The Shadow's Game

Chapter 16~ Fool Me Once

My hand covers my mouth in horror and I let out a shriek. There's a blood trail from my en suite bathroom into my room. The crimson liquid leaves a nasty stain on my bedroom carpet. I spare a glance at Lacy afraid of what I will see. Her detached hind leg is laying on the ground a solid 2 feet away from her body. Large pools of blood accumulate around both the leg and her body. My dad thumps up the stairs and enters my room without a warning.

"Lacy" he cries with an expression that mirrors mine. My mind as well as my heart are racing. He places a hand on my arm and shakes my entire body trying to bring me back to reality.

"Go call the vet. I'll stay here. and see what I can do." I briefly nod. My brain kick-starts and I hurry down the stairs. I punch in the number that I know off by heart for the local vet.

They pick up on the third ring.

"Hello you've reached Main Street Animal Clinic, how may I be of service?"

"Uh, um there was an...an accident and um my dog is losing a lot of blood, and I need someone to come help" I stutter.

"What do you mean? Ma'am what happened?" questions the lady on the other line. I explain how I found my dog without her leg.

"Oh my, we'll be right there. Wrap the wound with a bandage until we get there to stop the further loss of blood." The line goes dead. I frantically scamper upstairs to my bathroom bypassing my dad and Lacy. She continues to whine and cry her legs clawing around. My head is petting her trying to calm her down. I pull open a drawer and grab my first aid kit and grab some gauze. As I exit the bathroom the smell fills my nose. I take a breath to stead myself before going to help Lacy.

"I can do this," I exhale more to myself than to my dad.

"Are you sure? I can help..." he trails off. I follow his eyes which are staring at her. I nod my head viciously while hovering over her body. I lean down and prepare myself. In the midst of it all my dad leaves.

She lets out a low whine as I roll her over to get better access to her wound. She yelps and I mutter an apology. I unravel the gauze and use my teeth to rip it. There's still a stump where her leg once was, so I wrap it with the white bandage which immediately turns a deep red.

Her breathing is uneven. I try to comfort her by resting her head on my leg and petting her gently. At all costs I avoid the sickening sight of her leg. The doorbell chimes after what feels like an eternity, but was only actually 10 minutes. I gently lift her head careful not to hurt her further before answering. I allow them in pointing upstairs. A team of one doctor and a couple assistants rush to my room leaving me downstairs. Within a minute they have her body being hauled downstairs while one of them carries her leg. They all carry her to their van before speeding away. One car stays behind as well as a tall man in a formal business suit.

"Hello," he greets. He offers me a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry about your dog. I will try my best to help her. She will remain with us for the night and undergo an emergency surgery to help her. I don't know if we can reattach her limb, but we will try our best. We will give you a call when you can visit her and pick her up."

"Yes of course," I mumble. He doesn't leave.I raise an eyebrow and look towards the door telling him to leave without coming right out and saying it.

"You never gave me your number," he reminds me.

"Oh yeah, sorry," I mutter. I open a drawer on a desk and pull out a pencil and a stack of post it notes. I scribble our home phone number and tear the note off before handing it to him.

"Not to worry. I'll call you when we have some news." I close the door once he gets into his car. I climb the stairs back to my room and follow the blood trail to my bathroom. My eyes meet my mirror and my heart begins to hammer against my rib cage.

I warned you that there would be consequences.

A short, but effective message that happens to be written in blood. I was to preoccupied with Lacy to look up. I grab some cleaners from the hall closet and drop to my knees to clean the blood before it dries. I scrub the entire mirror which comes off easily, but the stain on my carpet is harder to remove. There's still a faint trace which no matter how hard I try will not come out. I tuck away all the cleaners and take a break.

I wipe the sweat from my brow and head downstairs sparing a glance at my clock on the way out. It's already 10pm. I descend the stairs and walk over to my dad's office and pop my head in. He sits working away.I take a few steps and stand beside him.

"I'm going to bed. Night," I inform him. I lightly kiss his cheek.
He drops his pen and looks at me.

"I'm so sorry Marley. She will be okay," he assures me. I nod once and go back to my room.

He calls out a goodnight which I can hear as I ascend the stairs. I brush back my hair and tie it into a ponytail. I pull on my favorite sweatpants and a tank top and climb into bed. I let all the worry about Lacy drift away until I fall into a peaceful slumber.

***

I wake up in a dark and poorly lit room. There are 2 torches in front of me and behind me that give off any light. I try to move, but I can't. My wrists and ankles are cuffed to a chair. No matter how hard I shake and twist the cuffs don't budge. I start to scream, or at least try, but no words come out of my mouth. My cheeks are stained with tears I can feel it. I glance around for any signs of hope of an escape. I can't see anything with this terrible lighting. No matter where I look I can't see anything. Just shadow's of things I can't make out. This room reminds me of a dungeon.

From the corner I see a shadow move. I'm not alone in this room. A breath hitches in my lungs refusing to leave. It throws something at me, but doesn't exit the security of the shadow. Whatever it threw at me lands a few feet in front of me.

A pawn.

I jolt upright causing the dream to end. My breathing is rapid and sweat covers my body. I place a hand on my heart. It was just a dream, I say to myself over and over again. It felt so real and everything was so vivid. I look around my room. The window is wide open and the wind causes the curtains to blow wildly. Outside the rain rages on.

I love the rain. It's so relaxing. The pitter patter as it hits the roof calms me down. I push aside my comforter once my breathing goes back to normal and lazily walk to my window. Outside a bolt of lightning illuminates the dark world. On the branch of the tree near my window is a person. From the light that the lightening brought I can see a clear feminine physique with blonde wavy hair. It smiles at me, but I can't see any other features nor identify them. The light only lasts a millisecond and shadow's fall upon them once more.

I scream. Whoever is on my tree branch jumps down. It's a two story drop! This person is insane. I take a second to catch my breath before rushing to my window. Whoever it was has already left the property. I search the yard and see the figure scurry into the forest. The last thing I see before they are completely gone is a strand of wavy blonde hair riding in the wind.

My dad bursts open through the door and collects me in his arms. He squeezes me tight and pets my hair.

"What's wrong sweetie?" he asks concerned.

"I had a nightmare. It was nothing," I murmur into his chest. He leans back and wipes away the tears from my cheeks with his thumb. My body betrays my words because it is still trembling. He presses a light kiss on my forehead.

"Will you be alright?" I nod numbly. He strides across the room and locks the window shut.

"It's a bit too chilly for the window to be open. It's October." I slip into my bed and lift the comforter over my head. I hear the click of the door shutting. I don't feel safe. I didn't think whoever this is would try to break in while I'm here! They've taken this to a whole new level. Hacking off a defenseless innocent dog's leg is a savage move. Who knows what they were going to do to me while I was sleeping. No matter how hard I try sleep doesn't come to me that night. For hours I lay awake only left with just my thoughts.