Having returned from the aquarium several hours after the sun had set Nina, Lain, and Kaila were finally home. Pulling into the driveway the women could see their living room lights turned on as shadows dashed past them in a hurry.
"What is going on in there?" Lain asked.
"Mom's probably letting them run around." Nina shrugged as she parked the car and unbuckled her seatbelt.
Having an unnerving feeling pulse throughout her body, Lain was quick to follow. There was a strange feeling she couldn't quite describe happening in her gut. Deep within her intuition she knew something was off.
She knew her girls well by now and upon analyzing the way the two shadows darted out of the window when their headlights peered into the house, set her off the wrong way.
While Nina went to unbuckle Kaila and grab the bags from the back, Lain went straight for the door. Listening closely as she shuffled for her keys buried in her purse, her heart started beating faster when the usual sound of laughter and cheers that filled the house were nowhere to be heard.
To make matters worst, Lain had proof that her suspicions were correct.
As she went to unlock her door, the handle itself twisted on its own. She was fast to cover her mouth trying to muffle her gasp.
"Hurry up babe, I need to use the bathroom." Nina complained as she walked over briskly carrying Kaila on one hip with the bag over her shoulder.
But Lain shushed her after removing her hand from her mouth.
"What is it?"
"The door was open." Lain whispered.
"What?!" Nina held tighter onto Kaila as the little girl who was smiling wide suddenly dropped down into Nina's neck hiding away from the potential danger.
As she pressed an ear up against the cracked open door, Lain's eyes fell to the floor where she nearly screamed. Tears welled in her eyes as she frantically looked back up at her wife.
Questing what the sudden panic was, Nina saw Lain pointing towards the ground right underneath them. Taking a peak herself, Nina froze. She was at a loss for words when she suddenly saw the left behind muddy footprints tracking themselves into their home.
The sizing and frame of the shoe was their final indicator. Nobody—and that meant absolutely nobody—had feet that would fit those imprints. All of the markings that were at their doorstep were too large to belong to the family.
Just as Lain was about to pull out her phone to call the cops, their worst nightmare occurred. "Eek!" They heard Faye screaming in terror from inside of the house.
"Faye!" The women shouted in a panic.
Putting Kaila down on the floor while Lain already took off into the house, Nina quickly looked at Kaila. "Get in the car, lock the doors, and hide. Don't come out until I come to get you." She said before racing off after her wife leaving no time for Kaila to respond.
"Mom?" Nina stopped in her tracks seeing Natalia laying on the floor in their living room as she was breathing hard clenching her heart. Kneeling besides the older woman she was relieved to find her mother with no physical wounds.
"Get the girls." Her mother—in her struggle to breathe—managed to say without a moment to waste.
"But you-"
"The girls!" Natalia coughed as she squeezed her chest tighter.
Sighing as she nodded, Nina jumped off the floor as she followed the sound of her screaming wife and girls. Racing upstairs as fast as she could Nina couldn't even feel the pain in her feet from walking all day long at the aquarium.
"Who the fuck are you?!" She heard her wife yell as her voice shook with all kinds of emotions coursing through it.
Running so fast that she body slammed into the doorframe to Faye's bedroom, Nina was surprised to find two men with similar strong builds towering over Faye and Lauren who were back to back on the floor with their legs curled into their chest.
"Mama!" Both girls cried out as they saw Nina enter.
"Now I get it..." one of the men had the audacity to say as he chuckle and snapped his fingers. He looked towards the younger man standing next to him and the girls as he said, "finally mommy." He pointed towards Lain, "and mama bear have arrived." His finger aimed itself at Nina as his scarily calm voice spoke.
"Once again we find ourselves to be in a face-to-face situation." The slightly younger man said.
"Get the fuck out of my house before I call the cops!" Nina screamed at them.
"Feisty, just like I remember you." The younger man hummed to himself. The way his tone vibrated throughout the room seemed almost too familiar for comfort.
"Who are you?! What do you want from us?!" Lain shouted seeing as they made no effort to leave yet.
"Forgive us for being decent business men." One of them so rudely popped the color of his grey suit.
"Decent?!" Lain said back with disgust in her voice.
"Business men?!" Nina felt like gagging from her lie.
"Of course. We were only carrying out our follow up service you signed for."
