Trouble in the Forest

Vacation Gone Awry: Chapter 7

The tall dark clothed man stepped forward into the moonlight coming through the destroyed doors. The eerie light revealed a large man about 6 feet tall with short brown hair and startling green eyes.

The imposter tilted his head to one side and smirked wickedly at Josh, swinging an unidentifiable object between his fingers on his right hand. When he tilted his head, Josh noticed a tattoo highlighted with sweat on the right side of his neck. Instantly, the pieces came together.

This was none other than the mass murderer, Marcus Stone.

All at once, Marcus threw the glittering object he was holding in his hand at Josh, and just in the nick of time, Josh managed to duck and narrowly avoid the sharp object. It lodged itself in the wall behind him and Josh saw that the object Marcus had been holding was a sharp pocket knife.

Immediately, Josh ran to the kitchen counter and grabbed a large chef knife from the knife block, and held it in front of him defensively, shaking heavily. Marcus prowled towards him, hunger evident in his eyes. He slid around the kitchen island separating them and sneakily inched towards his pocket knife to retrieve it. Josh knew exactly what Marcus was doing and before he could think twice, just as Marcus reached for his knife, Josh made a run for it with his knife in hand.

Josh frantically climbed the stairs as fast as he could and yelled at the top of his lungs, "MOM, DAD, JAMIE, GET UP NOW. MARCUS STONE, THE MURDERER FROM MAINE THAT ESCAPED PRISON IS IN THE HOUSE!"

Marcus laughed and shouted in an angry hoarse voice, "HA! You think you are so smart huh?! Well, soon enough you will realize you are no match for me. You nor your family will survive this."

Josh reached the top of the stairs and pushed open the door to the bedroom his parents were sleeping in. They were both groggily sitting up in bed, looks of complete confusion on their faces.

"DAD, MOM! GET JAMIE, MARCUS STONE IS IN THE HOUSE!"

Upon hearing Marcus Stone's name a second time, William came to his whits right away when he realized his family was in danger.

He jumped out of bed as fast as he could and told Josh, "Protect your mother! I am going to grab Jamie!"

William sprinted out of the room faster than he had ever run before and bolted into Jamie's room. Miraculously Jamie was still sound asleep, completely oblivious to what was happening. William yanked Jamie from her sleep, threw her on his shoulder, and ran back to the bedroom where Josh and Anna were huddled in the corner together. Right away, he slammed shut the door and began moving heavy items against the door to keep it closed for as long as possible.

Meanwhile, Anna was desperately trying to call 911 while Josh stood in front of her, the knife wavering in his hand.

Anna cried, "It is not working! We have no cell service here, I can not get a hold of anybody!"

At this moment, a loud bang was heard on the door. Marcus Stone was here and he was out for blood. William took quick action.

He shouted, "Josh, open that window next to you! NOW!"

Josh rapidly opened the window as far as possible upon his father's demand and unhooked the window screen.

Jamie was still propped up on William's shoulder and was finally awoken by all the chaos. She opened her eyes sleepily and looked around, trying to figure out where she was. William gently placed her on the ground and bent down to her eye level.

He remained calm despite the danger they were in and stated, "Jamie dear, there is no easy way to say this but we are all in danger. You must listen to me, your mother, and Josh. I know you may not completely understand what is going on but we are in this together. I promise you, we will survive this. If it's the last thing I do, I will protect this family."

Jamie looked at him dazed and confused. She nodded her head in understanding thought and hugged him. Returning her affection, William kissed the top of Jamie's forehead and whispered 'I love you' to her.

Abruptly, the door started to jingle and give way to the person behind it. Marcus was about to get through.

William cried, "Jamie go! Go to your mother and your brother!" He yelled to his wife and son, "You guys go! I'll try to hold him back!"

As if on cue, just as Jamie reached Josh and Anna, Marcus burst through the door. He pushed through all of the items blocking his entrance and brutally attacked William. The two fell to the floor in a squabble, limbs tangled, as they viciously fought each other.

Josh fought through his terror and said in a strangled voice, "This is our chance. We have to go, we have to go now!"

Anna looked back at him with pure horror in her eyes but nodded. She understood there was no other choice. Carefully, she climbed through the window onto the slanted roof. Once she was on the roof, Josh picked up Jamie and meticulously transferred Jamie to his mother.

Jamie shrieked, "NO! NO! DADDY! SOMEBODY HELP DADDY!"
Before climbing through the window himself, Josh looked back at his father fighting

helplessly against Marcus on the carpeted floor. Overtaken by anger, Josh charged forward suddenly intent on helping his dad. All at once, Marcus gained the upper hand in their fight and managed to roll on top of William. Josh stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a glint in Marcus's back pocket.

It was a knife. Not a pocket knife, but a kitchen knife. Josh instantly recalled when he had grabbed the chef knife to defend himself, there were a few other knives that had remained lodged in the knife block. At the moment, Josh had only thought to take one, he did not consider that Marcus would go back and claim one for himself.

Then the whole world stopped. Unable to get to his father in time, Marcus swiped the blade from his back pocket and cleanly sliced William's throat deeply. Blood came pouring out and rolled down his neck in thick streaks. Almost automatically, William's body began to shake and he let out a wretched gurgling sound as he struggled to breathe.

Anna screamed, "JOSH!"
Josh felt his entire body go numb. His father was about to die.