Saving Alex Peterson

"Save my brother! Don't let him die!" Kelly Peterson screamed those words over and over in her head as she tossed and turned during the horrific nightmare she was having. Kelly's mother, Sarah ran into her daughter's room when she heard noises coming from there. Sarah grabbed her daughter and held her tight as both their bodies rocked back and forth. Sarah was trying to wake Kelly up from the nightmare she was having but the sad truth is the nightmare was a tragic scene.

Six months prior, on December 10th, Kelly was anticipating the homecoming of her brother Alex from college. Kelly absolutely adored her brother. She always found a way to brag about how smart he was and all the accomplishments he had made. They had a very strong sibling bond which came shining through the night he arrived home for Christmas break.

As Kelly and Sarah waited, Alex was already filing off the Greyhound bus a little more then thirty minutes away. He had it all planned out, he would go next door, rent a car and drive home to the warmth of his family. However, his plans never included the stranger who was now following him. The dark man was on the same bus ride home with Alex but he never paid him nor any other passenger much attention. Alex was too excited to get home that day.

Alex got the keys to his new ride for the next couple weeks and started over to the car. He slowly let out a sigh of relief while he thought to himself that in less then thirty minutes he would be chowing down on his mom's home cooking and talking life over with his baby sister. Not even before the sigh of relief was finished a strong blunt object smashed Alex in the head and he fell to the ground unconscious.

As Alex started to open his eyes he realized he was laying in the back seat of the car he just rented. He tried to sit up and move his arms but he was bound tightly with duct tape and ropes. He could not even open his mouth. He tried to get a good glimpse of who was driving, but the man had a black ski cap over his head. All Alex could do was watch the tree tops pass by out the window while his insides shivered.

Even though the stranger and Alex had only been in the car for ten minutes, to Alex it seemed like hours had passed by before the car finally came to a halt. Alex wondered where he was, but that questioned was answered very quickly as the dark man grabbed Alex out of the back seat and propped him up by the car door. Alex was in his own driveway. How did this man know where he lived? As far as Alex could tell he could still feel his wallet in his pocket, so the man did not get the information from there. Alex didn't have much time to contemplate about it. The dark stranger was now pushing Alex towards the front door of his house.

The mysterious man drew back his foot and slammed in the front door as hard as he could. Instantly the door flew wide open and the man threw Alex onto the floor, inside the house. The loud, sudden noise brought Kelly and Sarah straight to the foyer.

"Alex! Oh my God, please don't hurt us" screamed Sarah.

"Mom, mom, mom, Alex is hurt and bleeding. Please help my brother, don't let him die!" Kelly yelled at her mom. About the same time as Kelly was yelling the last word, the strange man pulled out a gun and off went his mask. The man finally revealed to the Peterson's who he was, Sam Braxton. This was a man the three of them never wanted to see ever again.

Five years ago, Sam shot and killed Kelly and Alex's father in a robbery attempt. Alex was with his dad the night it happened. As Alex sat in the car, while his father walked up to the ATM, Sam jumped out from the bushes and put a gun in Alex's fathers back. Alex never heard the shot, but saw the man run away and was able to get a great view of his face.

With the help from the police force and Alex, the authorities captured Sam and sentenced him to life in prison. For the past five years Sam imagined how he could get out of jail and make the Peterson's, especially Alex, pay for putting him away. With the help of many friends on the outside, Sam followed the life of Alex, Kelly and Sarah just in case one day he would escape and pay them a visit.

Two days prior to kidnapping Alex, Sam got a tip that Alex was heading home for Christmas. In the middle of the night, Sam escaped from the prison that barred him with the plan he had mapped out for years. Sam knew that his plan of killing Alex would work out perfectly if he could just get to his college in time before he leaves. However, as Sam arrived at Alex's dorm, Alex was loading up into a taxi. Sam's plans now changed to killing Alex in front of the rest of his family so they all could suffer for what Alex did. However, Kelly changed all their plans that night once she saw the gun in Sam's hand.

As Sam started to point the gun down towards Alex, Kelly screamed no in a demanding tone. It was Kelly's way of telling Mr. Braxton that she was not going to lose her brother to this man! Kelly lunged her body forward to the gun. Sam's train of concentration was broken and he yanked his arm upward towards Kelly. The bullet shot out of the long silver cylinder straight into Kelly's chest and out her back. Kelly instantly fell to the floor beside her brother and Sarah dropped to her knees over her daughters body. Another bullet flew out of the gun. This time it penetrated Sarah's skull. Now Sarah was laying lifeless, all right in front of Alex's eyes.

As Sam thought this couldn't get any better, watching Alex have to suffer through the deaths of his mother and sister, Sam was about to walk away. Alex heard Sam's footsteps out the door and he thought to himself, please don't let me lay here and watch my family die. To Alex, life all by himself without his family was a life not worth living. Before Alex closed his eyes he felt the last bullet in Sam's gun plunge through his back into his lungs.

Ten years came and went and the Peterson's house, which was seized by the state after the killings, finally sold to the Marymen's for a great steal! Sally and Joe Marymen could not pass up a great deal on this house. They loved the space it offered their two kids, Maley, 3 and Jr., 2.

Maley and Jr. also loved the new home a whole lot but their favorite thing about the house was the new friends they had made. Maley loved to play with Kelly and Jr. enjoyed Alex always watching over him. They looked at Sarah like she was a live-in babysitter. She was always so sweet to them. However, at night, right around sunset Maley and Jr. could not play with their new friends, and they refused to come out of their rooms. See each night Kelly, Alex and Sarah replay that horrific tragedy of the shootings. The three of them vowed to continue this every night until Sam Braxton is captured and found dead! However, the night of the shootings, Sam fled the state and then the country and has not been seen since.