(Third Person Limited Sierra's POV)
Sierra snuggled into her soft warm bed. Outside the cold wind slammed against the house, likely with some snow mixed in. Autumn was Sierra's favorite season because of the way it made her bed feel so much warmer and safer at night. It was as though her bed was the safest place on earth, in her heated room, her parents sleeping right across the hall. Sierra clutched her stuffed elephant close to her, a comfort animal she had since she was a little girl. Elephants were always her favorite animal for the way they were so kind and intelligent and caring of those around them.
The teen girl glared at her alarm clock, which mocked her with the numbers 11:48. How late was she going to be up? She had been trying to sleep for the past few hours but for some reason she couldn't relax. At night she normally felt on edge due to a strange feeling of being watched, but after searching her room for any camera, glancing out her window at the tree that stood a few feet away from her window, and having felt this way for at least three months, she had grown used to it. Most night Sierra brushed the feeling off for paranoia, but tonight was different. She felt the usual feeling of being watched, but it was more… There was a darker, more sinister edge to the feeling tonight.
Getting up, Sierra went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She had her long straight hair in a lazy low pony tail, her angled bangs cupped around her face. Small bags drooped under her eyes from lack of sleep. The tired teen stared at herself in the mirror for quite some time until real thought formed in her mind.
"Why am I standing here," she questioned to no one in an annoyed voice as she looked at herself with a dead-pan stair.
Realizing that standing in front of the mirror was not going to help, Sierra walked down stairs and into the kitchen. She opened the med cupboard and began to take out different containers of pills.
"Advil. No. Dayquil. No. Cough syrup. No. Multivitamin. No. Fish oil. No. Come on…"
Sierra pulled the little bottles of pills out of the cupboard, looked at the label, and placed them on the counter in aggravation. She was far too tired to be reading tiny writing on multiple pill bottles. She pulled her eighth pill bottle out, thoroughly annoyed.
"Melatonin. YES!"
Sierra got a cup of water and took two of the tiny white pills with a smile on her face. The pills were a low dose of melatonin, but two of them were sure to knock her out for the rest of the night. After this small achievement of medicating herself, Sierra moseyed back up the stairs, into her room, and curled up comfortably in her bed. She fell into a deep sleep within a half hour.
.o.o.o.
"SIERRA!"
Sierra bolted up in bed from her nightmare. She had been dreaming that there was a giant toasted blue flat breakfast pastry chasing down her street. The breakfast food normally served with syrup had large vampire teeth sticking out from the center and angry eyes.
"I am never taking melatonin again," she mumbled to herself.
"NO! ARHG!"
The hair on the back of Sierra's neck stood straight up as her head shot to her door. That was her father's voice. There was a slam down the hall, similar to that of furniture being thrown. Sierra got out of bed, shaking in her tight black leggings and large baggy shirt. She brought her hands up to her chest and held them close while staring at the door.
'Someone is in the house… and they're attacking mom and dad…'
The girl shakily stood there, lost for what to do. She did not have a closet in her room to hide in, but her room was right by the stairs. If she was fast, there might be a chance she could make a run for it and call the police.
Sierra took two baby steps towards the door, her heart pounding hard against her chest. Another step. Another step.
'Come on! Just run already!'
Sierra took two large steps to the door and pulled it open. Immediately her stomach did jumping jacks from the scene in front of her. Blood. Blood was splattered on the hallway walls, and a large pool of blood oozed on the ground. Sierra followed the pool of blood to its owner. Sierra leaned forward and supported herself on the wall across from her door as the contents of her stomach emptied onto the floor, mixing in with the blood. Five feet away from her, the head of a female in her mid 40's resided, staring at her with eyes open in fear. The body was a foot away from the head.
'Mom.'
"Sierra! Ru-ACK"
Sierra's head snapped up as she inspected the scene from down the hall. Her father's carcass lay on the ground, his head only partially attached. Sierra's wide eyes roamed upwards to the one standing above her father's body. The person was dressed in black jeans and a white hoodie, stained with bright red blood, their hood up which covered their face, holding a large butcher knife which too was covered in blood.
Sierra let out a blood curdling scream and ran for the stairs. Just as she was about to take the first step down, a pain shot through the back of her head. Sierra felt as though she was flying as her vision went blurry and the world around her swam into darkness.
(Third Person Limited Jeff POV)
Jeff ran down the hall and to the top of the stairs to witness what he had just done. Feelings of guilt and shame surged through his body, replacing the former adrenaline. Sierra was at the bottom of the stairs, her ankle bent in an odd angle. A small pool of blood seeped from beneath her head, her hair sticking to her face from sweat and blood.
Jeff took the stairs two at a time down to the unconscious girl. He hadn't realized how close she was to the stairs when he had thrown the book to knock her out. He hadn't wanted to harm her at all but if she were to stay awake, she would have called the police and that would have ruined everything.
Just at that moment, Jeff heard the familiar sounds of sirens in the distance.
"God damnit," he cursed while gently scooping the fallen girl into his arms. The frustrated teen grunted as he made his way to the kitchen which had a back door. Jeff spent longer than safe trying to open the locked door with one hand, giving up he kicked it open and ran out into the night, holding the girl close to his chest.
.o.o.o.
A/N
So I have a vote for you all. I'm debating on adding something about Sierra having a history of self harm. She won't harm herself in the story, but there will be some things about her having scars and such. I thought it might add some drama and tension and trust building between her and Jeff in later chapters. So let me know what you think! Should Sierra have self harm scars, or no?
