HOME | DD

Description
"I can take you home sweetheart." Mrs. Falder smiled and quickly kissed her husband on the lips. "Grab your backpack and lets blow this Popsicle stand." He smiled as he opened the front door. Carter laughed a little and Alyx grabbed her hand.

"Where you going Carter?" Alyx asked. Her light green dress blew in the breeze from the front door being swung open.

"I'm going home Alyx. I wish I could stay, but my mommy wants me home. Bye Alyx." Carter waved. Her sleeve went over her hand as she waved. Mr. Falder was already in his red SUV waiting for Carter. She walked to the car and opened the back door. She hopped in and buckled herself up. "I'm ready to go." Mr. Falder smiled and put the car in reverse. Once he was out of the driveway we put it in drive and drove off.

"Okay Carter. Where do you live my dear?" Mr. Falder asked. Carter looked up and thought of how to get to her house from where she was.

"Well I live on Willow drive. 732 Willow is my actual address."

"Okay sweetie." Mr. Falder turned on thirteenth and drove all the way to Willow. He took a right and went all the way up Willow till he got to 732. Carter unbuckled herself and jumped out the car. She waved goodbye and walked up to her house. Mr. Falder couldn't stop staring at the house. It seemed to be partly burnt down and old. Before he drove off he saw who seemed to be Mrs. Stipp standing on the front porch, well what was left of the front porch. She had curly blonde hair and dark makeup around her green eyes. She looked angry. She wore all black and had her nose pierced. Mrs. Stipp grabbed Carter by the forearm and dragged her into the house. He heard faint yelling and screaming and then a loud bloody murder scream. He turned the car off, and ran to the front door. Carter ran right into him and her mother was right behind her. Carter wrapped her tiny arms around Mr. Falder's right leg and held on tightly.

"You stay away from my daughter you here!" she screamed in his face. She was about to slap him in the face, when he grabbed her arm and held it tight.

"Don't you ever hit your daughter again. Otherwise, I will call the police and they will see to this." Mr. Falder said in his deep protective voice. Mrs. Stipp just rolled her eyes and tried to pull her daughter off his leg with her left arm. She struggled to get out from Mr. Falder grip, but he was too strong.
"Let go!" She finally broke free and got her daughter off of his leg. He saw Carter bleeding on her right arm and her face bruised. Tears were rolling down her face.
"I promise I'll get you out of this Carter." He whispered.

"What did you say?!" She sounded angrier then before. She threw her daughter into the house and got really close to Mr. Falder. He just left for his car. Mrs. Stipp stood there and swore up a storm at him as he drove off. Carter needs our help a lot more then I realized. Mr. Falder thought as he drove off.

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Carter was in her room crying even harder. She saw her keyboard she got from her aunt for Christmas just last year. She didn't know how to play, so she never touched it. She thought about earlier in the music room and smiled. She dug into her box by her bed and found huge headphones. She always saw people on television wear them for recording songs or movies that were a cartoon. She thought they were interesting and fun. She plugged them into the keyboard and turned it on. She plunked a note and it sounded beautiful. Her face lit up and she kept playing. It was as if she was under a spell or charm. As she played the keyboard, it made her forget about her parents and pain. It made her think of the Falder's and how nice and caring they were to her. She hummed quietly to herself as she played. Her door opened slowly and a large man came into her room. He had dark brown mid-back hair. It was pulled back in a pony and his eyes were like a mean forest green. He wore biker clothes and he had a bandana around his head like a bandit. He stood next to Carter and quietly listened to her hum and watched her fingers go across the keyboard gracefully. He ripped the headphones off her head and she screamed. "Stop plying this piece of shit." was all the man said.

"DADDY!" she shouted in tears. Her spell was broken and everything came back to her like a knife stabbing her in the chest. She grabbed her right arm in pain. It was throbbing and bled even more. The man stared at her angrily and was about to strike her. "Okay daddy. I'll stop."

