I don't own Home Alone

Days turned to weeks.

Amy had stopped keeping track of the days where she was kept in her home under the watchful eye of Ray and Robert. Why did it feel that a prolonged number of months felt like years? In her head, time seemed to be moving extremely fast on some occasions and slow upon others. However, throughout that time Amy had been doing her best to remain civil with these two men, hoping that she could at least gain their trust at a plan that she had devised in her mind. For the time being, she felt that this plan was too soon to be executed. From what she gathered, Robert acted like a gentleman but she wasn't going to forget the time where he had grabbed her bag and dumped out the contents to see what she was carrying on her visit to prison. As for Ray he was brute force and Amy could feel his grip tight around her throat when she decided to be brave and challenge him with a look in the eye. She had experimented one day with both, though she sensed Ray's disapproval when she longingly stared at him and Robert's unfazed features when she slinked around him. It was all foolishness, she knew about that and she didn't know whether she would be successful with it.

She turned off the faucet from the sink and walked over to the stove the moment the tea kettle began to let out a high-pitched whistle. Amy almost scoffed at the sound coming from the tea kettle, making her think of the tumultuous couple of months that she had to dread. She poured the hot water into a cup and placed a bag of tea inside, letting it steep for a couple of minutes. During that time, she went downstairs to gather her mail as she took the opportunity to do so before Ray and Robert came in and checked through it. When she opened her mailbox, she found just a single envelope that was written from Cook County Jail. Amy's eyes widened when she saw the location that the letter was written. Locking her mailbox, she hurried upstairs before ripping open the letter and reading its contents.

Amy, how are ya?

It has a been a crazy couple of months in this place. There's this crazy guy threatenin' to fight me any chance that he gets. Heh, callin' me a funny guy. I'll show him a funny a guy. Anyways, I know that you've hadn't had the chance to come and visit. It's been weeks. Is anyone givin' you trouble? I'll ruffle 'em up the moment I get outta here. Stay strong honey.

Harry

Harry wasn't one to write long letters or go into the detail on what was going on with him. Amy had found that out months ago, but she didn't have the power to turn back the clock. However, there was something that stood out in her letter that he had written. Some of the letters were bolded, as if Harry was trying to communicate with her in a secret code.

"P...o..." her finger went across the bolded letters but her vision seemed to blur and the letters melding into one thing. She shut her eyes and shook her head, hating the fact that she probably needed glasses and that she was getting old. Running to her bedroom, she tore out a piece of paper and took a pen in her hand and wrote down the bolded letters. A small gasp escaped her lips when she noticed the combination of the letters and the words that was staring back at her. This was something extra that Harry wanted aside from what he had asked her in his previous letters, which was something that Amy was trying to work on. Suddenly, her eyes went over to the closet where she saw the black uniform that was neatly folded on top of the shelf.

The police outfit.

Knock, knock!

Amy's head whipped over to the sound to the knock and she quickly crumpled the note in her hands and threw it in the trash along with the decrypted message. She knew very well whom was in the doorway. Her hand grabbed the doorknob as she took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. With a small fake smile upon her lips, she opened the door and there stood Robert and Ray.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Lime," Robert, in his well-mannered tone of voice, spoke to her as he welcomed himself inside along with Ray, who didn't utter his greeting to her. "Haven't made yourself any dinner yet?" he asked her. Usually the time that he and Ray would arrive, there was always something cooking in the oven.

Amy gently shook her head at him. "I have yet to do some shopping...though there are some leftovers in the fridge."

Robert held out his hand and slightly waved it, as if refusing her offer. "No thank you, Ray and I already ate before we got here." Amy looked over at Ray who was looking through the drawers in the kitchen, as if he wanted something to eat. "If you would excuse my partner's ill manners."

Ray let out a groan and slammed one of the drawers shut before turning around to face Amy and Robert. "Just cut to the damn chase!" Ray shouted at Robert. "Why was your mailbox empty?" his icy blue eyes flashed over at Amy.

