Cross my heart...

I was five at the time; I didn’t understand what was going on when my dad burst in my room drenched in sweat and red liquid. He scooped me up out of my warm, cozy bed and bolted out my bedroom door. He ran through the complex hallways of our new home that just happened to be ancient. He fell through the floorboards we have not yet fixed. I flew out of his arms and skidded across the old wooden floor. I could hear him shouting to go get my brother and baby sister and get out of the house before it was too late. I did what I knew was my father’s last request of me. I ran as fast as I could down the newly familiar hallways to my 3-year-old bother’s room, my 18-month-old sister’s room next door.
I stopped almost immediately when I got to my brother’s room. The door was wise open. Breathing hard, I slowly walked in.
“Cayden?” I whispered breathlessly.
I stepped in something warm, wet, and thick. I slowly looked down. There was a puddle around my feet that was similar to the red liquid that was on daddy. I stepped out of the pool and walked to the other side of the bed. Cayden was sprawled out on the brand new wooden floorboards. Two small, bloody holes on the side of his neck. His sandy blonde hair drenched in what I now realized as blood. His blue eyes open, but unseeing. Looking at me, but seeing nothing.
I ran to his side. I kneeled down in my new, white Cinderella nightgown. I put my lavender and white bunny next to his leg and pulled his lifeless corpse into my arms. Tears escaped through my thick eyelashes and trickled down my cheek, leaving behind a salty trail that glistened in the little light there was.
“Cayden, Cayden, please wake up. Please. Please, I need you.” I whispered in his ear, shaking him lightly. He still didn’t move. Why does this have to happen now? Why today? Why me? Why my family? More tears fell down my cheeks.
“I love you, Cayden. Always have, always will.” I said the words I always said to him whenever he was ill or sad. Those few words always made him feel a little better, so he said.
I lightly, gently kissed his forehead. My lips froze in awe. I was shocked to feel the skin that was once as warm as a summer’s day feel as cold as ice.
His lips were turning a light shade of blue. He was as pale as snow. His sandy blonde hair seemed to have lost its’ shine. His usually vibrant body looked fragile, weak and stiff.
I heard daddy scream from down the hallway. Then nothing. It got daddy to. More tears spilled.
“I’ve got to go Cayden.” I whispered with shaking hands and quivering lips.
I laid him down as gently as I could with my hands shaking uncontrollably.
I got up off my knees and stretched over my puddle of blood quickly forming around Cayden to get my stained bunny. As I turned around, a shadow zoomed by the door swiftly. I heard my sister’s door creek open, followed by a sudden crying.
I ran out of Cayden’s room and into the doorway of Emily’s. Frozen with fear, I watched the dark, shadowy figure loom over my sister in her crib. Her wild cry slowly coming to an end. Then, it slowly became absolutely silent besides the quiet creaking of the ancient house. The figure lifted its’ head and inhaled deeply.
It turned its’ head toward me, eyes narrowed in my direction. It was neither man nor beast. A feral growl rumbled low and deep in its’ throat. It bore its’ ugly teeth at me. Bloody saliva dripped from its’ thick canine fangs that just hung above its’ bottom lip.
I blinked and the creature was standing before me. Startled, I stepped back into the hardly lit hallway, unknowing there was a lose floorboard sticking up behind me. I hissed as it stuck the tender flesh on my ankle and I fell backwards. I looked up and the creature was hovering over me, bending down. Its’ mouth wide open, its’ eyes doubly wide with hunger and hatred as it stared down at the large vein sticking out of my neck, pulsing wildly. I sealed my eyes shut, preparing for my deadly fate to come.
It had stopped midway. Its’ body was tense and rigid. It closed its’ mouth so I could not see its’ canine teeth. Its’ eyes, staring intensely into mine, softened sadly. Right then, I realized it wasn’t a creature or a beast. It was a man. It was too dark to get a really good look at him. He leaned in towards me. I secured my eyes shut again. Something cold and smooth slid across my overly warm cheek so softly and came to a rest on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and gasped when I realized his face was only inches from mine.
He leaned in even closer. His cold lips lightly touched my forehead, leaving chills throughout my body. Why does this man seem so familiar to me?