He walked over to her door, turned to face her, said "Good," and slammed the door. Carter got up from where the keyboard was and walked to her bed. She got on top of it, put her knees up to her chest and cried silently for the rest of the night.

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Mr. Falder came in the house and went straight for the bedroom. He saw his wife getting ready for bed. Mrs. Falder turned around and saw him with his head down. "Hey honey, are you okay?" Mrs. Falder asked concerned. Mr. Falder looked at his wife and his eyes got wide. "Jay, what's wrong?" Jay walked over to the bed slowly, sat down by his pillow and put his head into his hands. His wife walked over to him in her pajamas, sat right beside him and rubbed his back gently. Jay let out a shaky sigh and looked up at his wife.

"Honey, this is serious. Lyra, we need to help Carter. And soon." Lyra looked at him with a worried face on. She still rubbed his back, but she was about to grab his shirt with tension, when he grabbed her arm and held it tightly. "Lyra, I mean it. Carter is in serious danger and if we don't help her now, she'll…she'll…" Lyra took his hand and held it with their fingers entwined.

"She'll what honey?" she asked concerned while rubbing his hand. Tears started running down his face slowly and gently. Lyra had never seen Jay cry before, which meant this must have been pretty big for him to cry about it. "Honey, just calm down and tell me what's going on. I can't help Carter if I don't know what's going to happen to her." He turned to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Shhhhhhhhhhh. Jay Falder everything is going to be okay." Lyra said as he rubbed his back gently and soothingly.

"SHE'LL GET MURDERED BY HER MOTHER!" he shouted suddenly. Lyra just looked at him shocked. They heard a thud, but figured it was just the dogs so they didn't bother checking what it was.

"Whoa! Honey, how do you know this?" Lyra asked confused.

"I heard screams and yelling in her house. I ran out of the car and walked to her front porch. By the time I got there Carter ran into me and I saw her face bruised and a deep cut on her right forearm. Her mother threatened me to stay away from her daughter. She wanted to strike me too, but I grabbed her arm and held it tightly for defense. Carter was crying and looking to me for help. I told her that I'd get her out of there. I PROMISED HER I WOULD LYRA!" Jay was in full-blown tears now. He had to gasp for air as he talked and Lyra's pajama shirt was all wet with salty tears. Lyra kept rubbing her husbands back soothingly.

"Jay, we will help her and save her okay. I'm promising you that we will. I care about her as much as you do. She's like one of our kids to me. We will do what we can okay honey." Lyra told her husband. He nodded slightly in her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. She took his head and pressed it against her chest. She held it there and gently rubbed his hair. "C'mon time for bed. Getting a good night sleep will help you calm down. Let's get you undressed." She helped Jay take his sweater vest off and unbutton his shirt, but he did the rest with his pants. Lyra threw him his pajamas and went to the bathroom. By the time she came out, Jay was in bed sound asleep. She just smiled and crawled into bed next to him. She kissed him gently on the cheek and cuddled up next to him while falling asleep.

Morning came quickly and Alyx and Clyde were fighting again. "CLYDE sit down and eat your breakfast please. Alyx get ready for school." Lyra told her children. Alyx skipped off to get ready for school while Clyde ate his cereal. Mr. Falder walked into the kitchen and saw his wife in a pair of dark jeans that fit her cleanly and a music sweatshirt from the high school. He went behind her and gave her a squeeze. "Oh hello sweetheart. I didn't realize you were up. Good morning." Lyra said with a smile.

"Morning dear." Jay said back with a yawn. "Morning Clyde." Clyde looked up and said with a mouthful of cereal, "Mornin'" Jay and Lyra both laughed a little and Jay kissed Lyra on the cheek quick. "I have to be at school early this morning so I will be taking my car." Jay smiled. His wife smiled and nodded. She quickly went into their room to change and when she came back out Jay was just about to go out the door. "Bye kids behave for mommy and your other teachers okay." He had his coffee in hand and his black with blue music note backpack on his back.

