My mom and Grandpa have always had a weird relationship; therefore, my relationship with my grandpa has been tainted. They go weeks and months without talking because as my mom puts it my grandpa “always chose his business and social life rather than having a relationship with his children.” My Grandpa Jon passed away recently and I have very few memories of him. He was a very wealthy businessman and politician in Minnesota.

My family and I live  in Texas where my mom is a teacher and my dad is a  mechanic. We live a simple life, but my grandpa always sends us money to help out, and my mother is very reluctant about accepting it.

Since Grandpa passed away suddenly a few months ago, we had been in a frenzy over what to do with his estates. He lived in Minnesota, but had a vacation home in Maine. My parents decided that we would vacation at his getaway home one more time in Maine before putting it up for sale. On our way there we stop at a McDonalds to eat. As my mom’s order is being taken by a man who has a very baby like face, my little sister Aaliyah taps me and says “Blake why is that man staring at us?”

At first I didn’t notice, but Aaliyah is right; there is a pudgy white man with no teeth and wiry hair staring at us.  

“I don’t know Aaliyah, but it’s not nice to point.” I say

As we are waiting for our food the man comes out of the back and starts talking to my father. He has a grimy faded red shirt with stains all over it and his nametag says Bill.

“So where are you guys headed if you don’t mind me asking” he says to my dad.

“Oh we are just heading up to my in laws vacation house about a half an hour north of here” my dad reveals, and I can sense that my dad has already told to much, this dude is really creepy.

“You wouldn’t happen to be talking about Senator Johnson’s place up in Williamsburg now would you?” the man asks with a creepy full gums smile.

“Yes that’s exactly where we are headed” my dad says without knowing that he is giving this man way more information than he needs; not to mention our food is taking a ridiculously long time to come out considering that this is a fast food joint.

“Well I’m sorry for your loss, I have a cabin up there and I’ve been keeping an eye out to make sure that no one was trying to mess with the property. I never knew the Senator personally, but he did so many great things and will be deeply missed.”

“Thanks that really means a lot,” my mom chimes in, clearly annoyed because my sister has been bugging her about when the food will finally come out so we can head to the house.

After we get our food and pack back into the car the rest of the ride goes quickly. Once we get to the gate, my dad enters the code 32085278. I haven’t been to this place in years so I forgot how beautiful it was.

“Woahhh” Aaliyah says with her mouth open.

    Grandpa John has been dead for about six months, but you can’t tell that the house hasn’t been tended to. The front yard has a fountain surrounded with vibrant colored flowers of red, purple, and orange. As we slowly ride up the driveway to the house it becomes even more unreal to me. My grandpa was living such a luxurious life while my family was struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. There are white pillars that hold the house up with huge French doors behind them.

    After we walk up the stairs it takes my mom and dad about ten minutes to figure out the complicated security system that's in place. When we enter the house my sister and I rush to the bedrooms to fight over who gets the bigger one. After we are settled Aaliyah and I take a tour of the house.

“I don’t remember there being a pool last time” Aaliyah says

“Well the last time we were here you were probably about six years old”  I say, “the pools always been here but mom and dad said that he remodeled the basement. Let’s go check it out.”

As walk down the spiral staircase, I am shocked. Last time we were here there were just a few couches and a TV. Now it looks like an arcade within a movie theater. We walk into the wine cellar and start touching things we weren’t supposed to. As Aaliyah pulls out a wine bottle from the bottom of the rack a piece of the wall pops out and we see a safe.

“What did I just do” Aaliyah says walking towards the safe

“I don’t know. I don’t even think that Mom and Dad know about this”

“What do you think the code is?”

“Try his birthday” I tell her.

03151923 Aaliyah types as we wait in anticipation.

The screen blinks red and we guess try to guess other codes that might be correct.

“Try mom’s birthday, maybe that’s it,” I say

“It can’t be birthdays he can’t be that stupid. What else would he make the code”

“Do you think we should try the gate code?” I ask her ask I’m typing it in.

“32085278” and the safe pops open and we see an ungodly amount of money and jewelry.

“Aaliyah I don’t even think mom and dad know that there is a safe down here,” I say “We have to keep this between us and only us.”

