Hold On

By Addi L.

 

It’s was the day after Easter. Mom and Dad were at work. I woke up and I went downstairs to get breakfast. I thought that Jay, my brother, would be up but he was not which scared me. Then I remembered that he was at weights. I was in charge of watching Maya, our baby sister. She was still sleeping upstairs in her crib. I took her out and she was playing.

Three hours later I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the window but I did not know who it was. So I took Maya upstairs to take a nap. When I got downstairs I heard the lock being picked! I ran back upstairs and tried to grab Maya. I could not because my hands were so shaky. Eventually I did get her.
I went to a neighbor’s house, but they were not home .So I went to a couple other neighbor’s, but they still were not home. I felt scared . Eventually I ran all the way down to daycare. I told them what was going on, and they called the cops that minute.

When the police got there, the guy trying to break in was gone. Mom and Dad got home as fast as they could. They got Jay and came to see if everyone was ok.
The cops got a fingerprint from a spilled flower pot.

They found out his name is Will and he goes from house to house breaking in. Mom called grandma to come pick us up. When we got to grandma’s house Maya took a nap. Jay and I were playing in the hammock. We were still there for 1 more hour after Maya woke up so we went swimming in Grandma’s pool.

 

When we got home it was about 4:00 so dinner was done. After dinner I went upstairs with Maya. When I sat down I saw a note right above my mirror. I screamed in terror! Mom and Dad came running upstairs. When they got upstairs I pointed at the note. Mom grabbed it. Just then Jay came running upstairs. “He’s gone, he’s gone”Jay yelled.

“Who’s gone?” Mom ask.

 

“Dude, my hunting dog,” he said.

 

Dad said, “He is easy to find, remember.”

 

”But how,” Jay asked.

“Member, we put that chip in him,” Dad said. Jay calmed down. While they were talking me and mom read the note. It said:

“Don’t be worried!

I’m not done yet

I will come back but this time I

will bring back up.

Just then I got scared. Then Mom called Grandma to comp pick us up and take us to live with her for a couple of weeks. Jay got Dude back so he was happy. When I got done packing for myself I packed for Maya too.

When we got to Grandma’s we were all tired. Me and Maya shared a room and she practically cried all night. It was terrible!  When she fell asleep I did too, right away.

 

Give or take

 

In the morning Maya work up. It was still really early so I got her a bottle and she fell back asleep. When everyone else woke up, I had breakfast ready. We went to the store after breakfast where I ran into Kayla, my best friend. She was with her family. I had been texting her about the whole thing so she knew what was going on. We started to talk and we decided Kayla would take Maya until this is over. When we left the store we no longer had Maya.  We went back to Grandma’s house. I started to text Kayla. She was sending pictures of Maya. How I missed her!

Just then Jay heard a knock on the door. My heart started to race. Jay looked out the window. It was just Grandpa. I let him in. He was carrying Tux, their basset hound. Olive, their other one, was right behind him.

“What’s happened?” I asked.

“ Tux broke his leg, “Grandpa said.

We took Tux to the animal hospital. His break was where his paw connected to his leg. They got a cast on it. When we got Tux home Olive was sitting right in front of the door waiting for Tux to come in. Olive did not care that Tux had a broken leg. They still played together.

A few days later, Olive had her puppies. Tux was watching the puppies while Olive was eating. When she was done eating Tux ate and then went out. He would usually play with Olive but she had to watch the puppies so I went outside to play with Tux.
When Tux and I went back inside Olive and her puppies were sleeping. A few minutes later Tux also fell asleep.

I was texting Kayla when Jay went outside to help grandma with her yard. I was still texting her when my Mom texted me and said, “He came again.”

 

What was she talking about? “What?” I replied quickly.

“He came in and said, ‘Where are they? Where are they.’  in this yelling type of voice.”

Then Kayla texted me that someone had broken into her house and she was going to my grandma ‘s house with Maya.

l was so confused! What did Kayla mean?

 

“He’s after us!!!!” She texted again.

 

“What? What? What do you mean?“ I answered.

“A guy is chasing us saying ‘little one, oh little one’ “

“What? “

“I’m on my way.”

“Ok.”