"Hey sweetheart, you forgetting two big things?" she smiled. He turned to see Lyra holding his jacket and baton in her hands. He smiled and shook his head. He walked over to her, put his things down and put his coat on. "It's supposed to be cold out today. At last, winter degrees and hopefully snow." She smiled. Alyx heard snow and she got excited.
"Snow?! When? How much? SNOW!!!!" she was jumping off the walls it seemed like. Jay looked at Lyra and shook his head again. Lyra just shrugged and walked back into the kitchen.

"Okay Alyx calm down. When the snow comes we will go sledding okay." She nodded and hugged her father around the legs tightly. "Now sweetie, I have to get to school." Alyx let go and waved goodbye. Clyde waved and Lyra smiled. Jay waved back to all of them and left to his car.

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Mrs. Falder put her shoes on and called her children. "Yes mommy?" Alyx asked sweetly as she played with her sweatshirt sleeves.
"You ready to go?" she nodded and skipped to her backpack. "Clyde c'mon time to go!" Mrs. Falder yelled to Clyde. He ran down the steps and into the garage. He came back out with his skateboard in hand.

"Ready." Clyde said smiling. He walked to the front door with his sister right behind him. "Can we get in the car?" he asked. Mrs. Falder nodded and grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter. She strolled to the front door and walked out to the car. Alyx and Clyde were standing outside of the car waiting patiently for their mother to unlock it. There was a click and the kids jumped into the back. Mrs. Falder smiled and got in the drivers seat. She started the car and drove off to school.

Minutes later they got to school. Mrs. Falder parked in the teacher parking lot and the kids jumped out to go play on the playground. The playground had brand new equipment and a blacktop instead of woodchips. It was a great playground. The school was red-orange brick and large as if it were meant to be a high school and not a grade school. Mrs. Falder went to her room and set up her lessons for the day. Math was first English was second, the library was third, Science was fourth, Music was fifth, History was sixth and Art was eighth. Recess and lunch were in there sometime too. The first bell rang and the students came in class not talking. They were all silent. Some were shaking, some were breathing heavily. "Hey kids. What's going on?" Mrs. Falder asked curiously. A boy with shaggy blonde hair raised his hand slowly. His glasses were slowly slithering down his pale nose. "Yes?"

"Carter's mommy kind of…." The boy trailed off. His glasses finally fell off his face and he was shaking, scared to death of something.

"James, please tell me what's wrong." A girl spoke up. She looked like the boy, but had black tight curly hair. She was super tan and wore dark jeans with a gray sweatshirt.
"She made a scene and…beat Carter right then and there. Mr. Hernandez…grabbed Carter just in time…and took out his phone. H…he was…a…about to c…call the p…police when sh…she left. C…carter ran i…into the sch…school and we don't know where sh…she is." The girl said quietly. She was crying slightly and scared. Mrs. Falder could tell all her students were scared, but not as scared as Carter must be.

"Okay class, we will do our lessons later. Right now we are going to play a fun partner game. This game is called Detective. You look through out the whole school and whoever finds Carter first wins. We will have these walkie-talkies. There are only four of them, so there will be three groups and me. I will have one and one person in your groups will have one. If anyone finds Carter please call on the walkie-talkie and tell us to get back to the classroom. Sound fun?" Mrs. Falder said. The class nodded and got out of their seats slowly. The groups quietly took a walkie-talkie and headed out into the hallway to look for their classmate. Mrs. Falder went to her desk phone and dialed her husbands work number. No answer. She tried his cell phone. Still, no answer. Finally she called his work number one more time and a girls voice was on the other end. "Hello, Mr. Falder's teacher aide Alyssa. How may I help you?"

"Hello Alyssa. This is his wife. Do you know where he is?"

"Yes. He's teaching class right now."

"Can you please go get him for me? It's important. Thanks."

