"Run?" I repeated, almost whispering the word. "What do you mean 'run'? Where are we supposed to go?"
"We're not sure, but we know you can't stay here. Emmaline, that group of people that watched our house... we think they're going to come and try to take you away."
"Take me? You mean like kidnap me?"
Me parents looked at each other once again. My mom's eyes were filled with worry, which fell in the form of tears down her cheeks. My dad's chin was scrunched as he clenched his jaw, clearly trying to stay calm and act as though he had everything under control. But he was as clueless as I was.
"Possibly. We aren't sure. They might not take you anywhere. All we know is that the letter the woman wrote the night you were brought to us emphasized the importance of keeping that ring safe." He pointed at the opal ring that hugged my right index finger. "We think there's a chance that they want that ring."
"Then let's give it to them," I said, moving to remove the ring from my finger, but before I could grasp it, my dad rested his hand on top of mine.
"Emmaline, leave it on. We aren't certain that's what they want. We can't risk trying to make a deal with these men."
"Besides," said my mom as she wiped her nose and eyes with a stray napkin that had been left on the kitchen table, "if they want the ring this badly, then it must have some sort of significance. We kept it safe for almost seventeen years in order to give it to you. You shouldn't be so quick to give it up."
A part of me agreed with my mom, but I just wanted life to stay the way it had been. I didn't want to move or leave my friends, and I certainly didn't want to be kidnapped by a group of strange men. I let out a huge yawn. In five hours school would start. My teachers would be expecting me in class, my friends would be saving me a seat in the cafeteria, and my field hockey coach would be waiting on me to lead warmups at practice. I wondered how they would react when they noticed I hadn't shown up. Then it hit me that I may never go back to school again. Would my life ever go back to normal after this?
"Emmaline, we're going to leave first thing tomorrow. We can eat breakfast first, but your father would like to be on the road before lunch. You need to pack everything you can since we're not sure how long we're going to be gone, but first, try to get some more sleep. It's going to be a long day."
I nodded my head to tell her that I understood, but deep down I couldn't grasp what was going on. I stood and walked out of the kitchen. When I opened the door to my bedroom, I felt my stomach drop. I jumped onto my bed, put my face into my pillow, and started to cry. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to go to school and hangout with my friends. I wanted to go to practice and prepare for the big game against our rival. I wanted to go back to yesterday, when everything felt normal and I was clueless about the truth. As I laid there, my breathing eventually slowed and my mind was silenced by sleep.
* * *
It was dark. I was sitting in an empty room. There was no door, but there was a single window in the center of the wall in front of me. I couldn't see anything through the window, so I started moving closer to it. I continued moving closer until my face was pressed against the cold, hard glass. For a moment, it seemed as though I was staring into a dark hole. Then, all of a sudden, I saw movement. There were figures in the darkness, and they were coming towards me.
I knew I needed to get away from the window and try to hide in the shadows, but something kept me glued to that spot. It was as though my feet had disappeared and been replaced by cement blocks. I wasn't able to move.
I continued looking out the window as the figures crept closer and closer. My heart was pounding. I let out a gasp and barely stopped myself from screaming as the figures came into view. They were the same group that my parents had mentioned. The ones I had seen standing outside of my house twice before. The ones who were going to be coming for me today.
As they neared the window, I began hearing a noise. It was very faint at first, like a soft whisper. It grew louder and louder with every step they took, and soon it sounded like they were whispering the words directly into my ear.
"Emmaline. Give us the ring, Emmaline. We need the ring."
Then I felt a hand grab me.
* * *
I opened my eyes and sat up so quickly, I nearly bumped heads with my dad, who was grasping my arm and shaking me awake. My mom was also in my room, frantically opening my drawers and stuffing clothes and other items into a backpack. She had a look of terror on her face, as if she had just experienced the same dream.
"Emmaline," my dad said, "We have to go."
"What?" I looked at the time. It was 6:25 in the morning. "What do you mean? I thought we weren't leaving until closer to lunch."
