I AM HERE

Prologue

"Mommy? Daddy?"

I asked when I went inside their room. Nobody answered. They must be asleep. I went up to their bed and laid down in between them, hoping to hide from the thunder and lightning.

But why do I feel something wet on the bed? Did they leave the window open and not felt the rain pelting them in their sleep? They must've been exhausted. I hugged both of them and went back to sleep.

Just as I was about to sleep, I hear the most blood-curdling scream coming from the door. I looked up and saw one of our maids staring in horror at me and my sleeping parents. I gave her a confused look and she immediately went to the bed to take me away from them. She held me tight even as I was struggling.

I only stopped struggling when I heard a crash coming from the front door as if someone broke it from its hinges. Our maid made a stay quiet sign by putting her pointer finger on her mouth and made me follow her to one of our secret tunnels.

We walked swiftly but silently on the second floor of the house. There were many secret tunnels within the house and only my family and some of the maids know where they are. She leads me to one that leads directly to the outside.

"Miss Snow, you need to get to safety. You know where the cabin is, right?"

She asked and I nodded. I know where it is, but why should I go there? Am I in danger? That's when I decided to look at myself. My eyes widen in fear when I saw blood all over me and reality dawned on me. My parents were dead.

The maid gave me a look of sympathy like she knows what it feels like. Tears were now cascading my face non-stop and sniffles are starting to sound off me.

"Shhh. You need to be strong Miss. The cabin has several bags packed with essentials. Take as many as you can and run to safety. Go find Henry Lloyd on the outskirts and tell him what happened. He'll make sure you're safe. Understand?"

I nodded and went to wipe my tears and stop my sniffling. I said my thanks and quickly ran out of the tunnel. While I was running, a thousand thoughts quickly ran through my mind. Who would want to kill my parents? They didn't do anything bad.

I was so lost in thought that I bumped into a wall. I cursed internally for my stupidity. This is no time to be stupid. Luckily, I didn't get my nose broken by the wall. Wait, it's not a wall. It's a door. I'm already at the end.

I listened for noise outside the other side of the door. I realized then that the rain had stopped. When I heard nothing, I went out and dashed for the cabin that my parents had made deep in the forest. The same with the tunnels, only a few people knew of its existence and exact location. My parents built it deep within the forest that borders the nearest parts of the bayou.

I safely arrived at the cabin without anyone noticing I'm gone from the house. I went to open the door, and it's locked. I looked for a possible hiding spot and found a mat under me. And bingo! I opened the cabin using the hidden key I found under the welcome mat and went inside.

I went to one of the rooms and went to look for those bags. The first room, I assume, was the master's bedroom. I checked the closet for clothes because I need to wash the blood off me. I found several shirts and pants. I took one of each and proceeded to look for underwear. After I found one, I went to the bathroom and did the deed.

~a few minutes later~

I went out of the room with a bag I found at the bottom of the closet and filled it with clothes. I started to search every room for the ready-packed bags because I will not be able to survive on my own without money. I went to the room adjacent to the master's bedroom and rummaged everything in the closet.

I found the bags and checked their contents before taking them with me. One of the bags contained several bundles of cash and several cardholders with different credit cards under different names. I'm going to be needing those if I hope to find this mysterious Henry Lloyd.

I checked the other bag and found papers. I looked at them and found out that they were fake identities that match some of the names on the credit cards with my face on them. These are going to be helpful. I put them back inside their respective folders. I took out the money and cardholders from their bag and placed them inside the one with my clothes. I also put the fake papers in so that I'll only have one bag to bring with me.

I also found several burner phones and a laptop. I also brought them to me. I headed into the kitchen and saw that it was fully stocked. I took out some canned stuff and bottled water and placed them in the bag.

I went out through the back door and left into the night. Left without a trace, never looking back.

From this day onward, my name is June Lane.