Description
"I can take you home sweetheart." Mrs. Falder smiled and quickly kissed her husband on the lips. "Grab your backpack and lets blow this Popsicle stand." He smiled as he opened the front door. Carter laughed a little and Alyx grabbed her hand.

"Where you going Carter?" Alyx asked. Her light green dress blew in the breeze from the front door being swung open.

"I'm going home Alyx. I wish I could stay, but my mommy wants me home. Bye Alyx." Carter waved. Her sleeve went over her hand as she waved. Mr. Falder was already in his red SUV waiting for Carter. She walked to the car and opened the back door. She hopped in and buckled herself up. "I'm ready to go." Mr. Falder smiled and put the car in reverse. Once he was out of the driveway we put it in drive and drove off.

"Okay Carter. Where do you live my dear?" Mr. Falder asked. Carter looked up and thought of how to get to her house from where she was.

"Well I live on Willow drive. 732 Willow is my actual address."

"Okay sweetie." Mr. Falder turned on thirteenth and drove all the way to Willow. He took a right and went all the way up Willow till he got to 732. Carter unbuckled herself and jumped out the car. She waved goodbye and walked up to her house. Mr. Falder couldn't stop staring at the house. It seemed to be partly burnt down and old. Before he drove off he saw who seemed to be Mrs. Stipp standing on the front porch, well what was left of the front porch. She had curly blonde hair and dark makeup around her green eyes. She looked angry. She wore all black and had her nose pierced. Mrs. Stipp grabbed Carter by the forearm and dragged her into the house. He heard faint yelling and screaming and then a loud bloody murder scream. He turned the car off, and ran to the front door. Carter ran right into him and her mother was right behind her. Carter wrapped her tiny arms around Mr. Falder's right leg and held on tightly.

"You stay away from my daughter you here!" she screamed in his face. She was about to slap him in the face, when he grabbed her arm and held it tight.

"Don't you ever hit your daughter again. Otherwise, I will call the police and they will see to this." Mr. Falder said in his deep protective voice. Mrs. Stipp just rolled her eyes and tried to pull her daughter off his leg with her left arm. She struggled to get out from Mr. Falder grip, but he was too strong.
"Let go!" She finally broke free and got her daughter off of his leg. He saw Carter bleeding on her right arm and her face bruised. Tears were rolling down her face.
"I promise I'll get you out of this Carter." He whispered.

"What did you say?!" She sounded angrier then before. She threw her daughter into the house and got really close to Mr. Falder. He just left for his car. Mrs. Stipp stood there and swore up a storm at him as he drove off. Carter needs our help a lot more then I realized. Mr. Falder thought as he drove off.

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Carter was in her room crying even harder. She saw her keyboard she got from her aunt for Christmas just last year. She didn't know how to play, so she never touched it. She thought about earlier in the music room and smiled. She dug into her box by her bed and found huge headphones. She always saw people on television wear them for recording songs or movies that were a cartoon. She thought they were interesting and fun. She plugged them into the keyboard and turned it on. She plunked a note and it sounded beautiful. Her face lit up and she kept playing. It was as if she was under a spell or charm. As she played the keyboard, it made her forget about her parents and pain. It made her think of the Falder's and how nice and caring they were to her. She hummed quietly to herself as she played. Her door opened slowly and a large man came into her room. He had dark brown mid-back hair. It was pulled back in a pony and his eyes were like a mean forest green. He wore biker clothes and he had a bandana around his head like a bandit. He stood next to Carter and quietly listened to her hum and watched her fingers go across the keyboard gracefully. He ripped the headphones off her head and she screamed. "Stop plying this piece of shit." was all the man said.

"DADDY!" she shouted in tears. Her spell was broken and everything came back to her like a knife stabbing her in the chest. She grabbed her right arm in pain. It was throbbing and bled even more. The man stared at her angrily and was about to strike her. "Okay daddy. I'll stop."

