Life of a Reformed Wild Child by Valerie Ziegler (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT) 📕

him for that but also worried that he would have trouble fitting in like she did.
While she was in mid-thought, Elaina heard the door slam open. Panicking, she grabbed a knife for the kitchen and ran to the door. To her surprise, it was Jason standing in front of her and not some psychopathic criminal.
“God, Jason! You scared me. Don’t ever do that to me again. Wait why did you do that? What’s wrong, and why are you home so early?” she questioned completely puzzled.
“Pack your bags! There is no time to explain,” he shouted.
“What do you mean ‘there is no time to explain.’ I’m not doing anything or going anywhere until you give me an explanation!” she stated.
“He’s back. Elaina, Kyle Bucher is back.”
“Who is Kyle Bucher?” she asked her husband. But then the realization hit her; Kyle Bucher must be the name of her stalker. “Wait. You’re talking about my attacker. Okay, I understand why this might upset you, but maybe he’s changed. Just calm down.”
“No, I can’t calm down. This is serious. I saw him. I saw him outside of the deli that you use to work at! He’s looking for you, Elaina. He wasn’t innocently buying lunch meat. He still wants you, and now, he wants revenge too.
"Alright, you have a point. It is a bit disturbing that he was back at the deli, but I don't work there anymore, and he doesn't know where we live. If worse comes to worse, we can take out a restraining order. Right?" she asked her husband.
"Wrong. There is only one flaw in your arguement. He does know where we live. When I saw him at the deli, he saw me too. At the time, I was panicking and couldn't think properly so I foolishly got in the car and rushed home. When I pulled into the neighborhood, I felt like I was being followed. I tried to lose him, and I think I did, but he still knows that we live in this neighborhood. Now it will be a piece of cake for him to locate us," Jason informed his wife.
"But he doesn't know that we're married," she replied.
"It won't be that hard for him to figure it out. What are we going to do?" he asked.
"I think we shouldn't react to quickly. Let's just be extra careful. I'll keep an extra close eye on the kids and stay indoors as much as possible. You can swing by the deli every once and a while and see if he's lurking," Elaina suggested.
"I don't like it, but I guess it's all we can do. Don't say anything to Avery. I don't want him to be scared," he agreed. "But if i see that scumbag anywhere near here, I'm calling the police immediatlely."
"And I'll call you if I see him around here," his wife answered.
So it was agreed. They would be extra careful, and everything would be okay. A few weeks went by, and everything seemed quiet. In fact, they only saw Kyle once by the deli. Things began to loosen up again.
Chapter 3
It had been two months since the Claymores had caught sight of Kyle. It was also the beginning of September: Avery's first day of pre-school for two and three year olds. Elaina panicked as she dropped her oldest baby at the door of his school. She was so worried that he wouldn't like it, or even worse, the other kids wouldn't like him. He was a little scared to go in at first, but once he met Miss Gina, his teacher, he seemed alright.
After kissing him goodbye at least three times, Elaina returned to her car where she had left little Delanie fast asleep. She climbed into the front seat and sat down. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she peered back at her baby. Panic filled the atmosphere as she realized that the car seat in which Delanie had been sleeping was empty. She looked around the back seat frantically. Where was she? Tears sprang to her eyes as she dialed 911. This could not be happening to her. After informing the police of her whereabouts, she immediatly called Jason. She went completely hysterical on the phone as she informed Jason of their daughter's disappearance. Ten minutes later, the police arrived. They questioned her and Miss Gina, but neither could tell the police anything useful.
While the police interviewed all of the parents who had dropped their children off that day, Jason took action. He told the police all about Kyle Bucher, and his description of Kyle matched the description that one of the other parents had given. Claudia Simmons, who had also been dropping her son off at preschool, claimed that she saw a white man with brown hair scooping the baby from the car. Kyle was the most likey suspect, but no one new of his whereabouts.
The police had cars throughout the area running survalince, but after three hours, there was still no sign of Kyle. Sobbing and clinging to Jason, Elaina was informed by the police that she and her family should return to their home. The police would do their best to find Delanie. Jason thanked the cops and helped his wife into the car.
