Welcome Home, Izabella

Lizzie

Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
She listed to the clock go off telling her the time. She never was the best with time, so she had to put something to remind her when an hour passes. She let out a sigh and put down the laundry she was folding. She loved folding Logan's laundry as it reminded her that they have a small human in the house. A small human that she loved. She softly put one foot in front of the other to take her to her daughter's room, Izabella. She already told Logan goodnight when she put him to bed and now it's Izabella's turn at 10 p.m. She knocked on Izabella's door, only to get no response. She pushed open the door and found an empty room. Letting out a sigh she closed her daughters door.
'Izabella needs to stop running away.' She thought to herself as she returned to her laundry. She would finish this then go look for Izabella. Might as well give her a chance to get home. She always worried that Izabella might get hurt when out and need help but no one be there. But, what could she do? Put a tracker on her daughter? That would be an invasion of privacy. She quickly folded the laundry, growing worry for her young daughter. She was only 16 and she acted like she knew everything. Her wife always told her that Izabella would be fine, but she always had a hard time believing it. Izabella was her baby, and nothing could change that.
She left the laundry in their respective baskets on top of the drying machine and she went to look out the backdoor for any sign of her daughter. She opened the back door with a creek and she peered into the darkness. She couldn't see a thing. She grabbed her phone from the laundry room and headed straight outside. She made sure to shut the door incase Logan woke up, though. She headed into the forest where there was a tree house Izabella loved to stay at. She intended on looking quickly then heading back to Logan. She reached the tree house in record time, she would have to tell later to Izabella it only took her 11 minutes. Normally it took them about 13 minutes. But she was in a hurry.
She slowly climbed the ladder, praying it wouldn't collapse under her weight. She let out a sigh of relief when she reached the top. She shone her light around for a minute before coming to the conclusion Izabella wasn't there.
"But this is her favorite spot..." She mumbled to herself.
She climbed her way down the ladder, hearing the creaking of the wood, her anxitey skyrocketed. She hated the old rickety tree house. There was memories she'd never forget in it, good and bad. She remembers when her and her wife, Sofia, did inappropriate things inside it as teenagers. This provoked a giggle out of her, how could it not? She was never meant to take on a wife; her parents were very disappointed in her. But, love is love. She forgot her old unloving family and made a new, loving, one.
She also remembered the time she and her friend got drunk and almost killed each other out of pure anger. That wasn't a very good time for Lizzy. But, past it all, she managed to end up here. With her wife and two children.
She snapped out of her day dreams as a twig snapped. 'Probably a squirrel' She privately thought to herself. What else could be out here? Especially at night. She moved on ahead and began to search for Izabella's favriote hiding spots. She knew them by heart at this point with how much her daughter likes to run off and hide. She looks through the trees to find nothing but sticks and leaves. She expected to find Izabella in one of her hiding spots, but she wasn't so lucky. Empty handed, she goes on her excursion home. She hoped that Logan would still be happily asleep in his bed, but she doubted the little boy would still be asleep.
As she opens her backdoor, she notices blood along the floor. She froze for a minute, scared Logan could be terribly hurt. She rushed and followed the blood trail to her living room. She turns the corner and her mouth drapes open. A man she didn't know was ageist their wall, eyes wide open with fear, blood still pouring out of him. It was obvious he was dead, but the blood kept coming until it slowly came to a trickle. She stood there for a few minutes, taking in the scene in front of her. Her eyes slowly drift up to the words written on the wall.
'Don't call the cops :)' She stared at the words as if they were all she had left. What would happen if she called the cops? Would he kill her like he killed this poor man. She approached the man, fear welling inside her. Everything told her to scream, but how would she explain this scene to Logan? She couldn't let him see this. She took a step back as something stopped her from moving backwards. She began to look up when everything went dark.
There was a loud crack. Her neck would never go the same way again. Her life would never be the same again. She was dead in an instant.