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Eyes. She saw glowing eyes, staring at her from across the street. The man was at a window, watching her silently.

The girl swallowed and rang the doorbell of the house she was at. A woman wearing a witch’s hat answered.
“Trick or treat!” the girl said, holding up a pillowcase.
“Hello there! Happy Halloween!” the woman said, dropping a few pieces of candy in the girl’s bag. The girl grinned and walked away, examining the candy she’d just received.
The woman had given her a snicker’s bar and a reeses. She looked up at the window the man had been watching her from and felt the grin slide off her face. The man was still there, watching her in silence. She shuddered and moved on.

Amy was an angel that year, in a white dress with white feathered wings and a yellow pipecleaner halo over her head. The halo kept slipping. She had just picked it up after it fell from the floor when she noticed the man was gone. She sighed with releif and went onto the next house.

When the last few children were going home several hours later, Amy turned towards her house. She froze. A man was standing there, the same man that had been watching her from the window. In the dim light from the street lamps she saw him grin, and she ran. The man watched her silently as she rushed across the street.

The next morning Amy Weffer was reported missing. Her hysteric mother could be heard begging for Amy’s safe return over the news.
The man that lived across the street was at the window again, calmly eating a snickers bar and watching the rest of the children play in the street. Draped across a couch in the background was a white dress stained with something red.

Kaylie clutched the half eaten soft pretzel in her tiny hands, staring innocently at the others aboard the plane across her mother’s empty seat. A man smiled at her across the aisle, and she smiled back. She paid no attention to how peculiar the man was acting as her attention returned to the pretzel held so tightly in her hands. Her face still blank, she ripped a pieace of the pretzel off and placed it in her mouth.
When the pretzel was finished, she clapped her sticky hands together and grinned at her mother, Jenna, as she sat down in her seat. Jenna gently wiped off her five year old daughter’s hands with a napkin before she buckled their seat belts.
The floor began to shake. The pilot’s voice came over the intercom, announcing that they were taking off. Jenna relaxed against her seat, keeping an eye on Kaylie as she always did. Kaylie screeched her pleasure at the sensation of take off, bouncing in her chair. This was her first time on a plane.
A hand rested on Kaylie’s shoulder, and she looked up into Jenna’s eyes. Jenna shook her head gently, and Kaylie slumped against her seat, beaming.

Kaylie slept for most of the ride. The man across the aisle kept checking his watch. His hand kept checking his pocket, as if he was afraid that whatever was in there would disappear. Jenna watched him curiously. The man’s eyes widened when he saw her and he quickly turned forward once more, staring at the back of his seat. He didn’t look at her for the rest of the flight.

Just as Jenna was finishing her soda, there was a scream from the back of the plane. She turned, spraying her pants with the last few drops of the drink. A man was standing at the back of the plane, holding a gun. The man across the aisle leapt to his feet, pulling a gun from his pocket as he did so. The gun was pointed at Kaylie.
Jenna shifted to shield her daughter as Kaylie screamed, drowning out what the two men were saying. Kaylie grabbed her mother’s arm and held on so tightly Jenna was surprised it didn’t break. The man that had sat across the aisle went into the cockpit as the other continued to shout threats to the now panicking passengers.
Many people screamed, including Kaylie, when the plane made a sharp turn and began heading east.

After a while, Jenna saw the twin towers, coming at them quickly. No, she decided, they were heading for the towers. The plane was going to crash. There was no way they were going to make it out of this alive. She turned and held Kaylie very close. Kaylie hugged her and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder.
“I love you,” Jenna whispered.
Somehow Kaylie heard.
“I love you too, Mommy,” she said.
They held each other, mother and daughter, as the air roared with speed and the planes approached their destination.
Then there was a great jolt. The plane crashed through the wall of the World Trade Center. They heard the shattering of glass and the crunching of wood and metal. Then everything went black, and they knew no more.

It happened.
She was alone, left behind. They really were underneath the debris.
Gone.
Her bicycle clattered onto the cement, but she couldn’t remember letting go. Emerald eyes sought through the rubble left in the small crater, looking for any sign of movement. There was none.
“Excuse me, miss?” a voice asked.
The girl turned to find a police officer standing behind her. She swallowed.
“Yes, sir?” she said, her voice barely a croak.
“Is this your house?” the man indicated the pile of rubble.
“Yes,” the girl said quietly. “And the one next door.”
“Was anyone in the house?”
The girl mumbled something.
“Miss?”
“Yes,” the girl said. “My parents.”
“And where were you?” the man asked.
“On a bike ride.” The girl pointed to the bike on the floor.
“And your name is?”
“Alison,” the girl said.
“Come with me, Alison.”
Reluctantly, she obeyed, climbing into the back seat of the police car.

She’d known it had to happen sooner or later. There’d been too many bombings in the area. Her family was going to move in with her aunt in England tomorrow. But now she was going alone. For good.
She realized she wasn’t sorry about it and immediately felt ashamed. Why didn’t she care that her family had just died? Maybe it would sink in later, she decided, but she couldnt help thinking about it. Her parents were gone, and she didn’t care anymore. The truth was, she didn’t care about anything anymore. She hadn’t for a long time, not since the war started. With a sigh, she sank back against the seat and waited for the policeman to pull into the station.