Free (Sequel to Trapped)

Ch. 30

Ariana

Tuesday, 2:30 am

"You need to go to sleep. You have work in the morning."

"I know. But I wanna stay up with you. If you're so tired, why don't you go to sleep?"

"Don't you think I would if I could?"

"Aww, my baby can't sleep. What's wrong, princess?"

"I don't know, Justin."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just go to sleep. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, babe. I'm positive. I don't want you to be tired at work because of me."

"Okay, princess. Night."

"Good night." I kiss his cheek and get out of bed.

If I couldn't sleep, I had no intention of laying in bed and staring at the ceiling.

I walk upstairs and check on Aviella. She's asleep in her bed, the blankets and covers half on the floor, half on the bed.

Tommy is hanging off the bed, Aviella's grip the only thing keeping him up.

I walk over to the bed and kiss the top of her head. She sighs and turns her head, losing her grip on Tommy as he falls to the floor. I pick him up and lay  back down on the bed next to her.

I'm on my way out of the room when the beeping starts. It's only supposed to go off when someone who doesn't live here is moving around at night. It's equipped in all the cameras we bought and Justin installed. And it automatically notifies the police whenever it happens.

Either it's malfunctioning or someone is in the house, and I'm pretty sure it's option number two. I walk slowly down the stairs, thankful we don't live in one of those houses from the scary movies where every step creaks.

The camera closest to the master bedroom is the one beeping. I walk in and see someone dressed in all black standing over the bed.

"Justin!" I scream.

He sits up and whoever was standing over the bed runs to the window. Justin is faster though, and he gets out of bed and runs to the window, kneeing the man in his back and punching him in his head before he falls to the ground.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Justin immediately runs to me, placing a hand on my stomach.

"I'm fine. I was upstairs in Aviella's room then I heard the beeping and I came down here. He was already in here."

"The question is are you okay?"

"I think so. You just checked on Aviella, right?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna go stay with her until the police get here." He nods, pulling me in for hug.

"You should go in there before he wakes up and climbs out of the window or something." I say.

"You have a point." Justin laughs, planting a kiss on my head before pulling away.

I turn around and walk upstairs and back into Aviella's room. The only problem is she's not in the bed.

"Avi?" I look under the bed and find she's not there either.

"Aviella, where are you baby girl?"

"Mama! Mommy, I'm in here." Aviella says.

I turn around and go to the closet. I open the doors and find her crying in a ball in the corner, Tommy in her arms.

"Mama, I heard you scream." She says.

"Come here, babe. It's okay now. Everything's okay." She crawls into my arms and cries herself back to sleep.

I stroke her hair, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Ariana, he's here. I'll take Aviella so you can go talk to him." Justin walks in and I stand up with Aviella in my arms.

"I'm surprised you can still carry her."  He says.

"Shut up." I laugh and leave the room, walking slowly down the stairs and into the living room.

Officer Harris is sitting on the couch while two other police officers are walking in and out of the bedroom. The man is nowhere to be seen so I assume he's outside in a police car.

"Ariana, hi. How are you?" Officer Harris says.

"I'm fine. Tired. How about you?"

"Pretty much the same. So, I'm just gonna ask you soem questions about tonight. First, can you describe what happened?"

"I couldn't sleep so me and Justin were laying in bed awake. I told him to go to sleep because he has work today, so he went to sleep and I got out of bed. I walked upstairs to check on Aviella. After replacing her Teddy bear, which had fallen on the floor, I turned around to leave and that's when I heard the beeping. I went downstairs and saw it was coming from the camera by my room so I went in and saw the man standing over Justin. I screamed Justin's name and the man ran to the window but Justin was faster and he knocked him out, I guess. That's it."

"Thank you. I'll see what I can find out."