Ellie and John

      "Maybe one day you'll tell her of how she is the constant reminder of her Mother, John?"

 A woman's voice ran out, it was John's wife's Mother. John was a widower with a young child about a year and a few months old. Today was the day of her Mother's funeral, she wasn't at the funeral, instead she was left to linger at her Grandmother's for a while so that her Father would have some time to say goodbye to his wife without having to choke back the tears for his daughters sake.

      

      "Ellie won't know about her Mother, she can't find out what happened to her, she'll only blame herself when she gets older."

John told his Mother, he wiped the tear that was dripping from his eye as he spoke, it reminded him that the love of his life was gone and now it was leaving him with nothing but a flash back of the night.

      

          It was a cold night in December, the family were getting themselves ready for Christmas though, John was out at work earning the big bucks for Christmas while his wife was decorating their home with the help of their lovely Ellie, more like a distraction though since you'd have to run a smile to stop the child from pulling at Christmas tree lights or trying to climb ontop of things to get the Santa decorations as she couldn't walk yet. 

      

          The front door was left open from John's wife, Alison going outside to collect their Christmas tree from the car. She had got it for half price at work that afternoon, a guy from the stall down the street was selling Christmas trees and so he visited some of the local businesses to hopefully get some business and sell the trees. A strong built man entered the lovely home, a balaclava to hide this face, he was wearing black baggy clothing and a jacket. He had a loaded gun in the holder that was on his belt. 

      

          The sounds from Ellie had attracted him into the living room, her cooing and giggling whilst crawling to get to the tinsel next to the tree had continued until the man entered the room. "Daddy?" The little girl asked, scrunching her nose as she had a tendency to do but then as the man stood there with his eyes on her, she began to get scared. "Mama!" The little girl called out for her Mother to come get her. The man exited the room and hid behind the wall he had passed before entering the living room.

      

          "What is it baby? Huh?" Alison asked her child, smiling as she reached down and picked her up, cuddling the child and listening to her coos as she was finally in her Mother's arms again. The little girl pointed to the door, again scrunching up her nose and then began crying. 

      

          The man entered the room, the gun was in his hand, he held it up, pointing it at the woman as he stood beside the leather reclining couch. "Put down the baby and empty your purse, I don't mean any harm, I just want money." The man spoke with a deep voice, he kept his eyes on Alison for sudden movements. Alison shook her head, she was scared yet she didn't show it because then Ellie would be all the more scared. "No." Alison told him, "No, get out of my house and close the door on the way out.", she added to her first reply as she put the baby down beside the box of decorations behind the tree so that she would distract herself with the decorations. 

      

          "I just want money.. I'm warning you, I can shoot at you, take the purse and then I'll be on my way." The man threatened her, he looked at Ellie, not even showing any guilt even though the child had tears running down her face. Alison shook her head once more, repeating her previous words of telling him to get out and to close the door upon his exit. There was the sound of a gunshot and a woman falling to the ground, the wail of a baby ran through the house as a man took the purse that was on the reclining chair next to the one he stood behind next to the door then ran out of the house.

      

          Within five minutes of Ellie's screams for her Mother, trying to crawl to her but she didn't have the strength to move the box, a neighbour had came into the house with her husband. "Oh my gosh, Ellie! George, phone an ambulance and phone John afterwards, he'll be here soon enough and probably before the ambulance, I'll take care of Ellie."

      

          Ten minutes later an ambulance arrived and so did John, he couldn't bare to look at his wife this way, the blood was all over her, all over the floor he had installed himself. He remained with his eyes closed in the kitchen at the table, holding his baby girl and talking to two police, a man and a woman, they were asking for details about if they knew anyone that would probably kill his wife or even steal from then. They didn't know, Ellie couldn't go on like maybe a ten year old would, she was only one, still proud of herself that she was able to pronounce the word "Daddy" or "Mama".

      

      John snapped out of flashback to the sound of a voice..

      

      "Daddy!"

The little girl called as she crawled to her Father, dirt was all over her knees as she was wearing a little red and white gingham dress that came to above her knees. She was playing out in the garden with her Grandfather, her Grandmother and Father were in the kitchen, watching over the two in the garden from the window. John made his way through to the conservatory and opened the door as the little girl approached it.  John smiled and laughed a bit as he picked up the little girl, she had very dirty knees from the dry mud. It was March now, roughly about four months since the murder. It had taken the police three months to analyze things and then come up with nothing, go around all their neighbours just to hear people talking about Ellie's wails.

      

      Ellie was placed on the kitchen unit as Alison's Mother handed John a wet cloth to clean the mud off Ellie's knees, the little girl giggled as her Grandmother made faces behind her Father's back. John handed the cloth back to Alison's Mother and then lifted the little girl off of the unit and carried her into the living room of the Grandparents home. Ellie and John hadn't been in their own home together for a while. John paid some visits to it to collect some things but he hadn't taken Ellie with him. She has regular nightmares about the night that her Mother got murdered and always props herself up, looks at her Father through her pair of teary eyes and asks "Daddy, why Mama have to go?"..