Hell Found Me

It was the night of June 25th. It was a warm, summer night with the clearest sky. It seemed you could see just about every star in the universe. There was a light wind that was enough to blow leaves across the ground. It was the kind of night you wanted to last forever because it was so peaceful.

I was getting ready for bed. First, I changed into my pajamas and then I brushed my teeth. Then, when I was all ready, I went to my room. My bed was all neatly made up, I did not want to mess it up. Before I climbed in bed, I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water because I was thirsty. I got a cup and filled it with water. When I was done drinking, I put my glass in the sink and scurried back to my room.

I stopped by the living room to tell my parents good night. After that task was done, I went to my room. As I laid down, I realized I had forgotten to turn out my bedroom light. Annoyed that I had to get out of bed, I let out a sigh and turned out the light. As I was about to get back into bed, I heard a car door close from outside. I decided I would just take a quick look out the window to see who it was.

I walked with no hurry to the window and peered out. I saw a man walking towards our house from his car in the driveway. He was wearing all dark clothes and appeared to be pretty tall. The man hesitated before he began to walk faster towards the door. I was unable to see him after he made his way up the steps to the door.

Just about a second later, I heard the front door to our house get kicked open. My mother let out a scream as I ran to my bedroom door. There was a loud gunshot that seemed to echo in my ear. I tried to keep completely quiet. I ran to my bed and made it up to the best of my ability so the man would not think anyone was in my room. When the bed was made up, I fell to the ground and rolled over to escape into the safety under my bed.

There was another gunshot. I could hear my father putting up a fight. Grunts could be heard. I was praying that my dad would be okay. Then I heard a third gunshot followed by silence. My entire body was shaking. I could not seem to get the shaking to stop. Everytime I tried harder to get it to stop and it just seemed to make it worse. My mind was racing trying to decide what to do. Do I run out and try to fight or do I stay under my bed hoping he would not see me?

I heard footsteps outside in the hall and my sister's bedroom door opened. The bedroom light came on. At first there was silence, but then I heard my sister beg. "No. Please don't hurt me. I don't want to die." Her begging appeared to have no effect because her pleas were abruptly ended by another loud gunshot. I let out a little whimper when the shot was fired.

My sister's bedroom light was turned off and then I heard footsteps approach my room. The light switch was turned on and suddenly the room was illuminated. The man stood there for a few seconds. He walked over to my closet and peered in, obviously looking for anyone that might be hiding. My heart began to beat harder and faster. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer.

My prayer was interupted by a voice. "Come out wherever you are. I'm not going to hurt you." The man laughed quietly after saying that. He obviously knew I was not going to just come out, he was simply taunting me. I could tell he was getting more frustrated because he ran back to my closet and began tearing through it. I saw my chance.

While he was busy, I slid out from under the bed and ran out of my room. He turned around and fired a shot. Lucky for me, the bullet hit the wall next to me. My breathing was heavy and my heart beat so fast, I thought it was going to die. I reached the front door and quickly decided to try to find the most populated area. I chose to run south down the road towards downtown.

The man stepped out of my house and fired two more shots at me. One bullet hit me in the left arm. The adrenaline must have given me extra strength because I was able to continue running. I ran down the middle of the road, trying to find anyone that could help me. I could hear the booming sound of the gun firing again.

Up ahead, I saw the headlights of a car. I waved my hands in the air to get their attention. As the vehicle approached, I could see that it was a police officer. The officer stopped and got out of his car. He asked me, "Young man, what are you doing?"

I stood there breathing for a few seconds. I said, out of breath, "There's a man chasing me. He's trying to kill me." The officer looked around.

He said, "Did anyone else see this man?"

"Only my family. He came in our house and I don't know if my family is okay or not. He shot them all." Tears were pouring down my cheeks.

"Well, I will get you to the hospital and additional police will check on your family and find the guy that did this." That answer did not satisfy me. I knew in my heart that my whole family was gone. The police officer put me in the front seat of his car. As I sat there, holding my arm, I kept asking myself to wake up. This could not be real. This is the kind of thing that happens in the movies.

So, there I was sitting in a police car on my way to the hospital. Memories of my family replayed in my head. The tears seemed to be like little waterfalls on my face. I guess the police officer was trying to comfort me when he put his hand on my shoulder, but nothing could make this night better. It was the night of June 25th. That night, hell found me.