It was a cold wintry January 1st. My mother was making breakfast while the television was on.

“And the latest news today is the famous killer, Fernado, who went on a killing rampage in 1996, escaped from jail.” My mom dropped the knife, she was cutting bacon with and screamed. I ran downstairs because I thought she was hurt.

“What’s wrong mom?”

In a quiet frightening voice my mom whispered, “He’s back!” She looked back at the television as the story continued.

“For the safety of the viewer we will not display the name, but notes were left on at the jail from Fernado. They stated that he will hunt down the family of the last person he killed. Police will be sent to help the victim.” By now my mouth had dropped and I started to shake. My mom burst into tears.

The doorbell rang. “Excuse me miss. We need to take you from this building. Please grab some stuff and come outside with me please.” The police officer was standing very stiffly glancing around our house as if someone was going to jump out on us with a pocket knife.

I quickly ran up to my bedroom to grab a few things, a picture of my dad, some books, clothes, my photos albums, and some other necessities. Then I quickly ran downstairs.

“Um excuse me sir? Could I quickly call my best friend, just to explain why we will be gone?”

The police officer merely grunted and nodded his head. I sprinted up the stairs to where our phone lay. With super speed fingers I dialed my best friend Amber’s phone number.

“Hello. This is Melissa. Could I please speak to Amber?”

“Sure thing sugar!” Amber used to live down in Texas before she moved up to wintry New York.

“Hey girl, what’s up?”

“Listen I got to talk fast. Fernado is back, he wants to kill us, and there is a police man at my front door waiting for us to leave.”

“Wait…what are you serious?”

“Yes so I wanted to tell you that you have been an awesome friend and I will miss you.”

“Wait are you coming back?”

I sighed and thought this over. “I hope so, but if they don’t catch Fernado we will be gone for a bit.” I could see from the stairs that the police officer was waiting impatiently for me to hurry up.

“Ok listen I really have to go. Tell everyone about what happened to us.”

“Bye Melissa. I’ll really miss you.”

“Ya me too! Bye!”

“Are you ready to go now?” the police officer questioned. I could see that we really needed to get a move on.

“I guess so.” My mom was already loading stuff into the back of the police car. I could tell that she brought way more than me. My mom was what you called a shopaholic and needed a lot of clothes and other items to keep her happy.

“Wow I’ve never been inside a police car.”

The police officer chuckled and said, “I sure hope not.” We drove for a bit in complete silence. It was still very hard to take in, leaving. I have never once been away from my house for more than a weekend. Mom doesn’t like to travel much now that it’s just the two of us. I noticed that we were headed downtown not outside the area.

“Um where are we going?”

“To the police station. WE need to question your mother about Fernado before we head out.”

“Oh. Okay.” After fifteen more minutes of driving we arrived at a tall black building with the words CITY POLICE DEPERTMENT. There was a police officer waiting at the front door for us.

“Wow!” I thought. “We must need a whole lot of protection.”

My mom must have thought the same thing because she said, “WE’re fine really. I think we can make it to the front door.”

:”Sorry ma’am. We’ve been ordered to never leave your sight even for a couple seconds. We really have no idea where Fernado may be.” I gave a little shudder as the new police officer walked us into the building. He gave us some soda and crackers and told us to sit down by a very big black table. I felt like I was on one of the crime shows with the big dark room with a single light.

“{Okay. I really need to know what happened the night Frank and George were murdered.” The police officers voice was calm but serious. I could tell he needed answers. I turned to look over at my mom as she heaved a huge sigh.

“It was a really dark night. Frank was on his way home from taking George, who at the time was only five to a hockey game. When I called him on the phone he said that he noticed some weird guy staring intently at him, so he was heading straight home. I wasn’t there obviously, but Frank said that the strange man followed him home. I remember when they arrived home. I was just putting Melissa to sleep since she was only 7 months old. George came running into the house screaming. I looked out the window to find Fernado stabbing Frank several times in the chest. I wanted to scream, but I was physically incapable at the time. I dialed 911 and alerted them that my husband was stabbed. George was hiding in his bedroom even though I told him to stay by me. I ran into my bedroom which had a lock and put Melissa in there. I yelled at George to get over here because he was hiding under his bed. He didn’t realize it, but Fernado climbed up the side of our house and went into George’s bedroom. Then he-he”
My mom suddenly burst into tears.
“Ma-am it’s ok. If you don’t want to..”
“No!” My mom interrupted. “I’m ok.” She heaved another giant sigh.
“Fernado then took out his butcher’s knife and stabbed George in the back. He didn’t even know what happened because he was looking the other way. I ran into George’s bedroom to find him dead. But by then the police came and announced that they were both dead. Two days later they found Fernado hiding in a shack only a block from out house. I never knew why he killed them, but now I guess he wants to finish us all off.” I was looking petrified. My mom laughed nervously. Then her voice became suddenly stern, “You will help us right?!”
“We’ll do everything we can.”

Then I cut in. “But what if everything you do isn’t enough?” The police officer bent down so he was at my level, which made me feel like I was five years old. “Nothing will happen to you. We will make sure nothing happens to you. I promise.”

My mom and the police officer discussed safety issues for awhile, and then came up with a strategic plan. All of that time I was under the care of one of the other police officers. We played with the police station's Nintendo Wii. It relaxed me a little, but I still had apprehensive feeling about this whole situation.

"Sweetie, guess what? These nice officers have come up with a plan to keep us safe."

"What kind of plan?" I asked my mother. This was not a trivial situation; our lives were at stake.

"Let me cut in," a big brawny police officer said. He had a big belly and a dark brown mustache. His eyes were small and beady, and his nose was fat. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Officer Brown, and it will be my job to protect you for awhile. My partner Officer Kram and I will take you and your mother to a rural town. We will live in secret away from Fernado. Once he is captured we will take you back to your home."

It seemed like a piratical plan, but there was no way I would want to spend even a few days with a man like Officer Brown. "May I be introduced to Officer Kram."

The second I said this a gorgeous woman came into the room. Her brown hair was slipped back into a tight ponytail. She was tall and lean, looking more like a supermodel than an officer. Her makeup was clean and flawless, and she walked as if she was walking on clouds. "Hi there! You must be Melissa. I am Officer Kram, and I hope you are okay with me accompanying you for awhile. I promise I won't be a bother."

She was exactly the kind of person that girls my age would looked up to. She was like a female superhero, luxurious yet strong and powerful. Everything about her screamed role model. I would definitely be okay going on the trip now even with a person like Officer Brown there. I slowly looked at my mother. I had never seen her this way, weak and helpless. She was usually the strong and brave one. After all she went through, she would always go through life with her head held high. Seeing her this weak made me realize the severity of the situation. "When will we leave?" I looked up at Officers Kram and Brown.