I'm Anxiously Awaiting Your Arrival Now

Recap-When we arrived at Maxes house I looked into my driveway and saw a very unfamiliar car. Which was strange because my mom wasn’t home, and there was a light on in the back of the house. I pointed this out to the rest of them.
“That’s really strange.” Lauren said with a puzzled look.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Craig said.
“Yeah, your mom probably went out with some friends and they took your moms car and left theirs here.” Mike added.
“But that’s the thing.” I said. “My mom is working. She hasn’t been home for hours, and every light in the house was off when I left.”
Ronnie swallowed hard. “Well uh, lets go in Matt’s house for a while. And if the car is still here, then we’ll go check. But I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.” Something told me he wasn’t so sure.

I nodded and we went inside Max’s house. We turned on his tv to HBO and started watching the movie that was on, which was “When A Stranger Calls”. Which didn’t really help take my mind of anything.
All I could think about the whole time was that car sitting in my driveway. Everyone around me was talking and laughing but I couldn’t even think straight. My heart was beating fast and I couldn’t breath right. And when I tried to swallow, nothing would happen. It was like there was a blockage between my mouth and my throat that nothing could pass through. I felt like I was dying. I was certain that something was wrong. I just couldn’t put my finger on what that something was.

Finally Craig noticed that I was the only one not talking. He stood up and walked slowly over to me and sat down. He put his arm around me and sighed. “What’s on your mind my dear.” he asked. I smiled at how much he sounded like a girl.
“I just can’t stop thinking about that car.” I sighed and looked over at the clock. It was 2:30 AM. “My mom should have been home by now. We’ve been here for 2 hours.” I sighed again and ran my hand through my hair. Craig bit his full bottom lip, not really sure of what to say.
Max came over and sat on my lap. Usually I would have told him to get off, but right now I don’t care. Max looked down at me and frowned. “What’s the matter?” he asked sounding concerned.
“The car.” I muttered. Max made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth. He whispered something to Craig and Craig nodded and got up and told Ronnie, Bryan and Mike.
“Okay, let’s go.” Ronnie said getting up from the floor. He walked over to me and placed a kiss on my cheek. “We’ll be right back.” he said and Max stood up.
“If your going over to my house, I want to come with.” I said also standing up.
Ronnie shook his head. “No, because if there is someone there, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want you to get hurt either.” I retorted. “Okay, look. It’s my house and I want to know what’s going on. I’m coming with Ronnie. And if there is someone in my house I guess then we’ll just get hurt together.” I said nodding, trying to get not only him, to accept what I said, but myself.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine, let’s fucking go then.” he huffed, taking my hand in his own.
“Does this mean I get to come too?” Lauren asked hopefully, jumping up from the floor.
“Yeah, come on.” Ronnie muttered.

We walked out of Max's house, and walked across his yard and into my own.
The mysterious car was still in my driveway and the small light in the back of the house was still on.
I took a deep breath as I walked up the steps to the deck. Ronnie insisted he open the door and walk into the house first, so I wouldn’t die.
We reached the door and Ronnie put his hand on the door knob. He looked back at us and turned the handle. "Oh Fuck." Ronnie whispered. My heart dropped as the door opened. I tightened my grip on Ronnie’s hand as we entered the house one by one.

Looking around, everything seemed fine. But there was something that just didn’t feel right. We walked into the dining room and I saw my mom’s purse sitting on the table. I was hoping that maybe she just forgot it but her keys and cell phone were also inside.
We moved into the kitchen and I saw a drawer opened wide. So wide that it was practically falling off it’s hinges. Ronnie and I slowly walked over to it and I realized it was the utensil drawer, which doubles as the knife drawer.
I went to shut it but Ronnie grabbed my hand. I looked up at him and he was staring at the drawer. I followed his gaze down to the drawer. And to my horror I saw what he was looking at.
Blood.

I felt tears raining down from my eyes. Ronnie wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. “Sh.. It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.” He whispered into my hair. I pulled away but he still kept one arm wrapped protectively around my waist.
The others came over and saw what we were looking at. Mike swallowed hard and looked like he was going to pass out. Bryan and Craig looked at each other, nodded and walked down the basement steps. Lauren hugged Max and started crying.

“We should look around the house.” Mike whispered hoarsely. “Look for your mom.”
I wiped my eyes and nodded. “Mike, go with Lauren and Max and you look on this level. I’m going with Ronnie and Bryan and Craig obviously went together.” Max nodded and they left. I looked up at Ronnie. He placed a hand on my cheek and pressed his lips into my own. “Come on, we better go look.” He said and we started walking toward the stairs.

My heart was pounding more and more with each step I climbed. It was so loud that I’m pretty sure Ronnie could hear it because it was deathly quiet in the house.
We checked my room first, because it was the closest to the stairs. It was clear.
As were all the other rooms we checked. The only rooms that we hadn’t been in, where my mother’s room and the back guest room. We started walking down the hallway toward the guest room when Ronnie stopped. He pointed at the wall, “Look.” I looked and at first didn’t see anything. I walked toward it and upon closer inspection I saw what it was. More blood. Not much just a spot, barely enough to tell but I knew what it was. There was also a mark on the wall. It looked slightly like a cut mark, but I couldn’t tell.

