I quickly rushed up the damp stone path, onto the front porch, and fumbled to swing the screen door and then the regular door open. I practically jumped inside, ducked down, and warily peered out from the bottom of the window next to the door. I saw the black car slowly roll down the driveway and then disappear down the road. A relieved breath escaped me and I slid down against the wall to sit on the floor.
I’m alive!
Sr. Pepper Paws pranced over to me and I quickly swooped him up in a big hug. I couldn’t believe that I actually made it out of there unharmed. Everything that had happened last night was now just an awful memory.
“Well, well, well, look who finally just got home.” William was suddenly standing in front of me with a scowl on his face.
“Oh.. um, I- uh, well-”
“You crazy fucking bitch! You sure did have a wild time at that party last night, didn’t ya?” His false angry demeanor dropped and was replaced with a very amused grin and loud laughter.
“You have no idea.” I flatly replied.
I could hear Oliver, William’s partner, laughing at our conversation from the kitchen.
“Oh, you can’t even deny it. I totally saw you getting dicked down by that super sexy beast of a man out in the rain... And the way he passionately whooshed you away... Woo! Girl, you animal! You even lost your dress!” He enthusiastically exclaimed.
My cheeks reddened in embarrassment. I knew that there was no good way that I could explain what he saw last night, or being in Ashton’s shirt and boxers other than having slept with him.
Oliver casually walked out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in his sun-tanned hands. His wavy dark brown hair was messy and fell loosely to the nape of his neck, making it obvious that he’d just woken up. His darker masculine appearance was a stark contrast to William’s fair and more feminine one. They were both wearing their matching light pink pajama shirts that had “Slut” written on them in bold cursive letters.
“You should probably let Lacey know you’re home, she’s worried sick about you.” Oliver said in his deep voice while pinning me with his electric blue gaze.
“Oh right... Lacey! She’s home!" William suddenly shouted, followed by Lacey suddenly bursting out from her bedroom down the hall. I stood up and put Sr. Pepper Paws down.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re home!” She exclaimed with relief in her voice. “I’ve been calling and texting you all morning!” She ran over to me and gave me a tight suffocating hug.
Where did my phone go, anyways? I had probably lost it at some point during all that drunken struggling.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I think I must have lost my phone at the party. I don’t remember when or where though?” I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear while trying to recall.
“It’s okay, I’m just glad that you got home safely. William told me that you were off with some unknown guy, and I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there was a murder last night.” She looked worried and sounded a bit scared.
“Oh... a-a murder you say?” My body awkwardly froze up and my widened eyes nervously shifted around.
Oh shit! Oh shit!
“Yeah, you know Allison Reynolds? Apparently, she was found in the woods with her chest cut open and her heart removed.” Oliver grimly chimed in.
A glorious wave of relief crashed over me... However, it didn’t last long and was quickly followed by a sickening dread that made my stomach churn. What the Hell? What kind of sicko does that to someone?
“What!? that’s horrifying!” Shock filled my voice and eyes. I reached down to pick up Sr. Pepper Paws again since he was rubbing on my legs and meowing at me.
“I know right? Police think it might be a serial killer.” Lacey almost whispered while nervously shifting her large dark brown eyes.
“Well, I’m sure am glad everyone here is safe.” I was feeling a bit freaked out. Ashton suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore considering that Jack the fucking ripper was now on the loose.
I managed to slip away and scurry up to my bedroom after a few minutes of interrogation about my wild and crazy “sex-filled” night with a handsome stranger. They seemed to be really happy that I had finally let loose a bit and had some fun, which made me secretly feel a little sad. Was I really so much of a boring recluse that everyone’s shocked by the idea of me having fun?
I sighed as I slipped off Ashton’s clothes and put on a plain old boring dark blue dress to match my gloomy despondent soul. I began folding the shirt and then grabbed the boxers to do the same. I didn’t know what I should do with them. Maybe I could sneak over to his place in the dead of night while wearing a ski mask and slide them into his mailbox?
I held the large black undergarment in front of my face. The size of them reminded me of what a massive hunky muscled-up man he was. I started to wonder if they would have the same fire and spice scent as the shirt. My hands seemed to move on their own as I slowly brought the material up to my nose. I inhaled, and the scent was so deliciously... masculine.
