Disclaimer: I do not own any major things in this story

"Cassie!" I heard Elizabeth call. Elizabeth was my best friend. I looked up from my gooey romance novel.

"In here," I called. See came running through the door like she was being chased by a bull.

"You'll never guess what just happened to me!" she screeched.

"What?"

"You know Cody from our 5th period class?! He just asked me out!" She screamed. Cody was her giant crush! She's liked him since 4th grade.

"OH MY GOSH NO WAY!" I screamed back, she finally had her own boyfriend. "What did you do?"

She launched into her exciting story and I sat and listened. She finished and I said maybe we could double. She loved that! I told her I'd have to call Sam (my three month steady boyfriend) and see if he was available, of course he was! So Elizabeth and I hunted fro date ideas. In the end we we're going to a movie then grabbing some food at a fast food restaurant.

The week flew by from then. Finally the weekends here! On Saturday Elizabeth and I were deciding on what we were going to wear for our double date tomorrow. We tore through our closets, and fussed over everything. About 3 hours later we knew what we were going to wear. I was going to wear my favourite black and pink stripped T-shirt and my favourite black skinnys. Elizabeth was going to wear her baby blue tunic and my black and neon green leggings. We we're both going to wear our black Chuck Taylor Converse High Tops. Now we thought about our hair. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and let my black and electric blue bangs hand loose. Elizabeth was going to pull her dirty blond hair into a ballerina bun, yet let her blond and black bangs hang to the left side of her face. Next we decided on make-up. She put light blue eye shadow on my eyelids to highlight my baby green eyes. She put a Cleopatra style eyeliner wings on too, and light purple lipstick on my lips. Ha-ha, I thought to myself, my turn. I put hot pink eye shadow on to highlight her dark blue eyes. I put a simple line of eyeliner on her eyes, and cherry red lip gloss on her lips. Oh boy was it going to be fun doing this tomorrow.

We said good-bye to each other and went home to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be great. I woke up early and put everything on quickly. When I went downstairs my parents were up and making breakfast. I looked at the clock, only 5 more hours to go! My mom noticed my outfit and commented, "Going somewhere Cassandra?"

"Ummm.....going on a double with Elizabeth," was my brilliant response. My parents quickly looked at each other. "What?"

"Your father and I were going out and we wanted you to stay home Cassie," My mom said. Great there goes my plans! Unless.....

"What time are you going?"

"We were planning on going out for dinner," My mom answered. "So around 7:30 ish." Yes! I could still go!

"Oh okay 'cause we're going around 1:15 to see the movie, then we were going to get some early dinner." I said happily grinning. So I went and worked on my English homework while I waited for Elizabeth. When she showed up, she had the biggest grin on her face. I could tell she was nervous. Her first date with her first Boyfriend. I did her make-up swiftly. A little later the guys arrived. Sam was wearing his favourite tight black Jack Skeleton Tee, and his skinnys. He also wore the necklace I gave him for his 14th birthday. His black and dark purple hair was scruffy as usual. Cody looked totally different. He wore baggy pants and a baggy shirt. He hid his buzz cut under one of those gangster hats. It looked as if his pants were half way down his ass. I rolled my eyes, but Elizabeth on the other hand wore the biggest smile I've ever seen.

Sam walked up to me, grabbed me around the waist, and whispered in my ear that I looked beautiful, as always. Then he quickly kissed me on the lips which never stopped sending butterflies to my stomach.

The guys walked up to the movie theatre. Sam with his arm around my waist and Cody with Elizabeth's hand. We arrived just on time. Just in time to buy the tickets to the new horror movie, Chains behind Bars. We bought some popcorn and grabbed our seats. At some parts we got so scared. I turned into Sam's arms. He held me there and tried to soothe me, it looked as if Cody was doing the same. When the movie finished and the lights went up I was grateful. I didn't think I could watch that again. Ever.

