The chill of the wind reminded me that I had made the right choice by wearing a sweater.
Locking my car, I made my way to the Reineking’s house.
Out of all the houses I’d worked at theirs was probably the biggest, the size alone made it look imposing, but the amount of rooms inside was what truly made me feel overwhelmed the first time I was there. Sometimes I wondered if one day my own house could be like that, but then my mind ran through the logistics of the maintenance a house like that needed and felt much more comfortable with an apartment instead.
As I approached the door I took a quick look at my watch. Four-forty-five.
Satisfied with the time I rang the doorbell.
One of the things I learned from babysitting was to expect some delay between the time I arrived and when I actually started to work. It wasn’t uncommon to find myself waiting for something close to fifteen minutes for the parents to leave while they finished dressing up, telling their kids to behave, telling me any important information I should know, or just straight up engaging in small talk for too long.
Which isn’t to say I was mad about it, all the parents I’d worked for had been nice and polite to me and hey, I was still getting paid.
After a few seconds, the door half opened and to my surprise it wasn’t Mrs. Reineking behind it but Amy, the girl I’d be watching tonight.
“Hi Riley”, she said, waving her hand.
“Hi Amy”, I greeted back, “Are your parents still getting ready?”
“Mhmm”, she muttered in confirmation, then fully opened the door and let me in.
I took my shoes off and walked past the studio to the living room, where there were signs of a half prepared board game.
With a smile, I turned to Amy, “Are you that eager, that you started without me?”, I asked.
Pouting, she began, “Last time I almost won! You just rolled an eight out of nowhere and then I had no more bees”, and then, she added, “And you laughed!”
I had to suppress a giggle.
She wasn’t actually wrong, my win that time had just been such bullshit that I started laughing out of disbelief.
“Well”, I began, “Now you get to show me who’s boss this time”.
She just stood there and stuck her tongue out, no real ill intent behind it.
I was about to do the same, but then a voice I recognized interrupted me, “Oh you girls seem to be doing just fine”
I turned to face where the voice had come from and both Mr. Reineking and Mrs. Reineking were there.
“We were just having a bit of trash talk before our game, Mrs. Reineking, nothing to worry about”, I said.
“Please, just Jennifer is fine”, she said.
Nope, sounds weird. I thought.
“So, who should we bet on, Riley?”, Mr. Reineking asked.
This is the small talk I was talking about.
Though it didn’t seem it would last long, since both of them looked just about ready to leave. I decided to go along, but the answer came from Amy, “Me, of course”.
My eyes widened in incredulity, the nonchalance of her statement taking me off guard. “I like that confidence, I think you have your winner Mr. Reineking”, I said with just a tinge of humor in my voice. It was on.
Mr. Reineking laughed, “She’s still mad from last time, talked our ears off with how she was this close to winning”, he told me.
“Well, I did get pretty lucky last time, but it’s getting closer to her birthday, so I don’t know, maybe luck will be on her side this time”, I responded.
“I do see that you’re way ahead on the festivities”, Mrs. Reineking said, pointing to my ugly sweater.
“Oh yeah, I heard from my mom it was gonna be chilly so I grabbed the warmest thing I had in my closet. I know it’s not Christmas, but the stores have already started putting on merchandise so it counts, right?”.
“Sweetie you’re fine, we’ve just gotten to putting things up for Halloween ourselves. If anything we should hurry, it’s just right around the corner”
“Next week, right?”, I asked.
“Yes, Amy’s gonna be dressed as a pirate, but tell her why, honey”. Mr. Reineking requested, facing Amy as his lips curved into a smile.
I turned to Amy, who stared at me.
“I have to get that booty”, she simply explained.
There was no argument to her logic.
“Did she get that from school?”, I asked them, sporting a wide smile.
“I don’t even know, when we asked her why she wanted to be a pirate she just said that and that was that.” Mrs. Reineking answered.
Mr. Reineking took that as his cue to end the conversation, “Well, I’d love to chat a little bit more but it’s getting late and you girls still need to settle things once and for all”.
Then, Mrs. Reineking gave me the old speech, “There’s 20 dollars for pizza on top of the fridge and if you girls want dessert there’s still some jelly I made on Thursday. Amy, please behave and be nice to Riley, I know it goes without saying but there’s no harm in repeating it. Riley, please make sure she gets to bed at eight, we should be back at around ten, ten-thirty at most. If anything happens I left our office’s number on the studio desk, don’t hesitate to give us a call, alright?”.
“Yes, ma’am”, I replied.
