Author's Notes: Thank you so much to all reviewers...to answer some questions...yes Ryan and Marissa are going to be in this, they do have kids, and believe it or not, they are going to be mostly happy...they will probably appear first in the next chapter, and gain more of a role in this story as it goes on. That's about it. This chapter is much more exciting than the first one, so I hope you all enjoy.Thank you to everyone who reads this chapterand a special thank you to anyone who reviews.It is always appreciated, and helps keep me going. Thanks.
Chapter Two
Later that day, Summer sat in the backyard, watching her children play. They had finished dinner about an hour ago, and after saying good-bye to Stephanie, they decided to go swimming. The three older girls were in the pool, splashing each other and playing water games, while Emily and Jake played on their swing set. Ben was in the playpen that was positioned next to Summer's white lawn chair.
Summer couldn't help but sigh. It was times like these where she really missed Seth. When the whole family was together, only missing one member…times like this one made her long for Seth in so many different ways. Summer let out one more sigh before telling herself that she had to stop feeling this way, that Seth would be back in just a few days.
Summer was so busy thinking about Seth that she didn't even see Emily come over to Summer's side. "Mommy?" Emily said quietly. Even though Emily had said 'Mommy' so quiet, it made Summer jump. "Sorry, Mommy," Emily said immediately when her mother jumped back.
"Oh, no, sweetie, I'm sorry…you startled me, I didn't see you there," Summer said reaching her arms out to pick up Emily. Emily climbed into Summer's arms and settled down on her mother's lap.
"Mommy?" Emily said again, this time in a whisper. She was staring down at her two tiny hands as she talked to her mother.
"Yes, honey?" Summer replied looking at her youngest daughter.
Emily looked up suddenly at Summer with her big brown eyes, filled with silent tears. "I miss him, too," she admitted as she wrapped her arms around her mother. Summer, shocked just a bit by the open honesty coming out of her 4-year-old's mouth, chose not to reply and to simply just hug Emily back.
"Okay, everyone, time to go to bed," Summer ordered. After the nighttime baths and snacks, after reading them their bedtime stories, Summer just wanted to go to sleep. She felt exhausted and she wasn't sure why; the day had not been any more strenuous or difficult than normal.
Summer followed the four kids who were still awake upstairs to their rooms. After tucking in Jake and Kaylie, Summer popped her head quickly into the bedroom that Shannon and Courtney shared. Courtney, exhausted from the swimming and horseback riding that day, was already sound asleep in her bed. Shannon was sitting up in her bed, reading a chapter book. "Shannon, don't read too long, okay? You have to get up early again tomorrow, for camp," Summer warned. Shannon nodded, too enthralled with her book to actually look up and reply to Summer. Summer rolled her eyes, but accepted that nod as a good enough answer to her question. "Okay, goodnight, sweetie. I love you," Summer told her.
Shannon didn't reply and Summer just assumed Shannon hadn't hear her because she was so wrapped up in what she was reading. Summer closed Shannon's door softly and continued down the hall to her own bedroom. She climbed into her own bed, shut off the light, and tried to sleep.
Forty minutes later, she was still wide awake. She sat up, clearly frustrated, because after all, she was tired, but for whatever reason, she just couldn't fall asleep. She turned the lamp on her bedside table back on and pulled open the top drawer. There was a white notepad inside the drawer, with a number scrawled across the top. Seth always left a number where Summer could always reach him while he was away on business. She picked up the cordless phone and dialed the number.
Seth picked up on the second ring. "I was wondering when you'd call," Seth told her after they exchanged hellos. Seth asked about how the day went and how the kids were. The two talked for quite awhile until Seth finally said, "It's getting late, Sum. You should get some sleep."
"I know, but I can't sleep," Summer whined softly.
"Take one of the sleeping pills in the bathroom medicine cabinet, they work wonders…it'll knock you out," Seth told her.
"Okay, I will," Summer said. She was reluctantly realizing that their conversation was coming to an end.
