The Impostors

Chapter 5: What Happens Now?

Be strong Ava. A voice demanded. I clenched my fists and stepped out of my room. A small gasp escaped my mouth as I caught a slight glimpse of them driving away in a white van. My face scrunched in bewilderment. I'd seen enough crime shows on TV to know that the police, FBI, or CIA didn't drive white vans- who were these people? 

The room around me started spinning. My hands grasped the railing in front of me for support.

Maybe I should call the-

No. I'm still 17. Calling the cops would be a bad idea.

I'd be placed in a foster home and then never find out what happened to my parents and who those men were. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time I'd be seeing them, they were after something whether it was my parents or me I didn't know, but I was going to find out.

I walked slowly down the stairs keeping my hand locked firmly to the railing. My mind didn't want to see the truth- My parents empty room, their missing belongings, the fact that they truly abandoned me- but my heart had to.

I released my deathly grip on the railing when my feet landed on the final step. With my last ounce of courage, I took a deep breath, squeezed my eyes shut and turned the corner to their bedroom. 

My feet carried me across their pearly white rug to the wall. The tips of my fingers felt around for the light switch and flicked it on. My expression dropped as my eyes scanned the dim-lit room until they rested on a broken picture frame that I recognized to be the one I bought them about 8 years ago. 

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I forced them shut to keep me from crying. There was no way I was going to cry when they were the ones that left me. Not only did they abandon me they left me vulnerable to be kidnapped by those men. 

I fell down on to their box-springs and retrieved the shattered picture frame from the floor. My heart crushed at the image. It was a picture of the three of us standing between Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in Disney World when I was about ten- our only family vacation. Well that was what it was until they decided to tear themselves out of it. 2 other broken picture frames shattered across the floor revealed the same pattern of only me in the pictures with the sides torn off.

Did they want me to forget them?

I stared intently at the picture imagining my parents still beside me in it. Why would they possibly want me to forget them? This isn't like them- I felt so alienated, like I didn't even know who they were, almost as if maybe I never have. I tossed the broken frame onto the floor causing the glass to shatter even more. They obviously didn't care so why should I?

I rested my face in my palms and sighed. Who do I turn to now? I have no one else to go to. I have no other family, I was alone. 

Is there anyone I can even trust? My head shook, answering the question for me. I can't confide in any teachers nor my nosy neighbors, the cops are out of the question and I have no friends besides- 

"No," my tone startled me. There's no way I can bring Erik into the middle of this. He has a life, a family, an eight year old sister, and his whole life ahead of him- a lot more than I have.

I thought for a moment, weighing my options. I have no one else to turn to and no place to go. What other option do I have? 

If I don't get his help, I'll end up captured, or worse- dead.

I need fresh air.

With a sigh I stood up and rubbed my eyes, erasing the drowsiness they withheld. What have they gotten me in to.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a piece of paper barely tucked under a sweater on my moms nightstand.

What is that? 

I gasped in horror. My heart skipped a beat. My hand flinched away from the note, dropping it as if it were going to bite me. I fell to my knees grasping my mouth. Puzzlement smogged my face as fear ran through every vein in my body. 

The message was simple: Were sorry, Ava. The only thing we have to say is... RUN.  

Run? My heart rate accelerated as panic coursed its way through my body. I was so afraid. If they wanted me to run, why didn't they take me with them? They wouldn't have left a note unless they knew I'd find it, right? It was a possibility, so maybe they knew that I'd hide in enough time before those men found me and I'm now guessing, took me with them. So were those men after me? They couldn't have been though otherwise my parents would have made sure I was safe and in no way able to be taken by them, but then why would they have told me to run? Nothing made sense. I couldn't seem to tie anything together, I couldn't make sense of anything.

Frustration arose in me. I didn't know what to do and they left me here empty handed, how could they just leave me here to fend for myself, I'm only 17 and I'm not the best at making life decisions especially if it could possibly be between a life and death situation, who's to know? I was so close to tearing up the note before I heard a noise that startled me and took me a minute to realize that someone had just rung my doorbell.

My eyes curiously wondered around the room. I was in such a dazed state that I almost yelled who's there before I snapped back to reality. I looked at the alarm clock that was still in tack on the night stand beside me which read 5:30 a.m.

Why would someone be at my door at 5:30 in the morning- That can't really be a question after what had just happened. I didn't know whether to be afraid or relieved, it could be those men back or it could be a neighbor or the police to the rescue.

If it were those men they would have carelessly came inside again. So maybe it was a neighbor and a cop maybe they had heard and they were now here to check on me. I decided to stick with being hopeful rather than being afraid, something bad couldn't possibly happen again, not after two disasters in a row.

I stood up quickly and the doorbell rang again which caused me to slightly jump. Adrenaline began coursing through my body and as I got closer to the front door my hope quickly faded into fear.

Fragments of glass from the broken area around the door knob were dispersed over the floor. Way to break into my house, leave a mess in the floor and on top of that leave my house unlocked, weren't those men taught any manners?

Without hesitation I grasped the door handle and twisted it letting the come open faster than I wanted. "Who-" The guy's gun pointing directly at me stalled me from speaking anything else. I shrieked in horror as two other figures came out of the darkness pointing guns at me as well. 

In the matter of a few hours my whole world came crashing down and in the matter of seconds all hope was lost.