“Yes, mom”, Amy said.
“Alright, that’s all. Amy, honey, since we won’t be seeing you until tomorrow, how about you give Dad and I a nice goodbye hug, okay?”, Mrs. Reineking asked.
On command, Amy went next to her parents and they got to her height in turn, followed suit by a family hug.
It seemed like ages, but it probably was nothing more than a few seconds.
As they got up, Amy and I walked them to the door, where I gave them farewell for the night, “Have fun on your dinner guys!”
“You girls have fun too, we’ll see you later Riley”, Mr. Reineking said, closing the door behind them.
Alright, now for the fun part.
“You ready or what, kiddo?”, I asked Amy.
----------------------------------------
Now, I’m not saying I got absolutely destroyed. But what I’m saying is that considering how my opponent had two full squadrons of worker bees on top of a Queen against 5 beetles, the odds weren’t exactly in my favor.
“We can do another one if you want”, she told me, wearing the biggest shit-eating grin I had ever seen in my life.
I had to give it to her, she sure as hell showed me.
Not feeling quite up for another round, I decided to change the subject, “No thanks, I’m good. But I’m ready for pizza, if you want”.
Apparently, food outmatched any desire for another victory, because Amy’s eyes lit up as soon as I mentioned it.
“Yes, please!”, she said.
“Alright, just let me give them a call. Do you know what you want?”, I asked.
“Pepperoni!”, she said in response.
“Then pepperoni it is”.
I began to make my way to the phone on the studio, it was one of those newer ones where you could just press the numbers instead of having to rotate them. Much more convenient if you asked me.
I dialed the number of the pizzeria, waiting a few moments on the line before someone was ready to take my order.
I told them that just one large pizza was fine, despite multiple attempts of them trying to make me buy a large soda or bread sticks.
“What is the address?”, the guy on the line asked.
“27828 Kildren Court, and actually, it’s on the side of the road so you may want to slow down to make sure you don’t pass it, trust me, it’s happened to me before”, I answered.
“Is that on the right or the left side?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s on the right, but let me double check”, I faced the window to confirm I was telling the operator the right direction.
And then it happened.
At first I thought it was just the time of the evening, it was about to be seven on the dot and it had already become dark, so it wasn’t too difficult to think that the thing on the yard was just the stem of the oak tree, the absence of light distorting it to prey on my attention… until it moved.
“Ma’am?”, the voice on the line suddenly brought me back to the house, before I even had any time to make sense of what I witnessed.
“Yes, it’s-it’s on the right”, I managed to say. I turned to the window again and whatever it was I thought I saw was gone.
“Okay, your order should be eighteen dollars and the estimated time wait should be around 30 minutes, is that okay?
“That’s okay”, I blurted.
“Alright, thank you for your business, we hope you have a great evening”, was the last thing I heard before the call was over.
It didn’t take long for me to notice my heartbeat, and how fast it was. It had probably picked up speed when I saw that on the yard, but I hadn’t even registered it until now.
My mind raced through explanations of what I had seen, defense mechanisms on full throttle. Maybe it had been an animal, it wouldn’t be the first time a deer had been sighted in a property like this, there were even signs on the road to watch out for them.
But I couldn’t be sure. And the worst parts of my mind decided right then to make me fully aware of the fact that there were only two people in the house. Amy and I.
I needed to check on her.
If it really is nothing, then I can laugh about it all I want later, I thought.
“Amy!?”, I yelled, surprised by the intensity of my own volume.
“Yeah?”, she responded, nowhere to be seen.
“Where are you!?”, I yelled again, my anxiety calmed somewhat by the sound of her voice.
“In my room”, was her answer.
I jumped the stairs, reaching for her room like my life depended on it. And there she was, sitting on the bed and looking at her pirate costume like it was a work of art.
Oh thank God. Was the only thing I could think of.
Something in the way I looked must have given away how worried I was, because as soon as Amy looked at me she asked, “Are you okay Riley?”.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine”, I tried to reassure her. “Listen, Amy, I think-“.
A noise from outside cut my speech short, and made both Amy and I shriek in shock.
It was violent, and from what sounds I could make, glass and metal, I began to have an idea of what it had been. The fact that it was the only way we could have gotten away from here was what terrified me the most.
Amy looked at me, fear growing on her face as I tried to push my own aside. “Just stay there, I need to take a look”, I commanded, as I made way to the window.
What had I been expecting? My rear view mirrors broken? My front windshield shattered?
There was a hole where the hood was, where the motor was. Big enough that from where I stood I knew my head could fit with space to spare.