"Sum?" Seth said. Summer didn't say anything, but Seth knew her silence meant she was listening. "I miss you." Summer felt herself completely lose it when he said that. Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let Seth know she was crying. She was so confused, she always missed Seth when he went away, but she never cried about it. Summer shrugged to herself, brushing this all off, thinking to herself, Maybe I'm just getting my period or something, who knows…
"Yeah, I miss you, too," Summer paused. "Alright, well, I'm going to go take that sleeping pill."
"Okay, good. Get some sleep. I love you, babe," Seth told her. Summer told him she loved him and then the two exchanged good-byes before hanging up. As Summer placed the phone back on the charger, she climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom.
Five minutes later, she was sound asleep with Chessie and Riley's warm bodies laying next to her in the bed.
Hours later, Shannon Cohen remained in her bedroom, sitting up in bed, reading her book. It was a mystery book and she was determined to finish the book before she went to bed. There were only about ten or so pages left in the book and so far the ending was great.
As Shannon continued to read her book, she believed she was the only person still awake in the Cohen household. After all, Courtney was sleeping a mere three or four feet from where Shannon sat. She knew that most of her siblings were heavy sleepers and had probably been asleep since their mother had tucked them in. The house sounded still and quiet to her, which only made sense because it was two-thirty in the morning. For these reasons and more, 11-year-old Shannon Cohen was shocked to hear the sound of breaking glass downstairs while she finished the last page of her book.
She stood up quickly, letting her book hit the floor. She walked over to her bedroom door and opened it, just a few inches. She listened carefully, strained her ears to hear anything, any noise, from downstairs. After a few seconds, she wondered if she had imagined the sound of glass breaking because there was no noise now. Just silence in their dark house.
Glancing over her shoulder, Shannon found Courtney still sleeping silently in her bed, obviously undisturbed. Cautiously, Shannon opened her bedroom door all the way and walked into the hall. She leaned over the banister and saw only darkness at the bottom of the staircase. Although the fact that she didn't see anything moving around in the darkness downstairs should have comforted her, she suddenly had this eerie feeling that someone was watching her. Okay, that's it, just go wake up Mom and then everything will be fine, Shannon told herself.
As Shannon started to turn around on her heel, she didn't even see the grown man who hit her, only felt the hard wood of a baseball bat collide with the side of her head.
Thwack! Something hit the hard wood floors in the upstairs hallway hard. Whatever it was, it woke up Kaylie Cohen.
Kaylie shot up in her bed. She jumped out of bed, wondering what the loud noise had been from. The only thing she heard now was the sound of barking dogs. As Kaylie crossed the room, she glanced across the room at her younger sister. Emily was still sleeping in her bed. She rolled her eyes. She was sure that if Emily had slept through the terrible noise, so had Jake, Courtney, and Ben. Those four made up the sound sleepers in the family. No matter what, nothing woke any of them up. Kaylie and Shannon were another story—anything, loud or quiet, could wake them up easily.
Kaylie reached for the doorknob and grasped it firmly. She took in a deep breath and tentatively pulled open her bedroom door. For a moment, she didn't see anything wrong or out of place in the hallway. Shortly, though, her eyes adjusted to the dark and she was shocked to see her big sister laying on the floor, blood stains all around her.
Kaylie was about to run to her mother for help when she noticed a man standing over Shannon's body. He was holding a knife in one hand and there was a wooden baseball bat lying at his feet. He checked Shannon's arm for a pulse and then pulled her into his arms. He looked up and saw Kaylie staring at him from behind her bedroom door, which was only opened a few inches. Kaylie shut the door quickly and quietly, and then fled to her own bed. She hopped under the covers and yanked them over her head, making sure her entire body was covered. She listened to the sound of footsteps going down the stairs and then someone moving around downstairs.
Kaylie waited until the house was silent again to peek out from under her blue sheets. Hearing only silence and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she sat up cautiously. Still being greeted by only silence, Kaylie decided to run for it. She took a few deep breaths and then jumped off her bed. She threw her bedroom door open and ran to her mother's bedroom. Pushing open her mother's bedroom door, Chessie and Riley both ran past her, growling and barking madly.
Kaylie leaped onto her mother's bed. "Mom, Mom, MOM!" she screamed. It took Kaylie a good ten minutes to shake her mother, sedated by the sleeping pill, awake. When Summer finally did come to, she found herself wide awake and alert because of the terror on Kaylie's face.