Liquid heat pooled between my legs, but I suddenly felt really spooked as if I wasn’t alone. My body stiffened and I looked around the room like a crazy paranoid person. I checked under my bed, in the closet, behind the curtains. I even checked under the rug, and... nothing. It felt like I was losing my goddamn mind!
I only had one afternoon class, so I decided to paint until it was time to go. I worked on a spooky cemetery painting that I had started a few days ago. It had ghostly figures swirling around a foggy ominous haunted graveyard, complete with a full moon, bats, and an owl resting in a dead tree. The entire time I painted the feeling of being watched never left and I often whipped around, ready to say “Ah-ha!” to the creep who was looming behind me. But no one was ever there, making me feel like a total nutcase.
I eventually gave up and went downstairs to watch silly adult cartoons with William and Oliver. I would have preferred to continue painting, but I didn’t want to be alone with that creepy feeling any longer. Although, it seemed to linger even when I was in the company of others. Soon enough it was time for me to leave and I headed off to class.
My eyes watched as the numbers on the large clock shifted from 4:33 to 4:34. I inwardly groaned knowing that I was stuck in my psychology class for another agonizing twenty-six minutes. Paying attention to the monotonous utterance of my professor, Mrs. Esposito, was proving to be quite the struggle today, considering that the empty seat a few rows in front of me had belonged to Allison Reynolds.
I kept glancing over to where I would see the back of her blond wavy hair, and it was really unsettling for me. Thinking about how her heart had been carved from her chest just last night made me shiver with unease. What upset me further was the fact that no one here seemed to care. The class was continuing on like nothing ever happened, not even a mention of her. It was like... Poof... she suddenly never even existed at all.
Luckily, Amelia’s seat was right next to mine. She seemed dead tired and extremely hungover from the party last night. Her straight shoulder-length red hair was pulled back in a sloppy high ponytail. The dark purple lipstick she had on was faded and cracking. Black eyeliner was smudged all willy-nilly, blending with the dark circles that framed her blueish grey eyes, making her look like a disheveled Ricky the Raccoon on drugs. Looking at her overall decrepit state made me realize how weird it was that I hadn’t woken up in just as terrible of a condition this morning.
I awkwardly glanced over at her and quietly cleared my throat to get her attention. She slowly pried her exhausted eyes away from the wall to look at me.
“I can’t stop thinking about Allison Reynolds.” I whispered while still pretending to be paying attention to the class.
“Yeah, it’s so freaky, right? I mean, if it is a serial killer who knows who will be next.” Amelia whispered back as she chewed on her gum.
“I’ve heard that it usually takes a few bodies turning up before detectives are able to track down the perpetrator.” I said trying to seem smart and tough, and not as worried as I felt.
I had always thought that if a situation like that ever arose, I would be able to go all Rambo on their ass and victoriously fight the perp off. But after last night, I was seriously starting to doubt my strength against a homicidal maniac.
“I’ve heard that too, Do you-”
Amelia was suddenly cut off when an older very flustered man abruptly burst through the door and swiftly walked over to Mrs. Esposito. He began telling her something that seemed rather urgent. It looked like he was trying to stay cool, but he was totally freaking out. Judging by the expression on their faces, whatever they were talking about wasn’t good at all. A sickening feeling panged in my gut as I sat there anticipating what this could be about.
“A-attention class, everyone is to go home immediately! There has been a te-terrible accident on campus and all classes will be closed for the rest of the n-night.” Mrs. Esposito shakily announced with every word laced with fear.
The whole class started to warily gather their things while murmuring in speculation about what could have possibly happened. I nervously glanced over at Amelia who was wide-eyed but solemnly collecting her things. I grabbed my stuff and we silently exited the building together.
The bright sun blinded my eyes as we stepped out. The strong wind whistled through the trees and blew my hair all around my face. I stepped over one of the few remaining puddles that lingered on the concrete sidewalk and asphalt road. Bright flashing lights and sirens came from emergency personal vehicles that surrounded the main study hall just across the street from us. It looked like something really fucking serious was going down.
“Hey, let's see if we can get close enough to check out what happened.” Amelia nudged me while eyeing an ambulance.
