Everything happens for a reason...

Aaron's P.O.V-

I knock on the glass door softly, waiting for her to answer. I know exactly who she is. And I need to get her out of the way to fulfill my mission. The very mission I've been planning for five years.

Five years of sitting behind the iron bars, planning. Very thorough planning. I was always so good at planning, even as a boy. Planning escapes from the doctor, who I visited often. She was always so nice, but what confused me, is that she never once gave me a physical. We just talked. And she took notes.

The door is finally opened. "Hel-" I wrap my arm around her mouth, cutting off her question. It helps to muffle the scream as well. Takes all of ten seconds for the girl to come looking for her nanny.

Her eyes go wide when she sees me and tries to scramble away. I watch her slip on the hard floor. Smiling, I wrap my arms around her neck. The child's eyes go wide as she hears the sickening crack.

Without a word, I drag the lifeless body through the house. Opening the first closet I can find, I set the body inside, making no real effort to cover up what I have done.

The girl's footsteps might seem soft, but I hear them moving through the house. It takes only five steps before I've found her.

"Boo," I whisper.

"Daddy! Help!" She screams. Slightly rolling my eyes, I smirk, grabbing her. She fights against me, small feet slamming into my ribcage. Stronger than I thought.

Regardless of her fidgeting, I'm able to slink my hands around her and ever so slightly twist. The gentle cracking of her back satisfies me.

Of course, she's not dead. Unconscious, but that's as close as I can get.

For now.

Sam's P.O.V-

"Maysey!" I call, stepping out of the car. There's no response. My shift ran overtime today, and I was late again. The time on my watch reads 5:37. I sigh. I knew I would be late tonight, but I didn't think I'd be this late.

Maybe she's eating inside with the nanny.

"Maysey Grace!" I call, louder than before. Still no response. Sighing, I close the car door and wander to the backyard. The green grass is littered with hula hoops, frisbees, and other toys that seven-year-olds enjoy. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Only that Maysey isn't out here.

The sliding door is closed, which suggests that they could be on a walk, or at the park. The door stays open when we're inside. I grasp the handle, pulling the door open.

It's not locked.

Maria, our nanny, knows that when she leaves she needs to lock the door... Looks like I'll have to remind her. As soon as I step inside, something feels- off.

Three stray crackers lay sacked on the table. Maysey never leaves food behind... She would've taken it with her. Maybe something happened to her.

No.

I'm overthinking this. They just went for a walk and she got distracted. That's all.

Just to be sure, I walk up to Maysey's room. Her fish, Rover (She wanted a dog), swims around mindlessly in his bowl. Darting through the fake plants. Clothes are strewn on the floor, making it near impossible to cross the room without stepping on them.

But still, everything looks fine. I guess I can make dinner while I wait... Wandering over to the closet, I shrug off my jacket and open the door.

Odd. I think to myself. Maysey always takes her jacket, she hates cold weather. Sliding the pink jacket aside for mine, something catches my eye.

Someone.

"Maria!" I exclaim, pull the still body out of the closet. The body is completely still, no air is coming from her mouth and her chest is neither rising or falling. It takes a second for it to click.

It being that Maria is dead. Dropping the body, I start to back up. Another ten seconds go by before I realize. Maysey.

"MAYSEY!" I scream, putting my coat back on. I know who has her... I've feared this day since Maysey first came to me.

She was a terrified three-year-old, who had just been taken away from her father. Her mother gone before she could remember, and living at a Foster Center for three months. She was so scared of me at first. Closed off, quiet. It took a whole year for her to open up.

Taking in a slow breath, I run towards the sliding door. Before I can get outside, a noise stops me.

Aaron's P.O.V-

"Shh, child," I instruct the screaming girl, "No one can hear you here." I look around the ghostly abandoned basement. No one has bothered to come down here for months- years.

It's the perfect place to hide something. Or someone. Take your pick.

Frowning at me, the girl shuts her mouth. Finally. I rummage through the old basement, looking for something to please the child, maybe keep her quiet. But she's seven, not three. She's not a baby, she's smart.

And she knows she shouldn't be here.

My hands finally find an old stuffed pink- dog? It's beaten up, and missing an eye, which seems to be replaced by a shirt button. Walking back to the girl, I offer up the dog.

She turns it away, shuffling to face the other direction. Fine. I throw the dog to the ground near her and pick up the beat up phone.

It's time.

Quietly pressing in the numbers I so carefully memorized, I wait for the answer.

"What do you want you-"

"No," I snap, "Silence," The line falls quiet. "I just wanted to let you know that she's safe."

"If you touch Maysey-"

"Shh. I'm only keeping her here for two hours," A giddy feeling washes over me upon hearing the sigh of relief. "Of course, I'll kill her after that. I just want to- talk to her. Tell her all about her father."

"You are not her father-" I rip the phone from the wall, destroying the chance of ever reaching me again. Tossing the now broken piece of trash on the ground, I walk back over to the wide-eyed child.

"Daddy," She whispers, slowly picking up the dog.

"That's right. That's me."

"No. He is. You're not."

Frowning, I respond, "But I gave you such a nice present." I see her finger the dog, one hand closing around its neck. Seconds later, the head is ripped off using a familiar motion. The way to break someone's neck. I forgot she saw that.

"Not nice." The pink dog, now oozing fluffy stuffing, lands at my feet.

"It was nice, you ungrateful brat... Now, how about a story?"

She turns away from me. "About?"

"Me."

Sam's P.O.V-

I slam the phone back onto the holder. It bobbles, nearly falling to the ground. I'm going to find her. The hollow knocking of the door snaps me out of my anger-pained state.

