CHEYANNE BOONE - ENTER THE BLACKWOOD'S ESTATE

Cheyanne Boone believes that we need authors which bring happiness and adventure to those who enjoy partaking in reading. Her Wattpad stories have reached over twenty thousand views and are still climbing every day. She is on track to earn her bachelor’s in creative writing from Full Sail University in two thousand and twenty-one. 

​Enter the Blackwood’s Estate

​Seraphina Stone had finally done it, had finally gotten a job dealing with babysitting, it seemed all it needed was for the Blackwood’s to give her a chance at watching their twin six-year old’s.  It was almost breathtaking, the estate the Blackwood’s lived on, but also came off haunting, as it sat in the middle of the woods on all sides. The surprise and enthusiasm Seraphina had felt at being given her first ever job, even with it being a simple babysitting one, was something that made it hard for her to hold still outside the main gate of the estate. Being informed to leave her car outside the premises and walk to the gate, had almost caused her to not take the job.
            “There you are!” Mrs. Blackwood called out as her husband pulled open the gate. “We had begun to wonder if you had decided to not take the job.”
            “Oh! I apologize Mrs. Blackwood!” Seraphina rushed to reassure the older lady dressed in a fine silk dress, blonde hair in an updo, and pearls wrapped around her throat. “You see, it was just harder than I had first thought it would be, to find the house.”
            “Play nice my dear, Lily and Hadrian have both just finished their dinner, as such in a few hours it will be time to put them to bed.” Mr. Blackwood said with slight scolding to his wife, tuxedo made of silk hugging his broad shoulders, and black hair slicked back. “Though do keep an ear and eye out for them.”
            “Of course!” Seraphina rushed to reassure as she entered the gates and moved up toward the house. “I promise to take great care of Lily and Hadrian, I also promise to keep a close eye on them!”
            “Then we shall get out of your hair.” Mrs. Blackwood said with a warm smile as she took her husband’s hand. “Do make sure to keep all doors and window closed and locked my dear.”
                                                                        ***
            Seraphina easily settled into the large living room before the fireplace, all doors had been locked and the children asleep, so with monitor placed in front of her, she relaxed. The creaking of elder and oak trees that surrounded the estate filled the silence, only broken by soft snores and slow breathing coming from inside the house, it was in this silence the soft padding of footsteps from outside were dampened and unheard by Seraphina.
            “You sure this is the right house?” A deep hoarse voice whispered. “I mean the lights are on, so someone’s home.”
            “If you shut your trap and listen for once,” another male voice shot back with venom. “You would have known that the only residence currently home are the babysitter and kids.”
            “Shh! You idiots are going to get us caught before we even get in!” A third voice snarled with warning, as the first one stumbled over a large piece of wood and slammed into a side window. “Now you did it…”
                                                                            ***
            Seraphina’s head shot up as a loud bang echoed from the far-right window in the living room, fear filled her being as she shot to her feet and turned to the side where the surveillance cameras were set up. Whispers of thought filled her mind as she took in the sight of three broad males standing outside with their faces covered by black masks, all thoughts halted as she ran toward the children’s room; she had to keep them safe. 
            “Lily, I need you to tell me if your parents showed you a hidden safe room.” Seraphina began trying to keep her cool, she knew getting the children hidden before calling for help, it was well known that old Estate homes had hidden rooms, at least she hoped this one did. “This is very important.”
            “Mommy showed brother and I a hidden button inside their closet that would open in a hidden room.” Lily answered sleepily blonde curls mused, blurry blue eyes watching her with confusion, as she clutched her teddy to her chest. “Why?”
            “There is no time little one, I need you to go there now while I get your brother.” Seraphina ordered softly as a crash filled the silence as the burglars broke into the kitchen, though a thought as to why the alarms hadn’t sounded filled her head for all of a moment. “Go, now Lily!”
            “What’s going on?” Hadrian whispered in fright curls of inky black falling into his green eyes as he looked up at her.
            “No time, you both need to go to the hidden room.” She ordered again as she began to push both children down the hall and watched as they clutched one another’s hand, but neither looked back as they ran into their parents’ room.
            “Now to call the police.” She whispered, voice trembling as she hid behind the door, hand reaching for her cellphone, only to freeze. “You had got to be joking.”
            “Man, I am telling you this place is a treasure chest, we will be rich boys!” A hoarse voice whispered outside the door where she hid. “And to think Charlie here only had to reset the alarms for thirty minutes.”
            Seraphina squeezed her eyes shut before taking a deep breath as she crept to the window inside Lily’s room, her only choice was to get outside the house and reenter from the broken sliding door they had broken in from. Her phone rested in a small space in the kitchen that most would overlook charging as she had relaxed in the living room, to think it could cost her so much now.
                                                                           ***
            Seraphina slipped through the bedroom window and quietly walked around to the broken sliding door in the kitchen, it was heart stopping to pause as she listened to the three men in the room across from her. Before she knew it, she had reached the broken sliding door and slowly moved inside and to the side for her phone, her adrenaline keeping her unaware of the wounds she gained.
            “Hello, there are three intruders inside the house, please hurry, I am at the Blackwood estate with two small children.” She got out once they picked up before having moving to hide in the pantry and await the arrival of the police, the next twenty minutes seemed to be set at a crawl as she waited for help.
            “Too bad you only cut the alarms for a set amount of time, could have really robbed this place.” The hoarse voiced complained with a shake of their head. “What the hell was that?!”
            “The cops! We got to go man!” The second voice shouted already rushing out the window with the others following. “I knew we should have looked further for those kids and babysitter!”
            Seraphina breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling the pain from the cuts on her hands and knees from scrambling through a broken sliding door; but the happiness overwhelmed her, the children and her were safe. The gratitude shown by Mrs. and Mr. Blackwood caused her to fill brave, like a hero, even as she waved goodbye more than ready to end the day of her first ever job.