Brooke bounded down the steps and hopped off the school bus amidst a pack of kids spilling out onto the sidewalk into a neighborhood with well-tended lawns and manicured landscaping, where Pottery Barn delivery trucks weren't uncommon.
"Brooke! Brookie!" A teenage girl leaned out of the bus window. "Brookie!"
"What?" Brooke turned, adjusting the backpack strap on her shoulder.
"Wanna meet up at the park?"
"I got dance."
"That sucks."
Brooke shrugged and then started down the sidewalk, her Chucks scuffing the pavement. Her blonde hair waved behind her like a flag, her pretty face pink from the exertion and the vitality of being a teenage girl.
She accelerated her pace toward her destination. She was on a mission. She needed food. Her thirteen-year-old body burned calories like a furnace.
At the front door, she shoved her keys into the lock and then pushed open the door, dropping her heavy backpack on the entryway floor.
She burst into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge, her eyes scanning, her stomach growling. She yanked open the pantry door and grabbed a protein bar. She ripped open the wrapper with her teeth and shoved the sticky bar into her mouth. Back to the fridge.
Where are you, leftover mac and cheese?
A noise from the living room drew her attention.
She jogged into the living room where she noticed her backpack lying on its side, her notebook open on the floor. She leaned to her left for a better view of the entryway and then straightened when she saw the front door ajar.
She pivoted to retreat and the last thing she saw was the blur of a man.
YOU ARE READING
The Face Behind The Mask
Mystery / ThrillerA young mother discovers that the long-lost high school classmate who contacted her on Facebook has been using a false identity with sinister intentions. And worse, her posts and profile have given him everything he needs to locate her family.
