Dear Diary, my name is Alex and I am 11 years old and I live with my dad. Today is Monday. I am in my room right now because my dad is in a bad mood. He is scary when he is mad. I don’t know what he is mad about this time but when he gets this way I always stay away from him. He has a really bad temper sometimes. Like one time he got so mad he trashed the whole house and kept throwing things at me. 

Dear Diary, it’s me again. Dad is still mad and I can’t figure out why. He has always had a bad temper but never this bad or for this long. I really want to know why he is mad but I’m too scared to leave my room. It’s now Thursday December 17, Christmas is next week but we never really celebrate it. Dad says it’s a waste of time and that living is the best gift. He is cold as ice sometimes. 

TWO YEARS LATER

Dear Diary, today is my birthday. I am now 13! Since it is my birthday my dad went and got me lunch. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. He never really lets me leave the house, that’s how it’s always been and I have never questioned it until last week when I asked if we could do something fun and special for my birthday and he yelled at me and said to never ask that question again. I really want to go outside and meet real people besides my dad. 

Dear Diary, it has been a week since my birthday and I think dad is still mad about me asking to go outside because he hasn’t really said anything to me since except telling me to do chores. I can tell he is hiding something from me. I just can’t figure out what it is. He has always tried to protect me from the outside world, or at least that’s what he’s been telling me since I can remember. He keeps on saying that the world is cruel and he wants to protect me from it for as long as he can, and usually I would believe him but the way he has been acting lately I don’t really think it’s the truth. But at this point I don’t really know what to believe, but what I do know is that I am going to figure out what he is hiding and why. At the moment he is in the living room watching the news. I don’t think I have ever really seen him watch anything except the news. Some days they talk about car crashes or kids going missing, those are the ones he usually watches. He usually yells at the TV and sometimes ends up breaking it. I bet he has broken over a thousand tvs!!!

Dear Diary, it is the next day and dad is in a way better mood. I guess what they say is true.  I don’t know what changed but he went and got us breakfast before I was even awake and he said that we can do whatever I want to do today as long as it is inside.All my sadness is worth the gladness. I still want to figure out what he is hiding so I came up with a plan this morning when I was getting ready. He said that we could do whatever I want to so I could ask him to go to the store and get something to do and then when he is gone I can go into the room. The room is in the basement that I am not allowed to go in no matter what. He says it is off limits and if he ever catches me in there, there will be serious consequences. I have never gone near the door because I have always been too scared but now I have to find out what is going on. Dad said he would go to the store and get the game I asked for.

*Alex’s dad leaves to get the game from the store. Alex sneaks into the room and turns the light on to see a bunch of posters of a missing 2 month old and a bunch of pictures of her all over the walls. Alex looked at all of the pictures in shock, she didn’t know what to think. She’s looking at a wall with her all over it. At first she thought that they were just pictures of her as she got older and that the missing posters were of a girl that he once knew but then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She saw the bottom of one of the missing posters and saw her name.* 

Why would my name be on the poster? She asked herself and then saw the headline, ¨1 YEAR OLD KIDNAPPED RIGHT FROM HOME!!!¨ then through the shock remembered her dad could come home at any minute and turned the light off and ran up the stairs as fast as she could and ran into her room and flopped on her bed. The headboard made a loud thud on the wall. 5 minutes later her dad walked through the front door and called her name and she came out of her room and walked into the living room and sat down on the couch and they started playing the game.

*Later that night*

Dear Diary, I have so many questions. First, why are there so many pictures of me on the wall? Second, why are there a bunch of missing posters with my name on it? Third, Pictures, pictures, why are there so many pictures? I can’t ask him about it because then he will know that I went into the room that has always been off limits, but if he thinks that I am getting suspicious he will ask me about it and then what? What do I do then, Lie? I have never lied to him before and I don’t think that I could. 

*One week later*

Dear Diary, I am going to do it. I am going to sneak out. It’s a really stupid idea I know but I can’t stay here anymore living in this happy misery. He is losing his temper more and more everyday. Like yesterday he was watching the news about an old case and he got really angry and started throwing things at me and broke almost everything in the kitchen. I know it is not a very good idea but I need to get out of here no matter what. He is asleep right now so now is my chance. I don’t know where I am going to go or what I am going to do but I know I have to go. 

*Alex slowly gets the lock off of her window and carefully climbs out being careful not to make a sound. She has a bag of some of her things on her back and once she is on the ground she runs like the wind to get away. She doesn’t know where she is going to go because this is all new for her After what feels like forever she finally finds a stop to hid* 

Dear Diary, I did it. I wonder if he knows I’m gone. What do I do now? I can’t stay here all night. What if he notices I’m gone and comes looking for me and he finds me? What will I do then? What will he do to me if he finds me out here? He always told me to stay inside because it’s scary and dangerous outside. I guess my only option is to keep going. Too where? I don’t know but I know that I can’t stay out here like this. 

*she starts running again. Then she hears someone calling her name and she looks behind her and sees her dad's car coming towards her but she doesn’t stop, she just keeps going. She hears the voice getting closer and closer and then she is in his arms. Struggling and screaming for him to let go trying  to  get free but she can’t,He is too strong and overwhelms her. He pushes her into the back of the car and starts screaming at her while driving away. He takes her home and pushes her inside. About ten minutes later there is a loud crash and a lot of yelling. Then her door is being kicked down and an officer comes over to her and starts taking her outside. They take her to the station. She asks what is happening and the officer says that they saw a man push you into a car and so they followed them back to their house. At the station she starts writing.*

Dear Diary, I think I’m finally safe…