At first all I could feel were my tears. Silent tears. Most of all, empty tears. I should have known. I should have stayed with my mother. I should have protected her. I should have............I should have just died back then. Back before this mess started. I should have died when he first saw me. I deserve to die. I'm such a failure. My mother was all I had left of my family. My father died. My grandparents died a long time ago. Everyone......they're all gone. Just then, the lights went out.

"Alice....." I heard a voice in the darkness. David. I slowly backed away. "Alice.......Come here, Alice." No. I won't. Leave me alone........."Alice!" He snapped, then I heard someone fall on the ground next to me. I didn't know what happened, until I heard a faint, deep moan. Someone's last sound. He killed another person. "Alice, come here.....we're waiting." He sang quietly. I couldn't move. I was paralyzed with fear. I didn't notice anything until I heard that voice just beside my ear.

"Hello there, Alice." Chills ran down my back. I felt something deathly cold on my arm. A cold blade. "Now, now, don't cause any more trouble than you already have." I didn't want to listen to this torture anymore. I ran. I pushed myself through the crowd of people, who were trying to get out. He'll never find me here, will he? But he might follow them outside. If I could just hide..........I felt a table against me as I reached an end of the ballroom. I crouched down, and hid under it, when I heard a door slam shut.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are experiencing difficulties, as known to us. Now, please don't cause us any difficulties, and everything will be alright." I froze under the table. He's looking for me. He's closed the doors. I'm trapped here. In the same room as David. In the same room as my mother........or what's left of my mother. A tear slipped down my cheek. Mom.........why......why did you have to leave? "Alice.....where are you?" I heard an edge in his voice. A type of lust, murderous lust. I took a deep breath, and nearly choked. The air was heavy, it was heavy with death. I curled up, trying to escape this world. If I close my eyes, it might have just been a dream. Just a nightmare. Nothing to fret about, right? I stayed in this position, until I heard something. I opened my eyes to lights. The lights were back on again.

"Miss? Miss, are you awake?" A police officer shone a light into my eyes, through the eyeholes of my mask.

"Wha-What happened?" I asked, dazed.

"There was a mass murder. At least twenty people were murdered last night." I nearly choked. Twenty? Twenty people? Then I realized something. My mother was one of them.

"Where's my mom?" I asked, sounding like a little child.

"Your mother? We're not sure. If you could please just come out, miss, that would be a bit helpful." He helped me up from under the table after I pulled my mask off, and I saw how serious it was. None of the guests, well, none of the alive guests were here. There were bodies being escorted into a van.

I saw my mother lying at the other end of the room. "Mom!" I yelled, running towards her, ignoring the police. She was lying there, a stab wound in her chest.

"Mom?" I asked quietly. I hoped that she was just sleeping.......just asleep, but that didn't happen. The wound was serious, but then her eyes slowly fluttered open, just a bit. "Please don't leave me, Mom.....Please...." I cried.

"My sweet Alice........I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously........I.....I-I love you, Alice." She quietly uttered.

"I love you too, Mom.....Goodbye............" I told her, tears falling from my eyes. She weakly smiled at me, and her eyes closed again. My heart was hoping she was just going to sleep, just a little sleep, but I knew different. She left. She wouldn't come back, and I knew that. "Mom......" I couldn't stop my tears from flowing.

"Ma'am, please, you'll be escorted out of here soon. Please back away from this woman." I followed his orders silently. A police officer drove me home, and he was saying something about 'adoption', 'sorry', 'genuine shock', and 'therapy', but I wasn't listening. The world was falling for me. Outside it was morning, and sunny, but inside me the sadness and grief for my family was clouding my mind.

"We're here, miss. Please exit the car." I got out of the car, but stopped the policeman before he drove away.

"What should I do now, sir? I don't have any parents anymore."

He rolled his eyes. "Look, ma'am, I told you before. You're being given up for adoption. You have the day to pack up, and then it's off to the orphanage." I stared at him in disbelief. Adoption..........no..............Then another question came to me.

"Excuse me, sir, but I have one last question."

"Yeah?" I looked up, and looked deep into his eyes.

"Was the murderer captured?" I asked him, hoping for at least one piece of 'good' news.

"No, ma'am. The killer is still at large. He escaped as we arrived. And girl, wash your arms when you go upstairs. You have blood on them." He then drove away, leaving me all alone. All alone for the first time in my life.