Chapter 4 - The Empty House
I forced myself out of the passenger seat, ignoring the screaming, sharp pain radiating through my broken ribs.
My sister told me to stay back in the car, but I absolutely refused to leave my oldest daughter inside with that evil woman.
We stepped quietly through the open doorway and entered the pitch-black, silent living room.
The heavy silence in the house felt suffocating, like the thick air right before a terrible thunderstorm rolls in.
"Mia?" I called out softly into the darkness, praying to hear her teenage voice call back.
There was no answer at all, only the faint, rhythmic ticking of the antique grandfather clock in the main hallway.
Suddenly, a harsh, blinding beam of white light hit my face, forcing me to shield my eyes.
"She is not here anymore," my mother-in-law's raspy, cigarette-stained voice echoed from the top of the wooden stairs.
I squinted through the intense glare and saw her holding a heavy metal flashlight in her right hand.
In her left hand, she tightly held the thick leather leash of my husband's vicious, massive guard dog.
"Where is my baby girl?" I screamed, taking a desperate step forward despite the danger.
The massive dog growled fiercely, bearing its sharp teeth and pulling aggressively against the heavy strap.
"She went for a little nighttime ride with some of my son's special business associates," my mother-in-law sneered wickedly.
"They are going to keep her nice and safe in a secure location until you hand over that little cracked phone."
My damaged heart practically stopped beating inside my chest as the horrific truth sank in.
They had actually hired criminals to kidnap my sixteen-year-old daughter from her own bedroom.
My sister bravely held up her empty hands, trying to negotiate with the psychotic woman on the stairs.
"I already sent the video to the authorities, so keeping Mia hostage will not save your son," she lied smoothly and confidently.
My mother-in-law laughed that exact same wicked, grating laugh from the recorded video.
"If you really sent it, the state troopers would already have this house surrounded," she mocked us.
Just as she spoke those words, the distinct, toxic smell of cheap gasoline drifted heavily into the living room from the backyard.
A bright orange glow suddenly erupted through the kitchen window, intensely illuminating the entire house.
May you like
The wooden shed where I had been tortured was now completely engulfed in roaring, massive flames.
And I could distinctly hear someone screaming for their life from inside it.