"Mommy," Kaylie croaked. "Shannon's gone."
"Kaylie, what do you mean?" Summer said, pushing back the sheets and pulling herself out of bed. "Kaylie, what do you mean?" Summer repeated herself. Kaylie was scaring her mother; Summer had never seen Kaylie with such a look of fear on her face and in her eyes, not even from the worst of her childhood nightmares.
Kaylie started sobbing uncontrollably. "I don't know…he took her…she was just laying on the floor…she…she…Mommy, she wasn't moving," Kaylie said softly between heavy sobs.
Summer's eyes grew wide as she watched her little girl shake and sob in front of her. Summer placed both of her hands on the girl's arms and held on to her tightly. "Kaylie, what happened to her?" Summer asked desperately.
"I told you," Kaylie sobbed. "He took her. He carried her downstairs." Kaylie was shaking now as well as sobbing.
Summer, not completely sure of what to do, pushed past Kaylie and started into the hallway. She wasn't sure if she should even believe Kaylie…Summer decided she had to see the empty bed herself to know that Shannon was gone. Kaylie followed Summer closely down the hall to Shannon and Courtney's room. Summer found the bedroom door wide open, which told her immediately that something was wrong because all her children slept with their doors closed.
Summer threw herself into the room, flipping the lights on. Her eyes immediately hit Shannon's empty bed. Her lavender sheets were pulled back and her comforter on the floor. Summer dashed to Courtney's side, not completely sure why she was doing so. "Court," Summer said as she, almost violently, shook Courtney awake. "Courtney!"
Courtney sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What, Mom?" Courtney asked, shrinking back a little bit from her mother. Courtney couldn't place exactly what was going on, but she knew something had to be wrong. Her mother had this disbelieving look of anguish in her eyes. "Mom, what's wrong?" Courtney asked as she pulled her sheets up to her neck.
"Courtney, sweetie, where's Shannon? Do you know?" Summer asked desperately hoping that Courtney would roll her eyes and come up with a reasonable answer for that question. Mom, she's in the bathroom, Summer pictured Courtney replying in her head. Mom, she's reading downstairs on the couch.
Courtney's head turned towards her sister's bed. Her eyes opened wide and for a few minutes, she just stared at the bed. Summer followed her daughter's gaze and then turned back to Courtney. Courtney turned her head and let her eyes met her mother's. "I…I don't…know," Courtney said slowly and rather softly. Summer frowned and jumped up. As she turned back towards the door, she saw Kaylie standing there. "I told you. A man came and took her," Kaylie repeated.
There was silence between Summer and her two girls for about a minute, but it seemed much longer to Summer. Suddenly, Kaylie's head snapped up. "Mommy," Kaylie said as if she was considering something for a moment. Kaylie nodded to herself and then said confidently, "He had a knife. And a bat."
Summer felt as though she had been sleep walking the whole time since Kaylie had awaken her from her sleep, as if she wasn't really living these past few minutes. When she heard the word 'knife' leave Kaylie's mouth, it snapped her back to her living reality. "Courtney," Summer commanded. "Get the phone for me and bring it downstairs." Summer hurried down the stairs, ignoring her daughters' questions, and ran around the first floor of her house, flipping all the lights on. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she knew she'd know it when she it. One of the last few rooms to check was the family room, and when Summer rushed into the room and flipped the lights on, she screamed in utter disbelief at what she saw. A broken glass window, patio door wide open, and more than a few drops of blood on the creamy beige carpet were what she was looking for. It was real proof that something was indeed wrong.
"Mom?" Summer heard a voice behind her. Summer turned around to see Kaylie and Courtney standing behind her, Courtney with her arm stretched out and a cordless black phone in her hand while Kaylie's arms were wrapped around her own body as she looked around the devastating room timidly. "Here's the phone," Courtney mumbled.
Summer turned and took the black phone into her own two hands. Dialing 911, she lifted the phone to her ear. "911, what is your emergency?" the operator answered.
"My name is Summer Cohen. My eleven-year-old daughter, Shannon, was just kidnapped from her bedroom. A man broke into our house and took her. She's gone," Summer replied.