Holiday Nightmare

Synopsis

Hannah Parker is a talented 16-year-old artist but puts her schoolwork aside in order to pursue her passion. Unfortunately, her neglect places her in danger of failing her sociology course. Her teacher offers her students an extra credit project right before Christmas break - find a way to make a difference to someone's life. The bigger the project, the more extra credit they can receive.

After seeing a homeless problem downtown while hanging out with her parents, Lisa and Martin, and her younger sister Kat, Hannah decides she would like to select one homeless person and turn their life around. The family reluctantly agrees and they search a homeless camp down by the river for the perfect candidate.

Sadie Carter has had a rough life. With neglectful parents in the first part of her life, she was moved around to various foster homes up until her 17th birthday. When the man of the home molested her, Sadie decided to run away and try to make it on her own. She lost her part-time job after moving in with a friend and was thrown out, leading to Sadie burning down the friend's house. With no place to go, she moved to a tent at the homeless camp.

Hannah's family takes Sadie shopping for new clothes appropriate for job interviews and gets her hair cut. After dropping her off back at the camp, Hannah feels terribly for leaving her in the severe cold. With a little guilt thrown at her parents, she persuades them to let Sadie stay at their house until they can get her to be independent. A homeless man and a nosey neighbor turn up dead after Sadie's move when they threaten to expose Sadie for the evil girl she is.

Sadie cherishes being part of a family and having a roof over her head, but she's allergic to Hannah's bird Tweety and is pushed to pursue her GED instead of job hunting. She hooks back up with her troubled boyfriend Brandon and informs him of how nice her new home is. The information intrigues Brandon, especially when he learns Hannah has a new tablet under the Christmas tree.

While the Parkers are at a holiday festival, Sadie has Brandon over. When Sadie leaves him alone briefly, Brandon locates the tablet and hides it as he hurries to go home. His two thuggish friends, Eddie and Jake, want a big score of stolen property for some quick cash and coerce Sadie into helping them rob the family early Christmas morning. She is left with no choice if she wants to live.

Sadie lets the men inside just before dawn Christmas morning. When the Parkers encounter them before they can leave, they find themselves hostage to the dangerous men with Sadie being their only hope of living through the ordeal. 

First 5 Pages