"Honey, they're here. Your mom and I thought they were coming at 6:30 PM, not AM. They had always come in the evening before, but they're outside the house right now. They could try to come in at any second."
My mom zipped the backpack closed and handed it to me while my dad helped me out of bed and walked me towards the front of the house, keeping a protective hand on my shoulder the entire time. The front room had a large picture window, through which I could see the figures coming closer to the house, just like in my dream.
"Okay, so here's the plan," my dad said, pulling my gaze from the window to look at him. "I'm going to distract all of them while you and your mother run to the car and get away."
"No!" My mom said immediately. "Your father and I will both distract them while you run to the car. You have a better chance of slipping past them without me."
"No! I'm not letting you guys use yourselves as bait!" I responded.
"Honey, they want you, not us. I'm sure we'll be fine."
I looked away from my mom and focused my gaze back outside. They had gotten much closer to the house, and as I tried to get a look at the figures faces, I noticed something in the street that I hadn't seen before. There was a car parked against the curb, and in the drivers seat was my friend, Toby.
Before I was able to point his car out to my parents, the grandfather clock in the room began to chime. It was 6:30. As if they were summoned by the dings of the clock, the men began trying to enter the house by shattering the windows with their bare hands. We had to get out of there and fast.
I grabbed my mom's hand and pulled her to the front door, while my dad tried to fight off the mob of men that had crawled through the windows. He had a lamp gripped firmly in his hands and he swung it around like a baseball bat.
My mom opened the front door and we were immediately greeted by even more of the mob. For a quick second, I was able to get a clear look at them. The first thing that stood out was that they all looked exactly alike. They all had jet black hair, unusually pale skin, and bright blue eyes. The next thing I noticed about these men were that they weren't men at all. Their movements were convulsive and they appeared to have difficulty moving more than one body part at a time. When my dad's lamp made contact with one of their heads, a loud clang sound rang out, like metal hitting metal. These men were robots.
One of them reached out and grabbed my arm. I tried to break free from it's grip, but the more I struggled, the harder it's cold, metallic fingers wrapped around me. My mom tried to help, but the more she did, the more it felt like my forearm was going to snap.
"Mom, stop!" I said. "You're making it hold me even tighter."
Before my mom could reply, the robot started to move away, bringing me with it.
"Mom! Dad!" I shouted, trying desperately to dig my heels in the ground to prevent the robot from dragging me away from them.
My parents tried to chase after me, but the other robots were blocking their path. I turned toward my capture and tried kicking it in the shin, which ended up causing me much more pain then it appeared to cause the robot.
It dragged me to the end of the driveway, where I could finally take in the entire scene that surrounded my house. Their had to be at least fifty robots, the front windows of the house were completely broken, and I could here my parents screaming my name.
I started to question where the robots were taking me. Were they planning on killing me? Would I ever see my parents again?
Then, just as I had given up hope, the robot's grip loosened, and I was able to pull my arm free. I turned and found Toby standing with his arm outreached, holding a sharp object he had used to pierce the robots bicep. He yanked the item free then grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of his parked car.
"Get in!" He said, his voice surprisingly steady. I hopped into the passenger seat and Toby slid behind the wheel. His nerves were revealed as he fumbled with his car keys.
I could see the robots slowly approaching through the window and wanted to shout at him to hurry, but instead, as the engine roared to life and he shifted gears, I yelled "Stop!"
Toby looked at me like I was insane.
"What about my parents?" I said, glancing back at the robots swarming around the area I had last seen my mom and dad. "We can't just leave them!"
One of the robots made it to my door and threw it's fist into my window. It didn't break, but there was a large, spiderweb-like crack where it's fist had made contact.
Toby looked at me with sorrow and fear mixed in his green eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, then he put his foot on the accelerator and drove quickly away from my house.
I buried my face in my hands and tears began seeping through my fingers. All I could think about were my parents. What would happen to them?
I thought of the words my mom had told me: Honey, they want you, not us. I'm sure we'll be fine.
I hoped these words were true.