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The sun coming in from the windows above the front door made the crystal chandelier that hung above the foyer sparkle. Then I eyed the lights on the top of the hall wall leading to the kitchen. I aimed my gun at the chain that anchored the chandelier to the ceiling and pulled the trigger twice. The chain snapped and the beautiful light fixture fell. Glass shattered and scattered, covering the foyer floor.
I moved down the stairs. “Ooooh, Mr. X!” I shouted through the house. I was no longer the mouse in this terrifying game he forced me to play; I was the cat. I paused my descent to aim at the light fixture on the hall wall and shot it. More glass hit the ground. “Come out! Come out, wherever you are!” I shot the next light farther down the hall.
As I stepped off the stairs, my boots crunched on the glass. Gun out in front of me, I looked into the living room. He wasn’t in there. Beyond the living room was my dad’s office. It was dark because it didn’t have any windows. Going in there looking for him would be too much of a risk. It would be better to draw him out into the open. So I moved across the foyer to my mom’s office. Glass crunched under my boots with each step. I glanced into the Jack-and-Jill bathroom before moving to the other side of the office. My mom’s desk faced the foyer. I knelt behind it. From my vantage point, I could see into the foyer, a little bit of the living room, and the entrance to the bathroom.
Now we’d see who would catch who.
20
I didn’t knowhow much time had passed. Ten minutes? Fifteen? Maybe it had been an hour and I couldn’t tell. Time moved and felt differently when adrenaline bumped through your whole body and your heart pounded out of fear in your chest.
The sound of glass crunching echoed in the hall near the kitchen. I stood up from behind the desk, gun aimed toward the foyer as I listened. I didn’t hear the sound of glass crunching again. Therefore, the only route Mr. X could take would be through the Jack-and-Jill bathroom. I pointed my gun toward there and waited.
“Is your heart racing like mine?” Mr. X said loudly from the back of the house. I couldn’t tell if he was down the hall or near the other entrance to the bathroom. “I’m enjoying myself so much, it’s tempting to leave so we can draw out this game we’re playing.”
“What a cowardly thing to do,” I said loudly as I stepped out from behind my mom’s desk and slowly walked across the room. “No wonder you have to kidnap young women to sleep with you.”
“I had to do that because you ran away from me!” he snarled.
Just as I was about to step into view of the entrance to the bathroom, I stilled. “You did that because you are nothing more than a pathetic, disgusting man who can’t tell the difference between reality and delusion.”
Finding courage, I leaned forward and looked in and through the bathroom. When I didn’t see him, I quickly moved toward the foyer. I led with my gun as I glanced down the hall. He wasn’t there, either.
The sound of something shattering came from the back of the house.
Is he leaving?
I moved back into my mom’s office and headed for the bathroom. Walking quickly but quietly, I went through the bathroom until I reached the hall that led to the mudroom and kitchen. When I stepped out into that hall, I’d be able to look slightly right and immediately see inside the kitchen’s entrance, while the entrance to the mudroom would be all the way to the right. I’d have to pick one to search first.
Before I moved out of the bathroom, I got the feeling like I was walking into a trap. That him breaking the glass had been his way to lure me out.
I backed up a step, unsure what to do. Then I heard glass crunch in the foyer.
How?
I rushed out into the hall, turned left, walked a few feet, and turned left again to see down the hall toward the front door. To my disbelief, Knox and Creed were standing in my foyer. Knox had his pistol aimed in front of him while Creed held a bat.
“How—” I was so shocked to see them, it was all that I could say.
The moment that word reached them, they looked at me.
Knox took a step toward me and crystal crunched under his foot. Frowning, he glanced down, and that was when I realized the mistake I had made. In my peripheral, I caught movement. I tried to dodge, but I felt the familiar pain of his knife cutting me from the top of my shoulder to my heart.
“Shiloh!” I heard Knox and Creed yell.
Mr. X slashed at me again and I had to hop backward. He went to slash again, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. I tried to aim my gun at him, but as I did, Keelan appeared behind him. He caught Mr. X by his wrist and wrapped his arm around his neck, putting him in a choke hold.
Keelan struggled to hold him, and I was too scared to shoot because one wrong move and I could end up shooting Keelan. Colt came out from behind Keelan and grabbed Mr. X’s other arm to help. Then Knox rushed to them and took over holding the arm Keelan had been struggling with. Creed came up next to me and I understood what I needed to do.
I gave Creed my gun and I pulled the knife out of my boot. I pushed Mr. X’s head back with my palm on his forehead. Keelan adjusted his hold by moving his arm from around his neck and hooking both of his arms under Mr. X’s armpits.
“Are you still enjoying yourself?” I asked him as I stared deep into his eyes. His dark depths used to be so terrifying and had haunted me for so long. Something seemed to change. It had to be me, because as I held his eyes, he wasn’t my demon or my boogeyman anymore. He was still a monster in a sense, but he was mostly just a man. One that was clearly pissed off. I had a feeling it had to do with who was holding him and the fact that no matter how much he thrashed against their hold, it was to no avail.
I cupped his chin and dug my fingers into his face around his mouth to hold him still. As I pressed the tip of my knife to the side of his neck, I said, “I am not yours. I never was.”
Knox leaned his head close to Mr. X’s ear and whispered, “She’s ours.”
Mr. X’s nostrils flared, and murderous rage filled his eyes as they rolled to look at Knox. With that one look, I saw what Mr. X wanted to do to Knox—to all four of them if he got free. Seeing that, my own rage took over me. I slammed my knife into his neck, twisted it, and then ripped it out.
