Liar, Liar (Book 2 in the Hide and Secret Series)

(7) Serena's POV

When I got home from having coffee with Jill, the house looked empty. It was almost as though there was nobody in there. I listened closely, and was relieved to hear the sound of rushing water in the bathroom. My mother or Johnson must be home.

I was happy to not be alone, whoever it was.

I walked upstairs to my bedroom, and was confused to find the door closed. I never closed my door. Whenever I closed my door it got really stuffy in my bedroom. Maybe Johnson or Mom had closed it by mistake. I shrugged and opened it up, and was shocked and horrified at what I saw.

Blood, tons and tons of blood.

Dripping from everything. My desk, my bed, the walls. Even the mirror was coated in blood.

My stomach turned and flipped at the sight of it all. It was a massive amount of blood, splattered over every part of my room. Wherever I turned, the crimson, dripping sight taunted me. The amount of blood in my room was enough to have come from a body, maybe more than one. My room looked like it could have been the scene of a murder.

My heart pounded in my chest as I looked all around my room. The sender had to be here. How he or she had gotten from Zach's cabin to my home so quickly was a mystery to me, but the sender was here.

And that was when a message smeared onto the wall caught my eye. It was written in red, dripping blood, but it was still clearly legible.

You're next.

Upon reading that, I screamed an anguished cry, deep from the back of my throat. As though in a trance, I staggered backwards from my bedroom, slamming the door shut. The sender had killed someone, and I was next. I had to run. I sprinted down the hall, too distressed to even see where I was going. Tears were streaming down my face as I dashed away from what I knew was very close.

"Serena!" A male voice, one I knew from somewhere but couldn't quite place.

That was when I collided with someone else, another person. I couldn't see who it was, I was too blind with fear, or hysteria, or both. I figured that this person had to be the sender. I needed to defend myself. I used my hands to try and push the sender away, and scratched blindly at what I thought was skin.

A stinging sensation suddenly made its way to my cheek, stunning me into motionless silence. This person had slapped me.

"Serena!" This time the voice was female.

I blinked, and saw not the sender, but my father. Not Johnson, who I now considered my father, but the man who actually conceived me. There was a long, bleeding scratch on his face. The sender had never been attacking me. The sender had simply been in my room. It was my father I had crashed into, and it was him who I had let out my panicked rage on. He stared at me with concern. My mother and Johnson were standing a bit behind him, looking worried as well.

Unable to control my emotions, I sank to the floor and started to cry. I was shaking all over. My throat was clogged up, and when I tried to clear it, all that came out was a pathetic-sounding croak.

"Serena, talk to us, please. What's going on?" Mom asked quietly.

I looked up at her, the tears still falling down my cheeks. "The sender... In my room!" I choked out. "There was blood... everywhere!"

Mom and Johnson exchanged concerned, but also doubtful, glances. They clearly didn't believe that there was blood everywhere, and I wasn't sure if they believed that the sender had even been in my room.

I had to show them. I didn't care what would happen. I had to tell somebody, because I couldn't keep living with this.

I hurriedly scrambled to my feet. "I'll show you!" I cried, heading for my room. I heard their footsteps behind me as they all followed me to my room. I turned the doorknob, and the door opened. I was yet again flabbergasted at what I saw.