The day was finally over. Why was senior year going by so slow?! I was actually out by my car, waiting for Belina and Daniela. They arrived five minutes later.

“What took you so long?!” I yelled. The heat got to me.

“Oh my God, you’ll never believe what happened!” Daniela exclaimed.

“Sean and Conner came and talked to us!” Belina added.

“In person!” Daniela finished. They were beyond obsessed with these guys. I stood there with my arms folded. It was 115° outside and the AC was running inside my car; who wouldn’t be a little mad?

“Mirs…we asked about Justin for you…” Belina said, almost in a whisper.

“Right now, I don’t care. Just get in the car…please,” I said, calming myself. They got in quietly. I sighed and sat inside, pulled the car out of the parking lot, and drove us home. It was silent most of the way. “So, what about Justin?” I broke the silence.

“We asked if all six of us could hang out sometime.”

“What did they say?”

“Maybe.”

I sighed. I knew where this was going. We pulled up on my driveway and parked in the garage. I shut and locked the garage door to be sure nothing could get in.

“Can we order a pizza?” Daniela asked.

“Umm…no,” I replied.

“Why not?”

“Because somebody could poison it before it reached the house.”

“What about Chinese?” Belina suggested.

“What difference would that make?”

“Different taste?”

“Guys, relax on the food! I’ll cook you something; don’t worry,” I said. They sighed and went into the living room. I took out a glass bowl and decided to make them lasagna. Noodles, sauce, meat, cheese; I had it all. I put it together and tossed it in the oven. I headed out to the living room. Daniela was watching Rush Hour while Belina was texting.

“Hey guys, I think Hayes is up to something…” I threw out there in the open.

“I think so too. He kept looking at you,” Belina added.

“Why not find out?” Daniela suggested. I pulled out my laptop from the coffee table drawer and turned it on.

“Hack his email,” Belina said.

“No, we’re not going to get into his personal life. I just want to search him up on Google”. I pulled up a website on the Army and found his name:

Sergeant Miller Hayes

July 16, 1963—

Served: 1978-1988

Position: Sniper Sergeant

Trained: 1978-1981

Now: Retired Veteran; teacher

So this guy was a sniper, huh?” I said.

“What else?” Belina asked, looking over my shoulder.

“Umm, he has…aw, how sad. He’s a single man still.”

“How old is he now?” Daniela asked.

“Mid forties or so. Poor guy.”

“It still doesn’t explain why he kept looking at you.”

“Maybe he likes you,” Belina joked. I smacked the back of her head.

“Don’t go there.” I switched to a news page and our eyes widened at the headlines.

“‘Sergeant Miller Hayes has gone missing!’” We gasped.

“Wow. Talk about ironic,” I said. I scrolled down the webpage and came across another weird headline, but much smaller.

“‘Three snipers kill guards and Sergeant Kempis at boot camp!’” I paused then read on, “‘The three snipers; Kendall Davison, Joshua Switoski, and Jayden Lewis; have been trained for three years. Last night, witnesses saw the three break into the weapon shed, steal three sniper rifles and shoot the Sergeant (Craig Kempis) along with the two guards.’”

“Could our next killer be snipers?” I thought, glancing over at the window. Daniela and Belina did the same.

“Why don’t we move away from the windows?” Daniela suggested.

We didn’t sleep at all last night. I yawned as I gazed out the window at the rising sun. It was finally Saturday at six in the morning.

“What do you want to do today?” Daniela asked me.

“I don’t know; what about you Belina?” She yawned.

“Whatever. Just something that’s outside of this house.”

“You want to see if we can hit the slots?” Daniela asked.

“Illegal. How about we go to the mall?” I asked.

“Okay,” they agreed. We entered the garage and inspected the car. Nothing seemed wrong today…which made our suspicions grow. Daniela and Belina got in the car, but I stopped in my tracks, remembering something.

“Oh, shoot. I forgot my cell. Be back in a second.” I went back inside and grabbed my phone off its charger. When I glanced up, I nearly screamed. In the window of the house beside us was not my neighbor, a helpless old woman who gave me freshly baked cookies every Christmas. No, this was someone else dressed in a black cap, black shirt, and held a large black case. My neighbor had no family, so who was this? It looked like the man placed the case on the bed and opened it. When he turned facing the window, he was loading…a gun.

“Shoot,” I said under my breath. I ran back to the car and fiddled with the keys.

“That one goes in the ignition,” Daniela pointed out. I exhaled, trying to calm myself.

“Guys, we can never come back here,” I said.

“What? Why?” they asked.

“Snipers are in the other house.”

“Oh. Well, then, why are we still in your house?” Daniela asked. I started the car, opened the garage and drove off. I glanced at my house once more in my rearview mirror and remembered something else.

“Crap! Mom!” I shouted.

“What?”

“Mom! My mom! She’ll be home today! I have to call her!” I pulled out my phone and dialed a hotel number in London. There was a long silence, then finally…

“London Luxury, how may we be of service?” A woman with a strong English accent answered.

“Could you please put me through to room 1121, a Mrs. Rebecca Evans?” I replied.

“May I have your name, please?”

“This is her daughter, Miranda Evans.”

“Please hold.” There was a moment of silence.

“Hello? Mirs! What’s wrong?!” The voice scared me and I slammed on the brakes; jolting us forward. I stared at nothing ahead of me; I just froze there.

“What’s wrong, Mirs?” Daniela asked in a murmur.

“Mirs? Are you there?” the voice asked.

“Dad…”

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