We got up and walked out both couples hand in hand. We went to McDonalds. When we got our order we grabbed a booth. We ate and talked and laughed. I asked what time it was and they said 6:30. So I suggested we go to my house. They all agreed. When we got to my house there was a note on the door. It Read:

Dear Cassie,

Your Father and I are gone to the restaurant. I'm sorry we left early. The garage door is unlocked. Have fun 

Mom

Okay so Mom and Dad are already gone. Perfect. I led them in through the garage, and we went straight to the bedroom. My bedroom. There we played a game, Truth or Dare. We were about halfway through the second round when we heard something frightening. A loud crash and the sound of a window shattering. We heard boots stomping around loudly downstairs. That was it. We were terrified. We hid in my big bedroom closet quietly. We heard what we thought was a door opening and closing loudly. Then we heard what we hoped we wouldn't. "Come out little kiddies, I know you're in the house. I followed you knowing you're parents wouldn't be here." We heard from a deep voice that sounded rough, yet clear.

"What are we going to do?!" Elizabeth mumbled. "He's going to kill us!"

"SHHH!" Sam, Cody, and I hissed together.

"Liz, I thought I told you about my secret room I had in case of emergencies such as this!" I whispered.

Sam quietly chuckled, "That's my girl always 7 steps ahead."

I told them to follow me deeper into my room sized closet until we reached the back. I made them look away, then I punched in a code on an inconspicus keypad. Part of the wall slid open silently and I told them to slide but not to yell or scream. We went in one by one, I went in last pausing at the entrance to punch the code on a conspicus pad, and slid shut. I followed the others, and hustled them into a big room, almost but not quite as large as a basement. On the left wall there was a well stocked supply of non-perishable food, in case of extended periods of time. To the north of the room were four big monitors. "Whoa," exclaimed Cody, "never knew you were this smart." Sam didn't look surprised to see it again, he'd been down during the tornado. Elizabeth was beyond shocked. She was bonkers, because I'd never shown this to her before. Anyways, on one of the four big monitors I saw my parent's car pull up. Realizing that they were home at a bad time, I dialled my Mom's cell quickly. She picked up immediately realizing the number.

"Mom, it's Cassie. Don't get out of the car, Get out of the driveway and go to Grandma's or something. There's a possible murderer in the house." I quickly explained the situation to he, they backed out of the driveway and sped off. On the top right screen I saw a man with dark skin, brown hair, a small goatee, and everything else I needed for a description. I looked down and I saw a knife in his hand. That confirmed my theory. I called 911. For the first time I looked behind myself and I saw Elizabeth and Cody in the corner. Elizabeth was crying and Cody was comforting her. Sam was just watching me, with a small reassuring smile on his lips. A woman answered the phone. "911 what's your emergency?"

"Ummm.....there's a man in my house, he has a knife, and he wants to find us."

She asked me all the questions she was trained to ask, and I did my best to answer them all. I explained that I got home with my friends from a date and the man had followed us from the theatre. She told me that they'd be over in a few minutes. My eyes gazed over the screens. The man was getting closer to my room. That scared me. Would he find my secret room? I looked at the top left screen and saw a cop car. Not 2 or 3. Just one. They send one cop car to something this serious! I turned to Sam and I did what any 13 year old girl would do. I hugged him and sobbed in to his chest. He laid his head on my cheek, and tried to soothe me. He kept murmuring to me " It'll be okay baby, shhh, it'll be okay."

"Sam...I...I'm so....sorry," I sobbed. Elizabeth had stopped crying and toughened up. She looked okay now. Still scared as hell like the rest of us though. I straightened up and took a few deep breaths. Okay, I thought to myself, I'm fine. The Police, us watching from the monitors, had arrived at the door and were knocking. They waited a few minutes, and because we couldn't answer the door they kicked it down. We heard a chuckle close by. We all swivelled around to see the eyes of a murderer staring at us. An amused smile threatened his lips. He walked forward slowly with a wicked smile and said to me, " You're first."

Just at that moment I woke up screaming at the top of my lungs. My heart was hammering in my chest, my breath as fast and hard as a hurtling ball. I got up wondering what brought this nightmare on. I walked to my bathroom and brushed my electric blue and jet black hair. I went over to my bed and read my romantic novel. Just then I heard my name being called. " Cassie!" Elizabeth called. I put my book down feeling a sense of Déjà Vu.

"In here," I called back. She came rocketing into my room.

"You'll never guess what just happened to me!" She screeched. Oh no here we go again. My nightmare came alive. Thinking about the way my nightmare ended I doubt anyone got a happy ending.

By: Colleen Veck

Date: April 25th, 2009