Nightmare or Not

          You know the worst thing in the world? Well since you don’t I’ll tell you: living with a babysitter you hate while your parents who you hated even more drove truck. My sister didn’t seem to mind. Doesn’t surprise me at all. She was like only a year old. I was only six, but thanks to my mother I was more mature. My mother took too good care of me… or so everyone said. They didn’t know what she was really like. She only appeared to take good care of me but in truth she hit me all the time and didn’t let me play with other kids. I was happy when they went off driving. Well until my babysitter turned out to be evil and her mother… I swear she was on the devil’s side. They didn’t let me eat if I didn’t finish my home schoolwork.
         It was almost my birthday and I had made a plan. The night before my birthday I was going to run away to my grandma’s house about thirty miles away. My plan was a little crappy but give me a break I was only six after all.           The next few days flew by quickly. On the day before my birthday I did what I had to do with butterflies in my stomach.          Since I slept in the playroom which was on the other side of the house from where my babysitter slept it would have been easy to go out the front door. Super easy in fact because if you opened the playroom door and turned left you were at the front door. The only reason I didn’t was because the door squeaked. The window in the playroom didn’t have a screen and the jump wasn’t far.          That night when my babysitter turned off the TV and finished listening to the radio I fell asleep. Someone or something must have really wanted me to go through with my plan because I was wide-awake from a dead sleep a few minutes after that. I grabbed my plastic Lisa Frank backpack from the shelf by the window and opened the window. I threw out my backpack looked for cars or people on the street, and climbed onto the ledge preparing to jump. My heart lurched through my throat when I almost fell back down. I would have liked to climb down but the window was right above a flowerbed. My terror of bees forced me to jump onto the grass. I got my backpack and walked over to the sidewalk. I looked over to the school that I went to in kindergarten and then down the street the other way. I walked toward my old school, rounded the corner and froze. A tall man with dark hair and pale skin was standing in the light from the street lamp. He was facing me and his arms were crossed as though he had been expecting me.          In a low tenor voice he said, “Leah it’s dangerous at night in this town. Bad guys could be anywhere.” Even though I was only six I still took that as a type of warning. I KNEW this man was bad. The way he dressed and looked was enough to scare anyone. Black leather, a whip, and a pocketknife that had to be against the law were not things that you saw good guys with.          I backed up a step and turned only to find the path blocked by an even taller man who looked sort of like me. He was only slightly less frightening. He had blond hair and wore jeans and a tee shirt. A whip was uncoiled in his hand and weaved on the ground like a snake.          “Bruce’s right you know? Someone could grab you at any time.” He said in a low-pitched voice. I knew worry was showing on my face. I turned to find that the other guy had walked closer and was now only a few feet away.           The guy behind me asked, “What’s the problem? Scared?”           I nodded and replied, “How do you know my name?”          “Never mind that.” The tallest one said and turned, looking across the street. “Okay Adam.”           Another guy, shorter than the other two but still tall, stepped from the dark to surround me. I backed up a step. When they all started walking closer I continued to back up until I ran into another guy. I shrieked and jumped turning around to see a guy even shorter than Adam.          “Easy little one.” He said with a smile. Then he turned to the tallest one and said, “Cris She’s so young.”          “True but she’s old enough Robin.”          I pulled out of Robin’s grasp and glared at them all. One more of them appeared behind Adam and closed the circle around me. I didn’t think I was going home tonight… or going anywhere for that matter. Suddenly the ground beneath my feet started shaking then sinking. It was only a little circle beneath my feet. I knew that they were the reason. Most of the guys were smiling. The tallest one, Cris, started laughing. I grabbed my backpack and threw it at him. It hit him in the face. He looked stunned. Then he looked at me. He didn’t look mad at all. I stuck my tongue out at him and crossed my eyes.          He laughed and said, “See Robin she may be young but she’s got her mother’s feisty nature.”          Robin, looking unconvinced still, replied, “I see but Cris she’s only six.”          “Robin you know why I want to get her.” There was a hint of warning in Cris’s voice daring Robin to take the conversation farther. “Look if it will make you feel better we can change her age. Probably should anyway. It’s not safe to beat a six year old little girl.”          Robin sighed and gave in. “Can you at least get her out of that hole? You are scaring her.”          Embarrassed, I shouted, “I am not scared. Not of this hole and certainly not of you!”          Cris asked me, “Would you like it to be scary? Or how about scary and painful? Or how about scary, painful, and deadly?”          I looked at his whip then at the hole I was in. I guess Cris felt that it was a good time to change my age, because I could feel myself maturing. I realized I was scared.          “Can you just get me out of this hole please?” I begged.          “Hmm. Let me think.” He acted like he was thinking hard. “No.”          He laughed and water started flowing swiftly around my feet. My shoes got soaked. Then it started to rise. When it got up to my knees I was almost pulled off my feet. I was almost knocked down again when I heard a female voice shout, “Stop!”          I was instantly out of the mess on firm ground again. A female with long dark wavy hair was glaring at Cris. Cris was furious.          “Carmin what are you doing?” He asked angrily.          “Saving a poor innocent little girl from your teasing.” She said defiantly.          They started arguing back and forth about who would get their way. Carmin must have struck a nerve because Bruce joined Cris’s side. It happened again only it was Robin siding with Carmin. Suddenly they were all arguing except Adam who was on the sidelines agreeing with whoever he thought was right.          I saw it as a perfect opportunity to run and as soon as I saw a gap I was gone. I ran back the way I came then when I was in darkness I ran towards my old school. They noticed I was gone and started looking around in vain. I needed to find a place to hide because I couldn’t go on running forever. The school was hard to hide in because it was closed and locked. The fence around it was locked too. Sadly I was a very bad fence climber. The playground on this side of the school had a gate that was open. I remembered that it also had an opening to the school inside.          So I went for it. The school’s halls were all outside. The classrooms were the only rooms indoors. As a kindergartener we only stayed on this side of the school. I’d only been this way one time. Lucky for me my age change also changed my sense of direction. I knew that I needed to be on the other side of the school. A diagonal path of rights and lefts one after another led me to the other corner of the buildings. When I got out in the field of the playground I decided to save my energy and walk instead of run. I really hoped there was a path through the fence or a hole I could squeeze through. If there wasn’t I would have to climb the fence.          I hated climbing fences but if it meant that I wouldn’t get whipped or kidnapped then I would. This fence wasn’t too much taller than my new height of about 5’2” anyway and it got shorter in the direction I was going. A little section was only about 3’ high. I guess no one was expected to go that way. Only really desperate people could anyway. Blackberry bushes lined the narrow alley. I slipped over the fence with surprising ease. When I started to make my way down the dark alley I thought back to the people I had met that night. They were all dangerous, some more than others.           I could see the end of the alley when I stopped to catch my breath. Suddenly one strong arm plastered my arms to my side while the other hand swiftly covered my mouth