BANG!

Before.

"No witnesses, Travis."

He nodded in agreement. Travis shifted nervously in the hot night's air awaiting the next command from his sister. As she was picking the lock, she could feel him rocking from side to side. She became annoyed and punched him in his arm. "I'm sorry ," he whispered.

Kerri rolled her eyes. After a minute or so, Kerri got the door to unlock and she beckoned Travis to come inside. He seemed hesitant so she gave him a glare. He quickly scurried inside. The air was crisp and stale and the house was eerily quiet. Travis was under the impression that they were going to steal. Kerri had another idea in mind.

She motioned for him to go upstairs like they had planned. He did his best impression of a cat burglar and scaled the steps slowly. "Just go already!" Kerri gritted through her teeth. He ran up as if he was in trouble. Kerri wasn't new to home invasions. She would often do these things as commissioned from sites that she went to on the deep web. This time, what she was seeking out was personal. Travis knew about her hobby, but not too many details and begged to come. Kerri must have a small soft spot in there for her dear old step-brother.

Kerri explored all the rooms on the first floor, hoping to find what she was looking for. She emptied out closets, tossed books from shelves thinking that this family might be sophisticated enough to have a hidden room, but none of this was turning up any results. She walked into the kitchen and noticed what seemed to be a pantry door but it had a big lock on it. Who locks a pantry door? She looked around for something to break it with. She found a fire extinguisher in one of the cabinets. She hit at the lock several times with all of her strength until it finally broke enough for her to take it off. She opened the door and closed it behind her before she ventured down the stairs into the basement. Everything looked normal to her- a couch, tv, table to play board games, book shelves... and another door with another lock. She didn't want to go back up stairs for the extinguisher so she took out her gun from her back pocket and shot at the lock. It came off immediately. Inside the door was pitch black. She stepped inside and turned her nose at the scent of fecal waste and urine. She ran her hand against the wall to a light switch and turned it on. It was a girl chained up to a bed. A bucket for the waste sat in the corner. The girl was curled up into a ball and whimpering. Kerri was disgusted by her imagination, but was relieved to confirm her suspicions.

Kerri is a 16 year old sophomore at Hope Valley Senior High School. She took a few honors classes with a senior named Chloe Ellis last semester. Every year at Hope Valley Senior High School, a family is chosen to host a foreign exchange student. The Ellis Family took a Japanese girl, Song Li, into their homes. Song only knew basic English words and Chloe started to learn Japanese. They were pretty much attached to the hip. Song was supposed to go back to Japan when Chloe started college. Everyone assumed that Song left on the plane. The Ellis family was questioned a few weeks ago, because Song didn't make it back home. Her mom sent a missing person's report. Kerri felt like Song was still at the home and the police were too trusting of the Ellis family.

"Song?" she said. Song turned over and her eyes widened before she started to cry. "No, no, no. Please don't cry. I'm going to get you out of here." Her mouth looked swollen, her tshirt stained with blood. "What did they do to you?" Kerri asked. She put her arms around Kerri in an embrace. She felt so weak. Kerri gave her a hug back and looked around the room for anything she could use to break the chain. She got up from the bed. "I'm going to find something to get you out of this, ok?" she asked.

"No," she replied in a faint whisper. Kerri didn't think she understood, but she left out anyway to get help. She ran up the stairs into the kitchen to see if she could find anything.

"Who are you?" she heard a voice in the living room. She changed her attention to her left to see a man in a lazy boy chair, a small boy sitting on the couch, Travis also sitting on the couch, and a woman standing over him with a gun to the back of his head. Tears were sliding down his face. Kerri snatched her gun from the back of her pants and pointed at the woman.