The Protector

I was sound asleep in my bed when my door burst open. I jolted awake, rubbing my eyes against the harsh hallway light. My parents rushed in, looking panicked.

My mom grabbed my arm. "Sweetie, we need you to pack your things. Just the important stuff, okay? We're going on a road trip, a special surprise!"

Confused, I blinked at her but then excitement took over. "Yes! I'll pack right now, Mom!"

She gave me a weak smile. "Good, do it as quickly as you can."

My parents hurried out of my room. I grabbed my Dora backpack and stuffed it with essentials. Slinging it over my shoulder, I dashed downstairs to put on my trainers from the shoe rack by the door.

I heard loud footsteps and saw my parents rushing down. "Let's go to the car now!" my dad said frantically, out of breath.

They unlocked the front door and we ran to the car. I jumped in, placed my backpack on the seat next to me, and quickly buckled up. My dad reversed out of the driveway and sped off.

"I wonder where we're going?" I thought, noticing the worry on my parents' faces, which made me uneasy too.

My mom looked back at me. "Why don't you go to sleep, honey? It's going to be a long drive."

Suddenly feeling tired, I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "Okay, Mom."

She smiled weakly. "You know I love you so, so much, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Mom," I replied, closing my eyes and getting comfortable.

As I drifted off, I didn't hear my parents' whispered conversation.

"Thompson, we can't let him get to her. We have to protect her at all costs. Home school, never let her out by herself, and we need to stay with her at all times. Oh God, Thompson, I'm so scared. I don't want him to hurt our baby."

"She'll be okay, Anna. Don't worry. We'll protect her. He won't take her from us, I won't let him."

Silence settled between them.

"Thomp," my mom said softly.

"Anna?"

"We need to find her. She can help us."

"No," my dad replied firmly.

"But Thomp!"

"I said no, Anna! How do we know she's not secretly working for him?"

"We don't, but it's a risk we have to take! We need to protect her and she can help!"

"Anna...we can't."

"She knows the rules, Thompson!"

"Thomp, please, just trust me."

"Okay, Anna," he sighed deeply. "I trust you."

And they drove off into the night, heading toward a little place called Colmar.

"Marce you're going to be late for work!".

Quickly brushing my teeth I shout down "I'm almost done mum" I spit out the toothpaste and jog to my drawers, I get out my underwear, skirt and top.

I put on my underwear minus my bra since the top I'm wearing doesn't require one. Then my floral skirt, its a pastel blue with little flowers around them I love it!

I then put on my blue floral top that I have to wrap around my top half and tie it tightly at the back so my boobs don't fall out.

I run to the mirror to brush my hair and tie it in a ponytail, my brown hair is so long and thick.

'I should get a haircut'.

I place my hand on my chin and ponder at the thought, I quickly snap out of my thoughts when I realise that I'm going to be late.

I run to the corner of my room where my pastel blue backpack is, which is on the chair in the corner with my desk.

I grab it and look inside.

Purse - Check

Keys - Check

Lipbalm - Check

So that's three items so far, I just need to get my water bottle and that's it!

I jog downstairs and run into the kitchen and grab my water bottle and go to the fridge to get some filtered water out to fill the bottle.

Once that was done my mum entered the kitchen, she saw me and smiled "Morning honey you nearly ready?" I smile back at her "Yes all done apart from that I need to get my phone and my flats on and I shall be then ready".

"Ok hun go quick you're nearly late you've got about five minutes until your shifts starts"

I run upstairs and grab my phone then put my flats on and once again jog downstairs, my mum's waiting by the door, ready to drop me off since I'm nearly late and it takes about 10 minutes to get there.

"I'm ready mum!" My mum looks at me, "Ok sweet pea let's go to the car" We walk out of the house and go to the car, we hop in and put on our seat belts, my mum starts the car and now we're on our way to the library which is my workplace.

