(Lydia)“Mama?” I questioned as I opened the glass back door and walked inside, Thomas following me close behind, “What happened? Who was it?”Thomas immediately went to check into the front door to look for any signs of forced entry. The vase by the entrance was broken, however, everything else remained unharmed.“My kids!” I gasped and ran past Mama to go check in on them. Once I was satisfied that they were still soundly sleeping after a day filled with various activities, I rechecked their window locks and made my way back to Mama.I held her by the shoulders and asked, “What happened? Are you okay, Mama?”She was trembling and my heart hurt at the scared look on her face. I knew that scared look, I had seen it often during my childhood when my father went and let his anger out on her. She would get this same dazed look on her face that used to come back to me in my nightmares.My heart thudded inside of my chest as I took her by her shoulders and shook her lightly, “Mama, who did
(Thomas)I hated seeing Lydia like this. All I wanted for her was to remain happy and feel safe and protected in my presence.Today, it felt like I failed in doing so.Everything was going so perfectly. I had Lydia so close to me that I couldn’t tell which breath was hers and which was mine. It was like we were one, and then reality crashed in.I had only ever seen Lydia this panicked when our children had gotten kidnapped and I had vowed to myself then that I would never let that expression come over her face ever again.I immediately ran to check the perimeters but it felt like whoever was in the house had vanished into thin air.However, I followed my intuition and remained outside to check if anything was out of place.It was.The pot was crooked and I immediately knew the source of the break-in.Lydia was still in my arms as I leaned against the kitchen counter. One cursory glance over the house was enough for me to know that nothing of consequence had been taken. The only damage
(Lydia)I knew I was having a nightmare. However surreal it was, I was still scared for my life.At first, I was merely running through a mud road with huge, tall trees on either side of me. It was dark and I couldn’t see much but I knew something was on the hunt for me.I had not caught a single glance of the burglar, yet when I looked back, there he was, a figure in all-black running towards me at full speed.“No,” I choked out as I felt him getting close to me, “Nooo,” I said loudly as I became breathless the more I ran.The nightmare was so vivid that I knew I would remember it even after I woke up. As I kept running, I realized my surroundings were changing.The forest turned into an abandoned building and I was running down a dilapidated hallway as heavy footfalls sounded behind me. I turned back to look at how much distance there was between me and the dark figure, only to find out that it was my own father running after me, a knife wielded in his hand.Tears slipped down my ch
(Thomas)The past fifteen minutes had been one of those moments which I would not wish upon anyone. The more I tried to wake Lydia up it felt like the deeper she went into her nightmare.When she finally woke up, she immediately wanted to get up and do something about the burglar just like I knew she would. That was why I had already told Jack what needed to be done and I also called my private investigator to get me all the footage he could, from door cameras to the ones in cars.I wanted to get my hands on as much information as I could. When Lydia talked about her father and how much he also hurt her, I could not help but flinch as a deep hatred bubbled inside of me.Locking that scum up wasn’t enough punishment for what he had done to my children. He deserved a fate worse than that but I knew he would get his dues in this lifetime.Still, even as Lydia talked about the burglar and her father there was something else there. Something that she wasn’t telling me.I could easily tell
(Lydia)When I came back home for the weekend, I didn’t realize that I would be packing up everyone’s things to go live in the mansion. I had told Ruby to pack her and Mama’s things up while I did my own and my children’s.I was taking no chances of putting anyone else in harm’s way. After gathering myself together, I followed Thomas to the front of the house where he was talking to someone on the phone.I asked him to make sure the house was searched thoroughly to make sure there were no hidden cameras anywhere. The sense of unease followed me as I went back and forth from my own room to the children’s, making sure all the essentials were packed up.It still felt like I had eyes on me and whenever I thought about what had happened too much, that feeling increased tenfold.I flinched when someone touched me on my arm.“Chill, it’s just me,” Ruby said, looking at me like I had lost my mind. “Are you okay?” she said after seeing that my reaction wasn’t an overreaction. I had truly gotte
(Thomas)I was standing inside the office of my private investigator. I haven’t been here for so long because I was working directly with the police in the case of my own accident.However, George was still on my payroll. Currently, he was sitting in his chair in front of six monitor screens, rewinding and rewatching every single footage that we have managed to get.I didn’t go to the police this time because I knew the matter would not be as serious to them. They would hang around the house for a bit, tell us to keep our doors locked and all spare keys inside the house and if nothing else would happen, they would just leave.When it came to stalking and obsessive behavior, the police rarely intervened before it was too late. Hence, I was not banking on them to solve this.George shook his head slowly, “I can follow him down to the Grocery store within the ten-mile radius but after that, most of the cameras are useless. Over half of them were not working or even if they do, there’s a
(Lydia)“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Mabel’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.Thomas had dropped us off at the mansion a couple of hours ago. I hadn’t wanted him to leave but I knew that he was taking care of a lot of matters.I looked down at Mabel with a bright smile, “My baby’s hungry, huh? Come on, let’s make something to eat,” I took her hands in mine and turned to Miles who was playing with some building blocks, “You coming, bud?”With both of my kids holding my hands, we went down the stairs and into the kitchen.Through the kitchen window, I could see that it was already dark outside. I shuddered at the unwanted thoughts of an unknown burglar and turned to my children, “What would my babies like for dinner?” I asked them, sitting on my knees to come at their level, “Mac and cheese?” I listed, “Chicken wings?” I hummed thoughtfully, “Or…pizza?!”They both jumped at the mention of pizza. I wasn’t in the mood to order and I know there must be a ready-made pizza dough in the house to
(Lydia)The storybook I was reading wasn’t even halfway finished when the children were both fast asleep. I spent some time with them, watching over their sleep, cherishing the few quiet moments I had with them before I had to go again.In the back of my mind, I was aware of the fact that I had to leave and talk to Margaret like she had asked.As the clock struck 10 o'clock, I got up from the bed with a sigh.Quietly closing the door behind me, I made my way through the hallways until I reached Margaret’s room. I hesitated only a moment before knocking on the door, wanting this conversation to get done and over with already.“Come in,” Margaret’s voice filtered through the door.I did as she asked and the door opened up to a spacious room. On one side there was the bed and on the other side, there was a glass wall with curtains covering them and an L-shaped couch.One corner was already taken by Margaret so I took the other end and faced her head-on.“What did you want to talk about?”