"What!? I don’t think that’s a good idea at all! Besides, I doubt we’ll be allowed near all the commotion anyways.” I gave her an ‘are you fucking crazy?’ look.
“Come on, don’t be a wuss. The worst they can do is ask us to leave.” She grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me across the street with her before I could further object.
We stepped up onto the sidewalk just in time to see paramedics carrying someone out from the main hall's large stained glass double doors. The person was tightly strapped down to a straight board while violently writhing and viciously snarling. It looked like something straight out of some deranged horror film. I stood on my tiptoes and tried to get a better look at who it might be...
Oh my god! Is that... Cassandra!?
Her face was darkly distorted with malice and half-covered by her extremely tangled colorful hair. Her eyes were pitch black with black inky veins webbing out from them, and her mouth looked like it was full of disgusting gooey tar that was oozing down her chin. Blood-curtailing otherworldly noises that I didn’t think were possible for a human to make were coming out of her. It sounded almost like something you’d expect a hollywood zombie to sound like, only somehow far more evil and unsettling.
What in the world am I witnessing!?
I was filled with extreme perturbation from the harrowing sight before me and completely frozen in shock. Never had I seen anything so sinister like this before. I didn’t really like Cassandra, but yikes, what the hell happened to her!?
The paramedics and officers looked just as freaked out and wary as I was. “The victim seems to have died from bites to the throat.” ...” Yeah, they’ll have to confirm that at the coroners though.” I overheard some of them saying.
The victim? Bites to the throat? What the fuck is happening right now!?
I peeked over to where a few other people were being treated for what looked like large gashes in the ambulance near us. Blood was soaking through bandages and dripping onto the ground from various victims. People were crying and clearly extremely traumatized. My heart sank to my stomach and I felt beyond sick.
“Excuses me, ladies, you need to leave right now.” A tall police officer told Amelia and me with a deep stern voice.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Amelia warily said sounding just as distressed as I felt.
The whole gang of Amelia, Lacey, William, Oliver, and I were all seated in a circle in the living room, and discussing the bizarre horror scene that was just witnessed. Lacey and William were greatly disturbed by our story, but Oliver was rather skeptical. I couldn’t blame him though, it’s hard to explain such an abnormal occurrence and still seem sane.
"Nope, nope, nope! That is some freaky ass night of the living dead shit right there!” William said in horrified denial.
“I wonder what could have caused that? Do you think that she was poisoned by something or possibly rabid?” Lacey’s voice was filled with extreme concern.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t make any sense at all! I could hardly believe it myself!” I shook my head and held my hands up.
“Well, I don’t mean to divert you guys from your insanity-filled zombie rigmarole, but did you hear that they found another dead body with the heart missing?” Oliver piped in. The look on his face made it obvious that he was sick of our nonsensical conversation.
“So does that confirm that it’s a serial killer then?” Amelia quietly inquired. She seemed both very tired and shook up.
“Yeah, it does. So everyone should be extra careful with strangers.” Oliver sounded like a father firmly talking to his unruly children, but I knew that it was because he cared about us.
It was getting late and Amelia was frightened about going home alone, so she set up camp on the couch. Oliver stayed over as well and joined William in his bedroom. I ate some mixed nuts as a quick snack and got ready for bed. I felt oddly comforted knowing that there were extra people in the house tonight.
I ungracefully flopped into my bed, helped Esquire up and petted him and Sr. Pepper Paws as they got comfy. I once more laid there, just staring numbly in a trance at my dark ceiling. It felt good to be in the comfort of my bed again since the last twenty-four hours had been so crazy.
I peered out from behind my blanket to the shadowed corner of the room and began to feel that dark sinister feeling again. Logically I knew that it was all in my head. I was probably just freaked out and letting my imagination get the best of me. And yet, I could help but feel as if I was staring into invisible eyes hiding within the darkness.
I tried to ignore the stupid feeling and turned to face the wall. A shiver suddenly ran up my spine from feeling like something was now standing next to the bed and looming over me. I peeked just once but saw nothing, causing me to inwardly grumble to myself about how ridiculous it was. I then allowed sleep to slowly take over my senses.
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