Rosie

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Δи∂яɛα ƨαт ι∂ℓʏ, staring at the wall. She had been in her room for seven hours, and she was getting hungry. But she didn't dare say that to her babysitter.

Richard Meline was as tall as he was wide. But despite his expanded obesity, he could make you feel pain to no extent. Andrea knew this, and so she sat still. In precisely 5 hours, 29 minutes, 37 seconds, her dad would return.

35, 34, 33...

She was cut from her staring as footsteps pounded near her door. Naturally, she turned her head in that direction. But there wasn't really much to see, as her room was pitch black.

You see, Richard insisted the light stayed off to 'save power'. Really, he wanted them off so the children wouldn't know when he was coming. But that was useless, as his footsteps gave himself away.

12, 11, 10...

But the steps hadn't faded away. They were there, which meant he was trying to trick her into thinking he had gone. But this had happened way to many times in the past for it to still work. She wasn't five.

Andrea Alexandra Smith was 13, the oldest in her family. She had three other siblings: Alex, 5, Annabelle, 8, and Amines, 11. She lived in a big, grand house at the top of the hill. Well, at least, she used to. Now, it was at the bottom, having been relocated. This was for one reason: her older sister.

Now, I know I said she was the oldest, but that doesn't mean I lied. She is the oldest and she had an older sister. If you can't put the two together, then you should stop reading this book.

Her sister had died when she had been showing her friends little brother around. No one knew for sure what had happened, but somehow she had fallen of the cliff, and the boy was nowhere to be seen. Her body had been discovered two days later, at the bottom. It was ruined and bloody, and everyone knew she had no hope. They had found her too late.

Rosie Emmaline Smith was dead.

At first, everyone though the boy had killed her, but he was 5. Their suspicion ended when they found his body in the Thanes, having been washed up. But he hadn't drowned, he had been stabbed, and his body had been dumped into the river. The stabber hadn't been found, but the knife had been discovered. The DNA matched. But the knife, for now, was still a mystery...

The footsteps stopped. It might have been because Richard was sure she thought he had gone, or he was tired. Or both. Andrea stood off her bed and felt her way to the door. It wasn't as far away as she's had thought, really.

When she was sure she knew where it was, she silently felt her way away from it. She wanted to be as far away from it as she could. On hands and knees, she crawled away from her bed. She had tried hiding there before. It never worked. The footsteps weren't even footsteps anymore, just the creaking of the ancient floorboards under Richard's enormous weight.

Finally, she found just what she was looking for. The closet. Carefully feeling the floor so as not to make a sound, she slipped inside. But the feeling was unnecessary, as she was so thin she wouldn't make a sound if she jumped up and down on it.

Finally, the door slammed open. There was a variety of locks on her door that stopped her from going, but also delayed him opening it. Luckily, he had lost the element of surprise. But that wasn't saying much, as he had a stick, and she didn't.

Heavy foots stepped into her from, and Andrea heard the click of the lights being switched on. Of course he would put the lights on. Andrea mentally cursed her stupidity. How could she have been so, so...stupid?

But there was no time to curse at herself, the footsteps were getting uncomfortably close to her.

Then, as if to further clarify her death sentence, her stomach rumbled.

If not for the deadly man a meter away from her, Andrea would have cursed. But he didn't come close to her, which meant he hadn't heard it. Andrea let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Then she sneezed.

Yes, you read that right. Sneezed.

The closet doors were thrown open faster than you could say no, which is pretty fast. The strong smell of beer hit Andrea like a brick wall, so it took all she had not to break down puking. She gagged a little bit, but that was all.

"Looks like someone's been playing 'hide and seek'." Richard smiled, showing a set of yellow uneven teeth.

Andrea's screams echoed through the house that day.

.. .. ..

Alex sat still, book in hand, flashlight in the other. He had been praised for his extended senses, and high level of intelligence. Yes, he was six, but that didn't mean he had to be stupid.

Then, the footsteps started again. They had faded a little, before staying that way, which meant he had gone into a room three rooms down from his. Which was Andrea's room.

He had heard the screams, yes, but he didn't scream himself. The tears had dried to his face, and he was reading. Richard hated it when he read. He hated to know that someone 20 years younger than him could still read while he couldn't. And so, when he read, he got hit. But that didn't mean he would stop.

Not for that thing of a human.

The footsteps got closer, and he turned of the flashlight, closing the book and stuffing it under his bed. His bed hadn't been cleaned in ages, so Richard didn't poke around there. The rule was that, as long as he was the one who slept in it, Alex could keep his room as dirty as he liked. But that wasn't very dirty, because he hated things that weren't organized. But as he had been sleeping in the cellar for the past week because of his 'misbehaving', there wasn't anything wrong with letting a few layers of dust settle on the bed.

He jumped into the bed and pulled the covers high over his head. He was small for his age, and could easily be mistaken for 3 or something. So, curling under his covers wasn't exactly a hard feat.

He looked at his watch. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, the numbers formed on the screen. But he didn't need it. He had been keeping track of time himself.

They had exactly 2 hours 45 minutes 12 seconds until his dad arrived.

10, 9, 8...