"I can't believe my prank on Max worked!" I told into my phone, with Cherry on the other end. "I mean I know he's gonna get revenge, but nothing will beat having his hair pink for the weekend!" I was still super pumped that my plan worked.
"That's great, Pheebs. I really wish I could have seen it. But I have a feeling he's gonna do something really bad to get back at you. Like, pour water on you when you're sleeping or something," Cherry replied. She would think of the lamest thing.
"I highly doubt he'll do that but…" I started to respond, but I heard a door slam downstairs. What is Max up to? "Umm, I gotta go Cherry. I'll call you later." Without waiting for her reply, I hung up and walked downstairs to see why Max slammed the door.
"Max, what are you doing?" I called out when I got to the living room, but I didn't see him or anything unusual. I looked around for a second, then just decided to go back to my room and then I'd call Cherry back.
Once upstairs, I was about to close my door when I heard someone walking up the stairs, very slowly, as if to try and sneak up on me. Knowing it was just Max getting his revenge on me, I stopped and said, "Okay if you're trying to sneak up on me it isn't going to work."
I never got a reply, and when I turned it wasn't Max that I saw five feet away from me. It was a man I'd never seen before, staring blankly at me, with a gun at his side. I let out an ear piercing scream, which might not have been the best idea since a guy that broke in the house was standing in front of me with a gun.
I was hoping Max would hear me and come see what was going on, but my scream stopped when the man closed the space between us and cupped a hand over my mouth with one hand and held the gun to my head with the other.
"If you don't want a hole in your head, walk backwards into your room and don't make another sound," the man growled at me. I immediately complied, not wanting to anger the man further and see what he would do.
Once we both were in my room, he closed and locked my door, letting go of me, then turned and kept the gun pointed at my head.
"Now listen," he said to me in a low voice, which was more like a growl. "I know your brother is here and I know he heard your scream. So he's most likely coming up here now to see what happened. You need to tell him to go back to his room and that everything is fine."
"Phoebe?!" I heard his faint call, probably from the living room. My eyes were wide and I'm pretty sure I was shaking, terrified of what was going to happen.
"And I swear to God I will kill you and your brother immediately if you mention you're being held at gunpoint," the man finished right as I heard my twins footsteps come to a stop outside my door.
I heard him fumble with the doorknob, then his muffled voice through the door call out, "Phoebe, what's going on? Did you scream?"
At first, I was too shocked to even try to answer, but the guy saw me hesitate and took a step towards me, raising the gun. I replied as steadily as possible. "Everything's fine Max, just go back to your room."
"But didn't you hear a scream?"
I needed him to leave, so I simply stated, "No. You're just imagining things. Now go." My voice slightly cracked, but I hope Max will just listen and leave. The man hadn't moved and kept his eyes trained right on mine. I stood as still as possible, but it's hard when you're scared out of your mind.
I heard a mumbled reply from outside my door, but couldn't make out the words that were said. I was slightly relieved when I could hear Max's footsteps retreating back down the stairs, finally listening to me to leave. The man must have heard them, too, because he lowered the gun, but started to walk towards me.
"I was hoping I could just deal with both of you separately, but since the 'villain' knows something's up, I guess I'll just have to do this with the both of you," the man stated after a minute, which felt like hours. "Now listen, and listen carefully. I'm going to hold on to you to make sure you don't do anything stupid or try to run away. You are going to be in front of me and will lead us into your brothers room, which I believe is in the basement?"
I wasn't expecting him to phrase it as a question so I wasn't ready to answer. Quite frankly I could barely listen since I was staring down the barrel of a gun. But after he took another menacing step towards me I nodded quickly to answer the question and tried to blink back tears.
"Good. Now let's go." He quickly grabbed my arm and pushed me in front of him, grabbing my waist and pulling me close to him. "Unlock the door and leave it open. Walk as quietly as possible so he doesn't know anyone is coming."
I did as the man said, not wanting to push him to doing anything drastic. I'm surprised I could walk down the stairs without falling, considering my legs felt like noodles.
When we got to Max's door, I opened it slowly. There was a slight creak, and the man tightened his grip on my waist when the noise occurred. I winced, scared that the creaking angered the man too much, but he ended up just slightly shoving me forward, a signal to start walking down the stairs.
I saw Max sitting at his computer with his back towards us. I wasn't sure if the man was going to say something, or if he wanted me to, or if he was just going to wait for Max to turn. But when his arm tightened around my waist again I knew I should get my twins attention.
"Max?" My voice was just loud enough to be heard, and my tears were about to fall because the coldness of the gun was pressed to the side of my head. One wrong move and my life was over.
I could tell Max was stunned. He turned towards us slowly and looked like he was going to pass out. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes wide and stunned. We stood there staring at each other for a few seconds, some tears escaping my eyes.
"Phoebe…" Max breathed out, at a loss for words. I couldn't respond, I just stood there shaking and crying. I could barely even think straight.
Before I knew it, the man behind me released his arm from around my waist and pushed me towards my brother. I ended up stumbling, and if it weren't for Max catching me I'd be on the ground. He helped me straighten up and, keeping a hand on my right shoulder, pushed me slightly behind him. I have to admit, Max can get really annoying, but he definitely turns into the protective brother every sister needs.
The man pointed the gun to the floor, but kept both hands on it so he was ready to use it if he wanted to.
"Hah, how cute," he spit out. "The 'villain' trying to be the perfect, protective brother when someone threatens your sisters life."
"What do you want?" Max asked, as threateningly as he could.
"What do I want? Hah, you wanna know what I want? I want to teach you both a lesson," the man replies. What does he mean by teach us a lesson? He broke into our house and is holding us at gunpoint! That's not exactly a lesson!
Max took a step forward, and the man raised his gun, which made Max freeze in mid step. He put his hands up in front of him. I would have copied my twin, but I can't move. Some tears continue to run down my cheeks as I can't take my eyes away from the situation in front of me.
"Don't move. Don't do anything stupid or I'll make you regret it," the man said through clenched teeth.
The next moment happened in the blink of an eye. I saw Max's finger twitch slightly. He then lunged towards the man, but the second he moved a bang rang throughout the room.
My ears were ringing.
More tears ran down my face.
Pain shot through my body, and I collapsed to the ground.