He walked over to her door, turned to face her, said "Good," and slammed the door. Carter got up from where the keyboard was and walked to her bed. She got on top of it, put her knees up to her chest and cried silently for the rest of the night.

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Mr. Falder came in the house and went straight for the bedroom. He saw his wife getting ready for bed. Mrs. Falder turned around and saw him with his head down. "Hey honey, are you okay?" Mrs. Falder asked concerned. Mr. Falder looked at his wife and his eyes got wide. "Jay, what's wrong?" Jay walked over to the bed slowly, sat down by his pillow and put his head into his hands. His wife walked over to him in her pajamas, sat right beside him and rubbed his back gently. Jay let out a shaky sigh and looked up at his wife.

"Honey, this is serious. Lyra, we need to help Carter. And soon." Lyra looked at him with a worried face on. She still rubbed his back, but she was about to grab his shirt with tension, when he grabbed her arm and held it tightly. "Lyra, I mean it. Carter is in serious danger and if we don't help her now, she'll…she'll…" Lyra took his hand and held it with their fingers entwined.

"She'll what honey?" she asked concerned while rubbing his hand. Tears started running down his face slowly and gently. Lyra had never seen Jay cry before, which meant this must have been pretty big for him to cry about it. "Honey, just calm down and tell me what's going on. I can't help Carter if I don't know what's going to happen to her." He turned to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Shhhhhhhhhhh. Jay Falder everything is going to be okay." Lyra said as he rubbed his back gently and soothingly.

"SHE'LL GET MURDERED BY HER MOTHER!" he shouted suddenly. Lyra just looked at him shocked. They heard a thud, but figured it was just the dogs so they didn't bother checking what it was.

"Whoa! Honey, how do you know this?" Lyra asked confused.

"I heard screams and yelling in her house. I ran out of the car and walked to her front porch. By the time I got there Carter ran into me and I saw her face bruised and a deep cut on her right forearm. Her mother threatened me to stay away from her daughter. She wanted to strike me too, but I grabbed her arm and held it tightly for defense. Carter was crying and looking to me for help. I told her that I'd get her out of there. I PROMISED HER I WOULD LYRA!" Jay was in full-blown tears now. He had to gasp for air as he talked and Lyra's pajama shirt was all wet with salty tears. Lyra kept rubbing her husbands back soothingly.

"Jay, we will help her and save her okay. I'm promising you that we will. I care about her as much as you do. She's like one of our kids to me. We will do what we can okay honey." Lyra told her husband. He nodded slightly in her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. She took his head and pressed it against her chest. She held it there and gently rubbed his hair. "C'mon time for bed. Getting a good night sleep will help you calm down. Let's get you undressed." She helped Jay take his sweater vest off and unbutton his shirt, but he did the rest with his pants. Lyra threw him his pajamas and went to the bathroom. By the time she came out, Jay was in bed sound asleep. She just smiled and crawled into bed next to him. She kissed him gently on the cheek and cuddled up next to him while falling asleep.

Morning came quickly and Alyx and Clyde were fighting again. "CLYDE sit down and eat your breakfast please. Alyx get ready for school." Lyra told her children. Alyx skipped off to get ready for school while Clyde ate his cereal. Mr. Falder walked into the kitchen and saw his wife in a pair of dark jeans that fit her cleanly and a music sweatshirt from the high school. He went behind her and gave her a squeeze. "Oh hello sweetheart. I didn't realize you were up. Good morning." Lyra said with a smile.

"Morning dear." Jay said back with a yawn. "Morning Clyde." Clyde looked up and said with a mouthful of cereal, "Mornin'" Jay and Lyra both laughed a little and Jay kissed Lyra on the cheek quick. "I have to be at school early this morning so I will be taking my car." Jay smiled. His wife smiled and nodded. She quickly went into their room to change and when she came back out Jay was just about to go out the door. "Bye kids behave for mommy and your other teachers okay." He had his coffee in hand and his black with blue music note backpack on his back.

