"Zoe come here sweetie."
"Coming mom." I say. We were in my moms pet shop and I absolutely loved being there. I loved being around all the animals and always knew what they wanted and they all seemed to adore me. I loved the dogs the best, especially Lilly who was a yellow lab and had the most energetic and playful personality. We would always play together and one day my mom said I could keep her and I was so excited.
"Zoe!" My mom said as she snapped me out of my daydream.
"Oh sorry mom, what's up?" I asked.
"I need you to feed the animals honey, I have to go talk to the boss" she said.
"But mom I thought you were the boss?" I asked.
"Sweetheart even bosses have bosses." I was confused but decided to brush the thought away.
"Okay mom bye" I say as I head over to feed the animals. I start with the fish since there the smallest and don't need as much food, then I go on to the birds then cats then dogs. Once I finish feeding the animals I noticed that my mom wasn't back yet so I decided to take Lilly out for a walk. I went upstairs to our apartment and grabbed a jacket not to mention a leash and Lilly. "Come on girl, we're going to the park." We lived in a small suburb so there wasn't much traffic out on the streets, though that didn't matter considering that the park was only a couple of blocks away. As she was walking a boy bumped into her. "Hey watch it!"
"Sorry." The boy said. He looked tough, he was skinny and wore a leather jacket and dirty torn up jeans. It looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in weeks."
"Hey my name is Zoe." I said. Wait why was I telling a complete stranger my name? "You look hungry would you like to grab a bite to eat later?" What the hell was I doing?
"Sure that sounds cool." He said.
"Ok meet me at my moms pet shop down the road later." I said.
"Ok see you later Zoe." He said as he started to walk away.
" Wait," I said, "you never told me your name!"
"It's Patrick." He said.
When I returned to the shop my mom was back. Usually when she sees me and Lilly walk in she smiles and gives Lilly a treat just because Lilly is the best, But today something was different. My mom wasn't smiling, she didn't even say hello! "Mom, are you ok?" I asked
"I'm ok sweetie." And with that she went upstairs.
I waited for that boy I met earlier to show up but he never did. I can't say that I was disappointed, I mean I only met him a couple hours before. But I was still upset. And with that I went to bed.
The next few weeks were weird. I never saw that boy after that night. My mom was different too. Weeks went by without me seeing her smile. And then there were the men who kept showing up. My mom would constantly be screaming at ten men and they would be screaming back. This went on for a couple of months. I had gotten used to the arguments, they became static in the background. One day after taking Lilly out for a walk I came back to find the shop in blazes. They did this. I saw them come out of a car with my mom begging for her life. I ran and hid praying that they didn't see me. They forced my mom onto her knees and put a gun up to her head. She begged for her life and then BANG! They took it away in the blink of an eye. As they drove away I ran up to my mom, tears running down my face. A man cleared his throat behind me.
"There's nothing you can do Zoe" I turned around and saw a man with bright red eyes and horns. HE Found her. HE brought her to his paradise. The paradise of Hell.
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Hey guys how did you like this chapter? I tried to make it longer and darker just a little bit. Thanks to IvanTheDrawer for the incredible chapter idea. Comment and vote for the different POV and flashback.