Amy blanched at that question. All this time they had been checking her mail? When and how have they been doing so? Was any mail that she had gotten gone missing? "What?" was the word that she could utter at the moment.

"Your mail," Ray repeated to her.

From her peripheral vision, she noticed Robert hiding his eyes behind his hand as if Ray had just spoken their inner group secrets to the world. Amy bit her lips and quickly furrowed her eyebrows at what Ray had asked. "What about my mail?" she asked him, "the last time I went there and checked, there was nothing."

Two can play at this game.

"Yeah?" Ray asked her, "how can you be so sure?"

Amy cocked her head to the side and didn't break any eye contact with him, hoping that it didn't lead to another chokehold. Brawn but no brains she thought. "Because I was just there," Amy said to him, "there are days when I don't get any mail." Thank goodness I haven't gotten any bills...yet.

"I don't believe her," Ray said as he looked at Robert, who red in the face but trying to contain whatever anger he had for Ray.

The older man took a deep breath as he looked at Ray. "Then why don't you go and search every room in this apartment?" Robert suggested to him much to Ray's dismay.

"What?" Ray exclaimed, "I am not digging through her trash."

"You should've thought of that before you opened your damn mouth! Now go!" Robert snapped as he flung out his index finger in the air causing Amy to jump in her place. The moment that Ray disappeared. "Idiot," he mumbled under his breath before turning his attention to Amy. "I am sure that nothing is hidden correct?" he asked her, "considering the consequences."

Amy hadn't been present to all of them, though she knew really well what Robert was implying. "Nothing of the sort," she responded with a nod of her head. "Excuse me."

She quickly paced into the kitchen and took a hold of the tea cup. Her hands shook as she gripped the cup but the moment she took a long sip of the tea, she felt her nerves slowly beginning to calm even if it was temporary. Her mind went over to the location where she had thrown away Harry's letter and the code that she had found, hoping that Ray would only stick to the drawers as Robert asked and not look elsewhere.

What seemed like a long time, Ray's voice suddenly rang through the hall. "I found something!"

Alice almost felt the tea cup slip out of her fingers but she quickly caught the cup before it crashed onto the floor. However, some of the tea wasn't too lucky. She whipped around when she saw Ray walking into the living room holding out a slip of paper in his hands.

Robert uncrossed his arms and took the slip in his hands, reading the contents of what Amy feared. The moment he raised his eyes at her, Amy felt that she was done for on the spot. "What are these names?" he suddenly asked her.

Amy blinked. "Names?" she asked him.

"Don't be stupid!" Ray shouted as he advanced towards her.

"Ray quiet!" Robert shouted, causing the other to take a step back from Amy. Robert walked towards her and handed her the slip of paper that she took in her hands and read through.

Oliver

Dylan

Aiden

Henry

Julian

Aria

Sofia

Amanda

Emma

Abigail

This was a note that Amy had written a long time ago and put it away and never saw it up until this very moment. She noticed the crumpled edges of the paper as her fingers touched through them, bringing her back to that fateful day.

"Who are they?" came Robert's voice snapped Amy out of her trance.

Amy licked her dry lips and took a deep breath. It had been a fifty-fifty chance on what it was going to be, but it never turned out to be anything.

"Speak!" Ray's voice made her jump.

"Baby names," Amy said in a soft tone of voice.

"What?" Ray asked.

"They're baby names!" Amy shouted as she whipped around and looked at Ray, who immediately took a step back and held out his hands ready to deflect her potential attack.

"Outside now," Robert said to Ray as he pushed him outside and the older man followed him out, shutting the door behind them.

Amy hand crumpled around the slip of paper and ran into her bedroom where she threw the note in the trash and collapsed onto her bed. Why did memories have to be so provoking to the point where she was reliving the events of when she had lost it and the months of recuperation that she had to endure? "Goddamn it!" she yelled as she grabbed whatever object she had close to her and flung it across the room, knocking down a picture of herself and Harry.

No, no I need to stay calm she tried to tell herself but before she knew it, her whole world turned black in that moment.