"Hey sweetheart, you forgetting two big things?" she smiled. He turned to see Lyra holding his jacket and baton in her hands. He smiled and shook his head. He walked over to her, put his things down and put his coat on. "It's supposed to be cold out today. At last, winter degrees and hopefully snow." She smiled. Alyx heard snow and she got excited.
"Snow?! When? How much? SNOW!!!!" she was jumping off the walls it seemed like. Jay looked at Lyra and shook his head again. Lyra just shrugged and walked back into the kitchen.

"Okay Alyx calm down. When the snow comes we will go sledding okay." She nodded and hugged her father around the legs tightly. "Now sweetie, I have to get to school." Alyx let go and waved goodbye. Clyde waved and Lyra smiled. Jay waved back to all of them and left to his car.

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Mrs. Falder put her shoes on and called her children. "Yes mommy?" Alyx asked sweetly as she played with her sweatshirt sleeves.
"You ready to go?" she nodded and skipped to her backpack. "Clyde c'mon time to go!" Mrs. Falder yelled to Clyde. He ran down the steps and into the garage. He came back out with his skateboard in hand.

"Ready." Clyde said smiling. He walked to the front door with his sister right behind him. "Can we get in the car?" he asked. Mrs. Falder nodded and grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter. She strolled to the front door and walked out to the car. Alyx and Clyde were standing outside of the car waiting patiently for their mother to unlock it. There was a click and the kids jumped into the back. Mrs. Falder smiled and got in the drivers seat. She started the car and drove off to school.

Minutes later they got to school. Mrs. Falder parked in the teacher parking lot and the kids jumped out to go play on the playground. The playground had brand new equipment and a blacktop instead of woodchips. It was a great playground. The school was red-orange brick and large as if it were meant to be a high school and not a grade school. Mrs. Falder went to her room and set up her lessons for the day. Math was first English was second, the library was third, Science was fourth, Music was fifth, History was sixth and Art was eighth. Recess and lunch were in there sometime too. The first bell rang and the students came in class not talking. They were all silent. Some were shaking, some were breathing heavily. "Hey kids. What's going on?" Mrs. Falder asked curiously. A boy with shaggy blonde hair raised his hand slowly. His glasses were slowly slithering down his pale nose. "Yes?"

"Carter's mommy kind of…." The boy trailed off. His glasses finally fell off his face and he was shaking, scared to death of something.

"James, please tell me what's wrong." A girl spoke up. She looked like the boy, but had black tight curly hair. She was super tan and wore dark jeans with a gray sweatshirt.
"She made a scene and…beat Carter right then and there. Mr. Hernandez…grabbed Carter just in time…and took out his phone. H…he was…a…about to c…call the p…police when sh…she left. C…carter ran i…into the sch…school and we don't know where sh…she is." The girl said quietly. She was crying slightly and scared. Mrs. Falder could tell all her students were scared, but not as scared as Carter must be.

"Okay class, we will do our lessons later. Right now we are going to play a fun partner game. This game is called Detective. You look through out the whole school and whoever finds Carter first wins. We will have these walkie-talkies. There are only four of them, so there will be three groups and me. I will have one and one person in your groups will have one. If anyone finds Carter please call on the walkie-talkie and tell us to get back to the classroom. Sound fun?" Mrs. Falder said. The class nodded and got out of their seats slowly. The groups quietly took a walkie-talkie and headed out into the hallway to look for their classmate. Mrs. Falder went to her desk phone and dialed her husbands work number. No answer. She tried his cell phone. Still, no answer. Finally she called his work number one more time and a girls voice was on the other end. "Hello, Mr. Falder's teacher aide Alyssa. How may I help you?"

"Hello Alyssa. This is his wife. Do you know where he is?"

"Yes. He's teaching class right now."

"Can you please go get him for me? It's important. Thanks."