"Aunt Jo! Wake up! Wake up!" A squeaky voice yelled. I slowly open my eyes and see a young girl with blonde hair and big blue eyes jumping with excitement. I look over at my clock and, it is 6:00 AM. How can children have so much energy at six in the morning, especially on a Saturday? I groan and pull the blanket over my face expecting Ana to leave but, oh how wrong I was. "Come on! Aunt Jo, wake up! It is my birthday!" Ana screeched. Crap! I jump out of my bed and pick Ana up and walk to the kitchen. "Aunt Jo, did you forget about my birthday?" Ana questioned.
"Of course, I didn't. You know what we will go to the big park later and play there for the entire day. How does that sound?" Ana nodded and smiled. I put her down in her favourite chair in the kitchen and began to make some of my famous pancakes. Ana took out her iPad and started watching some toy reviews. I look over at her and smile she looks adorable when she is beaming with happiness. When the pancakes are all done, I sit down across from Ana and pour some chocolate syrup for her as she puts her iPad away. We start eating as I drift off into thought. I begin to consider how Ana might feel about celebrating her birthday without her family. Maybe she doesn't remember them I mean she is four now perhaps she doesn't remember her family but, I wouldn't know.
"Aunt Jo, I am all done!" I snap back into reality.
"Ok, Ana. Now go wash up I will be coming." I instructed. Just like that, Ana skips away and goes into the bathroom and now: I am all alone with my thoughts. I sit down alone and silently eat my breakfast.
After I finish my breakfast, I go to wash up and get ready to go to the park with Ana.
As I step out of the bathroom, I hear someone screeching behind me, I slowly turn around and freeze. I see a girl with long brown hair and hazel eyes she is pale and, her face is round: she almost looks like me but more sinister. I close my eyes and count to ten and, when I opened my eyes: she was gone without a trace. My heart pounds in my chest and my body begins to tremble out of fear.
Suddenly, I remembered. Where was Ana? I rush into the living room to find, Ana sitting on the couch playing with her dolls. I sigh out of relief and go to my room to change.
A few minutes later, I finish changing and, I go to the living room and, Ana is still there: I feel at ease as I motion her to put her shoes on. "What took you so long, mister!" Ana lectures. I look over at her and smile, "I was picking out a pretty outfit. It is your birthday, after all." Ana smiles and jumps up and down. I open the door and lock it as Ana runs to the elevator. I catch up with her as she steps into the lift. "Ana, don't wander into the lift without me." I firmly say Ana looks at me and nods silently. We reach the basement and, we walk to the car and open the door and help her in. I quickly strap her into her booster seat.
About 15 minutes later, we reach the park. I get out of my seat and help Ana out. She immediately runs into the park and, I chase after her. Goodness, she is excited. I jog into the playground and, stop to catch my breath. I look around but; I can't find, Ana. Where did she go?
I frantically run around the park looking for her but, she isn't anywhere in sight. Panic begins to grow as I think about all the possibilities. She could be hurt, lost, someone could have taken her or, maybe she ran onto the road. The more I thought about, the more worried I became. I tried to calm myself but, all I could think about was Ana getting hurt.
An hour had passed and, I didn't find Ana. I even asked random strangers but: no one saw her. I concluded that there was nothing I could do, so I decided to call the police. I explained everything to them and, they started to look for her but, they couldn't find her.
A whole day had passed but nothing. The police encouraged me to go home and, they assured me they would find her. As much as I wanted to look for her, I knew resisting them would be pointless so, I listened to them and headed home.
When I reached I headed for my room and, I crashed onto my bed and slept the second, my head hit the pillow. I think it had been an hour or two and I started to hear the screeching again. I jolted awake and looked around my room but, I saw nothing. I thought it was just my imagination so, I decided to head back to bed. I started hearing shuffling coming from the hallway. I couldn't go back to sleep I was scared but, I knew I shouldn't leave my bed so, I just laid there hoping the noises would go away but, they didn't. They just grew louder and louder.
Suddenly, I heard a crash coming from my closet I sat up and, looked over and saw a figure standing there smiling at me. It was the girl from the bathroom. My heart started to pound in my chest and, my breath quickened as the figure walked closer to me.
All of a sudden, the figure ran towards me screeching. My heart dropped and, I stopped breathing. I passed out as I felt everything in my body shut down. I let out a breath and laid there very still until the sun rose.