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For the past ten minutes, all I’ve heard are thundering footsteps around the house and gunshots. Something serious is going down outside my dark prison, and I suspect it has something to do with me.
Please, for the love of God, let it be Pasha. I know the police can be a little heavy-handed, but this doesn’t sound like them. If it were, I doubt there would be so many. It sounds like an army is storming the house.
But nobody has come for me yet. I fear that Anatoly will come first, and if that’s the case, my makeshift knife is the only thing I can use to stop him.
I don’t feel as confident in it now that I’ve heard all the shooting. What good would it do against a gun? My ability to catch him by surprise is my only hope of defeating him, so I stay crouched beside the door, waiting to hear his familiar footsteps coming down the hallway.
Seconds feel like hours, and the sweat on my skin causes me to shiver in the cold darkness. What if nobody comes for me? What if they leave the house after everyone is dead, and I just die here?
I push the negativity out of my head, clinging to hope instead. Scaring myself won’t help me to survive, and even if I was left alone here, I could escape. I have a knife, and that might be enough to hack through the wooden door.
I’m not going to test that theory now, though. I need my knife to be sharp for when Anatoly comes. I only get one chance to kill him, and I’m not going to spoil it with a dull knife.
My body tenses further as I hear someone coming down the hallway. They’re moving quickly, but I can’t tell who the footsteps belong to. There’s too much noise from inside the house, more footsteps and gunshots.
I clench the knife in my hand, holding it like a dagger as I wait for the door to open.
The footsteps come to a halt, and so does my breath. I hold it until there’s a loud bang, and wood flies through the door, revealing my first taste of light in hours. Someone is shooting their way in!
That. Or they’re trying to kill me before I have the chance to strike, but I’m not in the line of fire.
One chance. Let’s do this.
I prepare my legs to spring into action as a foot knocks the entire door to the floor. The blue beam of a flashlight floods in, and I squint through it to see who has arrived.
A massive man steps in, and I jump to my feet, pulling back the knife as I lurch toward him.
I let out a battle cry that’s more like the screech of a banshee as I attempt to stab my unknown intruder, but he catches my hand immediately, twisting it to the side with such speed and force that he sends my entire body flying sideways.
He catches me before I can hit the floor, holding me in place until I regain focus and recognize his luminous green eyes.
“Pasha!”
“Are you alright?” he asks, his voice soft but hoarse as he looks me over. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“I’m fine. Are you?” I ask, noticing the smell of blood on him and how damp his body is with sweat.
“I’m fine now that I have you back.” He pulls me into a tight embrace, and I can feel his heart beating fast against me.
I place my hand on his chest, closing my eyes and praying that he’ll never be scared like this again. “I’m okay, Pasha. You saved me,” I whisper.
He pulls away, his eyes brimming with tears. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him cry before, but this is as close as he lets me come before blinking them away. His body stiffens. “We need to get you out of here. Most of the house is secure, but I haven’t found Anatoly yet. There’s a good chance he’s hiding somewhere.”
I nod. “Fine, but he took my necklace. Can we find it? Maybe it’s in his room or something.”
“Fuck,” Pasha growls. “I was just there. I wasn’t looking for it so I doubt I would’ve seen it even if it was out in the open.”
“Can we check?” I ask, not wanting to lose the only piece of Julia I have left. In the chaos, a lot of things can happen. Therecould be an explosion or a fire, and then all hope of getting that necklace back would be gone.
Pasha hesitates for a moment, but then he looks down at my bare neck and nods. “Okay. Let’s make it quick, though. We need to get you out of here as soon as we can.”
I smile, slipping my hand into his and allowing him to lead me out of the room.
The hallway lights are on now, and even though they’re not bright, my eyes struggle to adjust. I have to keep one hand over my face, looking through the cracks in my fingers to see anything clearly.
“There’s a secret staircase this way,” Pasha says, turning down another long hallway. It feels like this entire house is made of hallways. There are barely any rooms.
Pasha leads me to an open doorway, where the light is much dimmer and I’m able to remove my hand from my face. I never thought I’d be so thankful to be back in the darkness, but the spiral staircase leading up to the top floor is a relief compared to the glowing light of the hallway.
