The Snatch

"Not when something like this happens! Not her, no not now, no...no...no," Lottie shook her head in disbelief, her blue eyes pleading Matterstruck, begging him not to. "Not now! Please Matterscruck please, please...please!" And as hard as she tried to prevent it, as much as she knew she couldn't, she shouldn't - a wet, salty tear leaked from her glistening eyes.
Matterstruck. The darkest, most feared, sinister being, with deathly pale skin and small, squinted eyes that never dared to leak a tear. His twig-like fingers crawled forward, his stained finger nails making a small, but deep cut into Lottie's soft, pink cheek that now began to bleed painfully. But she made no movement, no action to prevent her warm, red blood from trickling down her cheek onto her pink, cotton pyjama top. She stayed as she was from when he had first entered her warmly-lit living room, from when she had first noticed his dark figure slyly slip into their room.
She had been playing with her two year old daughter, Emily, watching her glow with happiness as she giggled while she played with her dolls.
But time had ticked on since then, the happiness and overwhelming love that Lottie's face had shined with then, felt to her now, as if it could have been years ago. She was now shielding her dearest, most cherished possession that she owned. When she saw him in her house, her smile fell, her face drained from any happy emotion. Lottie had scrambled across the room with Emily in her arms to place her daughter - still rosy cheeked - on the sofa hidden from Matterstruck. But he had smelt the baby, he had forced his way towards her kicking dolls and other obstacles out of the way and now he faced her struggling mother. And then, in a loud hiss Matterstruck said, "You should not weep Charlotte. You should not shed a single tear, for i am here now. I will rescue Emily from you. She will be forever safe. I will raise her, teach her and slowly, i will befriend her. She will believe me to be her friend, tutor, and in someways... her father." At this word Lottie reluctantly shed another tear and moved her hand behind her back in order to hold her daughter's hand. She felt her soft, sweet hands, she felt the smallness and the youth that Emily kept in them. She gripped it tight. Lottie never wanted to let go, she never wanted to forget her one daughter. But as Matterstruck held up her free hand gently, delicately as though he were about to kiss it, she felt the end was near and as she shook with saddness and defeat she wracked her brains.
"No!" She thought, "No, this won't happen. Not to her, not now." Hesitantly, she pulled her hand back from Matterstruck's grip. He slowly moved his miniscule eyes to stare straight into hers when she whispered, "No Matterstuck." And for a split second all was silent, he did not move, he simply stared at her. She was the only one who had ever said 'no', he had no response to give but shock. But she had not pleaded him and persuading herself to go now or never, she turned swiftly grabbed Emily in her arms and ran. Before he came to his senses, he was standing in Lottie's living room alone. Lottie sprinted out the front door - still open from when Matterstruck had intruded - she felt her keys in her coat pocket, snatched it off the hook and hurried outside. But she wasn't safe yet, no, she wasn't that lucky. She swung open the car door, placed Emily on the passenger seat and her fingers stumbled to light the ignition. She could hear cackles of ghostly laughter from her house. But as she struggled to concentrate on what she was doing, she couldnt hear or see much, all was a blur. She backed out of the drive, noisily swerving round and drove, as fast as she could into the darkness. And she could not help but feel elated, she had escaped with her daughter. She was lucky, so lucky, but Matterstruck's cackle still rang in her head, he would not forget, he would never let them escape. Or would he?