Innocence.

Crash.

Eleven year old Claira awoke with a start from the sudden noise. She hugged her teddy bear, too frightened to get out of her bed. Her family owned no pets; it couldn't be an animal. The sound happened again, this time with a muttered curse word. Claira gasped, knowing no one spoke those bad words around her. Claira thought of fleeing to her older sister's room. Seventeen year old Angie Camden's room. Immediately she shot that idea down. Angie was so mean to Claira; she never played with Claira.

Claira heard foot steps now, they creaked through the house. She leaned over her bed; taking her extra blanket and trusting it over her head. It was going to save little Claira from everything.

Ahh!

A scream pierced the air, officially frightening Claira. She started to weep; terribly confused on what to do. Where was Daddy? Claira wished someone could barge in a tell her everything was fine. Within minutes of her crying in her pillow; Claira finally passed out. The screams ringed in her ears the entire time.

An hour had passed when Claira finally awakens again, but this time she is covered with blood. Her arm stings harshly. She screams; jumping out of bed. Stunned, she realizes that she has been cut. Claira remembered if you put pressure on the wound then it will feel better. After dressing her cut Claira decided to venture out of her room. Who ever was in the house obviously just tried to kill her. Still fearful, Claira spots something gleaming on her floor. It's a large knife. She knew she wasn't allowed to touch them, but maybe it can protect her.

Claira steps out, trying to make as less noise as possible. It wasn't clear if the area was safe or not. She clutched the knife. All Claira wanted was her mother. While she walked, Claira noticed the house was strangely quiet. When she came to her sister's room, something wet and sticky was coming from under her door. It was too dark for her to know what it was. It smelled like copper. Claira didn't take a mind to it. Something was always coming out of Angie's room.

When Angie's door was pushed open Claira saw why it was wet. Angie laid dead on the floor, her throat slashed. Angie was half nude, her eyes cloudy and blank. Claira stepped forward, looking more closely at her older sister. Nothing went through her, Chaira secretly hated her sister. She enjoyed seeing this actually. Angie's boyfriend was slumped over the bed, dead too. Both of their throats were slashed and it looked like their bellies were repeatedly stabbed. Claira wrinkled her nose, it was starting to smell bad. She stepped out, leaving a trail of blood foot prints. She didn't notice another pair that went the same way.

At Mr. and Mrs. Camden's door there was nothing wet. Before Claira could walk in, someone grunted. She couldn't see who it was, but they were extremely larger than she. Without hesitance she stuck the knife out, warning them with her small voice. The figure whispered something she couldn't understand and stepped forward.

Out of sheer fear, Claira thrusted the knife into the darkness. Their scream sounded familiar, but they immediately fell. Claira felt the rush of adrenaline. She thought she just saved her mother from him. The stranger stopped breathing heavily after Claira thrusts two more times into him. To make sure.

Claira's mother laid dead too, a puddle of her own blood pooled around her. When Claira reached her all she could do was cry. Taking the house phone Claira calls the police. Maybe they can help her mother. Claira stayed there and cried until help came.

When the paramedics came they found Claira with her mother's body. Her entire body was covered with blood. The police offer on the scene recognized the dead man in the living room. He shook his head and prided the girl from her dead mother.



Claira sat in the Criminal Profiler's office, she was coloring in a book she found. The profiler, Ms. Banks, sat nervously watching her. The little girl was oblivious to everything around her, it scared Ms. Banks. Her co-worker, Mr. Yong, touched her shoulder in comfort.

"It's like she doesn't even know." Mr. Yong commented on the little girl.

Ms. Banks nodded her head in agreement. "It's like she doesn't want to know." She held the vanilla folder closer to her chest. Inside was the profile on each family member, even the teenage girl's boyfriend. Four were dead, the stranger turned out to be Claira's own father. He has came in late that night, and found his family dead. In the attempt to hug his little girl, she stabbed him. Claira opposed every idea that the stranger was her father. For hours she told them it was a stranger. Someone else was in her house that night.

For hours both Ms. Banks and Mr. Yong argued. Claira was the only survivor. The only fingerprints on the blade was hers, all the bloody foot prints were hers. Three months later and she still denies everything. She was sleeping she explained. Even the knife wound on her arm proved her older sister fought back.

Claira had to have killed her family. Everything fit.

Ms. Banks opened the folder, exposing the older sister's picture. Angie sure was beautiful, she had a great life ahead of her. Her boyfriend, Billy, was the star quarterback for their high school. Angie had a life going for her. It hurt Ms. Banks seeing someone so young die in that manner. The girl just sat there, still coloring.

Mr. Yong walked in, to see the drawing. His face went blank. It was a crude picture of Angie Camden with blood around her. There stood Claira with a knife over her sister's body.

"Mommy and Billy got in my way." That's all she said, leaving both criminal profilers stunned.