After a silent car ride (except for the sound of Elaina crying), the heart broken family arrived at their home. When they walked in the door, Elaina crumpled to the ground. She couldn't bare to see the baby toys on the floor. Jason tried to comfort her, but he was just as upset.
A few hours passed, and there was still no sign of Kyle or the baby. There wasn't even a ransom note. All was quiet in the house. A few minutes after Jason had put Avery to bed, he toddled into the room with tears streaming down his face.
"When will da man dat borrowed Lanie give her back to us Mama? I miss her," Avery told his parents.
As hard as it was, Elaina had to be strong for her son. She looked into his sad little eyes and said, "Delanie will be safe in her own bed soon. Don't worry Sweety. It will all be okay," she assured her son. She wanted those words to be true, but what if they weren't? What if she never saw her baby again. As the tears flowed out like a river, so did all of the memories. Like the was Delanie kicked and squealed when Avery would come into the room and the little smile she always gave to her father when he came home from work. But the memory that hit home the most was Delanie's absolute dependance on Elaina. She couldn't be without her mother. Who would nurse her, rock her to sleep, comfort her when she cried, video tape every new trick she learned, and bathe her. And what would happen if she got hurt? Elaina knew what would happen deep down. Her child-like-self came back to her. If her baby was hurt in anyway, she would hunt Kyle Bucher down and kill him.
As Elaina thought and worried about her baby in the hands of that psychopath, she managed to cry herself to sleep. She slipped into an unreal realm and began dreaming. In her dream, she found herself sitting at the dinner table with her entire family safe and sound. She asked her husband how his day was and then her son. As her eyes moved around the table, she realized that something was terribly wrong. Why wasn't Delanie moving? In a panic, she dashed around the table to pick up her baby, but as she approached her, a nauseating smell hit her. Just then, her baby took on a blueish color. As tears rushed to her eyes, she heard a man laughing maniaclly. That's when she started hypervenalating.
Jason heard his wife's terrible scream and thought that she was being harmed. Leaping out of his seat, he raced down the stares and rushed to her rescue only to find her shaking on the floor screaming, "No. Delanie, wake up!"
Panicking, Jason shook his wife back to reality. He looked at her sternly and said, "What happened to the strong woman that I married- the woman who was ready to fight a man twice the size of you? Huh? Now I know you're worried, and I am too, but if we're gonna get her back, we gotta be strong and fight. We have to be a team; a family. Can you do that for Delanie?"
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked up at her husband and replied, "I am ready to do anything for this family. Screw the police. We do this our way."
"Now that sounds like a plan," her husband said while helping her to her feet.
The two finally went to bed. Tomorrow they would start on their search for their daughter.
Chapter Four
It started with a knock on the door. Jason ran to the door to see who or what it was. When he opened it, all he saw was a small, brown package. He grabbed it and brought it inside. When Elaina saw it, her heart skipped a beat. What if it was a clue to her daughter's whereabouts? She dove on the package and began devouring it. Finally, she came across the content of the package. There were three things inside: an envelope, a crumpled photo, and a baby doll.
As she stared blankly at the objects in the package, her husband began to tear the envelope open. He then read out loud these words:
Elaina: drive to the deli at 3 a.m. tonight if you ever want to see you precious daughter again. From there, I will provide transportation to your final destination. Please come alone.
P.S. If you choose not to comply, your baby's fate will be that of the babydoll's.
"Oh my God!" Elaina exclaimed as she saw the babydoll. The babydoll was missing an arm! How could someone even think of inflicting that much suffering on a baby? Elaina now knew what she had to do. She wasn't going to let that horrible person tear her family apart at the seams. Elaina had never loved or cared about something as much as she loved and cared about her family. Her maternal instincts took over, and she looked her husband dead in the eyes and said, "I have to go to that deli tonight. It's our only hope."
"There's no way in Hell am I going to let you do that! Do you know how dangerous it is? We have to call the police," he stated flatly.
"We can't do that. If we don't follow all of his orders, and he finds out, he's gonna hurt Delanie. How could you risk her life like that?" Elain shouted.
"I can't risk your life like that," Jason answered in a broken voice.
Elaina had never seen him