Steffi had just recently graduated from grad school and moved from her parents' home in the city to a home that she purchased and renovated herself. She put a lot of hard work into making this home her own little oasis. She wanted to transform the run-down country home into a quaint little retreat where she could focus on her writing and find tranquility and peace.
When she bought the old farm house it had been abandoned for a number of years and had used as a hangout by local city delinquents. She redid the floors, patched holes in the walls and painted them, and replaced the shattered windows in the home. She gutted the kitchen and master bedroom to create her ideal cooking space and personal retreat. The house was three levels with a tower at the top. She redid the first level and turned a spare room into her dream study. This house couldn't have been more perfect, to her it looked like it was plucked from a magazine. Steffi had received her PhD in creative writing and planned to spend her days as a creative writing professor online and working on her novels at night.
It was a crisp Saturday morning in February and she was unloading the last of her boxes when she notice a window open on the top floor of her house. It was the window in the tower, and she had only been up their once, so she was confused as to how it would be open. She had a security system installed in the home to be on the safe side. She felt that given what the house used to be used for by the local delinquents it was a good investment.
She had her German Shepherd Charli with her so she felt secure when she was around, but she wanted an added measure of protection when they were not home. Charli was a very agile little girl and was very protective of her Mama. She was three years almost four and was a sharp as a tack and faster than a greyhound. Nothing got past her and she had a sense of awareness about her.
Steffi picked up the box and patted her leg, "C'mon Charli, let's go close that window and make some lunch." Charli pounced towards the door and flopped down on the chase lounge when she got inside. "Charli! That isn't your chair pretty girl, get down!" Charli just looked at Steffi with those big brown eyes and tilted her head to the side. She knew how to work Steffi and get what she wants. "Oh Charli, don't look at me like that. Come close the window with me." She patted her leg again and Charli sprung from the couch and raced Steffi to the third floor and waited. There was a door that led to the tower and it was closed and locked.