Cold Blue Eyes

Chapter 8: What Rikie Witnesses

"What are you doing?" Rikie asks in a shaky voice.

I stand there, stiff as a rock.

She cautiously approaches me. I back away.

Rikie unclamps my fingers and takes the knife from my hands, gazing into my eyes fearfully the whole time. "Please don't hurt yourself," she whispers.

"Cand I stay here tonight?"

Rikie nods. She waves her hand for me to follow. 

We quietly walk up the stairs and enter her room. "My parents can't know that you're here, so we have to leave for school super early."

"Okay."

"You can have the bed," she says.

"No."

"Yes, it's fine. I'll take the floor."

"No!" 

"Okay, okay, but keep your voice down."

She spreads blankets upon the ground despite my rejections.

To my dismay, she shuts off the light, so I lay there wide eyed in the darkness.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. I plug my ear buds in, but it only gets louder and faster. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump! The foot steps rapidly advance toward the door.

"Rikie! Rikie!" I squawk with terror.

Instantly, she flicks on the light while I sit there shaking. 

"What's wrong?" She has a concerned expression painted over her face.

I gaze at her with wide eyes.

"Why do you look so scared?"

"S... s... s... some... one's i... i... in th... the house."

Rikie looks terrified.

Thundrous pounding sounds at the door, which causes my breathing to stop, and I've lost my ability to move.

"Let me in!!! Let me in!!!" screams the familiar voice of the woman with blue eyes. "Help me!!!!"

"How do you know?" Rikie wonders while the sound of anxiety flutters in her voice. "How do you know that someone's in the house?"

I can hardly hear her. So fucking afraid...

The door wobbles and shakes while the high pitched scream stings my ears with its unbearable howls. "Let me in! HEEEEELP MEEEEE!!!!!"

A freezing mass cuts into my skin. When I turn backwards, I spot the ghostly curtains flowing in a frosty breeze.

"George?" Rikie spits out in a shaky voice.

The whole room is a stygian color, and Rikie's light flickers spastically.

Someone slams the woman against the door as she chokes with gurgling cries, causing a river of blood to gush under the door toward me, reaching for me like a sickly hand.

My stomach leaps out of my mouth. "Get away!" I shriek.

"Sssshhhh, quiet!" Rikie snaps. "Come up here with me."

I climb onto the bed with her, an island of safety.

"Close your eyes and let it go." Her voice is soothing like that of an angel.

I bury my head in her shoulder, crying.

She holds me in her arms. "Ssssshhhh, it's okay. Just let it go. Let it go. You're okay."

For a while she carresses me in her arms, but when I recover, I feel ashamed to have lost all of my masculinity in front of her.

"Can I shut the light off?"

Rikie instantly catches the flicker of fear that crosses my eyes and she yanks her hand away from the switch. 

"No, it's fine," I say, still clouded with humiliation. Man, I'm gonna have some explaining to do , but I try not to think about that. She didn't see what I saw. Nobody ever does.

"No, it's okay," she replies.

"Turn the damn light off!" I snap and switch it off.

"Lay here with me," Rikie says.

I don't hesitateto do so. Feeling calmed by her presence, I fall asleep.