The Witness

No one in my family saw him coming. They were all content doing their own thing, under the same roof. Till came that knock on the door one rainy night. The stranger was looking for help. Something about his car messing up “I only need your phone for a moment to call for help” he’d said.

I peeked from behind Pops to see the stranger at the door, face to face with Pops. Then out of no where the thunder clapped, and the lightning flashed, almost as if in warning. Then the rain began to pour hard. The stranger had cowered back at the thunder and raised his hands up to the rain. 

I scampered off to get mom. She was in the kitchen preparing snacks for her and Pops. Mom shrieked and when she saw me and jumped. Guess I snuck up on her, she wasn’t expecting to see me just there all of a sudden. I wanted to get her attention without making any noise, and tell her she needed to check on Pops. 

But everything happened so fast. See, when mom squealed and dad was still at the door with the stranger talking; Pops heard mom from the kitchen and turned his head to look back. That’s the moment when the stranger attacked Pops and hit him on the back of the head with something heavy, sending Pops dropping to the floor. 

The stranger stepped over Pops and dropped his weapon next to Pops and continued into the house and headed straight to the sound of mom’s voice calling for dad. She was oblivious to what had just occurred. She was digging in the fridge when she hear footsteps behind her. 

“We’re out of pickles, love. You’ll just have to deal with…” she said this as she stood up straight with a jar of something in her hand to see that it wasn’t Pops behind her. Mom screamed as the jar slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor making a big mess. The man laughed at mom’s surprise and grabbed a knife from the block on a nearby counter and slashed Mom’s throat with it. She fell to the floor clutching her throat as the blood began to gush mixing with the liquid from the broken jar.

Sylvie was in her room, going thru her closet pulling out clothes and tossing them onto her bed. She was looking for something to wear as she had plans to go out with her friends for the night. When she heard mom scream, Sylvie didn’t think anything of it at first because Mom is always screaming about something happening on the t.v. Why should tonight be any different? 

But then she heard something else follow that scream that put her on guard. She heard a crash come from the living room and she quickly snapped off her radio and shut off her bedroom light. She hid in her closet under a pile of clothes. 

I wish I could have warned her while all this stuff was happening with Mom. To tell Sylvie to jump out the window and run for help, but there really was no time or chance for me to, unless the stranger saw me too.

 The stranger came to Sylvie’s room and kicked open the door and looked around the now silent dark room. ‘Just a typical teenage girl’s room‘ he must have thought. I hoped he would leave after finding her room empty, and wouldn’t bother to search.

The help finally came, but not for my family.

These 3 guys ransacked my home looking for stuff to take. I cried in my hiding place when they found Sylvie. She struggled with them and managed to kick one in the face and get free when she broke the window to climb out. 

She was almost there, when one of the strangers grabbed her by the ankles and began pulling her back in the room as the broken glass on the window sill embedded itself in her stomach and chest. The other guy got tired of watching and shot her in the back. She laid slumped over the window, her body half in half out of the house. That’s where they left her.

Little Benny wasn’t so lucky either. He had his headphones on so he heard nothing of what what going on in his home. He had been consumed in his video game. He lost his life twice.

I went to Mom and pried off her ring and went to hide it. She loved that ring Pop’s had gifted her on their wedding day. 

Now the strangers leave, stepping over Pop’s body lying in the front doorway like he’s some frumpled up bear rug. They leave the door wide open. 

A neighbor must have called the cops after hearing all the commotion. When the cops did arrive they came across all the mess and death the bad people left behind. They shook their heads sadly as one of the officers radioed for more help.

They found me cuddled up against Benny’s back. I had blood on me from my family, not sure who in particular, I had checked on all of them thinking maybe I could still save them if I could. But all I remember was that I was trembling and I couldn’t stop, my heart was racing with no way to slow its pace. How do I explain all this? 

They can’t understand me, for I have no voice. If they could find a way, I’d have lots to say. But, I’m only a mouse.