The local news had been playing in the background the whole time that they had been getting the children settled for the evening. The screen kept flashing through topics, the woman on the television prattling on about a man dressing as a Santa and collecting change for fake charity organizations.
Then there was some coverage of a house lighting contest, that apparently turned into a big thing. There was a cash prize of ten thouand dollars at stake, so people went wild with it. Lacey thought it was nice, but it wasn't enough to make her want to watch the news.
But what was able to catch Lacey's attention was the breaking news story that flashed on the screen about a local murder that happened right before Christmas.
It was some time later in the night when Lacey was awakened by a strange sound. She is not sure what it was that woke her up. So she sits up and looks around in the semi darkness of the room to try to locate the sound of the disturbance. There is no sound of any kind at the moment, which confuses her. The room is completely quiet except for the slow, even breathing and the light snoring of her family. Nothing around the room appears to be out of place. Both of the children are still in the bed beside of hers and both of them are still sleeping soundly beside each other. Lacey feels the heavy weight of Andy's arm across her waist as he lays behind her with his body pressed tightly to hers. He is where he has been for all of the night, sleeping next to her. His even breathing sounds in her ear and she takes comf
Lacey angrily moves over to the chipped green door, her stomping steps pounding out a tempo in the silence of the room, and she pulls the door open with unneccesary force, letting the frigid cold air into the room as it rushes past her. The blast of cold takes her breath but it does not manage to cool down her white hot anger that is balzing like a wild inferno inside of her. She shivers as the freezing wind blows under her dress to swirl around her legs. Grabbing her coat from it's spot on top of her travel bag where it sits on the floor beside of the door, she angrily shoves her arms into the think flece garment and pulls it up onto her shoulders. “Lace, darling, please just come back in here so that we can talk about this. I honestly think that it will all be okay. Whoever it was that was out th
“Oh! Um, yeah, hello.” Lacey gives the older man a small, awkward wave before she cringes at the absurdity of it. Why the heck did she just wave at him like that? She has to remind herself not to be awkward. She attributes her weirdness to the late hour and the lack of proper sleep. “Um, I'm sorry. I was-” Get it together Lacey! she cautions herself as she pauses to take a deep calming breath to get her thoughts in order. It is the middle of the night and this man more than likely is not looking for some insane woman to ramble at him. He is probably just as tired as she is. Lacey gets her thoughts in order before she speaks again. “Hi. My name is Lacey Williamson and I am staying in the room next door with my husband Andy and our two children. Just a few moments ago someth
"Damn it all to hell!" Andy curses as he slaps his hand down angrily upon the rumpled bed in which he and his wife had just spent the last couple of pleasant hours together. Then she had gotten upset and she did not feel that he was supportive enough. Maybe he hadn't been. Andy moved around the room with heavy feet, agitated by his argument with Lacey and the major part he played in it. He cared about her thoughts and opinions, why would she think that he didn't? He loved his wife so much that sometimes he could not stand it. She and the kids were his whole world. The three of them were everything to him. They made his life complete and he could not imagine his life without them by his side. Andy did value his wife and all of the things that were important to her. He was not trying to make her feel like he
Lacey falls back away from the hole that she had just found in the wall, her chest rising and falling erratically because she is breathing heavy with fear. Her bottom hits the hard floor and she puts her hands out to keep from falling over backwards. She had just seen an eye. She knew that it had to be Andy or the kids, unless someone else was in there. But regardless of whose eye she had seen, it was still creepy as hell. Had that man been spying on them as they were in their room? She could see into the room so well that she could make out the rumpled bed that she and her husband where just laying in together only mere moments before. As she remembered the moment that she and Andy had shared hours before, she wondered if someone had been watching them. The thought freaks her out.
* Extremely Graphic Content Warning * Contains some mention of alcohol use by a minor and child endangerment are present. Strong language, as well. ~ June 7, 1971 He was turning six in just three days. His mommy says that this is his 'big boy' birthday, but if he was not mistaken, she had told him that last year too. But Nate didn't care. He was just finally ready to be a big boy. He was getting really tired of being treated like a baby all of the time. Then again, Nate was tired of a lot of things. Like how his Mommy and Daddy were constantly fighting with each other. His daddy had bought this big house tha
June 7, 1971 “Come on damn it. Let's go, boy!” Dave tells Nate, using his foot to roughly shove the child's chair back from the table, so that the boy was forced to stand up. “Get your little ass in the truck. We are going home.” Nate jumped up immediately to his feet. His daddy was in a really bad mood right now and Nate did not want to cross him. After he had let Nate taste his beer, he had begun to talk with some other man in the place. The man made some remarks about Nate's mother that Dave didn't like and their was a very heated argument. Had the man behind the bar getting drinks not broken it up, he would have had a drunken bar fight on his hands. But he did not intervene soon en
* Extremely Graphic Content Warning * This chapter contains domestic abuse, verbal abuse and graphic violence. Mention of alcohol and child endangerment are present. This chapter may be unsuitable for some readers. Strong language, as well. ~ June 7, 1971 Nate could hear his parents fighting above him upstairs. He was hiding in the dark, tiny room under the stairs. It was dirty and dusty, with mouse droppings every where and spider webs all over the place. It was scary to sit in the tight space, not able to see anythong around him, but it was the one place that h