There was nowhere for us to run.
Going outside was suicide, whatever it was that did this was still there, and from what little I had seen from it, it was faster and stronger than me.
I needed to act fast.
Amy was my priority, I needed to make sure she survived. I had no illusions on how this was going to go, I was the first line of defense between that thing and her, she couldn’t fight, which meant that I had to find a place where she could hide for as long as it took. Somewhere where I could make it hard to get to her. For as many rooms as this house had, I could count on one hand the ones that fit my needs.
Yes, the irony didn’t escape me.
Being painfully conscious that our invisible clock was ticking I made my choice. Kneeling to eye level with Amy, I cupped her face with my hands and told her, being careful to sound as calm as I could, “Amy, we’re not safe right now and I need to make sure you are, I’m gonna take you to the basement, and then I’m gonna need your help. I’m gonnaneed you to stay where I tell you and not come out until I say so, your parents do, or the police. Do you understand?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Riley, I’m scared”, she whimpered.
“I know, sweetie, I know, but I need to make sure you know this, I can’t do this without your help. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”, I asked, my voice shaking.
With tears in her eyes, she nodded.
“Okay, okay.”, I said with a smile, the only thing I could do to reassure her right now.
I grabbed her hand, motioning for her to follow me. As we moved, I constantly checked for movement on the house. That thing had only acted outside so far, but I had no way to tell if it had made its way inside already. I prayed it hadn’t.
Once in the basement, I lunged to the closet on the wall. I’d remembered this from one time we wanted to play outside and we needed a basketball. It was spacious enough for her, now I just needed to barricade it.
“Amy, please get inside”, I pointed to the closet. She followed suit, far more agitated than earlier, hiccuping and sniffing, her eyes red from all the tears. This was the first time I’d seen her like this, so frightened, so vulnerable. All of a sudden the memory of her from other days, better days, surfaced in my mind. A brilliant girl, laughing without a care in the world as we played together.
I had to protect that.
Before closing the door I spoke to her one last time, “Amy, I want you to know that you were one of the most fun kids I ever watched, I know you’ll be a great person one day”.
I didn’t wait for a response, I wouldn’t be able to keep myself together. I simply closed the door.
The basement acted as a sort of gym and guest room, so I quickly grabbed anything that I could get my hands on and pushed it towards the door of the closet. A bench press, sofa, dumbbells, ping-pong table, even the goddamn TV furniture and the fridge. When I was sure that anything that could be moved was put against that door and only then did I make a run to the studio.
Having to catch myself on the desk I began pushing the numbers on the phone. Nine-One-One. The last time I had been on the phone it was still working, I needed it to be now as well.
Every second I waited my pulse got just a little bit faster, my palms began to sweat to the point they were sticking on the phone, and I felt chills all over my body.
Finally, and I almost cried when it did, a voice on the other side of the line emerged, “Dencemont Nine-One-One”.
“Yes, my-my name is Riley Wazynski, I am at 27828 Kildren Court, a man just came on the front of the house and he’s armed”, I said. No one would come if I told them that there was a monster in the house, so I came up with something that would be credible and required their presence.
“Okay, ma’am, I’m gonna need you to tell me that again. Where are you?”
“Two-seven-eight-two-eight Kildren Court, Kay-i-el-dee–ar–e-en Cee-o-u-ar-tee.”
“Okay, and are you alone in the house right now ma’am?”
“No, I’m–I’m babysitting a girl, I barricaded her in the basement, it’s her house.”
“Ma’am can you–are you able to see the intruder?”
“No, he–he broke my car, we can’t get out, he was trying to break into the house”
“Okay, I’m gonna need you to tell me where you are right now.”
“I’m in the studio.”
“Is there anywhere from where the intruder could see you?”
I already knew the answer, “There’s a window in the room.”
“Alright, I’m gonna need you to either block the view or stay away from its field of vision.”
“Okay, but I won’t be able to stay on the phone.”
“Your safety and the child’s comes first ma’am, if you can barricade yourself with her.”
“Okay”
“We’ve got your address, help is on the way”
“Thank you, please hurry”
“We will”, and then the voice was gone, only the tone of the phone remained.
I put it down, I had accomplished my mission anyways. Now I had to get the house ready as much as I could.
I rushed towards the kitchen, opening the drawers where the cutlery was. I needed a weapon. If–no, when I came across the creature the last thing I needed was to be completely defenseless. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t kill it, if I could so much as slow it down then that was more than enough. I set my eyes on a long knife, taking it out of its sheath to examine it. It was sturdy, with light bouncing off of the metal, and most importantly, the edge seemed extremely sharp.
