Forsaken Blood

- FEAR -

Layla couldn't sleep with the endless thoughts cluttering her head. The image of that gorgeous guy from the bar had etched its way into her mind. It made her breath quicken and her body sent waves of pleasure through her.

Who was he?...

His lustful eyes had captured her soul, she needed to know him.

Is this what the barmaid meant when she said, 'you will know when he is the right one'?...

All these thoughts bombarded her mind. Layla felt a chill and noticed snow had begun to fall outside of her bedroom window. Something about the snow had a magical feeling to her. She tucked herself into bed and watched the small white flakes dancing on the wind until she couldn't fight her heavy eyelids any longer.

Layla woke to the sound of her Staffordshire Terrier, Bear, barking like a maniac. She shot up in the pitch black and quickly looked at her clock, it was 2:57 am. Her head was throbbing.

"Damn whiskey..." she said under her breath.

Bear was hysterical, she ran to look out of her foggy window, and noticed him jumping near the large box hedge that ran along the side of the house. She couldn't see anything so she pried open the window and yelled at him to shut up.

She walked downstairs to the kitchen to take a couple of Aspirins with water and almost choked when she heard noises out the window.

What the hell?... she thought, what's that rustling?...

She crouched low and ran over to the front door, her heart hammered in her chest as she tried to peer through the window panes that ran along the sides of the door. She gasped at the black figure of someone standing out in the middle of the lawn.

Layla bolted upstairs.

"Mom!" She screamed, "Mom! There's someone out front of the house!!"

Her Mom didn't answer. Layla burst into her room nearly tripping over her own feet in the dark.

"Mommmm!" she yelled but her mother wouldn't move.

Layla looked to her bedside cupboard and noticed the bottle of sleeping pills. She shook her but her mother was out cold.

Oh my god... Layla's heart was in over time, her breath so quick she thought she might pass out.

Calm down... calm down... she told herself while trying to control her breathing.

She slowly snuck back downstairs to the front door. Her heart stopped dead in her chest. The man was looking through the door window right at her. He was just standing there staring at her, dressed all in black with a look to kill.

"Who are you!?" She screamed.

He put his hand up and slowly knocked three times on the glass.

"I'm calling 911!" Layla wailed.

She ran to the kitchen and grabbed the phone. She dialed the number and turned back to look at him, he was gone. She was shaking terribly and struggled to put the phone back in its holster. She struggled to breathe but found the courage to venture back over to look outside. Bear was sitting on the front porch as if nothing had happened.

She stayed glued to the window making sure the man didn't return until the cold night air began to bite at her skin. She quickly turned and ran up to her room and jumped into her warm bed. She held her cell phone tightly in her hand in case he returned but couldn't calm herself down. She tossed and turned and imagined the shadowy man sneaking down the hall. Her exhausted mind kept visualising a knife plunging into her unconscious Mom. Layla's eyes burned and every creak in the night made her heart leap until she couldn't stay awake any longer and drifted off to a restless sleep.