“Let’s just keep going.” I said, pulling on his arm, as I started to walk again. We reached the end of the hallway and I had just put my hand on the handle when we heard a crash done stairs and Craig was yelling. Ronnie and I looked at each other and bolted down stairs.
Bryan, Craig, Max, Lauren and Mike were all standing in a circle looking at something. Ronnie pushed Max out of the way to see what all the fuss was about. Craig was holding an axe. Normally I wouldn’t care but now everything was different.
“What’s with the axe?” I asked, my voice shaking.
Craig looked me dead in the eye. “I have to show you something.” He said it so seriously that I didn’t want to know what it was. But I nodded and followed him downstairs.

To get to my house from the garage, you have to go into the basement and out that door and into the garage. When we got downstairs, I knew something was wrong. It wasn’t a feeling this time. I saw it with my own eyes. Craig and I were standing in the middle of my family room, facing the garage door.
There were several axe marks in the door. Most of the marks were around where the handle is, or rather, where it should be, whoever did this, completely took off the handle. The door was kicked in, I knew this because you could see a foot print on the door.

“We found the axe there.” Craig said, pointing to a spot near the door. I nodded and looked around for any other damage, which wasn’t hard to find. Pictures were knocked down, the TV was tipped over and so was the coffee table.
Ronnie appeared in the door frame. “Holy shit.” he whispered. I looked over at him with tears in my eyes. His face softened and he enveloped me into a hug. I let the tears fall. This was all too much.
“Did you guys look everywhere upstairs?” Max asked walking into the room.
Ronnie shook his head, “We didn’t look in her moms’ room or the guest room.” He said barely audible because he had his face pushed down in my shoulder.
“We should go look.” Lauren whispered. I nodded and broke away from Ronnie.
Together as a group we walked up to my moms’ room. We didn’t bother checking the guest room. We knew where it was.

My heart was pounding at the speed of light as I turned the door knob. I opened the door and my heart completely stopped. All that happened next was a blur. Just a horrifying, surreal blur.
On the bed was my mothers lifeless body. And the intruder standing over it. When I opened the door he stopped and came at me.
"Mother fucker!" Ronnie bellowed and he and Craig went forward and grabbed him. He dropped the knife he was holding and Craig kicked it under the bed while Ronnie proceeded to throw him into the wall repeatedly.
After Ronnie and Craig grabbed the guy, Mike and Lauren rushed over to my mom and tried to find any signs of life. Max took out his cell phone and frantically dialed 911 and told them where we were and what was going on.

And while all of this was going on, there was me. Collapsed on the floor, nothing but a messed up ball of tears and sorrow. Bryan had grabbed me on my way down and was comforting me the best he could. I mean, my mother was just murdered, there wasn’t much he could do.
All I knew is that my life was over. I can’t do this without my mom. It’s just not possible for me.
Ronnie and Craig pinned the guy to the ground and held him there. Mike and Lauren and gone outside to wait for the police, both of them in tears. Max was now trying to comfort me too. Him and Bryan both had tear-stained cheeks.

The police arrived and an ambulance also. They all rushed past the broken figure of myself on the floor. Bryan and Max were ripped away from me and I was left by myself on the floor until a police officer made me go outside.
I sat on the steps of my deck with one of those blankets they give people who were just in a crisis or whatever. Everyone rushed past me. I didn’t really notice anything until they brought the stretcher out that my, now non-existent mom was on.
I watched with a breaking heart as they put her into the ambulance and closed the doors. A detective came up and started questioning me, but I couldn’t comprehend anything that he was saying to me. “Miss?” he asked. “Miss? Please we need to know.”
I turned to face him with hate in my eyes. “Why don’t you just leave me alone the fuck alone.” I growled. "For fucks sake my mom was just murdered!" He held up his hands and walked away to talk to Lauren.

I felt hands placed on my shoulders. I turned around and Ronnie was there. He had a few cuts and bruises on his face. I lightly touched one and he flinched. “I’m sorry.” I whispered. He shook his head and pulled me into a tight hug.
For the second time I fell apart. I couldn’t handle this. I’m 17. I can’t take all this. "Baby, it's not your fault." He mumbled

He pulled away and looked at me. He had tears running down his cheeks like me. I knew it was bad then. Ronnie doesn’t cry. Ever. I reached up and wiped a tear away.
He pulled me back into a hug but stopped and pointed toward the ambulance. It was leaving.
I felt even more tears running down my face. My heart now completely breaking into two neatly cut pieces. The sheriff walked over to me once again and started talking. “You are aware that your mother has passed?” What I wanted to say was “No I’m completely stupid, I didn’t see the killer with the knife.” But what I said was this “Yes I am. But I don’t want to talk about that right now.” More tears. He nodded and walked away.

Ronnie walked in front of me and took me by my shoulders. He looked me in the eye before hugging me one last time.
“It’s gonna be okay.” He whispered. "We're gonna get through this. Together."