Guilty

Juliette

After everything that had happened with Zane, I was so happy Thanksgiving break was here and I could finally leave campus behind without worrying about running into him.

Granted, I'd wanted to spend it with my mother since it's usually a holiday you spend with your family. But part of me had always suspected something would go wrong or she'd back out of plans so I'd had the time to make peace with it.

Still, I was happy to be spending Thanksgiving with Emery's parents again, I did love Lana and Clark. They were like my godparents at this point and I saw them as my actual family.

"I'm just saying you're off, and whatever it is...you can tell me," Emery says softly standing in the doorway. I look up at her from my computer and smile. I wanted to tell her about Zane, she was my best friend. But if I said it out loud then it would have become real and I couldn't let that happen.

The less I thought about it, the more I could pretend it was just a disturbed dream. I can't let myself do something like that again. I'd promised myself I'd stay away from Zane. He was a player and ran through girls like he was practising for a marathon, I wasn't prepared to be one of the hundred idiot girls who thought they were special to him.

"I know that, but I'm just disappointed about my mom. I swear I'll get over it once I turn on my show."

I hate how easy lying to her is. But it's really for the better.

"Yeah...Dean Winchester would make me feel better about a lot of my problems as well..." Emery says with a smile, I laugh with her. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me and my parents to this concert?"

My music taste was all over the place but I wasn't a fan of classical music and that was what would be playing at the place Emery and her family were off to. So I declined and decided to stay in the guest bedroom and just try and sleep early.

"Alright, call if you need anything. We're only like an hour away from the main campus anyway." Emery reminds me, before shutting the door on her way out.

It was true, her family only lived about an hour's drive from Yale.

I lie back on her bed and turn my computer volume up, though pretty quickly I'm falling asleep. When I open my eyes again I can tell I must have been asleep for a while. It's dark outside.

The front door opens and I jump out of bed, but I pause when I glance at the clock. It's only ten and Emery told me the concert didn't even finish until eleven and it was over an hour's drive away.

How is it they're back so early?

I walk over to my door and open it quietly, I pause when I hear footsteps. But in the silence of the house, I notice that I can only hear one set of footsteps when I should be hearing three. My heart begins to race and I shakily reach for my phone and get ready to dial 911.

My door opens a little further and I lean forward and glance down the stairs at the front door. It swings, wide open, in the wind and my mouth dries when I see a man dressed all in black standing in the living room with his back to me.

I take a few steps back and move silently to the bedroom. My hands shake so badly as I dial 911 I'm surprised I dial the right number.

"911 what's the emergency?" The operator asks me.

"Someone just broke into my house, 154 Atterson Lee Avenue. I don't know if he's armed, I don't know why he's here and I'm alone in the house," I say, my words tumbling from my mouth.

I remember in a law class we took we were analysing 911 phone records, most of the time the first thing you want to tell the operator is your address so they can dispatch help to you faster.

"Okay, help is on the way they'll be ten minutes, stay on the line with me. Is there somewhere you can hide?"

"Not really, I don't even know where he is," I say my heart racing.

"Okay stay where you are," The operator responds.

I walk to my door and listen out for footsteps so his movements can be tracked, nausea washes over me when I hear the stairs creak.

Oh god, he's coming upstairs.

I take a deep breath and walk into the bathroom connected to the bedroom, "Listen to me, I have a plan and it's the only way I'm going to get out of here alive. When I say go wait ten seconds and start speaking loudly I'm going to put you on speaker. Even though I won't be responding please keep talking."

"I don't think I can.."

"I'm going to die if you don't," I say firmly.

The line goes silent and I hear her sigh, "Okay."

"Go," I say putting the phone on speaker and running behind a wall.

"Everything will be okay!" She says loudly, so loudly I cringe and hold my breath.

It's only a few seconds until the door flies open and I flatten myself to the wall. The moment I hear the bathroom door open I slip out of the connecting door and bolt down the stairs. I almost scream when I step on that one creaky stair. In my panic, I'd forgotten to avoid it.

I run for the front door and open it but to my sheer horror, I find it's been locked. When I run into the living room to find some other way to escape I realise nothing is out of place. Nothing has been taken or touched. Why would you break into a house and not rob something?

A horrible feeling crawls up my spine.

I hear the all too familiar creak of the stairs before I run into the kitchen and grab the biggest knife. I crouch down behind the island. Upon the sound of louder footsteps, I move around the corner say a silent prayer and slash the stranger's ankles.

He yells and falls to the floor and I run for the front door and start kicking it in. It was to give eventually this house is like a hundred years old. My scalp burns and I scream as my hair is grabbed and I'm dragged backwards and slammed into the window.

I raise my hands to cover my face as the glass shatters and sharp bursts of pain bloom all over my hands and arms as the glass cuts them.

"What do you want?" I scream, I sound hysterical.

The man wears a ski mask to cover his face, he grabs my throat and throws me into the wall. His fingers squeeze around my throat.

"Oh, Juliette..." He whispers. My eyes widen at the sound of my name.

Oh my god, he knows me, this man knows me.

"Why?" I choke out.

"Distraction," He mutters. I gasp and splutter as black begins to crowd my vision. I raise my hands and dig my fingers deep into the stranger's eyes. He let's go of my throat as he stumbled backwards, his eyes going blood red.

I grab the lamp sitting on top of the dresser in the hallway and smack him in the head. He drops down, out cold and I stare at him, panting. Part of me wants to reach over and pull his mask off so I can see who it is that just tried to kill me.

But I'm fairly certain I'm going to pass out and I can't do that if I'm still in the hallway with him. He could wake up before I do or before the police get here and finish the job. I kick the door and it swings open.

Staggering, I limp towards the sounds of sirens but I don't even make it onto the road before I drop on the cold wet grass and pass out.