The Man With The Carved Smile

Chapter 1

"Skylar come get diner!" It's been two weeks since I've moved. I moved from a small town named Odoshi. I lived in a nice house with my two siblings Felicity and Jacob. I also lived with my mom Ashley and her boyfriend Wayne. We lived in a little 3 bedroom two bath house. We were all happy and we rarely ever fought. Me and my siblings had plenty of friends. We would have a friend stay the night almost every weekend. My parents had broken up because my father was abusive and wouldn't stop hurting my mom and I. We moved away and had been living there for 6 years.

Everything was great. I had friends, family, an amazing school, and all the freedom a girl could want. Then, one night someone broke into the house. My family was sleeping and I was in my room with my headphones in jamming out to some "Set It Off". I realized someone was in the house when I saw my doorknob jiggling. And my parents aren't the type to mess with my door late at night. So, I quickly turned off my music and opened the window and quickly hid under the bed baseball bat in hand.

My door opened and I saw a tall dark figure come through the door. He was wearing bright orange sneakers. OP's is what they looked like. He wore black jeans with a paint splattered hoodie. He walked in and got about halfway into my room before he stopped and hesitated for a moment. I held in my breath and stopped breathing for a moment. He then continued to walk. He got to my window and shut it. At first I was a little confused and then he started saying, "Come out Skylar. I know you're hiding. I can hear you breathing." I began to freak out and started praying that he wouldn't find me. I heard him stomping around and he was standing in front of my closet door and opened it. I kept a lot of my CD's and clothes in there. After about five minutes of going through my stuff and finding nothing he shut the door.

Next, he walked over to my desk and looked at the few photos I had of my family and I. He picked up the photo my mom took of me while I was at the ocean in my checkered black and baby blue bikini. He looked towards the bed and I was able to see his face for the first time. His eyes were bloodshot and were wide open. He looked as if he had no eyelids. After a minute of looking I noticed a smile was carved into his face. I had thought for a minute and realized that he had reminded me of someone but I couldn't think of who.

Finally, he set down my picture and said,"Since you won't come out and play I will set your house on fire and if you live I will find you no matter where you go or what you do. Until then Skylar." And with that he left once I heard my door shut and the front door slam I immediately looked outside and he was gone I opened my door and surely enough the hallway in front of the door was ablaze. I ran to my parents room where my parents and my sister were and woke them up and told them to meet me in my room as I ran to wake up Jacob. I got Jacob out of bed and went straight to my room. I threw open the window and threw the rope ladder I used to get in and out of the house when I needed it, and one by one we went down. First my mom followed by my sister,brother, step dad, then myself. Once we got to ground we ran straight to the neighbors house. Luckily, they were still awake and allowed us to come inside I asked my neighbor Cheryl if she would take my family to the living room so they could calm down as I called the fire department.

I called and they immediately rushed to my house. I sat in my front yard and watched as they distinguish the flames. Once everything was distinguished I stood up and walked towards the house. The house had collapsed on one side and the other was colored black. The house looked as if it were an old ruin. I looked inside and everything was gone to the flames. I looked to my neighbor's house and there was my family staring at me. They knew that I was close to the house. I've been there 6 years. How do you not get attached. I shot them a look as if saying there was no bringing back the house. I looked back at the house and dropped to my knees. That was the day my life began to fall apart all because of the man with the carved smile.