"Sam, it's Captain Davis."

"It's open," I call, my voice angry. The door rattles open and Davis comes in with a fear-induced silence. He saw the body. "We need to find her. Now."

"I know..." The phone is still teetering slightly. "Did you get a call?"

"From him. Two hours. We're finding her now." With that, I walk out of the house. Everything I've said in the last ten minutes has come out as more of a low growling noise. Something you'd expect to hear from a bear. And in the given situation, I wouldn't mind being a bear.

One hour later, and I'm pacing around the office. The tech guy, whatever his name is, has been searching for the last forty-five minutes. Checking every Traffic Camera, asking around. But nobody's seen her.

"Does she have any phone or anything we could use to track her?"

"No," I answer for the thirty-fifth time. "She's seven, she doesn't have a phone." But as soon as she's back I'm getting her one... Or putting a tracker in her neck... Or something along those lines.

I only have an hour to get her. And for all I know, she could be twenty miles out of the city. Or she could already be gone.

No.

No, Aaron took her. That man may be a psychopath, but he's not a liar. I have one hour left, and I will find her in that one hour. And I'll get her out of there, get her safe.

Because I have to.

"Detective," My head turns slowly to the source of the noise. "We have a lead."

Sam's P.O.V

"We picked her up on a security cam heading out of the city in..." He looks around. "That vehicle. We couldn't actually tell if it was her," Officer Tenley explains as we huddle outside of a shabby, rundown house. The yard is scattered with leaves, creating a horrible contrast against the dead grass.

"Well, then I guess we'll be saving some other little girl." Except, it can't be some other little girl. It needs to be my little girl.

The squad moves quickly to the door, Captain Davis at the front. Even though I'm positive he's not going to answer the door, if it's even him, but Davis knocks anyway. "CCPD, open up. After two minutes of dead silence, not even a bump inside the house, Davis kicks the door.

It creaks open, creating somewhat of a horror movie scene. Regardless of what could lie beyond the door, we enter. It's dark inside. For some odd reason, I was expecting blinding sunlight to hit me. But it doesn't. Only silent darkness.

Of course, being police officers, we do the smart thing and split up. Tenley takes the kitchen, two others take the rest of the upstairs, Davis and Carlston take the upstairs. I volunteer to take the basement, which is usually drawing the short stick, but I know that's where he'd keep her.

The way I'm so convinced that Maysey is her is almost humorous. But I know for a fact that if I see him, something's going to go down.

Another door is at the top of the stairs. When I grasp the handle, I can see my fingers are pearly white. Releasing the tension in them, they feel stiff, almost like cardboard.

That'll go nicely with the glue in my throat.

There he is. The gun pointed at her head. Maysey doesn't cry out. No movement, no tears. She just stares right at the muzzle of the gun, almost daring him to shoot her.

"Aaron, listen," He turns to me, eyes wide in madness. "You don't have to do this. Why are you even doing this?"

"Because. She was afraid of me. She's always hated me. And she deserves it."

"Of course, she hated you!" I shout against my will, "You're a murderer!"

"CCPD hands in the air!" No! I clench my teeth as the officers close in on them. Shaking my head, I beg.

"Please don't. Please."

"Hands in the air!" His finger rests on the trigger. Maysey's expression hasn't changed, still the same concrete-like face.

"I said hands in the air!" Captain shouts at him. He then makes the biggest mistake of his life. Captain Davis pokes Aaron with the gun.

You can see the anger in his face as it shifts from crazy-eyed to bright red. Without taking his eyes off of my daughter, he spins around, shooting Davis right in between the eyes.

The riot breaks out, the squad shooting at Aaron, who somehow manages to deflect them all.

I turn to look at Davis for just one second, but that's when I hear it.

One gunshot against many. Yet it rings clearer than any of the others. The sound ricochets off the walls as I turn around. Maysey's eyes glaze over as she slumps to the ground.

"No!" She lays still on the ground, a small trickle of crimson trailing down her forehead. I swallow the lump in my throat, a choking feeling taking over.

My knees start to give out. And that's when the room goes dark.

Sam's P.O.V-

Two months. It's been two months since the sound of that bullet echoed around the world. My world, at least. In the end, I thought everything would be okay. After a while, of course. But nothing's okay.

I can't do anything anymore. I've become a bug, just waiting for something to scoop it up and end it. Just waiting.

When I'm at work, if you can even call it that, everyone looks at me like I'm made of glass. As if I'll shatter at their feet.

And they're right. I probably would.

After the funeral, I couldn't bring myself to take down all the pictures of Maysey. That would be like saying I'll never see her again. And even though I won't, I still want to see her face. Even if it is behind a glass frame.

The soft knocking on the door startles me, and sends me flying to my feet. Every time I hear a noise now... Stumbling to the door, I take a breath before opening it. It's Officer Tenley.

Captain Tenley now. He got an unexpected promotion after that psycho shot Davis. "You here to take away my badge?" I ask, only half joking.

"No. I'm here to see how you're doing."

"Not well."

"Look... I know how much you loved her. And no one can replace Maysey, but..." Tentatively, a small girl peeks out from behind Tenley, shaking with fear.

I scowl slightly at Tenley before considering. I couldn't afford to take care of another child while Maysey was here. But now she's not. And having someone around might keep me from drowning in- life.

"Grace," I look back up at Tenley. "She might be gone, but now you can do this. Everything happens for a reason."

This was for an English assignment, that is eating all of my time, and I didn't actually have time to write a whole other story, so I thought "Hmm, why don't I use this one?" I kinda failed at horror... But I tried. good luck to everyone else in the competition!