Pressure

The closet is dead silent, not one of the three girls is able to keep from fidgeting, but they won’t dare make a whisper. If a peep comes out of either of their mouths, the strangers in the house may hear them.

“As long as we keep quiet and stay in the closet,” Sarah thought, “the strangers will just take Mother’s pearls and maybe Father’s extra horse.” This thinking calmed her, she breathed a bit slower now. The men opened and slammed doors throughout the house, they ran up and down the stairs. So much clatter came from father’s office as they pushed his things off his desk and pulled out the drawers.

Emily started to whimper, she was sitting on top of Sarah’s lap because she was the smallest of the three girls.

“You need to be quiet” whispered Sarah into her ear. “They will leave soon I promise,” The whimpering from Emily continued, Jane started to nudge Emily on her belly with her elbow, “Shhh… Keep quiet” The whimpering from Emily stopped. Sarah’s lap started to feel very warm, then in a matter of seconds the smell began to engulf their tiny hiding space.

The ruckus continued from their father’s office but now footsteps could be heard coming from outside their bedroom door. “Have you guys checked this room yet!?” No response came from the others. The door slowly creaked open as the man entered the girls’ bedroom. He rushed for under the bed, searching for something of value, he ran towards the dresser ripping out the dresser drawers and slamming them against the wall.

Sarah used both hands to cover Emily’s mouth. He found a few pendants and necklaces and pushed them into the pockets of his jacket. He scanned the room and noticed the closet door, “I wonder what’s in here..” Sarah’s heart tightened, Jane held her breathe. He stepped closer, his arm stretched out and clutched the closet door handle. The handle began to turn. Sarah didn’t know what to do, they were trapped.

He suddenly let go and his footsteps were quick to walk out of the room. Outside of the room the men were grouping together, huddling up and ready to leave the house. One of the men said, “Hey we forgot to raid that room,” and started for the bedroom of the girls. “I already checked it, I got everything worth getting, plus the room smells like piss!”

The men left the house in a hurry, slamming out the front door and getting on their horses and riding off.