He pulled his hands together. I looked down to see him pull a ring off his pinky finger. He took hold of my right hand and slowly shoved it on my middle finger, his soft eyes never leaving mine. He reached out behind me and clutched the lavender and white bunny that was now stained with Cayden’s blood. My mother gave it to me that day for my birthday. His eyes left mine for a fraction of a second to look down at the blood-stained bunny. Then he handed it back to me.
He whispered softly against my ear, “At last, I’ve found you.”
I blinked and he was gone. I’ve looked to my left and right. He was absolutely nowhere to be seen.
I knew Emily was dead even before I sauntered into the room. I glanced down at her small body lying motionless in her crib. She looked so peaceful, so fragile. She was too young to dies, especially this way. Why would that creature/man want to hurt, let alone, kill little Emily? Or Daddy, Mama and Cayden? Why not me? His unnatural words echoed in my head repeatedly. What did he mean by that?
I walked to our neighbor’s, Mrs. Smith, house, or, as she insists, Carla. I stood on her front porch barefoot wearing only my Cinderella nightgown that was now blotched with red and clutching Lulu, my bunny, to my chest. I knocked calmly on her door and rang the doorbell repeatedly, gripping Lulu tighter and tighter every second I waited for her to come to the door. The door finally swung open to reveal Mrs. Smith in her plaid pajamas, her short, golden-brown hair sticking up in spikes in several places and her eyes mask strapped to her forehead.
When she looked down at me, all signs of drowsiness went away as shock replaced it. She turned her back towards me to turn on the porch light. She looked down on me again. Fear clearly crossed her plain features.
She kneeled down to raise me off the ground and into her arms.
“Haley, honey. What happened” What’s on your nightgown?” She asked, desperate for answers.
She rushed me into the kitchen and set me down lightly on one of her most comfortable cushioned chairs. She ran to the sink and brought back a glass of cold tab water for me.
“Haley, you’ve got to tell me what happened? What’s on your nightgown, baby?” She recapped.
I looked up, straight into her brown eyes, and whisper the truth, “A man broke into our house and killed Mama and Daddy. Even Cayden and Emily, and this-“I looked down at the dark red splotches on my new ruined nightgown. “- is Cayden’s blood. Please, Mrs. Smith, call the police.”

As soon as she got off the phone with the cops, she gave ma short bath and let me wear one of her husband’s over-sized tee-shirts before they arrived on her doorstep.
Mrs. Smith stepped outside to call her husband and to wait for the police to show up. I sat in the window seat watching Tom and Jerry as I waited for Lulu to get out of the dryer. I got that strange feeling I was being watched. I looked out the window and there, standing under the streetlight on the dark sidewalk stood the familiar figure watching over me with those cold, intense eyes.
I gazed down at my right hand to where the strange man who killed my family placed a gold ring with a heart-shaped, blood red ruby rimmed with gold.
I took off the ring and examined it carefully. Looking for a reason why he gave it to me in the first place. There was something engraved in the gold. My eyes widened in shock and awe as the realization of what it said sunk in deeply.
A cold chill crawled up my spine like icy fingers as two simple letters appeared in my head in thick, bold letters: H.S. The letters were my initials: Haley Summerz. What color was left in my face was completely demolished.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My eyes fluttered open with fright as I yanked myself up in a sitting position. Tears welled up in my already moist eyes. My once relaxed hands were clenched into fists, one hand clutching Lulu, my old bunny, the other clutching onto the ruby ring.
I sighted with relief and let my hands relax. I situated the ruby ring back on my pointer finger.
What time is it? I rubbed my eyes and looked over at the digital clock down by the bottom bunk where Tracy, my orphanage roommate, slept undisturbed by my alertness on the top bunk.
It read 2:10 a.m.
I groaned and laid my head back on the fluffy pillow. I squeezed my eyes shut with all my muscles and begged for a dreamless sleep to take over my restless body without my old memories interrupting, reminding me. When my dreamless sleep did not come, I carefully climbed down the ladder of my bunk. I looked over at the clock again, now it read 2:31. I looked at Tracy. She was sitting up in bed, peaking at me through her slit eyelids; her fragile but firm arms clung to her dirty old blanket she was wrapped in when she arrived here at the orphanage nine years ago.
