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Category:
Action/Thriller
“A CHILD’S INTUITION” is about a little girl who listens to her intuition and takes immediate action to protect herself when she suspects she's being stalked by a dangerous pedophile.
A CHILD'S INTUITION
CHAPTER ONE
Jacque was nine years old and in the fourth grade. When she awoke that wintry morning, she climbed out of bed and went directly to the window. As she peered out at the fresh layer of snow, she tried to estimate the amount of snow that had fallen overnight.
Although there wasn’t much accumulation, she knew the remnants from the previous snowstorm had turned to ice. She also knew she would be the last person to leave her house, but she would have never imagined the events that would unfold that particular day would mark the first time she would remember listening to her intuition.
Ding-dong! When Shawn opened the door, Katherine, Dana, Marissa, and Janet were standing on his front porch, shivering from the single digit temperature. The girls greeted him with big smiles."Hi, Shawn! Is Jacque ready to leave?" The girls ask almost simultaneously.
Shawn chuckled. “No. She has to walk Shaggy before she can leave, but y'all can come in and wait for her.”
As the girls entered the house, Katherine crinkled her eyebrows. "Oh...I don't know if we can wait for her. Ms. Howe is giving the science test today."
Shawn smiled. “I took him out earlier, but he keeps pacing back and forth and barking at the door.”
The girls' mouths hung opened and they stared at the dog in amazement. Shawn chuckled. “Oh, well, I'll see y'all later! I'm out of here!
He exited the house as Jacque entered the living room looking sad. The girls stared at Jacque sympathetically because they knew walking Shaggy in the morning and cleaning up his accidents in the house were the prime reasons she and her brother would argue.
They also understood why Shawn had to leave. They knew the junior high school that he attended was not within walking distance. Therefore, he could not hang around and risk missing his bus, but Jacque's school was only seven blocks away. She was normally the last one to leave the house and the first one to arrive home.
The two were basically latch key children. It was normal for one of the children to be in the house alone. Jacque never had a problem staying in the house alone. Perhaps, staying in the house alone was what sharpened her intuition.
Unlike Shawn, Jacque was a
perfectionist. She was a stickler for details. It was as if she had a photographic memory. Although she was only nine years old, it was always easy for her to remember the little things that other people took for granted.
The children's father was a captain in the Navy. He was stationed out of the country on a special assignment. But, the family communicated with him on the telephone and through emails practically every night.
When Mr. Wiseman would call, he would generally lecture his children about grooming their dog and doing more to assist their mother with the household chores. The children's mother was a registered nurse. When Mrs. Wiseman would work the morning shift, she would normally leave the house around six o'clock in the morning.
The children would not see their mother again until after five thirty in the evening. When Mrs. Wiseman would work the evening shift, Jacque and Shawn would stay with their grandma. They all lived in New Jersey. The children's grandma's house was just a few blocks away from theirs. Grandma Wiseman was a retired music teacher. She played the piano well even though she had rheumatoid arthritis and often walked with a limp.
The first day that Jacque remembered listening to her intuition started out like any ordinary day. She was the last one to leave the house, and once again, she was faced with a dilemma. She knew she had to walk her ten month old French Poodle before she could leave for school. Otherwise, the dog would have another accident in the house, and she would have another argument with her brother, Shawn. Jacque did not want Shaggy to have another accident in the house, and she did not want to get into another argument with her brother.
Ordinarily, Jacque's friends would voluntarily wait with her, but this particular day, she felt the imposition would be insensitive. She did not want to make her friends late for school. She knew Ms. Howe had planned to give the class a science test, and she knew her teacher generally dispensed her test shortly after the class arrived in the morning.
Jacque entered the living room shaking her head when she observed the dog pacing back and forth and barking at the door, but she forced herself to smile when she observed the sad expressions on her friends’ faces. “Hi. I don't think y’all should wait around for me today...Ms. Howe is giving the science test today.”
