Chapter 1 – "Not While I'm Around"
It was the crying that has awakened her. She jumped from her position on the couch and rubbed her eyes. As her eyes re-adjusted to the darkened apartment, she slowly began to remember where she was and what exactly she was doing. She must have fallen asleep during her one thousand and twenty second viewing of "Meet Joe Black".
The crying continued and she pushed herself up off the couch and moved towards the small room, rubbing her eyes all the way.
"I'm coming Cameron. I'm coming," she called to the small boy. "Just gimme a second here."
Not wanting to blind herself, she refrained from flipping on the overhead light, opting instead for the small lamp near the crib. Cameron reached his hands out to her. As she picked him up, he stopped crying almost immediately.
Smiling, she looked down at him. "What was that for? Did you just want to make sure…"
The sound of someone or something slamming into the door stopped her immediately. Listening closely, she heard the noise again, this time followed by voices. Carrying Cameron with her, she crept quietly towards the window and tried to peer out.
In the shadows she could make out the forms of three people, three people she did not recognize and who should not be trying to open the door with crowbars and hammers. Slowly she eased the window open, hoping they wouldn't notice the movement and that Cameron would remain quiet.
"Hurry up. You are taking too long."
"One second. The door's trickier than it looks."
"If it doesn't open soon, we'll have to forget about the kid and come back. She won't like that."
'Forget about the kid?' Her thoughts raced wildly in her head. 'Come back'? She glanced at the small baby. Were these men here for Cameron? Quietly easing away from the window on the floor, she felt the first stages of panic course through her veins.
She forced herself to take deep breaths. 'Easy chica. You need to keep your head. The last thing you need to do is to panic.'
One thing was clear, she and Cameron needed to hide and quickly. Whoever they were outside, they would definitely see her leave through it now. Waiting till they actually entered the apartment would mean they wouldn't see her but they may catch her leaving through the window and chase her. While she was a fast runner, she wasn't quite sure how fast she could run holding Cameron.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied the closet. Maybe in there. She cautiously opened the door and almost sighed loudly when she spotted the clothes hamper in the corner. "Please not be empty. Please not be empty." She muttered under her breath. She almost jumped for joy when she saw a small pile of clothes at the bottom.
Carefully she put Cameron down on the floor and shut the door. She picked the clothes out of the hamper and carefully placed Cameron on the bottom. Easing herself into the hamper, she placed Cameron awkwardly onto her lap and placed the clothes on top of them.
She was still amazed at how quiet Cameron was being. It was almost as if the boy sensed that getting through this required absolute silence on his part. She allowed herself a small smile as she realized it was almost a Spencer like instinct for the boy to have.
Kissing the top of his head, she whispered to him as she heard the unmistakable sound of the door forced open, "Good boy Cam Cam. Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to you. Not while I'm here."