If you didn't read my first post you might want to go back and do that now. You don't have to but you will better understand this post if you do.
My sister and I shared a room. We were two peas in a pod and loved sharing a room and a bed. This would change when we got older but for now we enjoyed it. My sister and I sometimes argued over who got to sleep by the window. Fear didn't yet exist in our lives. We wanted the privilege of sleeping by the window because of the breeze that the open window would let in. It was a wonderful feeling when you were hot and sticky and a nice breeze would blow across your damp body. I would win tonight. I would sleep by the window. My victory, my defeat.
As was the case most nights my sister fell asleep long before I did. I don't ever remember being able to fall asleep quickly even before this night would permanently steal my sleep from me. I have always had trouble getting to sleep. I got in trouble regularly for talking when I was supposed to be sleeping. I tried so hard to keep Terri awake so that I didn't have to be "alone". Unfortunately for me Terri didn't have that problem. Once her head hit the pillow she could hardly stay awake. Thus my loud talking. I tried my best to keep her awake. Our dad would yell, " Donna, pipe down!". I would think to myself, " How does he always know that it's me? ".
The other sleep issue I have always had is that once I do go to sleep a freight train can't wake me. I once slept through a fire. We were living in a townhouse and the lady in the adjoining townhouse caught her mattress on fire after falling asleep with a cigarette in her mouth. It was a large building with 5 or 6 townhouses in it so there were a lot of fire trucks that responded to the call. Or so I am told. Now remember, this townhouse was attached to our house. There were many fire trucks with sirens blaring and everyone was awakened but me. I didn't even believe it when they told me about it in the morning until I was led outside to see the ladies burnt mattress lying on her patio. The firemen had tossed it out of her upstairs window and there it was plain for all to see. I really had slept through all of the commotion. I have also slept through our burglar alarms going off in the middle of the night....twice. Ok you get the point.
At some point I did finally fall asleep by my coveted window. When I woke up I was being carried. This was not that unusual as like most kids my dad would sometimes carry us girls to bed when we fell asleep on the couch or floor. I soon realized that I was cold. I was damp either from sweating or wetting the bed, I'm not sure which. I was groggy but my eyes were beginning to focus and what I saw confused me. I saw my house and it was getting further and further away. Where were we going? We slept with the light on in our room and it was the only light on in the house.
As we got closer to the street light and my eyes adjusted better I looked up at what I assumed was my daddy. It was not. I didn't know this person. Why was I in this man's arms? Where were we going? Where were my parents and everyone else? Let me insert at this point that a neighbor would report to the police that they heard a scream in the middle of the night. I don't remember screaming so I'm not really sure if I did or not.
When the man saw that I was awake he started talking to me. He told me that I had to be quiet and do what he said or something bad would happen. We kept walking. It was a busy street during the day. This was a suburb of Atlanta after all. I knew what was down this road, I had traveled it many times. There were a lot of woods. There was a bridge coming up and a Baptist church. I had gone to Vacation Bible School there once.
We kept walking. Our busy street was quiet. We were walking in the open on the side of the road but there was no one to see us. It must have been in the wee hours. While we were walking what seemed to a little girl to be a very long way he took the time to explain to me that he had my family tied up in the basement of the church down the street. If I was not quiet or gave him any trouble he would have to kill them. I had no reason not to believe him, he did after all have me. He could have taken them first. He must have. I had to do what he said, their lives depended on it.
To Be Continued....