My mum looks at me when we stop at the red light. "Remember the rules baby be back-" I say with her in unison "Before six the latest" I look at her with a smile "Don't worry mum I know, you've planted these rules in my head for fourteen years" I roll my eyes and chuckle.

My mum's eyes soften and relaxes, she reaches her hand and rests it on my face and lightly strokes my cheek "I know, I just worry".

We smile and my mum continues our journey when the light turns green.

We arrive at the library, I quickly peck her cheek and quickly hop out of the car so I won't be later then I already am, just as I was about to close the car door my mum shouts "I love you sweet pea have a good day!"

"I love you too mum" I close the car door and run into the library, as I run in I see my boss standing by the front desk with a frown on his face. His names Jesse, he's 64 and owned this library for about 35 years, he said he isn't leaving until he's dead, he may look like a grumpy old man on the outside but he's actually nice.

Tapping his foot on the carpeted floor "Marce you are 6 minutes late you know, I like people who are on time".

"I know Jesse and I'm sorry I accidentally slept a bit longer since you know it was a bit busy yesterday with that author round signing his new book and so many people were here".

Jesse sighs and rolls his eyes "Oh my god yesterday was a nightmare, all of those female species were screaming like banshees they gave me a headache, don't worry I understand Marce".

I sigh in relief "Thank you Jesse".

"Yeah yeah ok work now" He chuckles, I chuckle back, he walks away to sort some things out. I see the person behind the front desk who's my bestfriend, she looks at me, a grin forms on her face and waves at me. "Oh my god Lina you'll never guess what!" I walk to her "Ooo what's happened?".

The grin still on her face as she says "You know Sean weeeelllll" she lifts her left hand at me and I see a ring with a little diamond in the middle.

'Ooo shiny!'.

"Oh Julia that is amazing! Congratulations I'm so happy for you!" She looks at me, pure happiness in her eyes "So Lina, how do you feel about being my maid of honour?" I look at her with shock and say "Really?!". Julia rolls her eyes playfully and laughs "Yes really!" We both eek and jump and clap our hands in joy, once we calm down we smile and I say "Ok I should really work now or Jesse wouldn't be happy".

"Ok Lina I'll see you on our lunch break!" I look back and wave "See you at lunch!" I walk to the corner to the basket that's full of books and pick it up and go to one Isle and look at where the books should go.

I continue around the Isles and stop at the last one, I pick up the last book and I know exactly where this goes but a bit of worry appears on my face as I look up, I have to use the big ladder since it's on the second highest shelf.

I'm not really a fan of heights, especially on a ladder like what if it breaks or someone accidentally knocks the ladder and I fall! I take a big breath and walk to where the ladder is and roll it to where it needs to be.

I gather some courage and I take the first step and make my way up, it's a bit hard with a book in my hand. I make it to the second highest shelf and move some books to place the book where it needs to be, the ladder starts to shake.

I gasp in shock and fear as it's shaking wildly, I look down to see no one shaking it, confusion is also in me along with the fear and shock, tears start rolling down from my eyes as I close my eyes and tightly hold onto the ladder.

Suddenly the shaking stops, I reluctantly open my eyes I look around and there's no one, everything's quiet. Gathering the courage to step down the ladder, I go down.

Once I'm on the ground I look around, there's no one. I slowly walk to the front desk to try and find Julia and to my surprise she isn't there, there are no customers in the whole library.

I hear a slam, and another. Scared I walk around to try to find someone, I instantly stop as a book flies pass me and slams against the wall. My heart pounding I run to the front door.

'I want to go home'.

Tears once again rolling down my eyes, getting closer to the front door it slams shut and a sound of a lock. I look around frantically, looking for another way out I look at the back door but the door isn't there it's just a wall.

'Where's the door!'.

I stare in shock at the wall where a door was once was there. I feel wind caressing my skin.

'All of the windows are shut there can't be one open'.

I jolt as I feel a hand on my shoulder, I feel something close to my face.

'Say my name Marce, say it'.

It whispers in my ear, now eyes wide as saucers and jaw drop, heavy tears stream down my eyes.

