Unfounded Fears

Part One: All In Time

Rowan Hurman sighed. "Mom, dad, I'll be fine. Seriously, go, have fun." She reassured her parents. Even though she was 16 years old it was still hard convincing her parent nothing would happen to her if they went out to one of her mothers benefit dinners without her.

"Okay honey, for tonight you can stay home alone. Just lock all the doors and windows." Her mother said lovingly.
"Bye, dear. Be safe and we love you."

"I love you too mom and dad. I'll be safe I promise." Rowan urged her parents out the door. She didn't understand why her parents were so worried. She took martial arts- she was tae kwon do black belt- and had pepper spray she carried everywhere with her.

Having only one option of something to do, she locked all the doors and windows and walked up the carpeted stairs to her bedroom. It was the third farthest room away from the stairs. She lived in a large house for a three person family. They had a two story house, with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, a sitting room, and an office, library combination.

As Rowan got into her room she made her way to her closet and changed into her pajamas, an old oversized school t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a pair of exercise shorts. She made her way over to her bed with its bright colorful quilt, crawled under the covers and grab the top book off the stack on her bedside table. It was the Great Gatsby. She had read the book at least ten times.

She read until she got tired, then marked her page and laid down to sleep. She began to doze off. . .
Clash! Rowan heard the sound of glass breaking.

She jumped off her bed and look at her alarm clock. It was only 11:30, much to early go her parents to be home. She took the pocket knife and pepper spray out of the drawer in her bedside table. She slipped them in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She walked to her door and silently locked the door. She began to listen against the door.

She heard the muffled feet of the intruder on the carpeted stairs... Wait, the was two sets of foot steps. Crap.

She silently ran to the window. She had to get out of the house. The window was paint shut, so she would have to use her pocket knife to scrape away the paint. She knew she had only two minutes at the most so she quickly got to work on the window. She heard the first door on the level open. She had finished getting about half the paint off the window when they got to the second room. The paint was almost gone, just a little more now. The knob on her door jiggled. She got the paint off and the window up as much as it would go. Someone pounded on the door. She scramble through the window just as the door smashed open. She was almost all the way out when someone latched on to her ankles.

She was dragged back inside, the harsh treatment most likely giving Rowan huge bruises on her ankles and her stomach from being dragged across the window sill. When she was finally back in her room she was turned so her back was against the wall. A man looking to be in his late twenties stood in front of her. He said nothing just stared at her.

She stared back, her eyes on him the whole time she reached down to her pocket. She slowly withdrew her hand the whipped it up. She released the burning spray from her can into his eyes. Then taking advantage of this distraction she did a round house kick to his chest.

When fell over she sprinted for the door. Something latched onto her arm though, using her momentum against her causing her to slam into a wall. With her momentarily preoccupied someone held her arms together and kept her stuck between them and the wall. They slowly turned her around.

Rowan came face to face with a man who couldn't have been more than two or three years older than her.

Her mouth hurt from where it hit the wall and she could taste blood. She work up a glob of saliva and spit on his face. She didn't usually have a temper, but this was a special case. She was beginning to understand the temper of some girls at guys. His glare could have melted glass but she had one to match.

She had the ability to move have legs so she made one last attempt to get away. Rowan quickly picked up her knee and kneed him where it counted. And though he appeared to be in a lot of pain he did not loosen his grip but let out a muffled string of curse words.

She laughed at that. " You're going to "kneed" to ice that" she commented. He did not laugh, but moved closer scowling and now restraining her legs too. His companion came up behind him and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a glasses case but when he opened it there was a syringe. The older one picked up the syringe and walked towards her. She watched in horror, squirming and whimpering.

All she got out after she was injected was a horse whisper " Please, stop." Then she was out cold.