Murder Streak

Chapter 1

Secora was looking around her room when it happened. She was almost 6, and yet she felt if she tried, she could, maybe, have done something about it. Just looking back on that night makes her stomach churn with guilt. On that fateful night, someone broke into her parents house. She was upstairs, and they were downstairs, but her favorite room was the basement. It was where she kept all of her toys, and art projects, and where she slept when she had a nightmare. Her mom had called to her only 5 minutes before, saying dinner would be ready in about 10. She remembered how her clothes felt, as if they were shoving splinteres up her back, how the hair on her neck was standing up, how she was feeling sick to her stomach, how her feet felt when she was reading on her chair, she remembered the smell of her book, and the title. It was Percy Jackson, her favorite. Then things started going wrong. Someone broke in through the kitchen window, while her parents were setting the dinner table. There was screaming, so much screaming. Then it stopped, replaced by a few gunshots. Soon, there was a metallic sort of smell, and Secora could barely hear anything other than her own heartbeat. She was so scared of whatever was coming. Then she heard heavy steps on the stairs. The footsteps were loud, as if the murderer didn't care who heard them. She darted toward the window and jumped out, landing on the willow tree. She clambered silently to the top, when she saw a figure come into her room, he looked under her bed, in her closet, and in her favorite hiding spot, under her reading chair, which was tucked into the corner with just enough space for her to crawl under with a stuffed animal. Since she was only 6, she didn't think about how they knew about her spot.
That was when she saw him. The stranger looked male, and tall, but that wasn't what she was looking at. What she was looking at was the blood dripping from his clothes. She knew it belonged to her parents and turned her head in the opposite direction. She heard the footsteps recede, heading back down the stairs. Moments later she saw the bloodstained figure walking down the street to a parked car. Immediately, she looked at the license plate. It read 7TYP290. She only had to look once, and knew she would never forget it. After the car was out of sight, she climbed down from her willow tree and ran to her neighbor, Mrs. Munchinsky's, house. When she got there, she was greeted by a very startled middle aged woman. Secora told her everything. After she was finished, Mrs. Munchinsky looked terrified and called the police. The police told her to stay with the horror-stricken woman for the night, and they would find her a foster family to live with unless her Aunt and Uncle wanted her. They didn't.