"What service?! We didn't sign in for any service!" By this point both women were ready for a rumble. Faye and Lauren had been idly sitting at the feet of the men who luckily weren't minding them anymore attention. Instead all the focus was on the couple.
"Well we were just holding true to our follow up service where we check in on the progress of our girls, of course." Hearing the older man talk as if their girls belong to him made the couples blood boil. "You bought this pretty thing from our auction several months ago and we figured now would be a good time to stop by." The man said looking Nina in the eye while his partner turned towards Lain.
"And you bought a different girl. Blond hair, brown eyes, tiny body. Ring a bell?" He mocked with a smirk on his face.
As their buried memories surfaced the women were speechless to find the brothers who they had bought their little girls from had returned. "I don't care who you are, or what your business is, we didn't ask for this 'follow up' service. So get the hell out!" Nina demanded as her face turned a bright shade of red from her fury.
"We will leave...as soon as we've checked on both purchases." The seemingly older of the two said. "Right now I only see one." His eyes glanced down towards Lauren shaking in place. "I will admit you've done well with this one, after what happened I didn't think she'd be able to be so vulnerable-"
"NO! GET AWAY FROM MY GIRLS AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Nina cut him off as she shouted again this time firmer than the last.
"Jeez lady fine." The man taking charge of most of their conversation grunted. "Come on James let's go."
As the women stood in place to stand their ground they watched as the men walked away from their girls and over towards the bedroom door. Wanting to ensure they left, Nina followed after them as Lain rushed over to the sobbing girls.
"It's been a pleasant visit." The men said still disregarding the high amount of distress they put the family though.
Passing by Natalia on their way out the two men paid her no attention.
Nina followed them to the front door where she carefully watched them walk down the street and turn down the next corner where a parked car sat all alone.
Watching them step in it before driving away her heart felt like it was about to explode from the sudden relief of pressure. Gasping for air, it felt as if Nina hadn't breathed for that entire confrontation.
As she found her breathing again the shook up woman walked over to their car briskly as she peered in seeing Kaila shaking as she sat on the car floor.
Knocking on the window her little girl unlocked the car from within before throwing herself into Nina's arms as tears poured down her face left and right. Taking Kaila inside and locking the door behind her, Nina felt uncomfortable as she walked away from the door in fear of the men returning for another unwelcomed entrance.
"Mom? Are you alright? Do I need to call you an ambulance?" Nina asked as she sat Kaila on the couch much to the girls distress. "Honey I know but let me help Grammy up." She tried to calm her little girl down, but it was understandable for her to only cry harder without the comfort and safety of the woman.
Turning around quickly to aid her mother Nina grabbed hold of her hand and carefully sat Natalia up. "I'm alright." She said breathing heavily. "Water please."
Without another word, Nina ran to the kitchen to fetch a large glass of water before handing it to Natalia. The older woman gulped down the soothing liquid in a matter of seconds. "How did they get in the house?!" Nina asked as her mother finished her drink.
"I don't know." Natalia said disappointed with herself for causing the family emotional harm. "The girls and I were just watching tv and the next thing I know the door was swung open and they walked in. I told the girls to run upstairs and lock the door but one followed them and the other started to walk towards me."
"But you fell?"
"I did. I must've tripped over myself." Upon learning the news Nina checked to ensure no damage was done to her mother's head. "Nina I'm fine. It's my hip that took most of the fall. I'm not as young as I once was."
"Can you stand?"
Unsure of her capabilities herself, Natalia prepared herself for an attempt. Getting up wasn't the issue but straightening up her back was. She was hunched over as the pain became to unbearable for her to stretch more.
"Mama!" Kaila continuously begged for the woman the entire time Nina inspected her mother for any injury's.
"One second Kaila." Nina said as she sat her mother down on the couch.
"Nina stop. Just care of Kaila, I'm alright now. I feel fine." Her mother said as she breathed in and out heavily. Taking a few attempts to stretch out her back against the cushion of the couch, Natalia could deal with her issue alone.
Kaila, along with the other girls, on the other hand needed more attention.
As Nina picked Kaila back up she frowned feeling the diaper on Kaila's bottom sagging. It didn't surprise her that out of fear the girl had gone again.
As Nina changed Kaila's diaper in her room and Lain held onto Faye and Lauren, there were too many thoughts running through both Lain and Nina's minds. They were stuck going between the men and their girls scared of what this meant for their family.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off