The four little girls turned and looked at one another before making their statements. “All right Jacque...See you later.“ The girls made their statements and left the house. Jacque cringed at the thought of walking seven long blocks in the freezing temperature alone, but she tried to ignore her anxiety.
After walking Shaggy, Jacque returned to the house. She stayed just long enough to grab her schoolbag from the chair. Then she headed out the door. By her watch, she had only seven minutes to get to school before she would be considered late. As the wind howled, Jacque fastened her coat and adjusted her scarf to combat the single digit temperatures. Although she had only gone a short distance, the bone chilling temperature
had already begun to freeze her fingers and toes.
Although the main roads had been plowed, most of the back roads still needed plowing. Jacque walked as fast as she could, but most of the roads that she traveled on were slicked with ice. She knew she had to step carefully to avoid slipping on the icy roads; therefore, she walked in sort of a zigzag pattern to avoid falling on the ice. The isolated blocks seemed extra long that day. Although there were a number of vehicles on the road, there were no other children walking to school.
Jacque had walked five blocks and had not seen one school crossing guard standing at a post. She looked down at her watch and wondered if it was broken. When she looked up, she saw Ms. Rodriguez sitting in her car. When Ms. Rodriguez saw Jacque, she got out of her car. She synchronized the traffic lights and stood in the street. She halted the traffic so the little girl would not have to wait.
A man in a black pickup truck seemed to have gotten annoyed because the school crossing guard had changed the traffic light. He slammed on brakes, blew his horn, gesticulated with his hands, and banged on the dashboard as he mumbled "Next time I see you standing in the street, I'll run you over!"
Mrs. Rodriguez was standing in the street and facing Jacque so she was completely oblivious to the man's gestures, but the little girl was standing on the pavement and facing the traffic. As she walked toward Mrs. Rodriguez, her inquisitive eyes examined the man face carefully. She witnessed the angry man gesticulating with his hands and murmuring vulgarities as he slammed on brakes and brought his vehicle to a screeching halt.
And although Jacque understood why the man was upset, she felt his lack of consideration for pedestrians was immature behavior. Without realizing it, she unconsciously blinked her eyes at the man as she thought about his childlike behavior.
Mrs. Rodriguez walked over to Jacque. "Good morning, Ms. Rodriguez."
"Good morning! What happened? You're late today?"
"I had to walk my dog cause everybody else had left the house and he needed to go out." Jacque pouted and blinked her eyes at the man in the pickup truck as they crossed over to the other side of the street. Ms. Rodriguez smiled at the little girl. "Well don't worry about it; your teacher will understand when you explain the dog had an unexpected emergency."
After the two crossed the street, Ms. Rodriguez patted Jacque on the shoulder. "Okay, sweetie you be careful walking on this ice. Don't run cause you're already late."
After waving goodbye to Miss. Rodriguez, Jacque turned the corner and heard the school bell ringing. She knew the ringing of the school bell meant that all the front and side doors to the building were now locked. She also knew the back door would be the only entrance to the building. It was the closest route to the principal's office.
And even though she did not like walking the extra block, she knew she needed to stop at the principal's office to pickup a late slip before going to class. As she put some pep in her steps, she noticed a black pickup truck had entered the block. She cringed when she realized the driver was the same man who had gotten annoyed with Ms. Rodriguez when she changed the traffic lights.
The man slowed his vehicle down and drove along the road beside the little girl. He rolled his window down and grinned and winked at the child. Jacque tried to avoid looking directly at the driver, so she looked at him from the side of her eye. Her parents had always told her not to stop and talk to strangers; therefore, she knew she wasn’t suppose to respond to the man if he tried to communicate with her. She sighed with relief as the truck proceeded up the street, but she panicked when she saw the man parking his pickup truck near the back entrance of her school.
Since she had witnessed the man’s hostility toward the school crossing guard, she was suspicious of his reason for parking on that particular corner. She could sense the driver of the pickup truck was an evil man. She figured the man must have known she would have to walk pass his pickup truck since it was the only way she could reach the back entrance of the school.
