The little girl walked out of her room, rubbing her eyes with one hand and held her teddy bear in the other. She walked down the stairs to see what all the noise was. When she got there, she saw that there was a man she didn't recognize standing by the TV, pointing a gun at her mother and her father was laying on the ground with blood seeping from his shirt. Her mother had tears in her eyes when she turned to see her little girl standing in the stairway.
"Is this your baby girl? Huh? Want me to shoot her instead?" the strange man asked. The mother shook her head, the tears falling down faster now.
"Do anything, anything you want to me just don't hurt my baby girl!" The mother cried.
"Whatever you say!" The little girl didn't understand what he was doing. He pulled the trigger and the bullet shot her in the chest and instantly killed her. The little girl was struck with tears. She stood still with fear.
"Mommy!" She screamed.
"Mommy's gone, you little brat!" the strange man said. The little girl heard sirens outside. A policeman kicked the door open and pointed a gun at the strange man.
"Freeze! Nobody move!" The policeman said. The little girl started crying loudly.
"You're coming with us, scumbag!" another policeman took out handcuffs and tazed the strange man. He fell to the ground and dropped his gun. The policeman handcuffed him and took him outside to the cop car.
The policeman with the gun set his gun down and put it back in its case and walked over to the little girl.
"Sweetie, do you know what happened?" He asked kindly. The little girl sniffed and shook her head.
"Okay." He said. He walked around the house. He saw two dead bodies and checked to make sure they were dead. They were. He walked back over to the little girl.
"Honey, can you come with me?" He asked. The little girl stuck her thumb in her mouth and nodded.
"Well we're going to need to pack your belongings, sweetie." The policeman picked up the little girl and walked up the stairs.
"Where's your room?" He asked. She pointed down the hall to their left. He walked down the hall and turned into her room.
"Alright, can you tell me where all your clothes are?" He asked. She pointed to her dresser. He walked over and opened the drawers.
"Where's your suitcases?" He asked. She pointed to the closet across from her room. He got a suitcase and packed all her things.
"Mr. Policeman Sir?" She asked. He looked up at her.
"What happened to mommy and daddy?" She asked. He bit his lip. How could he explain to a six year old girl that her parents were murdered?
"Your mommy and daddy have been…killed. By the big mean man." He explained.
"Mommy and daddy are dead?" She asked. He nodded. She started to cry some more. He put down the shirt and went over to her and picked her up. He was very good with kids.
"It's okay; it's all going to be okay. Calm down." He layed her on her bed and continued packing. A message came in on his walkie-talkie.
"Rich, you coming out?" another policeman asked.
"Yeah. I just have to take care of the little girl." He explained. He finished packing and picked up the little girl and her suitcase. She'd fallen asleep. He took her to the cop car without the murderer in it, and put her in the back seat.
"Cripe sakes, Rich! What are you doing with her?" the other police man asked.
"The mom and dad were shot. Murdered. We have to take care of her situation." He explained.
"Christ. That's fucking great." The policeman said sarcastically.
They drove back to the station and set the little girl in a room with no windows, no nothing but a table a door and a light. He sat the little girl in the chair.
"Can you tell me your name, sweetie?" He asked.
"Chloe." She answered with her thumb in her mouth.
"Okay, Chloe. I'm Officer Rich and this is my buddy Officer Bill. We're going to ask you a few questions, is that okay?" He asked. She nodded.
"Okay. Can you tell me what you did after 7pm today?" He asked.
"At 7pm I watched TV with my mommy and at 8:30 I got ready for bed and my mommy tucked me in. But then I heard loud noises downstairs and I went down to see what it was and daddy was on the floor and the bad man shot mommy." She said.
"So you witnessed your mommy get killed?" He asked. She nodded and stuck her thumb back in her mouth. He nodded.
"We're going to have to dig up some information about her parents' families," He said to the other policeman, "What's your mommy's full name?" he asked.
"Sarah Elizabeth Carter." Chloe said. Officer Rich nodded again.
"Okay. What's your daddy's full name?" He asked.
"Danny Micheal Carter." Chloe said.
"Okay. Thank you."
"Mr.? I'm tired." She tugged on his shirt sleeve as he walked past her. He sighed.
"Alright. I'll get you a place to sleep, okay?" He said. She nodded and followed him into his office. He got a blanket from storage and led her to a bench built into the wall and let her lay down there. Chloe layed down and Officer Rich put the blanket over her.
"Do you want the lights on or off?" He asked.
"On." She answered, drifting off to sleep.
He nodded and walked out, closing the door.
"Rich, there's a woman here who says she's here to see Chloe Carter. She says she's the child's godmother." Officer Bill said as he approached Officer Rich.
"Alright. I'm coming to see her." He said. He came to a woman with brown hair tied up into a messy bun, wearing PJ's and a coat, nervously clutching her car keys.
"You're here for Chloe Carter?" Rich asked. She nodded.
"Yes, my name is Carmen Simmons. I'm Chloe's godmother, I just heard what happened to Sarah and Danny. Sarah was my best friend…" She started to cry.
"It's okay, ma'am. I'll take you to see Chloe." Officer Rich took her to his office where Chloe was sleeping.
"Oh, Chloe…poor girl…" Carmen went over to her and gently shook her awake.
"Chloe? It's Aunt Carmen." She said.
"Auntie Carmen?" Chloe whispered.
"Yes, honey. It's me." Carmen said.
"Am I going to live with you now?" Chloe asked.
"We'll see, honey." Carmen said.
"We're going to have to look at your records. And we're going to have to take a DNA test to prove you're who you say you are." Officer Rich explained to Carmen.
"Mr. Policeman? Am I going to live with Auntie Carmen now?" Chloe asked. Rich bent down.
"Is that what you want?" He asked. She nodded.
"Auntie Carmen loves me and mommy and daddy. I want Auntie Carmen to protect me." Chloe said.
"Okay, sweetie. We'll find out if we can arrange that."
She nodded and went back to sleep.
For now, fellow readers, that is all. Ik, ik…what the heck does this have to do with IMAA at all? Well, you'll see. Sometime in future chapters.