Secret Garden Of Eden (Secret Window Fanfiction)

The Shirt

The next few days went by in the same mundane fashion for the most part. Rainey stayed in his loft, writing, only having contact with me to tell me what to clean or repair next. I complied and kept my harsh and explicit comments to myself- ticking off a killer was the last thing I wanted to do. Come to think of it, I mused, he really doesn't act as crazy as Trevor and the boys let on. Rainey was irritating, neglectful, ornery and a total ass, but he hardly seemed crazy. Aside from the day we met (after he found his house vandalized), he really didn't show any signs of being a psychopath. No sudden rages, no death glares (although I did catch him staring at me a few times mighty creepily), no split personalities, no attempts to kill me. He seemed relatively normal, if cranky anti-social writers were normal, that is. But that didn't have me completely convinced though. Like the guys had said, if he looked and acted crazy, he'd have been locked up ages ago. There were plenty of normal looking serial killers out there- I watched those forensics shows before. It was best if I just played it safe for a month and then I was out of there!

The Monday after I had started, I found myself outside washing his jeep. I had just finished scrubbing the dirt and dead insects from the windows and crevices when Rainey came out onto the porch. I paused to watch him sit down on the step and look back at me. I turned and tossed the rag into the bucket and made for the side of the house. I needed clean water to rinse the jeep off.

"What are you doing?" Rainey asked.

"Getting water" I said evenly.

"Why don't you just pull it around?" he suggested.

"I tried. The hose won't go that far" I shrugged.

"Not the hose" Rainey said. "The jeep. Can you drive?"

I paused before answering. "I have my permit..."

He tossed me his keys, which I barely caught, spilling some of the soapy water on my legs. I shut my eyes momentarily to suppress an outburst. Mort the Murderer, I mentally reminded myself. Don't do anything rash.

"Pull it around" Rainey told me

I stared at him. "You want me to drive your car?"

"I thought I made that clear" he said. "If you want I can rephrase it."

"Are you incapable?" I asked, annoyed.

"Didn't your mother say to listen to me? I'm sure I heard her say that... I could just call her and check." He went to get up and I sighed.

"Don't bother..." I mumbled.

I set the bucket down and headed over to the jeep. Was he setting me up? Was the thing rigged to explode when I started it?

"The one with the green cover opens the door and the silver one starts it" he called.

Why couldn't he do it himself?

I unlocked and opened the door. No bomb yet... I climbed into the jeep and sat down, feeling unsure. He was still watching me as I shut the door and put on my seatbelt- playing it safe never hurt. I took a breath and turned the key in the ignition, it started easily and I sat there. I could just leave now... This whole situation was weird and his staring was creeping me out! Surely taking a car could be excused if I could prove he had ill intentions. He was a killer after all! Oh that's right, he was still innocent but hell, everyone knows he did it! The police would be grateful for another chance to nab him! All I had to do was cry "Molester!" and he'd be in handcuffs in a heartbeat. Right?

"Any day now" he called. "Before your funeral, would be nice."

I froze. Was that a threat? Or was he just toying with me? He must know about his reputation, was he using it to scare me? Shaking my head, I put it in drive and carefully edged around the house, his eyes watching as me as I did so. I parked it as close to the hose as I could without running over any corn stalks. I got out after turning off the engine and shut the door behind me before trudging over to the hose. Having experience with the damned on/off knob, I used both hands to try and force it to turn.