I put the sheath back on, focusing now on the trash can as I began throwing its contents onto the sink, I needed it empty if I wanted this to work.
Next I opened the shelves, I grabbed all the glassware and ceramics I could find and threw it onto the trash can, making sure I was putting enough force for it to shatter.
The shelves were soon depleted, forcing me to look elsewhere for resources. The lamps in the living room, the pot on the kitchen table, the dirty dishes too.
Soon I came across a box of beer on the cupboards, I was hesitant to use them, not knowing if the liquid would make my mission harder. Then an idea crossed my mind. Quickly, I grabbed one of the bottles and made use of my knife to put a hole on the cap, the pressure causing the beer to propel on my face. I drained the contents onto the sink and rinsed it as best I could. Putting the bottle on my sweater’s pocket I grabbed the knife again and cut a portion of one of the towels in the drawer next to the sink. I put that on my pocket as well.
There were only two more things left, but one was upstairs and I needed to finish with the trash can first. I quickly grabbed a lighter and resumed my task.
After exhausting all the breakable stuff I could find I put my plan into motion.
From the front door, I made a trail all over the first floor and into the second, covering as much space as I could while taking care to put chunks big enough that I would hear if they were crushed.
If I couldn’t keep up with it in speed, at the very least I could make sure where it was and send it in another direction
I was about to finish the stairs when the power went out.
There was no more time left.
I hadn’t counted on this, right now it didn’t matter if the thing stepped into the glass with all its might for everyone to hear. I couldn’t see anything.
I didn’t know how long it would take for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, so I needed to get to the other item on my list quickly. Having a general idea of my position, I knew the main bedroom had to be somewhere on my left.
With a new objective, I discarded the trash can and got into fours. It was far more dangerous for me to run around in the dark than it was to crawl, and I needed to be in top shape for as long as I could.
Slowly, I crawled to the left. There were several pieces of furniture I needed to feel my way through to avoid, I wished I could go faster, but my eyesight wasn’t that great yet.
The noises on the roof stopped me dead in my tracks.
I couldn’t quite place what it was doing, for a moment, it seemed as if it were scanning its surroundings, as it walked slowly and with heavy steps. But then it would switch to fast and hurried steps, making me feel like the roof would come down on me at any second.
There was no sign of it stopping, and I couldn’t be of use to anyone if I just stayed right where I was. With the creature still moving, I picked up the pace towards the bedroom, placing my hand on the wall to use it as a guide.
I kept going like this, with the roof pounding over my head while my eyesight getting slightly better as I pressed on. In an attempt to make me feel better, I told myself it was far better that the thing kept making noise, at the very least that way I knew where it was. Small mercies.
Eventually, my hand ran out of wall and I felt the relief of a door. I tried to make out the knob, opening the door quickly once I found it, not bothering to close it behind me.
I had grown more accustomed to the dark now, and I could make the rough outlines of where things were, so I dared standing and rushing to the bathroom. My goal was the cabinet next to the toilet. As fast as I could, I began to pick up the contents and putting them as close to my eyes as I possibly could to make out what they were. I knew what I needed, but figuring out the labels in the darkness with no source of light made my task infinitely harder.
I grabbed from the bottom shelf. Glass cleaner. I ventured on the middle. Eye drops. With a speed that bordered on erratic, I chose the top this time. Liquid soap.
God dammit.
I kept going. Losing count of how many items I went through until I finally found it.
Alcohol.
I put the liquid on my side, taking the bottle from my pocket with shaking hands.
Once, I’d heard my friends boast about the stupidest thing they’d ever done and gotten away with. Most of them talked about smoking pot or having sex in the car.
One of them said they had burned a tree with a molotov.
When one of us was brave enough to call him out and ask him how would he even know how to make one, he said it was actually quite easy: Find a glass bottle, get some alcohol, a rug or towel, and a lighter too.
I was about to find out how honest he had been.
I began to pour the alcohol into the bottle, some of it spilling outside. That was acceptable, I just needed as much as I could inside.
With the towel, I soaked as much of the alcohol that had spilled into my hands and grabbed the opposite side, trying my best to alignt it with the hole. I missed quite a few times, but eventually I managed to push it through, until I was sure that the part on the inside made contact with the alcohol.
It was done. The most capable weapon I had against that thing.
Now I needed to lure it to me.