A little later I was telling Jay what happened when  there was a knock on the door. It was Kayla. She was holding Maya . So I grabbed Maya from her.  I was so happy to see her. Then I got Kayla a glass of water .

At dinnertime Kayla told us, “My mom will not be back till tomorrow“

“Ok,” Grandma said.

Later we were watching TV when we heard a knock on the door. Kayla went to go look, and it was not her mom.

Who is it

 

I went to go look out the window. It was my mom. what? I let her in . Then she started to talk about something. No one knew what she was saying.

 

“He hit, He hit,” she kept saying in a whisper  voice.

“Who hit?” Grandma said.

Just then, Dude came running downstairs. He was carrying Jay’s phone,and it read      .                                              “Two down, still  more to go.”

“Omg that is what she means! Dad had been taken, so that means Jay has been too.”

We ran upstairs in a big huddle tripping  over one another trying to get to his room but when we got there on one was there .

We were In his room, and the window was shattered ,and there was a knife on the ground.

Mom fell to her knees crying and we just huddled around her.

An hour later the cops came knocking on the door.  Jay was right next to him! The cop said, “I found him down the street when he jumped out of someone’s  car.”

“Thank the Gods!” Mom said.

Dude was running from the kitchen through the dining room to the living room.

So we got Jay back, but where was Dad?

 

The attack

 

We were all still wondering where dad was. We asked Jay, and he said, “I did not see him in the car.”

“What?” Mom said.

We were all shocked by that . What did he mean? Was dad taken by someone else? Was there two of them? In the note we read it said, “this time I will bring backup.” What did that mean?

I think it meant that  two or more people were in on this .  We need to take more precaution. We need to stay together.

The next morning Kayla’s mom came and got her. Well we thought it was Kayla’s mom. She looked like Kayla’s mom, but Kayla did not agree. I guess Kayla did not want to go home. Kayla’s mom left, but Kayla was happy. What did that mean?

I asked Kayla, “Why are you so happy your mom left?”

Kayla said, “Now I get to help you.”

“No, you have to go home. l don’t want you to get hurt,” l said to her .

“But l want to help, “ she said in this whiney voice.

Then she said, “Fine, l will call my mom and tell her to come back ok .”

“Ok, “I said.

Her mom came back and got her .

An hour later we were all sitting in the living  room when we heard a knock on the door.  It was the pizza man .

We finished our pizza and mom was now also living with us to make sure we were ok every day. .

We went to bed. But for some reason Dude was sleeping in the living room with Tux and Olive and their puppies, even though Jay was home.

 

The way home

 

Dude ran away.  He is not here! Where is he? Where could he have gone?

At 9:00 am we were going around town searching for Dude.

But still at 11:00 am He was gone. Mom said, “We should stop for the morning.”

“Ok,” he said.

We went home  and Jay was sitting outside when he saw Dude run by wearing a different color. “That’s him!” I said.

“No,“ he  said. “Dude has a white tail. That one has a brown one.”

“Oh,” l said disappointed.

Just then l heard scratching at the door.  It was Dude, I’m pretty sure.  It  was, he had a white tail and a blue collar just like him. I got Jay, and he said, “That is him, let him in.”

“Dude!” It was him. Jay was so happy, but who put him out there ?

We went to tell mom we found him. When she came to us she said, “l got a text from your Dad. It said, ‘l am here. l am locked up in an abandoned jail. Help please! l need help! Please help!”

“Get in the car,” mom said. “We’re going.”

But we have no way of knowing where this jail is. We could get hurt .

All of a sudden we heard cringing from upstairs. It was Maya.  We ran upstairs. The window was broken. A man was in her room holding her. When we got there he jumped out the window.

We got in the car and chased after him .

He got to this abandoned jail just outside of Omaha. This  is the jail where they took Dad!

The jail

 

We could hear Maya screaming from outside. Jay wanted to go busting in there and grab  her  but we needed to save Dad .

We had made a plan to get them but we still did not have much detail .

We were about to go in when we heard them say, “Throw her out, she is useless.”

So we stayed in the car. Jay and I ducked down while mom pretended to be on a business call and grandma was pretending to be annoyed . When he went back inside, Jay ran out or the car and grabbed Maya. He got in the car. “Go, Go!“ he said.

