The noise upstairs... Love Kailey

Ok. Before I tell you what happened next, let me explain something. Although we did hear the noise upstairs, we weren't scared. At first. We heard the noise once and we just continued talking and laughing. Quietly, of course. Then Rikki heard the noise again. "Wait," She said. "I hear it again." She slowly shuffled forward. We all jumped about a foot in the air when we heard it a third time. Rikki took a torch off the side of the wall and held it in the air, ready to hit anything that tried to come into the room.

Suddenly, our mother whispered to us to get under the bed, and fast. Rikki gave our father the torch and slid under the bed first. Then Hailey went under. Next Bailey, then me, then Alex, and finally Carter. Carter's foot slid under the bed a split second before the door slammed open. Luckily dad had put the torch back already. Rikki, being closest to the door, snuck glances at the door. "MON." She whispered to Hailey.

"Oh no." Hailey cried silently. Two tears dribbled down her cheeks. "He's going to take us away from them. Right when we got here. Just our luck." She shook her head softly.

"No, he's not." She slammed her hand on the ground. She winced.

A little too loud, a little to hard. But even a little action that's out of line like that will tear you down.

MON turned to face the bed and slowly walked towards us. We all stiffened our muscles, ready to pounce. I thought about how I must be feeling how a bird feels when it breaks a bone, and a cat comes for dinner. Weak, flightless, unable to run. We were the birds, and MON was the cat. Destined to kill.

MON reached the bed and began to lift the blanket that was hiding us all. Rikki would be seen first, and she knew this. I watched her eyes grow big, and I wanted to help her. I just couldn't figure out how. What would Hailey do? I thought to myself. Think Kailey, think. Then, I had an idea.

"Rikki," I said. "Let him catch you." I whispered, hoping she would catch on. At first, she gave me a look that said I was crazy, but slowly, my idea began to dawn on her. She nodded.

MON's hand reached under the bed and pulled her out from under the bed by her ankle. I heard a snap, and a scream. The snap was from Rikki's ankle, and the scream was my mother. I saw Rikki, laying on the carpet, holding her ankle. Blood trickled from her wound. Great, I thought. Another injury. Next MON pulled Hailey out by her fingers and popped each one. Then he grabbed Bailey by her hair and ripped a whole chunk out. Bailey scratched his face with her unclipped, dirty nails. Blood pooled on the carpet from the scratch. Bailey looked satisfied. He next pulled me out by my clothes. I screamed as my shirt ripped and I was left with a shredded shirt and a dirty white tank top. MON pulled Alex out by her shoulders. Alex's right shoulder popped in and out of her socket. Carter was pulled out by her ears. When she came out, screaming, she by far had the worst injury. Blood streamed steadily from her scratched and bloody ears. She was too shocked to cry.

We all looked like a group of crushed, beaten, weak bugs. MON towered above us. "Tsk tsk tsk." He said to our parents. "Look what you have done to your poor little girls." He waved a hand at us and Rikki started to growl, low and steady, as if she was imagining the best way to kill the man that had caused us so much trouble.

"You will pay for this." Rikki said through clenched teeth. She was trying not to scream. I could tell. She was keeping her temper down for me. She glanced my way. Her expression asked me when. Now, I mouthed to her.

"You know what Rikki? I've always wondered why MON and Nanny McFiggins always have so much trouble just keeping us together." I looked at her, waiting for a response.

"Me too," Rikki looked at me with a sly grin. "I think that we are just too smart for them. We've beaten them at everything they've thrown at us." She was nudging me to go on.

"I think we are too. You know, I bet we'll beat them at this too." I grinned in MON's direction. He looked at me and I promise I saw him twitch.

"You think you're better than Nanny McFiggins? Better than me?" MON growled. Just the reaction I had hoped for.

"Oh yes," I taunted. "All of us combined could beat you and Nanny McFiggins combined! Oh and put our parents in there, we could take on the world!" A small exaggeration, considering the position we were in, but I found it necessary to exaggerate as much as I needed.

"Oh really? So if I were to just pluck, oh I don't know, you and Rikki, would you still feel confident?" He came up to me and Rikki, picked us up, and dragged us towards the door. "The rest of you, continue with what you were doing." With that, he slammed the door shut and took us to a cellar.

It was not the ending I had expected.