Sinister Tales

The Hunt

The Hunt

2015 © All Rights Reserved

When two young kids seem to capture the attention of someone dangerous, what lengths will the person go to get to the ones they want?

Shannon watched the clock in her car, showing she had ten more minutes before she had to go in to get her two children. Within the past few days, it felt like she had gotten five hours of sleep between having to work, picking up the children, cleaning and cooking. Her husband had been either driving trucks for his job or sleeping. Only ten minutes. She thought to herself and willingly let her eyelids drape over her eyes like a mother putting a warm blanket over her children in the winter.

A reverberate of buzzing ripped Shannon from the rest she was enjoying for the moment. For a minute, she almost forced her body back into a deep sleep until she remembered where she was. "Shit," she cursed under her breath when she looked at the name on her phone, "Hey Mr. Daily, sorry I was running a bit late, I'm in the parking lot now." She felt embarrassed about passing out and rather lie about it.

Before she gave him time to answer, she hung up and exited the car, stumbling out of the vehicle like a drunken fool. Through a sleepy haze, she found her way to her twin daughter's third grade class. Upon opening the door, she could see Mr. Daily sitting at his desk while her daughters Amber and Amy were attacking pieces of paper with colored pencils.

"I'm here for my girls," Amy's and Amber's head snapped over to the door once they heard their mother. They dropped the color pencils then ran at Shannon, their slick blonde ponytails swishing back and forth. "Sorry about the tardiness." She looked up at Mr. Daily, he looked like he could have been just a year younger than her, age twenty four.

He smiled at her, "You're not my student, no need to be sorry."

"Well how about we get going?" She looked away from him and down to her children with their arms wrapped around her legs.

"Yes!" Amber shouted.

Amy looked up at her mother with her big, blue doe sized eyes, "Can we get some ice cream from Dairy Queen?"

"We have ice cream at home that you can eat after dinner." She told them to see their smiles turn into slight frowns. "Cheer up, it isn't the end of the world." She laughed and led them out of the door with her right behind them.

"Can I speak to you, Shannon?" Mr. Daily stopped her before she had the chance to walk out of the door.

She stopped, looked at the expression on his face then turned to her daughters. "Why don't you two wait outside the classroom? We'll get ice cream on the way home." She bribed them and they happily skipped out of the classroom, waiting in the deserted hallway of their elementary school. "What is it?" she asked Mr. Daily.

"Your daughters have been writing and drawing some interesting things," His face scrunched as if he smelled something rancid. "Come with me," he motioned her with his hand to follow. The two walked over to his desk with papers sprawled all over his work station. "Excuse the mess. The mess makes it easier for me to find things surprisingly." He laughed slightly then pulled out a drawer with organized papers stacked neatly inside.

"So what are these drawings and writings about?" She asked as he rifled through the papers, eventually pulling several pieces of papers.

"You can see for yourself, now if these keep happening, I have to go to someone about them. Please tell me you know why they are drawing such things." He handed over the papers to her. One had Amy's name on top of it with a drawing of a stick figure with short hair. In their hand was a poorly drawn knife. In the corner were two small girls. The next paper was a similar drawing, except it had Amber's name written on the top. "What?" Her face scrunched up just like teacher's face had done.