I couldn’t use it inside the house, if a fire were to break then it wouldn’t matter whether or not the creature got to Amy, she would die either way. She wouldn’t be able to escape the closet by herself and I had no idea when help would get here.
I doubted I could help her as well. Since I needed to be close enough to it to have a good shot, and no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise… my odds didn’t look great at that distance.
No, I needed to bring the fight outside.
Now that I knew what I had to do, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. I said going outside was suicide, the strength and speed of the creature far superior than mine. I even made a sound trap for it, fully expecting to stay indoors.
And here I was, about to leave out of my own volition.
I clenched my teeth, and the hand on the molotov gripped harder. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.
Standing, I headed towards the hall, where the lack of sound warned me that I no longer had a concrete location for the creature.
The darkness was not a danger anymore, with the limited sight I had I could avoid the furniture and reach the stairs with little trouble, getting down was harder, but using the rails as support while carefully landing my feet made me able to get safely to the first floor.
I considered my next move, wondering how I could get the attention of the monster. Make a bunch of noise was where my mind went first, yelling was a surefire way to attract its attention, a lone target to fully focus on.
As fate would have it, I didn’t have to come up with a plan.
A blinding light entered the house, causing me to wince in reflex after being in the dark for so long.
Was it the police? No, that couldn’t be, I knew we were quite away from downtown Dencemont and even if they had gone right after I called the timing just didn’t match up in my mind.
The answer suddenly dawned on me.
The pizza.
My first instinct was to warn them, do anything, scream my head off to stay away. I was ready to open the door when I stopped.
A horrible thought occurred to me.
If I, who was inside the house, had noticed an outside presence immediately. It wasn’t difficult to imagine that the creature would have done as well. In fact, it may even consider it a threat, or at the very least, an inconvenience.
The perfect bait.
I just stood there, motionless, not even daring to make a sound as I watched the car stop, just shy of my own car.
The lights went out, and I started to count down.
One. The driver gets out of the car.
Two. They open the back door and pull out a bag.
Three. They walk to the house.
Four. They glance at my car and stop, curiosity getting the best of them when they see the state it’s in.
Five. I dare say they are confused, as they step away and turn to face the house.
Six. Panic sets in, my guess is they see the lights are out and realize something is wrong.
Seven. They step back, dropping the bag and running to the car as fast as they can.
Eight. They make it to the driver’s door.
Nine. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.
Ten. It’s too late
The only warning I had was the sound of the glass breaking.
I threw the door open, made witness to the consequences of my actions.
The creature held the boy from the chest, munching through his neck and shoulder, taking big bites, crushing the bone and ripping the flesh as it pulled away, again and again.
I had to stop the urge to vomit.
The boy’s arm eventually fell off, but the creature must have thought that too small a prize, as it ignored it and instead simply turned the body around. Biting into the side of the torso this time.
My gaze was glued to the scene, disgust and fear clashing with each other. All the bravado I had mustered earlier threatened to leave me right then and there. But I couldn’t let that happen.
I didn’t have the right.
Regardless of the outcome, I had a window, and I was absolutely sure I wouldn’t get another one.
I took the lighter out, igniting it and setting the towel on fire.
I took aim, and let it rain on the fucker.
It didn’t scream, or made any noise for that matter. The only reason I knew it was hurt was because of its movements, first it smashed itself onto the car, probably trying to escape the fire, then it flailed its limbs, which made me aware of its other two arms.
The creature’s motions grew slower, but I realized that the fire was beginning to die too. I grabbed my knife, removing the cover and getting ready to attack.
The monster dropped to the grass, twisting in what I now recognized was an attempt at putting out the fire.
Our eyes met.
They were small, like marbles, but so many I couldn’t keep track of them.
I no longer had the element of surprise, I had to attack now.
Before I even managed to run the creature jumped into the house. The window of the studio shattering into a million tiny little pieces.
No, no no no no no.
I rushed back into the house. I had to keep track of it, I had to keep it occupied, I had to contain it, I had to–
A sharp pain hit me in my left leg. I dropped to the floor, crying in pain as I reached to the injury on my leg, it was useless but I couldn’t help my reflexes.
I turned my head in all directions, trying to look for the source of the attack. And from the corner of the stairs, the creature approached in all fours, slowly, like it had all the time in the world.
Stupid, so fucking stupid.
I had dropped my guard, and the creature had taken full advantage of it.
The monster just kept moving, and I could swear it tilted its head to the side, as if it were examining me, appraising me.
If the pain wasn’t enough, one quick look at my leg told me everything I needed to know. I wasn’t going anywhere.
