It's Complicated

Chapter 12: Travis Stanton

My eyes flick open at a sound I can’t identify at first. As my head clears up a bit, I realize it almost sounded like tires squealing on pavement. That’s an odd occurrence on this road. I slowly sit up and prop myself up with my elbows. The clock on my night stand reads 9:27. It’s weird, because the last thing I remember is crying about Kacey around 4:30. Did I maybe fall asleep earlier? Yes, I guess I did.

I fall back against the bed and, with a groan, I turn over onto my other side and try to go back to sleep. But it’s no use. I’m awake now, and there’s no way I’m falling back to sleep any time soon. I slide off of my bed and, wiping the sleep from my eyes, I walk out of my room. I figure I could get a snack, since I didn’t eat anything for dinner. My stomach grumbles with approval of my choice.

I don’t bother turning on the hallway light. I know this straight-forward hallway like I know the back of my hand. I could tell you the where-abouts of every picture lining the hallway and what it’s a picture of. I could tell you where my parent’s room is and where the guest room is, along with everything in them. I could tell you the exact pattern of the decorative rug on the floor, and exactly where the flat floor changes to stairs too.

I descend the stairs, the carpet brushing my bare feet as I walk down, the handrail loosely sliding through my hand. Nick always told me I walk down stairs weird. That I roll my feet off of the edge of the steps as I go down, as if I’m trying to keep my upper body still. I’d never noticed it until he brought it to my attention.

I reach to turn on the light at the bottom of the steps, but I freeze before hitting the switch. There is a shadow moving around the living room. It looks like it’s searching the room quickly but purposefully, checking the windows, the door, behind everything in the room. I rub my eyes, thinking I’m just seeing things, but when I open my eyes, it’s still there. I quickly flick on the light.

The shape is a person. She is dressed in all black, head to toe, with a black bag slung over her shoulder. She spins around in surprise when the light comes on and locks eyes with me. The first thing that really catches my attention is her piercing blue eyes.

“You,” I say, backing up and stumbling on the stairs. I catch myself with the handrail. The girl takes a step closer to me.

“Travis,” she says calmly. I know her voice instantly.

I stumble over my words, but manage to half whisper, “Kacey?”

She places one finger over her lips and shushes me. She glances around before she lowers her finger and slowly begins walking towards me. When I look at her eyes, I see something I didn’t notice before. They are red, as if from crying. I can’t help but wonder if my eyes are red, too. When she is in front of me, she crouches down and begins retying her shoe laces. Her eyes are looking all over the room.

“What’s going on?” I demand. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes meet mine for a millisecond and then continue to look about.

“Listen carefully,” she says almost inaudibly. “I don’t have much time to explain. There is a black SUV waiting for you outside. Get in the car. The driver will take you to my apartment and hand you a key. Second floor, first room.” I repeat that in my head. Second floor. First room.

She stands back up. I notice that she now has something in both of her hands. A silver glint catches my eye. Knives. She holds one in each hand. Both sides of each one are so sharp that I feel like I could get cut just looking at them. I glimpse what looks like an intricate vine carved into the handle of each one.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on,” I say to her. She freezes and looks at me. She looks very troubled.

“Travis, someone is going to break into the house,” she says quickly and quietly. I feel my breath catch in my throat.

“What are you talking about? How could you know something like that?” Even though I'm not sure how to believe something like that, I still find myself talking quieter and glancing around out of the corner of my eye.

“Listen,” she says. “I’ll explain everything later. Just go. I’ll meet you in my apartment later.” I can’t help but wonder why she put emphasis on ‘everything’.

“Okay,” I say as quietly as I can. I'm not sure why, but I do believe her. Why else would she come here like this? “Just be careful.” She nods her head and smiles.

“Darling,” she whispers jokingly, letting a bit of a fake accent drip into the words. “You forget how often I do this,” She flips the knives in her hands, holding the blades gently in her fingertips. She leans forward and momentarily presses her lips to my cheek. My face heats up from her touch, but at the same time, I’m horribly confused. She broke up with me. So why, then, did she kiss me? When she pulls away, she has that unmistakable smile on her face. “Go,” she nods her head in the direction of the door. I nod my head and walk to the door, being careful that my steps aren’t too loud. Before I open the door, I glance back at her one more time. She is already slowly making her way up the stairs.

I carefully open the door, walk out, and close the door behind me. Just as Kacey had said, there is a black SUV parked at the end of the drive way. Even though I have a clear view of it from the top of the driveway, it is hard to see because of how dark it is outside.

Before I begin to walk towards the SUV, I hear a rustle in the bushes. I turn towards the bushes, my first thought saying that Kacey had somehow gotten outside. But as I turn towards the bushes on my right side, I feel a something hard hit the back of my head, and everything goes black.