Chapter 9

When she got home, she went upstairs to change. When she was sitting on the couch watching TV to numb her mind, she noticed something under the door. It looked like… paper? She got up and pulled it out from it's hiding spot, opened it, and read the note. When she read it, she couldn't believe her eyes, so she read it again.

I murdered your mom, and now I'm after you. Watch your back, because I am already.

Even though it was handwritten, she could tell that the writer was disguising their handwriting. She then became very, very afraid. Her heart started pumping and she got icy cold. After a few seconds, she had calmed down enough to think.

I should call my dad, he would know what to do.

She picked up the phone and dialed her dad's cell. It rang twice and then he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, daddy? I need your help." She tried to sound calm, but it wasn't working.

"Are you ok? What's wrong?!"

"I just found a very troubling note under my door. I'm still quite upset."

"I see. What did it say?"

"It said 'I murdered your mom, and now I'm after you. Watch your back, because I am already.' It's really freaking me out, and I'm not sure what I should do. Any suggestions?"

"Yeah. Tonight you're staying at my place. If they want to get to you, they have to go through me. And that's no easy task."

"Are you sure you want me to come? I don't want to be trouble."

"Yes! All across this country daughters are staying in their dad's houses. Why should you be any different? Besides, you live alone right now, and two people in the house is better than one."

"I see your point. When should I be there?"

Later that night, she loaded her overnight backpack up with stuff, and climbed into her car. She turned up the radio and sang along.

"Drive all night! Never gonna get me! Night by night, to get away from it all! Fight, fight, fight! All you wanna do is hurt me! You wrecked my life, so I'm gonna have to drive all night!" Just then she noticed a nice black mustang following her. She thought nothing of it, until a few blocks later, when it still seemed to be following her. The note came back to her mind.

Watch your back, because I already am.

She tried to push it back far into the depths of her mind, but it still persisted. By the time she arrived at Bobby's house, the car was gone. At least, that's what she thought.

She walked up to the door, and rang the door bell. The door opened to reveal Bobby standing there, smiling at her.

"Hi, honey! Come in, come in."

"Hey, dad! Thanks for letting me stay here." She said as she gave him a hug.

After they had eaten, Bobby asked her if she had seen anything unusual on the way here. She promptly replied that she had.

"Yeah, I saw a black mustang following me. I don't know if it was really following me or not, but it was behind me for quite awhile."

"What year?"

"Uh, '65, I think."

"I'll keep am eye out the window to see if it turns up again."

Erica smiled at him.

"Thanks."

For the next couple of hours, they sat on the couch and talked. They spoke about everything, and they watched the news. At about 10:00, Bobby noticed that there had been a long pause in their conversation. He looked over at Erica, only to find her peacefully sleeping. A thin bar of moonlight was streaked across her forehead and one of her pigtails.

A halo for an angel, he couldn't help but think that. This sixteen-year-old girl had turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to him, even though he had just found out about her. He knew that she was his angel in a world of devils and murderers. He reached down and lightly pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, and kissed her on the cheek. Then he grabbed a blanket from beside the couch, put it over her, and went to bed.

The man got out of his black mustang at about midnight. He had been watching this house for a while, and now it was time to go through with his orders. He wasn't very old, he seemed to be about nineteen. He had blonde hair, green eyes, and a cold smile, just like his twin brother, and all of it was covered up by a ski mask. He realized that he had to be very careful kidnapping the gorgeous girl from this house, as her dad was quite large, and could probably kill him. As he made his way to the back of the house, he went over his escape plan one more time.

Grab the girl, get to the car, and take the least direct route you can think of. You can do this, Dan, you can do this. He approached the living room window and peered inside. This should be cake, he thought, because the couch Erica was asleep on was right next to the window. He hunted for a large rock, and when he found one, aimed for the large picture window, and threw it. The window shattered into millions of tiny pieces, and covered the ground outside, as well as the living room floor. Erica screamed and sat up quickly. She turned towards the window, just in time to see the man in the ski mask grab her tightly. She tried to do some Karate moves, but he was holding her too tight. And he had pulled a gun on her. Bobby ran out to the living room, and the man promptly pointed his gun at him.

"Don't move or…" He thought this over in his head, and pointed it at Erica instead. It would be more effective.

"…She gets it!" he said coldly, putting emphasis on the she. Erica looked at Bobby, terror showing in every inch of her eyes.

Just then Bobby remembered his gun on the kitchen counter. He slowly inched back towards it, but just as he started moving, the man jumped out the window and ran to his car, carrying Erica over his back like a sack of potatoes. He wrenched open the trunk, and threw her inside. As she landed, her head hit the spare tire, and she blacked out.

Bobby ran to the front porch, only to see the faint glow of the mustang's tri-bar taillights in the distance.