And there it was! The first day of spring this year. 20th of March, my birthday! I didn't have to go to school that day because a blizzard trailed it's way over our country. Leaving behind freezing cold rain and more than 40cm of snow. It was dangerous outside and my parents decided to spend my 12th birthday alone with me. We didn't want to let my friends struggle to come over when the weather was so bad.
So for the whole day I was just with my mum and my dad. It was great! They extra took a day off to make cake for me, we played games together and in the evening after dinner I opened my presents. And yes... I did get a plush teddy, but they only gave it to me because I lost my old one when we were moving to the new house, okay? Of course I didn't need it to sleep anymore since I was a grown up! But I was endlessly thankful for my teddy anyways.
After I unpacked all my presents we were watching a movie together until I went to bed. As so often my parents stayed downstairs, it was shortly after midnight and they started another movie. I had to sneak out of my room to watch along with them, how could I be tired from the amazing birthday I had before. I laid down on my favorite spot in the hallway and waited for the show to start!
But then, just when it was about to start... electricity outage. The whole house went dark and then, in the middle of the night, someone was knocking at the door to our garden. I didn't see anything but I was scared. My dad followed the sound and stood in the middle of the panorama wall.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my garden?"
The person replied something but I couldn't hear. I was too far away and the glass was too thick. I looked down to ask my mom.
"Mom, who is that?"
She turned around, not aware that I was still awake and said with soft voice.
"Go back to bed, honey! It's nothing."
Just after she finished her sentence my dad opened the door a little bit and the stranger was able to talk.
"Let me stay the night here, it's freezing outside."
My dad answered quick.
"No, I'm sorry, all rooms are occupied, we don't have space for another perso-"
And then... I heard a shot. My mum screamed like never before, running towards the kitchen and searching the drawers for something to defend herself. Someone fell on the floor and then the words:
"I don't accept a, "No"
The stranger, running after my mum and... a second shot... silence. I was scared and covered my mouth to remain quiet while crying. Hiding behind the railways and I hugged my teddy tighter. Then suddenly, the person opened all the drawers, looking for something valuable. After some time the robber searched the shelves in the fridge. I couldn't see who it was but out of nowhere, click, all the lights were on. The electricity came back. I looked downstairs and saw both my parents covered in blood. Laying on the floor. Not moving...
The person at the fridge with a gun was covered in thick clothes. I was unable to see who it was but then, sirens, the police stopped in front of our house. The stranger got startled, dropped the gun, turned around to run away and there I saw it. This disgusting face... that still haunts me in my dreams sometimes. That was the only time I've seen it and it burned into my head like nothing else in this world.
The house was empty again. Only me. I slowly went downstairs. My body was shaking, my eyes full of tears. I went to my mum, dropped my teddy... and collapsed.
FI was crying my heart out, my hands were hitting the wooden structured floor until they started to bleed. I sat there the whole night. I cried like never before, I don't know how long, but when the sun showed up in the sky again, shining into my face, I opened my eyes.
I was covered in my own blood from wiping my tI ears away. My hands hurt so much and then I saw it. The gun in the kitchen, still laying there. I stood up, my legs were weak and walked up to it. I thought of everything again that happened in the night... the shots, the screaming, even the police. I thought they were coming to save me but they just stopped because the storm caused a tree to fall on the road. I survived because of them... but at what cost?
While being lost in the clouds, I suddenly caught a sound of knocking at the house door.