Mom started the car and drove way past the speed limit spewing herself way past grandma’s house.  “Where are we going?” I asked.

 

“Your grandpa’s cabin. We will be safer there.”

 

“Is grandpa there?” I asked mom .

“Yes,” mom said.

We will be there soon .

We got there and grandpa was out on the golf cart. Me and Jay played golf  while mom got the room set up. We dropped grandma off at her house one our way there. When grandpa got to go the cabin he started a fire and we cooked hotdogs for dinner.

When it turned 8:00 pm we were all inside playing .

Then it was time to go to bed.

 

The day

 

The next morning l got up. I went outside to see a deer in the yard. I got Jay because he had brought his bow along. He took a shot at it. He got it but it ran off and it was too early to go after it. Dude had smelled the dear and started to run after it.  Jay was chasing after him calling his name. “Dude, Dude! Come here, come here but he could not reach him .

He came back with tears rolling down his face . He could not check up to him. We went inside.

We were all up by now. Jay had stopped caring and we went outside to find a deer in the yard and Dude sitting right next to it. Jay ran and hugged Dude . Grandpa and Jay  started to prepare the deer while me and Mom gave Dude a bath.

But when it turned afternoon the deer was still not ready. Mom, Maya, and l went outside to go take a ride on the golf cart. When we saw a bunny that was not dead, but hurt. Mom said to leave it for the raccoons. But l tucked it in.

I started to help and find out what was wrong with the bunny. It looked like the bunny had its leg dislocated. It was a simple fix. I fixed the bunny’s leg and went on with my day .

I went outside to see what Jay and grandpa were doing. They were cooking some part of the deer. When dinner came around we had the deer. It was so good . It became darker and we went inside.

We put a move on in the small room they have for Maya. As we all went to sleep we started to hear raccoons. I was scared so I got up and walked around some.  I heard someone in the bathroom but everyone was asleep .

“Who’s there?” I said.

“It’s me. “

“Who’s me? “ I said.

“Muuum.”

“Who are you?” I said.

“No one, go back to bed “

“No!” I started to yell.

“Fine, I’m coming out”

“Ok,” I said.

He came out with this black mask over his head . “Take off your mask!” l yelled.

“Ok ok, “

It was …

 

The guy

 

He took the mask off and saw a man.  Grandpa yelled,  “Vince!”  He ran off  but it was too late. He was gone.

The next morning l told mom what had happened. She was shocked by how it was. “How did he know were we where staying?” mom asked.

Grandpa heard and said, “I had let him stay here a lions time ago.”

“What? “ mom said.

“You know he is up to no good,” Jay started to say.

“How did you get in this argument? “ mom asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But everything in the bathroom is gone, “ he said now.

“What!” mom started to freak out.

“Vince stole the stuff apparently, “ grandpa said.

We ran to the bathroom in a huddle. Racing to go in there one after another . We got there and everything was gone. What happened? “He took everything.”

Later we went on a golf cart ride. On it we saw Vince. What was he doing? Jay ran off the cart, grabbed him  and brought him back to the cabin.

 

The explanation

 

“I just want some stuff to call my own,“ Vince said.

“By stealing? “ mom said.

“Ya,” Vince said.

“Your car is still in the driveway you know? “ grandpa said.

“I know, “ he said.

“Then why don’t you take that?” Mom said.

“Because it has no gas,” he said.

“I can fill it up,” grandpa said.

“Ok then fill it up,” he said.

“Ok I’m going,” grandpa said.

He filled up the car and he was gone, just like that.

 

The way home

 

We were all getting bored there and we had no clean clothes, so we went home.

We got home it felt so weird being there again like it felt wrong . We heard someone in the shed. We looked in there. It was Dad! We untied him as fast as we could. When we were done,  our hands were as red as could be .

“DAD! You’re home!”

 

“But did they put you in the shed?” Mom asked.

“So you would not find me and I would starve, “ Dad said.

“We’re glad you’re home, “ we all said at the same time.

But he’s still out there. We know where their hideout is. We can get them .

We called the cops to tell them where the hideout was. They got the guy!  They got Vince!

That night we all went out to eat as one big happy family.