"Shatter" - A short story part 2

Read part 1 here.

Immediately she sprinted to her room, locked the door and stood still. Kate was breathing so hard she didn’t even know if she was breathing. What the hell was that!?! She took a few seconds to try to recognize what had just happened. She had heard a shatter, but it hit her so hard inside she just couldn’t think about it straight. But then Kate started hearing another set of clip-clop noises. Someone else was in her house. Kate did the best thing she could think of, and dashed under her bed like a mouse. There she lay, almost like a statue, breathing ever so slightly. She could hear the footsteps of the person rummaging through her parent’s room and the guest bathroom. Was this man a burglar? Kate decided to stay where she was and try to keep as quiet as she could. Then the doorknob started twisting and turning and then stopped for a few seconds, and then Slash! The top of the door split in two as the head of the mysterious man put down his ax and gently opened the doorknob. Kate started shivering like it was Antarctica in her bedroom as the man started peeking around her room, never looking down towards the bottom of her bed. Kate knew she couldn’t break for it as the man would probably snatch her off her feet and then… who knows what would happen.
She could see the man ripping open her closet with all her clothes, but then closing it again. It seemed the man hadn’t taken anything, or stash something in his pocket. Wait a second, is this guy a… But then right in front of her face was the most crazed and scariest face Kate had ever seen. On reaction, she barrel rolled as the man tried snatching her hair. Kate decided she should make a break for it while she had the chance, and once she was no longer under the bed, there stood the man looming over her, seeming to be laughing to himself. Kate crab crawled right under the man’s legs as he lunged after her. She lost one of her slippers as she made a mad dash down the stairs, the man chasing after her. For some reason the man had not gotten the ax. Maybe he’s too obsessed to catch me, Kate had thought.
She rounded the end of the stairs, and then almost catapulted into the kitchen. She stood right by the doorway, which the man would come bursting through, trying to find something to defend herself with. Kate was no match for the bulgur strength of the man. But right next to her was probably the one thing that could stop him.
Kate remembered the day when her mother was so worried that her father, who even though was a chef, would burn the house down with his cooking. She insisted on putting the fire extinguisher right next to the fridge just for safety purposes. “Honey, I’m not taking any risks, even if you’re the executive chef at the Spain L.A.” insisted her mother. “Well, if you insist,” said her father. “But it’s not going to impress the looks of this kitchen.”
Kate hoisted the fire extinguisher with both her hands, ready to pounce. The man though hadn’t seemed to have moved at all, and Kate was wondering where he had gone. She decided to take a quick glance from around the doorway, and she saw exactly what she didn’t want to see. The man was coming back after her, ax high above his head. Kate slid back behind the wall, and just as the man entered the kitchen, Thwap! The next thing Kate Longdale knew was that she was ok, and there the man lay on the black and white tiled floor, unconscious.
Kate was panting after she used all her strength to swing the fire extinguisher. She had nailed the man right in the forehead. This guy better be gone for good, grimaced Kate, panting like she had just run an entire marathon. Kate had tried dialing 911 right away, but it seemed that the man was clever enough to cut the phone lines. Ugh, what now? Her thought was answered as she heard the front door opening.
“That restraunt was horrible! Just utter rubbish!” pestered Kate’s mother.
“Now honey, it-“
“I don’t care if it was busy, their customer service was disgraceful!” She trounced into the kitchen, calling for Kate, but her eyes widened as she saw the unconscious man on the floor and nearly fainted. “Kate! Where are you?” Kate’s father ordered.
“Dad?” She burst from the kitchen and immediately hugged her dad sobbingly like he was her big teddy bear.
That night for Kate was scarier than when she watched The Grudge and Saw. Her escape had made the headlines, local and statewide. The kids at school never called her ‘Baby Katie’ anymore, even though she was being babysat again after her mother insisted on it.
The man who had attacked Kate was a wanted pedophile, and had confessed to raping and murdering the girl Kate saw on CNN. He was sentenced to solitary confinement for the murder and rape of Joanne Levin and the assault of Kate Longdale. The man was so crazy he said he had plotted to kidnap many other children.
Kate seemed to be more sensitive for the safety of herself. For a while after the assault she would make sure that the windows and doors were always locked. Soon her father reassured that something like that would never happen again. He even got a home security system to make Kate feel safe.
Now, on another weekend night, Kate slouched on the sofa watching another animal special on the Discovery Channel, this time about parrots. The babysitter was in the kitchen flirting on the phone with what seemed to be her third boyfriend. Kate reflected on the events that had happened on that rainy night, and said to herself, “I guess that was the shattering of glass.”