“Okay.” she mumbles as she is trying on a shining diamond necklace that is probably worth more than the car we drove up here.

“Aaliyah put it away now and I mean it”

“Kids come upstairs dinner is ready!” my mom yells as we are trying to put all the money and jewelry back the way we found it.

As we shut the safe my mom walks into the room scolding us

“Did you guys not hear me, I said dinner is ready. What are you two even doing in the cellar. It’s for adults only.”

When we get upstairs I can see that our parents have made a huge dinner for us out on the patio. We are eating by the pool and can look out into the woods. There are lots of animals like deer, rabbits, and birds starting to come out as it gets darker. After we finish dinner my parents decide to head to the hot tub while Aaliyah and I hop in the swimming pool. While we are playing Marco Polo, I hear a twig snap and look into the trees to see what’s happening. I see some movement, but I just decide to ignore it because Aaliyah is starting to get annoyed that she’s screaming “Marco” and not getting the “Polo” response that I am supposed to supply.

My parents start to head inside and tell us that we have ten more minutes. We continue playing our pool games and when Aaliyah sprays me with a water I swear that I hear another twig snap. At this point I am starting to get scared so I make Aaliyah go inside early and make sure that I lock the back door. After I shower and tuck my little sister into bed I hear the stairs creaking and whispering, so I know that there is someone in the house because I just walked past my parents room. I grab Aaliyah out of her sleep and take her to my parents room.

“There’s someone in the house.” I tell my mom and dad. They are watching TV, and don’t really pay attention to what I just said.

“Blake go to bed. You’re just not used to being in such a big house, plus it’s a bit older so sometimes the house makes weird noises,” my mom says.

“No I heard whispering too.” I say

“Alright me and you will go downstairs and check it out big man” my dad says to me while he is getting out of bed. He goes to the closest to grab the extra slab of wood that wasn’t used when the bed was being set up.

When we are walking down the stairs they start to creak. We do a sweep of the kitchen and living room and find nothing. We walk downstairs and turn the lights on. Nothing seems out of place, and my dad sets the wood down on the floor and stares at me obviously pissed off.

“Your mom and sister are scared to death right now and you made me get out of bed for nothing. You need to grow up and stop being scared of every sing-”

“Put your hands up now!” we hear as 3 men burst out the bathroom. One of them is the man from McDonalds and two teenagers who look like they have no idea what they are doing. One of them has a knife and the other has a backpack on.

The man from McDonalds has a pistol in his hand and is dressed in all black.

“Where is everyone else at?” He asks as the man with the knife pats me and my father down to make sure we aren’t harboring any weapons.

“Upstairs in the bedroom. Please just don’t hurt anyone.” my father says sternly.

“John go upstairs and bring down mom and the little girl.” the McDonalds guy says.

“I thought we weren’t using pur real names?” John questions.

“Just go upstairs and get the damn wife and kid.”

“What are you doing here and what do you want with my family” my dad asks as the other two head upstairs to get my mom and sister.

“There’s a safe somewhere in here and it’s leaving with me.” McDonalds guy smirks as the other two bring my mom and sister from the bedroom, both of them are crying.

“There’s no safe man, and if there is we have no idea where it’s at,” my dad tells the man.

“I know where the safe is at,” Aaliyah says, and the whole room turns to her.

The McDonalds guy smiles and all I see is gums.

“Where is it at sweetie?” he questions her.

“In there. Pull the bottle all the way to the bottom and the right, then it will pop up” She points to the cellar.

As the other two head to the cellar the McDonalds man backs me and my family into a wall.

“You dumbass she said to the right.” yells one of the guys.

“No she said to the left.” The other argues back.

“Hey what’s going on in there” the McDonalds guy asks as he turns his back to go check on them. My father picks up the wood he dropped on the floor earlier. As the guy from McDonalds reaches the cellar, my dad catches up with him and hits him over the head as hard as he can. He falls to the floor and I run over and grab the gun. I hand it to my dad and he goes into the cellar and forces the other two out into the basement with their leader.

“Blake go get zip ties from the garage to tie them up. Bethany you and Aaliyah head upstairs and call the police. We’ll let them take care of these scumbags” he orders.