Check under the bed
Maddy fairly skipped home from the bus stop. Her parents were out for the day and part of the evening, leaving her in charge of her little brother, who was at piano lessons. Maddy hurried toward her front door, noticing with glee the abscence of cars in her driveway. The door had been left ajar. Maddy thought it odd, because her parents were quite insistant on having everything locked up while they were away. But she didn't care.
She surfed the web, IMed her friends, and pigged out on the junk food. Somewhere she felt a twinge of guilt, but she shrugged it off. Jonathin, her little brother, was due home at five. She glanced at the clock. 4:53. She began cleaning up so Jonathin wouldn't be able to rat her out.
She noticed a funny smell, like a sour-smelling chemical mixed with their Frebreeze scent. Mom probably went on a cleaning spree before leaving, she thought, rolling her eyes.
But then she saw that her bed was unmaid and her stuff had been thrown around the room. Red paint was all over. She silently cursed Jonathin, but left her room quickly, a little frightened.
Then next time she passed the clock, it was 5:23. Her breath was short and quick. Where was Jonathin? He was often late, Maddy reminded herself. You're overreacting.
At six, Maddy decided to call the police. Jonathin would have surely been home by now.
But the phone was smashed. Maddy's heart almost stopped when she saw it. She was utterly certain that when she had last passed the phone, it had been whole.
She came to a horrible, heart-hammering conclusion. There was someone in the house with her.
She ran to her door and tugged the handle. It was stuck fast, and hot around the edges. Someone had burned a flame all along the edge and melted the door together.
Maddy tried all the windows, to no avail. She backed against the wall.
She was trapped in her own house with someone else.
The smell was now quite prominent. Maddy, shaking from head to toe, stood in the doorway to her room.
She saw it all.
The open door- her parents hadn't opened it. Nor had Jonathin. They had never made it out the door.
The funny smell... not the smell of chemicals, but of someone trying to cover up another smell...
The mess in her room... a struggle...
The red paint... not paint... blood...
Someone had been creeping around behind her, blocking her escape routes, savoring her fear. But where, then, were her family memebers?
A little drip of blood made a plip on the floor. Slowly, Maddy lowered her head and looked under the bed.
Oooh, I scared myself