Gone

Family Time

Sadie POV 

My body jumped awake, somehow knowing in my barely conscious stupor that something had woken me up. I propped myself up on my elbow and turned my head towards the clock and the small white baby monitor that set next to it.  

The clock shown bright red, telling me that it was only three in the morning. I took a deep breath and turned my whole body to face the clock, then I stared at the baby monitor, waiting for the little green lights to blink, letting me know the Ember was awake.  

I stared hard for a few minutes, but nothing happened. I let out a sigh of relief before I allowed myself to plop back down onto my mattress. Ember had recently been waking up two to three time a night, she hadn't done that in a while. I couldn't understand what the problem was. Doctor Steven thought that it could be related to nightmares and that she may be eating too close to bed. In response to that, I didn't feed her an hour before bed and gave her no milk when she went to bed. It had been a few days since I started that new regimen, and it seemed to be working.  

I heard another noise, almost like someone had bumped into the wall. I sat straight up and strained my ears, but whatever it was had stopped. I'm too stressed out, I thought as I laid back down. I rolled towards the baby monitor and reached out to grab it, I wanted to turn it up, just to suffice my overactive imagination.  

I rolled my finger over the edge of the volume knob and then set the monitor back down, still listening. I didn't know what had me spooked, but I just couldn't stop listening. Figuring that I was just being crazy, I slowly laid back down, keeping my eyes on the monitor. Once my head hit the pillow I slowly closed my eyes, only to have them snap back open at another thump, only this time the monitor picked it up.  

My open eyes stared hard at the monitor, waiting for the little green lights to go up again, and I wasn't disappointed. Within seconds, the green lights lit up and I could hear movement through the small machine.  

I quickly but quietly threw my blankets off of myself and climbed out of bed. I swiftly pulled on a pair of loose sweat pants to accompany my sheer tank top. I then tip toed to my door and slowly opened it while holding my breath.  

Once the door opened without a sound I poked my head carefully out into the hall. I saw nothing but darkness to my right, which led to the main level of the house. To the left I could see my mom's and Elly's doors closed. I stepped out slightly so that I would be able to see Ember's door, her room was right next to mine so I wasn't able to visualize it from the position I was in.  

From my new spot I could see that her door was cracked, the way I had always left it, with yellow light spilling out into the hallway from her pink unicorn night light. Right when I was about to creep out and into the hall, I saw a shadow move past the door and momentarily hide the light.  

My breath immediately caught in my throat. Someone was in my house, but maybe it was Dean or Elly, maybe they were just checking on the baby. Something in my gut told me that wasn't true. Something in my gut told me that we were in trouble.  

I was torn on what to do as I crept towards my daughter's room. I wasn't sure if I should keep quiet or call out for help. I didn't want to give my position away and spook whoever was in there. What if my yelling caused the person to grab my child and run? No, I wouldn't yell, I couldn't take that kind of chance.  

It took what felt like a year, but was more like half a minute, to get to the partly opened door. I didn't think, I just acted. I quietly put my hand on the door and pushed it open slowly. As the door crept open silently I prepared myself for anything.  

My eyes went wide as they took in the scene in front of me. A large body, cloaked in black, stood over my daughter's crib. Beside the person, who I assumed was a man, laid Ember's over turned diaper bag.