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Scenarios flashed through my mind, all of them dealing with him entering a house he knew someone was in. None of them were good. Not for me.
The floor barely creaked as he went to the first step and paused, as if looking up and trying to figure out where to go. There were a lot of options. The house was big enough.
Please don’t come up.
Please don’t come up.
Turn around and slip out of the house. Leave.
Or go left. Go into the nice big kitchen.
Or right, into my living room. There were plenty of unpacked boxes there for you.
Just don’t come up. Don’t come for me.
They slowly crept up the stairs.
Oh, hell. They were coming up. For me. They were here for me.
My eyes burned with tears as the fear gripped me tightly. Any hope I had of him slipping back out of the house dashed away.
I needed to leave. I needed to get away. Where? How?
What do I do? What do I do?
Someone….
Anyone….
I covered my mouth with my hand. No. I couldn’t let him find me here like a scared bunny. I needed to get away. That thought spurred me on. On shaky legs, I slipped down the hall as quietly as I could, swearing he could see me or hear me. I went into my bedroom, moving quickly to the window. If he wasn’t going to leave, then I had to.
My bedroom was on the side of the house with the garage. One of my windows even gave me a view of the garage’s rooftop. And I knew on the other side of the garage was a line of bushes. I needed to make use of that.
After locking my bedroom door, I forced the window open with shaking hands. It made removing the screen hard, my fingers not wanting to work right as I tried to slide the buttons that locked them in place. I almost sobbed when it finally worked, and I left the screen outside the roof. Then I practically dove out the window, desperate to get out of the house.
I kept an eye on the bedroom door, waiting for the intruder to bust through it at any moment as I closed the window. Once I was on the rooftop, I scooched to the other side, freaking out, thinking that at any moment, I was going to fall off and bust my head open. Swallowing that fear, I inched across until I reached the edge. Then I turned and got on my hands and knees. Slowly, I inched over the edge, gripping the ledge with sweaty hands.
I tried to lower myself, hoping to shorten my fall as much as I could. I should be fine? Right? I’d rather have a broken bone than face whoever was inside. I had to risk it. My feet were dangling over the edge, and only my upper body on the roof kept me there.
I was preparing to go down when I heard the opening of the window.
I looked into the shadows of my bedroom, the human shape in it standing there. Staring at me. My body shook so hard that I slipped, unable to grip the roof anymore. With a squeak, I fell, landing in the bushes. The branches scratched at me, but it was nothing against the fear that thrummed through me.
I rolled onto the ground, holding in the need to cough as pure agony rippled through my body. My back couldn’t handle that impact and now it was punishing me. I wanted to curl into a ball and scream my lungs out. It took everything I had to force myself to stand on shaking legs, gasping and gritting through the pain. I couldn’t rest. They would be coming after me. They wouldn’t let me go so easily. I winced as pain shot up my leg, and my ankle groaned in misery. Cursing myself, I ran to the road, gasping for air. No cars were passing. No people outside. It was way too quiet, making the thundering chaos in my head even louder.
Where could I go?
I turned back to my house, trying to see where the intruder was, but it was just as silent as all the other houses on the street. I glanced down the street, to Seth’s house, seeing a dim light on upstairs.
Before I even had a chance to tell my legs what to do, I was already running there, focusing on his parked truck in the driveway and on the light showing through his window.
He was home. He could help me. He’d know what to do.
I pounded on the door, glancing back at my house, trying to see signs of my pursuer. When the door opened, I nearly cried in relief as I pushed into him and practically sagged.
“Cadence?” Seth said, wrapping his arms around me to support my weight. He still wore his club clothes, so I knew he hadn’t gone to sleep yet. “What’s wrong?”
I pointed at my house, my breathing heavy. “Intruder,” I managed to say.
