There Was One More Thing...

The New Reality

I pull into my grandparents driveway thinking about the brothers. I honestly hoped they were brothers, brothers are so much better than the alternative.

I park my car the distance away from the house that my dads garage was away from my old house. I get out of the car and start walking towards the house.

When I get closer, I see a broken window. I start running even faster, as fast as my feet will carry me.

I walk in the door and hear the oven ding. Once. Twice. Three times. My grandma normally gets it at the most after the second beep. I walk into the kitchen grabbing a potholder on the way in I look around and see static in the T.V. Weird, I think. The signal is always really good. I walk around the counter to the oven and see my grandma on the floor face down with a puddle of blood around her waist. "No!" I cry. Not again! I flip her over, and see a huge gash in her side. I touch her face with the back of my hand, and slowly slide it down her face. I lay my head on her chest. I sob.

I hear a man scream upstairs. Grandpa!! I think. I sprint up there still sobbing. I run into the room, where he is. I was too late. He is sitting propped up on the closet door, a big stab wound in his stomach. I see a little girl with a big knife in her hand.

"You're next," she says, her eyes flick red. As soon as they go back to normal, she vanished.

Immediately, I run back to my car and drive to the Red Lodge. I run through the halls looking for room 106. I pound on the door loudly, still bawling. Jared opens the door cautiously. John must hear me crying and runs to the door. He grabs me up in a hug. The hug means way more than it should. He says empathetically, "Skylar! What happened? Here sit down!" He shows me to a bed.

I try to calm my tears. "My grandparents-" I start sobbing again my head in my hands. The brothers sit one in either side of me and each wrap an arm around me.

"I'm so sorry," Jared says.

"Me too," John agrees.

I sit up. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come back to bother you guys again." I say, still crying. I wipe the tears from my eyes and start to get up.

John sets me back down and he stands up. "No. You are staying here. Exactly, what happened to them?"

"I walk in and hear the oven beep several times. I go in the kitchen and-" I can't continue. I try to hold my tears in, but the flow out of my eyes like a river.

Jared hugs me. "Do you know who killed her?"

"Not exactly, not a name anyway. She was a little girl in a pink cotton dress. She had the knife in her hand when I found my grandpa." I barely finish my sentence before I start crying again.

This time, Jared hugs me. I feel really bad about coming to bother them with my personal problems again, but they are all I have left. I just moved here from Australia and I was going to start school next week. I don't think that is going to happen now though.

These brothers seem very empathetic towards me, almost like they had been through the exact same thing.

Still crying, I start to stand up. I need to get clothes and go to bed, it is past 9:00 p.m. But, where should I sleep? I don't have the money for a hotel, and I certainly don't want to go home.

Reluctantly, I start walking towards the door. On my heel I spin and talk to Jared and John. "Thank you so much for everything guys. I really do appreciate it, but I don't have any clothes or a hotel room, so I need to go back to my house. I'll see you guys arou-"

Jared stops me. "You are not going back there little girl. You probably have demons out for your head, for some weird reason and you are not going back there now. Not on our watch."

"I agree, but she can't stay here either." John tells Jared. He turns to me. "We will go to your house and get your clothes. You will stay in the Mustang with me, and Jared will go in and get your clothes.

"You don't have to-" I stammer.

"Yes, I do," they both say in unison.

"Let's go," Jared says eagerly.

We slide into their black Mustang and drive to my house. My old house. Jared, who I assume always drives, pulls into the driveway. I hear a siren. In the distance, I see a bright red-orange light.

Fire.