((Writer's Note: I just move this from chapter one. It's supposed to be together but shortened it. I am working to add more description to it.)))

"Zoey, Honey." I rubbed my eyes groggily as I woke up to the sound of my mum's voice.

"Mommy?" I said, my voice still laced with sleep as I looked up into my mum's eyes, it shocked me to see that she looked scared. She picked me up and carried me out of my bedroom.

I noticed that we were going through the secret hole in the wall placed strategically behind the closet in my parent's bedroom, a hole I found out a few years back which led straight to the attic. I never understood why we had the secret compartment. As soon as we got into the attic, my mum put me down on the blanket we used when we came up here to play.

"Now listen to me, honey. Mommy and daddy have some intruders. Daddy is trying to keep them out, but there are too many of them, so I am going back down to help. No matter what you hear, stay here. Do you understand mommy?"

As I nodded in reply, I said. "I'm scared Mum, please don't go stay with me." Just then we heard people yelling and screaming downstairs, and we simultaneously looked towards the entrance of the attic, our fearful expression mirroring each other. Eyes wide with fear at this moment, we were both terrified children of the monsters outside of the attic-

"I need to help your daddy." My mum said, her voice wobbling a bit. She looked around the small room of the attic and ran to the far end to grab a notebook lying on the floor. She came back and handed the book to me.

"This is a diary. My diary. I know you don't know how to read yet..." Her eyes fill up with unshed tears and they didn't leave her eyes, by an unseen will she keeps the tears in her eyes, she stares at me wide-eyed not crying waiting for something. She gulps, and like magic, some unshed tears leave her eyes. "But I know you will be smart enough to figure out how to read. When you're old enough, read my diary and everything I have put in here. When you do, you'll understand everything that's happening tonight..." The tears she kept at bay slide down her cheek. She leans towards me and gives me a kiss on the forehead. She stands up slowly about to leave when she turns towards me and said...

"And remember, stay here until the morning." With that, she left the attic...

The sun shining on my face woke me up. I sat up straight and look around me. I was all alone. I made my way out of the attic through the secret door and I'm surprised that my parents aren't in their bedroom...

I look for them all over the house, eventually; I go to the living room; I gasp in shock at the sight before me.

"Mom?" I whisper and made my way slowly towards her, she lay on the floor unmoving. The head so far to the side that looks unnatural. I shook her softly. "Mummy!" I shake again and she lay there unmoving. I walk towards my dad next. "Daddy... I need help." I whispered to him. But he was silent. Whereas my mom lay next to him like an angel, the only undisturbed thing about her has been her twisted neck. My dad was covered in blood and underneath him, there's a pool of blood under him.

I am startled by the loud cry of a child that has been sent down to hell. The cries continue getting louder and I could hear the child has been recently lonely, starved of warmth. I lay in my father's bloodied chest as I continue to cry, realizing the child that has been crying has been me. I am drowning in sorrow I have never felt before, yet a slight spark of strength grows within me and stays stronger every second.

What had she done to deserve this dejection? 

I'm not a child anymore, I grew up many years ago. Life turned into hell when mom and dad have been pried away from me. Every time I saw a cut flower I knew how it felt. It had no roots at all, nothing to anchor it to this world; yet was still expected to give its beauty, to flourish, and warm the hearts of others. No-one can see my vulnerability; they cannot see the roots I lack...