Perpetual Threat

Back at Home

"Aaahhh!!!" Angela Diaz screamed. She was awoken by a nightmare. She was breathing heavily as she sat up and turned on the lamp by her bedside table. The clock on the table read 3:37 A.M. "Tom, I had another ni-." She started but then realized that her husband was not there. He was on a plane to Spain to do business there. A tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. These days the tears came easier and more frequently. She knew her husband had a purpose for being gone all the time but she still needed him and it felt very lonely without him here.

Angela figured that she would not be able to sleep for a while so she got out of bed and quietly walked down the circular marble stairs to the kitchen. She ground up some coffee beans and brewed some coffee. A hot, steaming cup of black coffee always gave her comfort especially at a time like this. As she waited for her coffee to brew she again climbed those marble stairs but this time she was heading to her daughter's room. She remembered Victoria saying that they would have a sleepover in Sarah's room that night. She was glad that even though her husband left she still had her daughters. She wanted to check on her beautiful creations and make sure they were okay.

When she reached the top of the stairs she realized right away that there was something wrong. She ran to Sarah's room and swung open the bedroom door. What she saw brought her to her knees, her whole body shaking as tears made their way down her face. Most mothers would see the open window and automatically think that her kids snuck out and become very angry, but Angela thought different. Her daughters have snuck out many times but this time it was different. Their beds were not made and there was no note of apology which the girls usually put out just to let their parents know they were okay. It was part of a trust thing they have with their parents. Angela knew that both girls, even tomboy Victoria made it a priority to look good when leaving the house and this time both girls had left in their pajamas. Angela remembered seeing the girls with their PJs on when she kissed both of them good night that night. Angela quickly walked to the bedside table where she picked up the phone. She was going to call her daughters and if they did not pick up, she would call the police.
She just finished dialing Victoria's number when she saw it. On the mirror, in black sharpie, was a scribbled note.

Sorry about the inconvenience but we need your daughters for an important mission. We promise to bring them back as soon as they have finished their mission. This is not the way we had planned to come get them but it is a worldwide problem and because of the severity of the problem, we had no choice. Thanks
P.S. We'll be in touch. Call 450 in a week to hear from them.

After Angela read the note, she felt the tears on her cheeks again. Her husband was gone and now so were her children and they did not even have the choice to leave or stay. She had absolutely no control of the current events and it bothered her because she was usually on top of things.

"Oh God. What have I done to deserve this?" She whispered into the empty air. After a minute of standing there, she felt God reminding her of Queen Esther. She was born and chosen for a reason- to save the whole Jewish race from Babylon. She new that her daughters had a purpose and so did she. She did not know what it was yet but she knew she God would show it to her in time.

Angela left her daughters room, wiping her tears away and putting on a brave face. She smiled when she reached the kitchen and saw that her coffee was already brewed. It was a little bit of comfort in troubled times. She glanced at the clock on the oven and it read 4:35 so she decided to stay downstairs and watch some television.

"At least I don't have work tomorrow." She sighed, snuggling into her fur blanket and turning on the television. She saw that Sponge Bob was on and even though she was far beyond that age she left it. She smiled remembering those good old days as a kid. It was not long before Angela had drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Poor Angela. If only she could have stayed awake for ten more minutes, she may have been able to prevent the predicament she would find herself in. Unfortunately, the poor women was so deep in her sleep, she did not hear the faint noises of some criminal mind trying to break his way into her house. She would have heard the unmistakable creaking of the hard wood as he walked past her to the marble stairs. He was on a mission to find something-something more important than the human mind could even imagine-and he was not going to leave until he found it. If he didn't find it, it would mean certain death and he wanted to live at least to finish high school. He quietly searched the entire house to find it, but it seemed to be nowhere in sight. Finally, he reached Angela and Tom's bedroom. After looking for about an hour, he was ready to giveup when he caught a glimpse something shiny in her jewelry box.

"Yes!" He whispered loudly as he made a grab for it, but as he did so he knocked down the entire box, jewelry falling everywhere.

"What are you doing?!?!" Angela yelled, anger quite apparent on her heart-shaped face.

The criminal panicked and did what he was trained to do. He aimed a punch at her. What he didn't know was that Angela was trained for combat as well. She had a blackbelt in karate (Tom wanted everyone to be well equipped if they ever had to defend themselves). She grabbed his arm putting it behind his back and flipped him over and pinning him to the ground. After a few minutes of non-stop fighting, the criminal found a weakness on Angela's part. Realizing where his 'treasure' was he cartwheeled towards 'it', at the same time kicking Angela in the head and knocking her out and grabbed what he was looking for. He quickly tied her up and gagged her so that she would have no where to go when she awoke and made his grand escape. Somewhere outside in the dawn of day, you can see the silhouette of a blacked clothed, masked man making his way back to his master with the prize which he was finally able to find or so he thinks...