What Happened in the Woods

Chapter 1

Someone was there. I couldn't see anyone but I could feel the presence of someone who shouldn't be there. I held my breath and counted to three, listening for the small breaths passing through their lips as they tried to exhale lightly. My fingers gripped my duvet tighter and I slipped my feet under it, like it might save me from the haunting figure I presumed to be lurking in my closet. It was so dark, was my mind been playing tricks on me? I had been sleeping and woke up to a shuffling sound coming from behind my closet door, too groggy at first to fully acknowledge it. It had been three minutes and I could hear more faint breaths coming from my closet, paralyzing me with fear.

I was still having the internal debate about whether or not there was a serial killer in my closet, when I decided that I should try to grab my phone. That was the logical thing to do yet I was just now realizing it. My hand slipped from under the covers and I ran my fingers through the carpet by my bed trying to find my phone. My eyes were still adjusting to the darkness that flooded my room.

"Stop," an unfamiliar voice growled from the corner of her room. I really was being watched and now my fingers trembled from the shock. My intuition had been right and now I was trapped in my bedroom with a man who could either rape or kill me- maybe he'd want to do both. My mind was bombarded with ideas to get out of this situation, it was the worst weekend possible for my parents to take a weekend getaway to "resurrect their marriage." My mind darted to my little sister, Lily, who should be sleeping in the room next to mine. If she woke up and saw this who knows what could happen to her. Maybe an accomplice was in her room watching her too. I was supposed to be her older sister and protect her from the bad in life and now I was about to leave her alone at best. At worse, she would also be attacked or killed or whatever this creep wanted from us. I wasn't even sure he knew she was here.

"What do you want from me?" I tried to sound tough, though it came out as a whisper.

I got no response, instead the figure stepped forward and let the shards of light coming through my blinds from the lamp post across the street illuminate his lips.

"What are you going to do to me?" I tried asking once more.

"You're mine, Elise. You've always been mine." He replied, grinning in malicious pleasure to reveal the set of white pearly teeth. I expected a psychopathic murder to have yellow teeth and chapped lips. His were actually the opposite. I was actually getting jealous of this guy's teeth while he was in the middle of kidnapping me. I silently scolded myself for it and I focused to what was actually happening to me.

My mouth fell open, trying to grasp on to the fact that he knew my name and if he knew that then he probably knew more. My own stalker? Maybe. He must know about Bella if he knew my name. Whether he had gathered that information from mementos around the house or by following me, Bella had to have come up. He stepped forward once more and this time I recoiled, falling off the side of my bed. That was the last thing I needed, to be cornered on the side of my bed. He lunged forward and before I got the chance to scream, he enveloped my mouth with his hand that had begun to prune from all the sweat on them. My knees felt weak and as I crumpled beneath myself I mumbled one last word- Lily.