I wake up at 8:30 on a Sunday morning, the smell of waffles fill the house. I walk downstairs, my mom by the stove. The table is made all nice and my favorite breakfast is being made. My mom is probably doing all of this because we just moved. All new town, all new people, all to get away from my mom’s brother Lucas, who went insane from drugs or alcohol. My mom never gave me all of the details. All I know is he attempted to kill someone before or did kill someone before, I’m not fully sure. I get ready for the day, and me and my mom head out.
We get to church at 9:45, 15 minutes before it starts. We meet all of the new people, except for my grandma, she is the only familiar person in this new town. The service starts and doesn’t end until 11:15, slightly later than it is supposed to. We go to brunch with my grandma at this restaurant she says is really good, but all she got was oatmeal and coffee, practically the best stuff to get there. After we eat we say bye to my grandma and go back to our car. I get in the car but my mom pauses and looks at a man across the street. Then she gets in and we go on a few errands.
First we go to the store to get some groceries and my mom pauses again before getting out of the car, like a deer when it hears footsteps. Then she gets out of the car and we go into the store. She stays silent so I don’t say anything either. We end up getting home after the errands at around 1:00, so I decide to do some homework that my teachers gave me over the weekend, around an hour later my mom brings a snack up to my room, and acts all normal again, as if the house made her feel less tense, but I don’t know, maybe she just realized there was no reason to be worried. She tries to help me with my homework a little bit, but it ends up being me helping her understand my homework. After dinner though, that all changes.
At around 8:00, I hear footsteps out in the backyard, I just assume it’s a racoon or something, until I hear my mom let out a shriek of sheer terror. I run halfway down the steps before I hear it. A loud crash followed by more screaming, the window breaking.
“Becky!” a man’s voice shouts.
“Lucas!” my mom screams back.
Suddenly everything happens so quick. Boom! Gunshot. Boom! Gunshot. I bolt toward the front door, trying not to let him see me. It doesn’t work. I make it out the door, but so does he. I keep running, and running, and running, like a child after an ice cream truck. I hear laughing falling farther and farther behind me. I don’t turn back, knowing if I do he will catch up with me. I eventually run into the woods, falling to the ground. He hit my arm slightly, but not too bad. I suddenly start sobbing, knowing I won’t see my mom again. I peak out from a tree, and see him, walking down the street yelling my name. I don’t know how he knows it. It’s him, the man my mom stared at when we left the diner. Fear swells inside me. Is there someone else with him? Has he been stalking me and my mom? How did he get out of prison? How did he find us?
I check my watch. 8:05 PM. This all happened in 5 minutes. 5 minutes. It only took 5 minutes. What felt like hours waiting in the woods, it had been 5 minutes. When he is out of sight, I run to my grandma’s house, hoping he didn’t get to her. She opens the door, looking like she just woke up, which she most likely did. I try to tell her what had happened, through all of the sobbing. She calls the police, and we drive near my house to wait for them, not going directly to it in case Lucas is still there. The police arrive and find my mom unconscious but still alive. We go with her to the hospital, and a few days later she wakes up, and she starts immediately sobbing. We do too. We just all sit there crying. Then, a police officer comes in, telling us that Lucas has been put into custody, and the sobbing changes to smiling, knowing my family is back together. I can’t believe on a normal Sunday, in a small town, in five minutes, my life almost changed forever.
We get to church at 9:45, 15 minutes before it starts. We meet all of the new people, except for my grandma, she is the only familiar person in this new town. The service starts and doesn’t end until 11:15, slightly later than it is supposed to. We go to brunch with my grandma at this restaurant she says is really good, but all she got was oatmeal and coffee, practically the best stuff to get there. After we eat we say bye to my grandma and go back to our car. I get in the car but my mom pauses and looks at a man across the street. Then she gets in and we go on a few errands.
First we go to the store to get some groceries and my mom pauses again before getting out of the car, like a deer when it hears footsteps. Then she gets out of the car and we go into the store. She stays silent so I don’t say anything either. We end up getting home after the errands at around 1:00, so I decide to do some homework that my teachers gave me over the weekend, around an hour later my mom brings a snack up to my room, and acts all normal again, as if the house made her feel less tense, but I don’t know, maybe she just realized there was no reason to be worried. She tries to help me with my homework a little bit, but it ends up being me helping her understand my homework. After dinner though, that all changes.
At around 8:00, I hear footsteps out in the backyard, I just assume it’s a racoon or something, until I hear my mom let out a shriek of sheer terror. I run halfway down the steps before I hear it. A loud crash followed by more screaming, the window breaking.
“Becky!” a man’s voice shouts.
“Lucas!” my mom screams back.
Suddenly everything happens so quick. Boom! Gunshot. Boom! Gunshot. I bolt toward the front door, trying not to let him see me. It doesn’t work. I make it out the door, but so does he. I keep running, and running, and running, like a child after an ice cream truck. I hear laughing falling farther and farther behind me. I don’t turn back, knowing if I do he will catch up with me. I eventually run into the woods, falling to the ground. He hit my arm slightly, but not too bad. I suddenly start sobbing, knowing I won’t see my mom again. I peak out from a tree, and see him, walking down the street yelling my name. I don’t know how he knows it. It’s him, the man my mom stared at when we left the diner. Fear swells inside me. Is there someone else with him? Has he been stalking me and my mom? How did he get out of prison? How did he find us?
I check my watch. 8:05 PM. This all happened in 5 minutes. 5 minutes. It only took 5 minutes. What felt like hours waiting in the woods, it had been 5 minutes. When he is out of sight, I run to my grandma’s house, hoping he didn’t get to her. She opens the door, looking like she just woke up, which she most likely did. I try to tell her what had happened, through all of the sobbing. She calls the police, and we drive near my house to wait for them, not going directly to it in case Lucas is still there. The police arrive and find my mom unconscious but still alive. We go with her to the hospital, and a few days later she wakes up, and she starts immediately sobbing. We do too. We just all sit there crying. Then, a police officer comes in, telling us that Lucas has been put into custody, and the sobbing changes to smiling, knowing my family is back together. I can’t believe on a normal Sunday, in a small town, in five minutes, my life almost changed forever.