“Haley, what are you doing?” She asked in a drowsy, tired tone. Her eyes narrowed in thin suspicious slits.
“Nothing, sweetie. I’m just going downstairs to get a snack. Go back to bed. I’ll be back in a minute.” I whispered loud enough so she could hear me as I tucked her in with her blue, white and lavender striped blanket. My long, dirty blond hair brushing lightly against her pale cheek.
“Haley, please don’t leave me.” She begged, whispering loudly. Her blue eyes now wide with fear. She was abandoned here when she was only 2 months old. Ever since then, she’s lost almost everyone she’s truly cared about. Her friends here at the orphanage, her foster families. I’m one of the very few people she has left.
“I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just going to get a snack.” I explained again.
Her blue eyes softened, “Promise?”
“Cross my heart. You want anything while I’m down stairs?” I asked quietly as she started to doze off.
“No, thank you. I’m just gonna go back to sleep now.” She whispered softly through a small yawn.
Without another word, I kissed her forehead gently and slipped out of our bedroom, closing the door behind me.
I ran quickly to the stairs, trying to ignore the squeaky sounds that were made with every move I mad.
As I took one step at a time down the stairs, I continually stepped on my oversized flannel pajama bottoms; almost making me trip down the steep stairs.
I finally got to the fifteenth and last stair in one piece. When I stopped on the flat, solid ground, I heard a loud creak under the pressure of my foot. I hesitated long enough to see if anyone heard.
Once no sound was made that someone heard, I continued down the hallway to the kitchen, humming the tune to the first song that popped into my head: If I Die Young by The Band Perry. When I entered through the kitchen door, a sweet aroma filled me with delight. I looked over at the counter to where a fresh bowl of chocolate chip cookies and an equally fresh glass of milk waited specially for me.
I smiled a quiet smile to myself. Ugh! Laura. She knows me too well.
Laura has been my mother figure since I was at least seven, two years after my family was murdered. The police never found the murderer.
Mrs. Smith, our next door neighbor, took me under her wing for these two, long, dreadful years; but, in the end, she couldn’t handle my depression and trouble making. So, she did what any unfit parent would do, what she thought was best for me. She handed me off willingly to Laura. I haven’t seen or heard from her since then.
Ever since then, I have been back and forth between this orphanage and thirteen different foster homes. Now, I am 16 and my birthday is in exactly two weeks in counting. Everyone knows I dread my birthday; but no one has a clue as to why I do.
For the past month, I’ve been having the same nightmare of that unfaithful birthday. The disturbing memories of the night when I turned five. I’ve been waking up at the same time every morning; 2:10 a.m. Laura is usually up taking care of the poor babies that were left on her doorstep with nothing but a blanket to keep them warm. When she’s done, she usually comes to talk to me while we share my pre-morning snack. Humph. Guess she was too tired this morning.
I snatched up the bowl of delicious smelling cookies and my glass of cold milk and headed over the large kitchen table. I stopped short when I thought I saw something outside the window.
I slowly put the bowl of cookies on the table, the glass of milk still in hand; I took a deep breath and a long swallow of milk before I did anything further.

I took another deep breath and lifted my hand to pull away the right side of the baby pink lace curtains. I looked out into the dark night.
When nothing suspicious turned up, I took in a frail sigh of relief. I slumped a little bit, trying to relax. I put the glass to my lips and slowly turned around.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
Something was in the shadows of the hallway. At first glance, I thought it was just Laura.
But it wasn’t. Whoever it was just stood there, staring at me. I rubbed my eyes, thinking they were playing tricks on me.
Then it, at last, stepped slowly out of the shadows.
The glass slid from my hand, shattering on impact to the ground. Milk crept all around my feet as I screamed at the very top of my lungs. I backed away from the familiar body shape. The familiar hunger… The familiar long canine teeth.
I heard a huge thud and Laura’s worried voice calling my name from some place far away. My right pointer finger throbbing with pain.
I opened my eyes, only for a second and caught a glimpse of the ruby ring on my right pointer finger.
I could straight away, even through my groggy haze; it wasn’t just a ring now.
Thin golden ribbons now colored my veins on the underside of my arm. All of them connecting to the ring.
As the realization that something was definitely wrong sunk in, everything went black.