Jacque had a good reason to be skeptical about walking pass the man’s truck since the area in which the school was located was relatively isolated. The public library and the schoolhouse were the only two buildings in the area. The two buildings were sandwiched between a big empty snow filled park that had lots of tall trees clustered together.
She was overwhelmed with fear when she realized the man had opened his door. Instead of exiting the vehicle, the man stayed in the truck and glared at the little girl from his rearview mirror. Jacque thought about running pass the man’s truck, but the more she thought about running through the isolated snow filled park to get to the back entrance of the school, she became even more petrified.
Therefore, she turned around and ran back in the direction of the school crossing guard's post. When she arrived at the corner where Miss. Rodriguez generally stood, she realized the school crossing guard had left the vicinity. When the traffic light changed, the little girl noticed the black pickup truck slowly entering the block. While the driver was looking toward the opposite side of the road, Jacque ran and crouched down behind some snow filled hedges.
The driver of the pickup truck slowed his vehicle down and brought it to a complete stop when he came to the area in which the little girl was hiding. He rolled down the window on the opposite side of his seat and glared out. As Jacque’s eyes peered through the snow filled hedges, her body remained bent in a running position. As she examined the man's face carefully, she placed her hand over her mouth and scooted down a little more. She prayed that the man had not seen her when she ran and ducked behind the hedges.
When the man started his engine and the truck proceeded in the direction of the school, the little girl felt a tinge of relief; still, she was too frightened to move. After the truck crossed the intersection, she ran in the opposite direction. As she ran toward her house, she slipped on an icy patch in the road and hurt her leg, but the child did not allow the injury to slow her down. She kept running as fast as she could until she arrived at her front door. After closing the door and locking it, Jacque ran in the kitchen, picked up the telephone.
When the phone at the nurses' station rang, Nurse Niles answered the phone and heard Jacque crying. “Trauma Center. This is Nurse Niles. Can I help you?”
“Can I please speak to my mother? Nurse Wiseman.”
“Most certainly honey. Are you all right?”
Jacque wiped at her tears. “Yes, but I need to speak to my mother right away!”
“Sure sweetie, hang on. I'll page her.”
Instead of paging Nurse Wiseman, Nurse Niles walked over to Mr. Holden’s room and peeped in. She saw Nurse Wiseman taking Mr. Holden’s vitals. “Patricia, your daughter is on line three.”
“Jacque is on the phone?”
“Yes. She sounded upset. When I asked her was she all right, she said she was but she needed to speak to you right away. I hope nothing is wrong.”
“Oh my goodness! Carol could you please finish taking Mr. Holden's vitals? His chart is on the table.”
Nurse Niles nodded her head as Nurse Wiseman rushed out the room. She ran over to the nurse's desk and picked up the telephone and heard Jacque whimpering in the phone.
“Jacque! Baby, what's wrong? Are you sick?”
“Some man followed me to school.”
Patricia gulped for air. “Oh, my God! Baby, where are you? Are you are right?”
“I fell on the ice and hurt my leg.”
“Baby, calm down and tell me where you are, so I can come get you.”
“I'm home.”
“Hang on sweetie, I'm coming home, but first I'm going to call the police and have an officer stay with you until I get there. Did you lock the door?”
“Yes. I locked the door when I came in.”
“Okay baby stay on the phone while I use another line to call the police.”
Nurse Wiseman picked up another phone and dialed 911. She gave the police dispatcher her home address and explained what happened to her daughter. After disconnecting the call, she got back on the line with her daughter and tried to console her until the police arrived at the door.
When Jacque heard the doorbell ringing, she placed the phone on the kitchen table and went to open the door. When she opened the door, she saw a male and female officer standing on the front porch. The officers greeted her with a smile as they entered the house.
After the police entered the house, a man that was crouched down behind some large snow filled hedges ran away from the side of the house.
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