a good hiding place, honey, I’m sending the police to help you,” she told me.

“Ok,” I said and I hung up the phone.

I went back to the kitchen because I wanted to make sure they hadn’t gone outside. I opened up the door and peeked around again. They were still there. He had her cornered up against the counter now. He stood over her and he spoke very quietly to her. “Do you know why I have to do this?” he asked her. She said nothing. “It’s because you’re such a hideous, terrible creature and it would be a shame to let something like you live.” And with that he raised the knife and brought it straight down into the top of her head.

I think I should explain “hideous, terrible creature.” You see, Johnny was human, but my mother and I are not. She is a dragon. I am half dragon and half changeling, meaning that I can change into anything I want to and normally I have wings, but my mommy doesn’t want me to show them to anyone though, so she taught me how to hide them. I later learned that my mother had thought I would be gone for a few more hours and had decided the day before that she would tell him the truth. Now back to the story.

I’ve never heard a scream like that since then and I hope I never do again. Her skull split with a sickening crack and blood went everywhere. He pulled the knife out proceeded to cut off her head. When that was done he went to her arms, and then her legs. When he was finished, he stood, raised the knife, and plunged it into his own stomach. He howled in pain, but he pulled it back out and put it in a second time. I expected him to scream again, but he didn’t seem to have the strength as he only groaned. As he sank to his knees, he looked at me and smiled that evil smile. He sank into the pool of blood that was now the kitchen floor.

That’s when things get fuzzy. I remember standing there, unable to move. People came in, police I think, and took me outside. They asked me a lot of questions and then they called my uncle. I think he told them that he couldn’t take me in, and that he told them about my father. He beat me and my brother. My father, not my uncle. He was in jail and I don’t think he’s aloud to be around children anymore. That’s why my mother left him and married Johnny.

It was a while before they were done talking and then we went back to my uncle’s house. I stayed there for a few days and then a woman came and took me away. Just me. My brother was left with my uncle and that was the last time I saw him. I went to live with a new family, and then another, and then another. So far, I’ve been to six homes. I know they all had their differences, but right now I couldn’t tell you what they were. They all seem the same now.

So now you know how I came to be standing in front of this house, eleven years later. My new home. Tony, my new dad, came up behind me. I liked him. I hoped I would finally be able to stay.

“Like it?” he asked me.

“Yeah. I like it a lot.” I answered. And I grabbed my bags, walked up to the door and waited to be let inside.