With her eyes closed her other senses became more acute and she was sure she heard something. It sounded like the door had been pushed open and slammed against the wall. Sticking her head out of the shower she called out, “Michael is that you?” There was no response. “Honey, mommy is in the shower, what do you need?” There was still no answer.
Michael was known to get up out of bed and come in to her room at night. She really wished he wouldn’t do that. He was a terrible bed hog and she never got a good night sleep with him snuggling up to her.
“Michael, you need to go back to bed honey. I’m going to be up for awhile and the light will keep you awake,” she lied, “you need your rest for school tomorrow.”
She wasn’t terribly surprised that he didn’t answer her. He was stubborn and knowing him, was probably back to sleep already. Oh well, she would just pick him up and take him back to his room once she was done with her shower.
Ten minutes later, with her head wrapped up in a towel; Stephanie emerged from her bathroom, expecting to see Michael curled up on her bed. She was a bit surprised to find that her room was empty. “Huh, I wonder where he is?” she thought to herself. Walking along the darkened hallway she poked her head into Cameron’s room. In the darkness she saw the silhouette of her three year old daughter as she slept in her little toddler bed.
Closing the door she moved to the end of the hall where her son’s room was. Peeking her head in, she looked in on Michael. There he was, buried under his Spiderman comforter just like he was when she had put him to bed an hour ago.
“I wonder what that sound was,” she thought, returning to her room. “I’m sure I heard something. I must have been imagining things.” Just for her own sanity she walked through the house, checking each door and assuring herself that the house was sealed up nice and tight. Finding nothing she returned to her room. Once there, she pulled down the blankets, shed her bathrobe (adding it to the pile of clothes on the floor) and climbed into bed. The bed felt so good. Reaching over, she turned off the lamp on the bedside table and in no time, was fast asleep.
The key to cooperation was to get close to the children. A mother will do anything to protect their kids. He chose the boy’s room because he was older and therefore more likely to react in a way that could cause him trouble if the boy discovered him. Anymore the schools were teaching kids about strangers and 911 early on, so he knew that the boy was his biggest threat. By hiding in the boy’s room he could make sure that he would not be surprised if the boy was to wake up and discover him, there was no way he could have made it back to the basement without being heard.
The woman would be no problem; she would do as he asked simply because he had the leverage. If worse came to worse, he could snatch up one of the children and threaten their life, as he knew how women thought. They would gladly sacrifice themselves for their children and he was more than happy to use that against them.
He had been stupid to try to go into her room while she was in the shower. He had thought he could get closer to her and that was his mistake. In the other three he had simply stayed put until the house was quiet and everyone was asleep. This was always the worst time for him because all he could do was stay still and think. It was this downtime that frustrated him, angered him to the point that he began to blame the woman for making him do this. He hated the wait. It was always dark and he always ventured back in thought to the day when his wife had left him, taking his kids with him. She didn’t love him anymore; she didn’t want to see him anymore. Most of all it angered him because she was taking the kids and if she had her way, he would never see them again.
It was these thoughts that caused him to leave the basement to creep up to her room when he heard the shower turn on. He knew that it was stupid, but he couldn’t stand it any longer, he needed to get out of there, do something. She wasn’t going to dictate what he was going to do, not like that bitch he had married. He was in charge, and if he wanted to come out of the basement, then that was what he was going to do.
Then he had opened the door and without thinking, let it bang against the wall. That had caused her to call out, and instant sent a shiver up his back. In a moment he began to panic, and then remembered his plan: get between her and the child. She’ll do anything to protect the child.
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