'Say my name Marce, you need me, and I need you'.

I say nothing still in shock, the voice now is impatient and angry.

'Say my name Marce say it!!.

The presence forcefully pushes me to the ground. As I nearly hit the ground I jolt up and gasp, I look around to see Julia, Jesse and other people I don't know gather around me. I look at Julia to see a huge amount of worry on her face, Jesse's too.

Julia speaks first "Marce are you ok!? I heard something and I went to check and you were on the floor with your head bleeding and you weren't responding and I shouted for Jesse and he came and called 999, don't worry they'll be here soon!".

I slowly lift myself up and my head instantly hurts and pounding and fuzzy, I feel the back of my head and wince, I bring my hand down and see a bit of blood.

Jesse quickly comes to me "Woah be careful, the paramedics said they'll be here in a few minutes, I'll go and quickly find an ice pack you just stay with Julia" He rushes off.

Julia looks at the customers "Jesus christ people step back give her some room!".

We look to the door as it opens and we see two paramedics running to us, they look at me and start to ask questions. When they were answered the paramedics look at me "Ok we need to get you to the hospital can you stand?".

"I think so, I can try" Julia looks at me, "Ok slowly I'll help you up ok"

She lightly grabs my right arm and helps me slowly stand up, once I'm fully standing my vision starts to blur and the pain in the head grows more intense, I start to wobble. "Whoa Lina stay with us ok don't go to sleep". "I'm fine Anna" as soon as I finish my sentence everything goes dark and I hear talking but then it dies down as I fully pass out but I hear one more thing.

'Say my name'.

I open my eyes to a blinding white light, I open and close my eyes to help clear my vision, I look around and see that I'm in a hospital. I see the button to call the nurse and I press it.

A couple of minutes later a nurse comes in with a clipboard that has a piece of paper attached, the nurse has a pen in his pocket. "Hi I'm Logan I see you're awake now".

I nod, he gives me a smile "Ok first question how are you feeling?".

I think "I'm ok my, head hurts quite a bit and I feel a little bit fuzzy but nothing bad though" He nods as he writes something down on the paper.

"Ok well that's normal obviously, falling off a ladder and banging your head I think can cause a bit of a headache, we had to give you some stitches on the back of your head since it was still an open wound and we wiped the blood off".

I nod and he continues.

"Well I'm going to go and get you two paracetamols and a cup of water so that'll help, I'll get you a pack so you can take that home, remember two paracetamols every four hours. We're going to keep you for about twenty minutes just to make sure that you're fine, ok I'll be right back and also when you get back home take it easy for a few days".

He walks off and I sigh laying back in bed, about five minutes later Logan comes back in, along with my mum who rushes to me.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention we rang your mum" Logan says. I look at him with a small smile, he hands me two paracetamols and a cup of water, I take the painkillers "Thank you" He smiles back and leaves the room, my focus goes to my mum.

"Oh sweet pea are you ok? I just finished washing up when the phone rang and they said you were in the hospital and they explained everything to me and I rushed over here" She hugs me "Oh my god sweet pea I was so scared".

I hug her back with the same amount of love "I'm ok mum it's just a headache, Logan said to take some paracetamol and take it easy for a few days" Mum nods.

"Oh Jesse called me to tell you when you wake up you're going to have a week off" I pout, I love working there, but since the strange incident happened I feel a bit nervous going back.

'Oh it was just a silly hallucination dream thing, it wasn't real!

About fifteen minutes later my mum and I were talking about the gossip that happened today with the neighbours that mum heard when Logan came in with a bright smile "Ok miss Love you are free to go".

My mum and I smile at Logan and say thank you and he then leaves the room, mum looks at me with an eyebrow raised "You ready to go home watch some random stuff, get into pj's and get some junk food?".

My eyes light up and a wide smile appears on my face "Yes!".

