Life Long Prisoner

Chapter 1

How it began....

"Aria!" My mother screamed as she shook me out of bed.

"Mmm?" I sat up, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

"We gotta hide, baby." She glanced out my window by my bed. Suddenly, headlights flashed through the window and my mom ducked down, pulling me with her.

"Mommy, who's here?" I asked, the panic evident in my young voice.

"Shhh. Honey," She met my big blue eyes with her glossy brown ones. "I need you to stay low and be very, very quiet for mommy." She told me as she pulled me off of my Winnie the Pooh bed. She took me out of my room and into her moonlit bedroom. She jumped when the front door two rooms down crashed down. She pushed me in front of her quickly towards her closet and shut the door. She pushed all of her bright, colorful clothes to the side and revealed the dark wall. She pressed her hand on the surface of the wall and it gave in, revealing a small space I'd never seen before. "Sweetheart, get in."

"Mommy..." I backed away from it, unsure.

"Shhhh. Sweetie, it's okay. Everything is going to be okay." She guided me firmly towards the wall and I crawled into the secret space.

I felt around the walls inside and it was tiny. No more than two people could fit in here. I heard my mom put her clothes back in place and then she climbed in next to me and shut the hidden door in the wall.

"Mommy, I'm cold." I complained as the freezing wall pressed up against me.

"Shh, baby." She pressed me closer to her body and just then, the door to her bedroom banged against the wall.

"Oh, Amiiiiirraaa," A taunting voice called from my mother's room. "I can smell you. And the child." Disgust dripped from his voice, mentioning me.

Despite his disgust and my own confusion, my heart started pounding with excitement. That was my daddy's voice! I haven't seen him in ages!

"Daddy?" My mom put her hand over my mouth and squeezed me to her, and when her face touched mine I felt warm liquid on her cheek and realized she was crying.

"That's not your daddy, Aria." She whispered.

"Am I getting closer?" The voice was calm and conniving, like a predator stalking prey. Then everything went silent, the only sound being the chaotic melody of my mother and my racing hearts.

Then, the door to the closet was abruptly yanked open. My mom and I jumped, and she pressed her hand into my mouth harder to stifle my scream. The door sounded as if it had been ripped off of its hinges.

I heard clothes being pushed to the side roughly and the banging of palms on the walls. "I don't see you.. But I can hear two frantic heartbeats not two feet away from me."

My mother slapped a hand over her mouth to silence her cries as tears spilled over her cheeks. She looked at me with those glassy eyes and uncovered her mouth. "I love you, baby. I've loved you since the moment I knew you existed and I will continue to love you as long as my soul exists. Stay strong babygirl, you can get through absolutely anything if you never give up."

The door to our hiding spot was then kicked open. There was a chuckle and then a pale hand reached in and aggressively pulled my mom out of our space. She had let go of me instantly but I held onto her, being drug halfway out of the opening.

I looked around with wide eyes. There were three men. With the little light the moon provided me, I could see that there were two bigger men with large muscles. The third man was smaller but lean, powerful looking. This man looked like my father. Then there was my mother on the floor where she was thrown, looking too beautiful to be part of this horrific scene.