The Dawn

Chicago,USA, 2007. My breathe was so heavy and it felt like I was going to collapse any moment now. My lungs were straining,trying to let air through them. My heart felt as if it would burst out of my chest any moment. I had lost count of time and my sense of direction too. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath. "Don't stop now. What are you doing?" My sister cried out. "Can't run.....no.....more." I panted, leaning over with my hands on my knees. "God. Pull yourself together. Just a little more." She said, tugging at my arm frantically. "Hurry! They'll catch us!" I nodded. Just a little more. I gathered up my strength and took off running behind her. It would only be a little while before they catch up to us and shred us to pieces. We ran over down Archer Avenue. The neighborhood here was seriously unfamiliar. The only way we found out the name of the street was because of the huge sign at the entrance. Janice stopped and ran her eyes over the house numbers. "240, 240..." She mumbled over and over. I slapped my jean pocket to check if I still had the keys. They created a jingling sound, making me sigh in relief. I began to scan houses with my sister after that. I located the house in a far corner, covered by a huge tree. Off to the side, but wasn't suspicious because the houses around it seemed occupied. "Found it!Let's go!" I gave a hushed yell and pulled my sister behind me as both of us began running towards the house. In the distance, I could hear the men shouting. That only increased my urgency even more. I fumbled in my pocket for the keys as we reached the doorstep of the house. I pulled them out and shoved one key into the lock. My sister ran around to check if the men had reached our vicinity or not. The first key was luckily it and I unlocked it before grabbing Janice and stumbling into the darkness. She shut the door behind us. My eyes took sometime to adjust but eventually they did. It wasn't just an empty house.It was a furnished empty house. From where I could make out stuff in the dark, there were three couches in the living room and a couple of more rooms. A staircase was at the far end of the lounge. I pointed towards a couch with it's back facing the wall. "Let's hide there." I whispered and pulled my sister with me as the voices in the background grew louder. We crawled behind the couch with our mouths covered by our hands. The distant screaming had now become a bit prominent, as the men and their torches and guns moved closer to us. "Let's go upstairs." She whispered to me. I nodded and grabbed her trembling hand. We quietly crawled out from behind the couch and felt for the staircase. Once upstairs, we saw two more rooms. "Let's get in one room." She suggested. I knew she was scared. I was scared too. But I decided I needed to be strong for her. I nodded and pushed open the door and both of us went in, bolting it behind us. That night was full of fright. Every other minute, I was afraid somebody had entered into the house or figured out where we were hiding. I wanted to peek out the window but I was too scared to do that. Both of us sat crouched on the floor, infront of the bed, awaiting our fate. My life flashed before my eyes every now and then as footsteps sounded from outside the house. I hugged my knees to my chest, too scared to form even a coherent thought. Janice neared me and gave me a frightened look. I squeezed her hand and prayed silently, my eyes glued to the curtain covered window of the room. Any minute now, those men could possibly sense the fear us two sisters radiated from this house and they would barge in here. Outside, I could hear the morning birds chirping. I closed my eyes as the first ray of the Sun, at dawn, shined through the curtain clad window.