"I'll be waiting outside and come out when you're ready" When I was ready I walked out of the room and see my mum talking to Logan and I see he gives her the pack of paracetamol, they smile at each other and he walks away, mum notices me and walks up and links my arm with hers "You ready to get out of here?".

"Oh definitely" I say with a groan at the end, we chuckle and walk out of the hospital to the car, we hop in and put our seat belts on, my mum starts the car and we're off to home.

When we arrive we walk in the house "Ok pj's on and then I'll get the snacks" We both make our way up the stairs to our rooms but not without seeing the picture on the wall with my mum, dad and I. Mum rubs my back.

"He will always be with us, spiritually, I know he looks over us from time to time, I can feel it which I know it sounds crazy but I can" She sniffles, I look at her and see that her eyes are a bit watery. I hug my mum from the side.

"I know mum, I can feel it too sometimes, you're not alone" She smiles at me and moves my hair behind my ear and strokes my cheek "And neither are you, you are and will never be alone" We look at the picture and smile then we make our way to our rooms, I go to my drawers and pick out my pj's.

I choose shorts and a tank top since it's summer and boiling and two mix matched trainer socks, once ready I look at my mirror, I look horrible, hair all over the place and my face looks horrible.

I go to the bathroom and wash my face feeling a bit cleaner, I decide to go for a shower tomorrow since I'm drained after today and I'll probably sweat tonight since it's so hot. I brushed a some parts of my hair, a bit cautious with brushing the back a little because of the stitches.

With my hair semi brushed I tie it in a low ponytail and make my way downstairs, I walk into the living room and see my mum in her pj's and placing the snacks on the table, she sees me and looks back to the table.

"So we've got, Sour cream and Onion Pringles, a bar of Aero, a bag of Bournville, chocolate chip and mint ice cream, a bag of Rolos, caramel Galaxy and to the drinks we have a nice small glass of Blossom Hill" She smiles at herself proud of her choices.

She sits on the sofa and grabs the TV remote "Ooo what should we watch?" I walk to the sofa and sit next to her, I think "Bridget Jones?" Mum smiles and put the movie on "Good choice kiddo".

After the movie finished which was at 11:16 which is good because we have to go to bed and lock our windows and doors and leaves the lights on and make sure we pray every night before twelve pm and wear our crosses before my mum cleaned up the living room we were about to go to our separate ways say goodnight but before that my mum says. "Remember the rules, pray every night, wear your cross, lock the doors and windows and leave the lights on".

"Don't worry mum I know the rules" My mum smiles "Goodnight sweet pea I'll see you in the morning" She kisses the top of my head then walks to her room, I walk to my room and lock the doors and windows, I have a lock in the back of the door so no one can come in, I do the rest of the room and turn my lamp on, I then sit on the bed, eyes closed and hands together and pray.

After that I put on the cross necklace that was on my bed side drawer, I get into bed and think about to what happened today, and that weird nightmare thing I dreamt about.

'It didn't

like a dream, it felt real in a way, ok I should stop thinking about this and go to sleep it's nearly 12'.

I shake my thoughts off and close my eyes and get comfortable, before I fully went to sleep there's a weird flicker and it seems dark, I open my eyes and see the lamps bulb went out so my room is dark.

My heart starts pounding. I go to find my door to call my mum, I find the

door and when I feel the lock, I move the lock to the side and open the door but I can't it isn't opening like it's stuck or something really heavy behind it but that's impossible, I try again, again, again and again and it isn't opening.

I pound on the door harshly shouting for my mum "Mum help please it's dark and I can't open the door please be awake mum!" After calling out multiple times for my mother, I know she can't hear me, I start to cry, I have no extra bulb.

An idea pops up in my head.

'My phone I can use that!'.

I go to find my bed side table and feel it, after a minute I feel my phone, my hands fumbling to pick it up, I turn my phone on and quickly turn my torch on, I place it back on the table and now I can vaguely see my room.

My crying stops, feeling a bit of relief knowing that there's a light. I slowly get back in bed and try to relax, after about 10 minutes I manage sleep.