Hide and Seek

New faces and Night terrors

It's been a good couple months since this all started, I haven't went back to school, or even too town. Daddy says I have to stay on the farm, and I can't wander too far. Those things, like what Mr.Nelson was, sometimes come onto our property. When they do, I'm told to go inside with Beth until they get rid of em. Otis and Patricia live here now, they were our neighbors, and so does Jimmy. Mama never came back home, she went to do chores one day and I haven't seen her since. No one will talk to me about her, they say 'she's fine, go play'. I don't think she's fine. It was a super hot day today, so after lunch I sat outside in the shade playing with my dolls, I looked at Tilly, my bunny doll. 'I'm bored, let's go for a swim in the stock tank! I picked her up and ran to the pasture the cows are in, I looked around to see if any monsters were near, and darted over too the tank. I pulled off my dress and laid Tilly on it and jumped in. It felt amazing, I must of swam for a long time because I suddenly heard Maggie shouting my name, uh oh. I quickly climbed out of the tank and pulled my dress and boots back on and ran towards the house, I knew I was in trouble the minute I saw the look on her face. 'WHERE HAVE TO BEEN?! I've been scared to death looking all over for you. 'I went swimming, I was hot, I said with a shaky voice. 'You know better than to cross over into the pastures! We give you simple rules and you go and break them anyways! I looked down at my shoes. 'Go to your room, now!'. I ran inside the house and up the stairs, Maggie has never yelled at me. I sat watching out the window, watching the birds flying in the sky. If only that could be me, than I could go wherever, and get away from all the monsters. Just than I heard a horrible scream from downstairs, and it kept going and didn't stop, I rushed under my bed with Tilly and after a while the screams were silenced. I was terrified, what if my family is gone, I'm the only one left, under my bed. I laid there, crying to myself, and eventually fell asleep.

Maggie's POV
I was terrified, Macy wasn't under the tree playing anymore, we had a child in the house with a bullet wound, and another child no where to be found. I called her name over and over again. 'I'll go tell daddy we can't find her' Beth said. 'NO! He needs to help the little boy, telling him Macy is missing will stress him out, she's smart, she wouldn't of gone too far.' I kept calling her name, getting more frantic, than I saw a tiny little dripping wet 6 year old running towards me, If I wasn't so upset I'd be laughing for sure. 'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, I've been scared to death looking all over for you! Oh I felt horrible already, I've never yelled at either of my baby sisters, but this world is cruel now, she has to learn, she explained to me in her tiny voice where she was, but no excuses, she knows better than to wander into the pastures, especially unsupervised. 'Go to your room now!' She ran towards the house, as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. 'Okay, one less thing to worry about right now' I said to myself. I went back inside to the child screaming, after he went silent, daddy instructed me to go get the boys mother, and direct the group to where the farm was. I got back a little later that evening, as I was getting off my horse I mentally scolded myself, I didn't tell Macy about Carl, she would of heard that screaming and been terrified. I ran up to her room and when I didn't see her I knew exactly where she was. I bent down and lifted up her bed skirt and there she was, like a little angel, curled up in a ball under her bed, clinging to Tilly. 'Come here Mace, I'm sorry sweet girl'. I pulled her out from under the bed and cradled her in my arms, she was still so small, so fragile. I went into the bathroom and ran a bath for her, got her cleaned up and into pajamas, she was still barely awake. It was cooling off outside so I wrapped her in a light blanket and sat on the rocking chair on the front porch, rocking her and humming sweet tunes. Two men walked onto the porch, questioning wether they should walk in or knock. The dark haired one finally noticed me sitting in the chair, so I got up and approached him. 'You shut the gate?' I asked. 'Yea, and locked it, im Glenn, and this is T-dog. She yours?' He asked, nodding down to Macy. 'No, my little sister, you bit?' I asked the other guy. 'No, cut myself pretty good though'. I'll take you into my dad, he'll get you stitched up.' We walked inside and I showed them where my dad was. 'Put her to bed, I need your help down here.' Dad said. I carried Macy up to my room, not wanting her alone tonight, and tucked her into my bed. 'Maggie, I heard a groggy little voice ask.' 'Yes sweetie?' 'What was that screaming?' 'It was a little boy, older than you, he got shot, daddy was trying to get the bullet out, you don't worry about it, okay? He will be alright, you need to sleep.' 'Will you come back in a little bit?' Macy asked. 'Of course, I just have to go help out a bit, go back to sleep and I'll be back even quicker.' I gave her a kiss on head and she was already out again. I slowly crept back to the door and left it open a crack before heading back downstairs. The house had finally settled down and I was reading a book waiting for Otis and Shane to get back when I heard Macy screaming. I bolted up stairs as fast as I could, telling daddy and Beth to just wait downstairs, I flung open the door and ran to the bed, Macy was thrashing around in her sleep and drenched in sweat. 'Macy, hunny wake up, it's okay, wake up it's just a nightmare, come on, you are at home and safe.' She finally woke up, the minute she saw me she started bawling and reached for me, I picked her up and hugged her, poor thing even wet the bed, it was becoming normal now. 'I saw you and daddy and Bethy as monsters, and you guys were trying to get me, and I couldn't get away, and...and' 'shhhhh, it's okay, we aren't monsters, and we aren't going to get you, okay.' ' how about we take a warm bath, get you cleaned up, in fresh pajamas and than I'll lay with you.' I started the bath and Beth came up to put new sheets on the bed. I put Macy in a pull-up, just in case, and went and laid with her. I held her close as she shook and softly cried, all I could do was whisper calming thoughts to her. She finally fell back asleep and as I lay there, listening to her soft breathing and little sad hiccups, I swore to keep my promise to protect her, to make sure nothing hurt her, even if it meant giving up my life. These kids are the future, and if they don't survive, we have nothing.