It was a Friday night, and mom was out for the evening. I was stuck babysitting my nine-year-old sister, Mikayla. I was sitting, playing my new video game on the Nintendo Claudette, and she was sitting next to me, watching a cartoon. Like any little sister, she can sometimes be a little annoying. Right now, she kept bouncing around, hyper as always. I glance down at the coffee table. No wonder she was hyper. There were cookies and empty bottles of orange soda.

“Where did you get those?” I asked her.

“I got them from the kitchen, while you were not looking,” she said, giggling.

I check out what she is watching on the television. As usual, she watched that weird show from Cartoon Network, 'The Adventures of Princess Panty-Boy'. I don't know why kids love that show so much. I watched it once. It's about this boy that always dressed up as a girl, as much as possible. His quest in every episode is to find some panties to wear. It's kind of corny to me, but to a kid, I guess it's entertaining. I am 12 years old, practically a teenager. I don't watch cartoons as much anymore.

The phone rang. It was mom. She said she would call every once in a while to check up on us.
“Yes, we are fine,” I spoke. “We had pizza, and Mikayla had a soda and some cookies.” I knew mom wouldn't be pleased. “Yeah, I know, but she took it without even asking me.” We spoke a little more before she had to get back to whatever she was doing. I sounded loud there, I guess she was at a restaurant.

She has been going out a lot lately. We think she is looking for a new man to be with. Our father left us when Mikayla was only two years old. She doesn’t even know who he is. I remember when he left. He never even gave us an address of where he was going. Sometimes I wondered if he loved us or not. It's been seven years. I suppose not.

Because he was gone, I became the man of the house. I still have to follow what mom says, though. So yes, it sometimes can be disastrous. Especially when she isn't around, and I am stuck at home with my sister instead of going to a friend's house, to play video games on the big screen, instead of playing on my handheld. Right now, I would still be at their house playing Bonestorm. But NO... My mom wanted to go out tonight, so I am stuck babysitting. As for playing Bonestorm, we usually keep it a secret from my mother. Because if she ever knew I played that game, I would be grounded.

“Hey!” I heard Mikayla yell. I glanced up at her, and then at the television. “We interrupt this boring kids' show for a special report. “A man on the screen spoke. “An eight-year-old girl has been reported missing. About ten minutes ago, Sandy Gordon from Prior Lake...”

“Oh no, another kid?” I stare at Mikayla. I could tell she was scared, and I knew she was. I held on to her. “I’m sorry if I frightened you, Mikayla.” She had a pouty look on her face. It was so cute.

“... the fifth child in the last two days.” The man on the television was still speaking.

I got up to go to the kitchen for some apple juice. Mikayla jumped up and followed me. For the past few days, she has never left my side. Good thing this was the summer, otherwise I would be in school, and she wouldn't follow me.

I grabbed two cups from the counter and poured us some drinks. I stare at the Pizza Lucé pizza box on the kitchen table, it still had two slices left, so I took them both and gave one to Mikayla, and headed back to the living room.

When we got back into the room, I dropped my cup of juice because of a loud crash outside our front door. This made us both jump. I ran over to the door to see what happened. It was really dark. I couldn’t see anything. I switched on the porch light. (Well, attempted to.) The lights didn't turn on. I couldn’t see anything. I could hear Mikayla freaking out.

“Stay where you are,” I told her. I kept looking out the window. The next thing I knew, I spotted eyes. Glowing eyes, to be precise. My heart was beating wildly. Should I call the police? I started reaching for the phone. The eyes were getting closer. I was panicking. But then it came into view.

A small kitten. A kitten made all the noise?

I opened the door to let it in. He walked in like he knew where he was. I shut the door and locked it. The next thing I knew, the kitten was in the family room. Mikayla spotted him.

“Where did he come from?” She asked, heading over to pick him up.

“I believe the noise we heard was from him. He was out there all alone.” I said. “Let me go get him something to eat.” I went to the kitchen.

“Bring him some milk,” Mikayla yelled. I could hear her giggling in the family room, from the kitchen.
I went to the fridge and grabbed the milk and set it on the table. Going to the cupboard, I found the smallest saucer I could find and poured the milk into it. I couldn’t hear Mikayla anymore. More likely, she is watching TV. I brought the saucer with me. The thing is, when I came into the room, I didn’t see Mikayla or the kitten. I put the saucer down on the coffee table and started searching for them both.

“Mikayla?!” I yelled. I didn’t hear her. I ran to every room in the house. She wasn’t there. I started panicking. “Mikayla!” I screamed. I ran to my cellphone to call the police. I tried to type in numbers, but the phone was dead. The battery was just full. I threw the phone on the ground. “Mikayla!” I screamed again.

I ran outside to see if she was out there. The wind was blowing extremely quickly, and it began to rain. I called for her but got no answer. I ran back inside and locked the door. She wouldn’t have gone out the kitchen door when I was in there. I would have spotted her.

The lights go out. Everything was pitch black. I couldn't see in front of me, which didn't help because I tripped over the chair in front of me. I was about to check the front door when I heard loud footsteps coming from upstairs. I ran as fast as my legs could go. When I reached the top step, the footsteps stopped. The house was silent.

“Mikayla,” I whisper. I checked her room and mine. She wasn't there. I was about to check Mom's until I heard some scratching coming from downstairs.

“Mikayla, this isn't funny, stop trying to scare me!” I shouted down the staircase. I ran down the stairs. I could still hear the scratching. It was coming from the front door. “Could it be the kitten?” I thought, “How could it be, I brought him in and Mikayla had him before I...”

I ran to the door and looked out the window. I couldn't see anything. I started to open the door, but it was still locked. She couldn't have gone outside this way, with the door still locked. The scratching began even louder. I jumped back from the door. I was freaking out even more. I didn't dare go near the door. I could hear hail hitting the roof of the house now. Upstairs, I could hear footsteps again and a creaking door. I started panicking even more and ran back into the kitchen to the back door. I had to go outside to the neighbors. I opened the door, but before I could even get one foot out the door, someone, or something, hit me in the head from behind and I was out cold.