It's Terribly Perfect.

11. It's Terribly Perfect: Dreams and Secrets.

I was pulled back further, my balance faltering as someone struggled to haul me away. My heart was racing and my breath was too quick as I fought to be free of the unknown intruder. Who could it be?

That guy.

Shit. I fought harder now, kicking and squirming, trying to loosen their grip on my arms. I tried to scream, to call for help, but their hand was clamped down hard on my mouth, smothering any noise I managed to make. Now that I was resisting, it seemed almost impossible for them to get any distance further.

I rose my foot up behind me, pushing it into their gut with great force. A girlish grunt came from them as their hold on me was released and I began to scramble away. Before I was about to dart back to my drive way and into my house, I turned around to see who the unwelcomed guest was.

“Arin?” I gaped in disbelief. “Whatare you doing?” She coughed, groaning as she attempted to stand up.

“Trying to scare you. It’s Halloween, Kasynne! You didn’t have to try and flatten my stomach with your damn foot.” I threw my hands up.

“Well excuse me if I didn’t know who the hell was carrying me to who knows where! I’d already been in a similar situation before and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let it happen again!”

“Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t think about that,” she replied, dumfounded.

“No, I guess you didn’t!” I cursed under my breath, my blood still pumping too fast and out of breath. I didn’t mean to yell at Arin, nor did I want to. She didn’t seem fazed by it though as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

I scanned over her outfit. She wore white jeans and a teal, sleeved top.

“Arin, were you wearing something else before you snagged me?”

“Um, no? I’ve been wearing this all night,” she told me, her tone suspicious. “Why?”

“No reason, just wondering,” I say nonchalantly.

“Kasynne,” she said cautiously, “are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.” By the way I gushed out my response, it only made her more disbelieving.

So it wasn’t Arin that came to my door, she’s not the person who had a voice modifier and questioned if the apple I gave had razor blades hidden in it. They knew my name, knew who I was, but I didn’t even know what their face looked like let alone how their voice sounded.

“I got to go. I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” I mumbled. I didn’t give her a chance to respond, already hurrying back into the safer confines of my home.

I entered my vanilla-scented house, locking the door behind me and kicking away my shoes. I took off Ryan’s jacket, hanging it on a nail in the wall by the front door before making my way to my bedroom. I passed Tyler and Marcus, still watching the television, my mother now pretending like she understood the rules of the sport.

“Goodnight,” I called out to  them when I reached the top of the stairs. Whether they said anything back or not, I didn’t know. I had already shut my door and climbed beneath the light blue duvet, turning on the radio and letting whatever was playing fill the air.

There’s no proof the man from tonight is ‘that guy.’ He was just another bloke who knew my name, was tall and broad, and thought I would put razor blades in the apples. But why would I?

Though when my brother and I were young and came home from trick-or-treating, our mother would check our candy or apples or whatever we had received for dangers such as razor blades. It is true people used to put them in such things as apples on Halloween and harm the children, but I haven’t heard of any incidents like that since I can ever remember. I think she just did it so she could swipe her favorite sweets from us.