I located the knife that I had dropped when the creature stroke. I grabbed it, and braced myself.
The creature lunged, perceiving my hostility.
I put my left shoulder in front to take the brunt of the attack. It still wasn’t enough.
If my leg had left me crying from the pain then the bite I received from the monster made me scream at the top of my lungs, the feeling of my skin being pierced and immediate focus on it almost making me lose my grip on the knife.
Relentlessly, I stabbed what I thought was the neck of the creature. Its blood cold to the touch and its “skin” cracking under the knife.
Neither of us was letting go, our attacks only growing more intense as the seconds went by.
Both of us were going for the kill.
I kept stabbing. Even when I felt my left arm fell off and I was pinned on the floor.
I kept stabbing. The creature stopped biting, resorting instead to its claws to begin a new assault on me.
I kept stabbing. One of the claws lodged into my right eye and I worried the knife would no longer connect.
I kept–
----------------------------------------
I never put much thought into sleep.
I knew I loved it, so much in fact that I had to literally bribe myself with going to the theater or a visit to the guy who sold pirated games just to get my ass out of bed.
But I never thought about when the actual sleeping happened. I knew we were going to learn about it on AP Psych but I hadn’t gotten that far yet.
It just really didn’t seem that important to me.
I tried to open my eyes and I don’t think I even managed to get them halfway open before a burning sensation stopped me from doing so.
It was darkness all around me, the only thing that made me sure I even existed was the bed I was resting on. I had no idea where I was, in fact I had no idea about anything.
I knew I was fighting the creature before I ended up here, it was the time in between that made me anxious. What happened to Amy? Was she alright? Did the cops find her? A million questions rushed through my head and I hadn’t even really started yet.
“How are you feeling?”, a woman’s voice asked.
I assumed she was talking to me, since I heard no one else besides me in wherever I was.
“”, I tried to speak but only an awkward sound came out. I realized my throat was dry and felt like it was being crushed every time I tried to swallow.
“I’m sorry, I was told your condition would have improved by now, but I see that’s not the case”, she said softly, almost apologetically.
I didn’t even bother to try and respond, I doubted I could talk in a while. After all I had just woken up from who knew how long.
“Perhaps we can try something different?”, she asked. And I knew she was either talking to herself or to someone else I wasn’t aware of. I refused to believe someone would keep chatting with a person who couldn’t even mutter a word unless they could speak with their hands.
Wait.
I was so focused on my lack of sight and speech that I had forgotten to verify if I could even move. I tried flexing my fingers on both arms.
I could feel them.
Now I tried to raise my arms in their entirety, as if I were doing my daily routine from waking up.
I could move.
And for the first time, I tried sitting on the bed. Nearly managing a laugh when I did so.
“Alright, so there has been some improvement”, she said, emphasizing the has. “I’m glad”.
I turned around to face the direction I felt she was at. I still couldn’t talk or see but it did wonders for my mind to know I was able to still move.
“I have something to tell you” the woman began, “I can’t fully agree with your methods, but I want you to know”. She paused for the briefest of seconds, “You did a good thing”
I was confused, briefly wondering what she meant. Until all doubts were removed when she said two words. The only words I needed to hear.
“She’s safe”
I didn’t even know I had any energy left in me to weep, but it was as if hearing that had removed a lock. My lips trembled as tears followed soon after and I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
Amy was alive, and that was all that mattered.
The woman spoke again, “We arrived in time to neutralize the creature, but your body had taken too much damage already. I wish we could have done more for you”.
I felt like the world had stopped.
The last thing–No, everything she had just said was horribly wrong.
What did they mean by “neutralize”?
What the hell had happened to me?
A nauseating feeling grew in my stomach, as I began to realize something.
How was I able to move both of my arms?
I was operating under the impression that I couldn’t see and talk due to the damage from my fight with the creature.
And if that wasn’t the case?
Who was this woman?
“If what I heard during the briefing was true, you’ll eventually have questions for me”, the woman explained.
“Please know that the information I am allowed to disclose is severy limited until you’ve fully recovered. But know this, we won’t hurt you, matter of fact we want to gain your trust and we are willing to work with you to do so. We need more people like you”
I didn’t like this, this was too convenient. The fact I couldn’t voice my consent to any of this only made the feeling of defeat worse.
I had no choice but to go along with her for now.
She kept going on but I blocked most of what she was saying out of pure spite.
I did manage to hold on to one last thing she told me before she took off.
Her name.
Crystal Monroe.