The Text

Her stone cold glare could freeze Hell. My mother sat across from me in a drab grey dining room at a white kitchen table. Her grey wool dress looked even more dull in the flickering chandelier above our heads. Her grey hair was in a bun so tight that it must have been the source of her tension. It felt as if I was in an interrogation for a crime that I didn't commit. My simple black sweater dress felt uncomfortable as I ran my hand through my long brown hair. Unfortunately dinner was a salad and chicken soup.

"Have you considered your options for your future yet?" She asked with a mean smirk. "Surely, you must know by now." Rolling my brown eyes, I glared into her ice blue eyes.

"Why should I tell you?" I retorted coolly. "You just want me to be just like you?" Before she could reply with another one of her stony responses, the phone rang. With a huff, she threw her brown napkin onto the table. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor as she pulled it out.

"We are not done young lady." She stated coldly as she left the room. My phone dinged as it was a text from Adam. Quietly I opened it up to reveal a link to a site. My ears strained to hear if she was still on the phone. My heart leaped with joy as it was. Calmly I opened the link. My face froze with terror as I realized something. It was a picture of me on a missing children's poster. Truth be told I honestly don't remember anything before I was six anyway.

"That was just work." She sighed as she sat back down. "I need to go into work tonight. Do you think I can leave you alone tonight?" My face relaxed into a weak smile as cleared my throat.

"When have I ever been a bad daughter?" I joked as I nearly choked on the heavy words that just came out of my mouth. Her mouth twisted into a creepy smile as she stood up to leave. Within a few moments she was at the door holding her black briefcase.

"Behave and I will be back by midnight." She ordered as she kissed my forehead. Nodding, I hugged her good-bye as usual. Granted it was always the coldest hugs. Finally her heels clicked out of the house.

Ten minutes passed until I ran upstairs to my red and black bedroom. The grey duffel bag was sitting on my soft black chair just waiting for me to fill it. I pulled out my cellphone to text Adam to come pick me up in fifteen minutes. In a flurry of motion, I tossed all of my clothes into the bag. Rushing to the door, my face filled with horror it was locked. I tried the nearby window and to my dismay it was locked too.

"Open the door, Lucy!" Adam called from the other side of the door. "Let me in!" The panic was ripe in his deep voice. Anxiety was burning in my veins as I banged on the door to no avail.

"You will never escape me." My mother's icy voice rang throughout the white Victorian mansion. "You belong to me." My heart started racing faster as my blood boiled over.

"Like hell I belong to you." I shouted hotly. "I will get out of here." Adam banged on the other side of the black door. An idea ran through my head as the kitchen door ran into my mind. It was the back door, so it just might work. My heart stopped beating as my hand twisted the crystal knob. To my joy, the knob twisted to open the door to my sweet freedom.

What surrounded was a metal cage. It's cold metal bars surrounded me suffocating me. The warm summer air blew past me as she slammed the door behind me.

She walked back and forth in front of the cage with her hands tucked behind her back. My lungs burned as an anxiety attack was taking hold.

"I told you are mine." She bragged with a wave of her hand. "If you must know your real parents are six feet under feeding the maggots." Her face twisted into a horrifyingly creepy grin as she pulled out a short black gun.

"Why did you take me?" I inquired with a nervous gulp of air. "You could have just left me." My brows furrowed as she chuckled to herself.

"Honestly, I just wanted to be a mother to see what it was like." She explained sarcastically. "Turns out I hated it. I can't feel love. It is the strangest thing. Your life is about to change." Her eyes were nearly black with evil as she raised the gun to my chest. The ice cold metal pressed against the skin over my heart. Cold sweat started to run over my face as she pulled the trigger back.

Sirens caused her to spin around and cuss. Blue and red lights flooded the backyard as the officers yelled for her to come out with her hands up. Shakily the gun was held at my chest again. My body shivered with fear as the trigger clicked. A scream escaped my mouth as a bullet entered my leg. The bone shattered spreading acute pain through my body. Wet hot blood dripped down my leg as she looked even angrier. My body crumpled into a pile of skin and bones. Tears welled up in my eyes as I tried to fight it.

"I will kill you this time." She threatened with a growl. "Prepare to d-" Officers flooded into the yard throwing her to the hard cold ground as they opened the bloody cage. The night sky blurred above me as blackness swallowed me whole.

White light flooded my vision as my eyes fluttered opened to reveal a white sterile hospital room. Adam was sitting next to me playing on his cellphone. He had on a white hoodie and dark jeans. His black hair hung around his shoulders.

"Thank you for the text message." I wheezed. "I would never have found out. What became of her?" A large smile lit up his face as he embraced me tightly. His green eyes were glistening excitedly.

"You are welcome." He replied softly. "She is being questioned now. Can I sign your cast?" Laughing to myself, I nodded my head as a nurse walked in.

"You have a couple of more guests." She asked with a sheepish smile. "Would you like to see them?" Before I could answer two adults burst into the room. The woman looked like an older version of me and the guy had short brown hair with chocolate brown eyes.

"We are your real parents!" They shouted out excitedly. "I am Susie Smith and this is James Smith. We missed you so much." She ran over and hugged me. The warmth made me remember the same feeling when I was six years old. Hot salty tears fell down my face as her face was wet with tears.

"When can we go home?" I inquired with a sad smile. James chuckled to himself as he was at my side in a sprint.

"Soon as you get better." He answered cheerfully. For the first time in my life I felt safe.