Paranoid

6

Denzel's voice and the red and blue lights casting colorful shadows across the dark room pulled me out of my stress-induced haze. I blink and look up at Denzel, who's leaning over me, trying to pull me up. I help him, and once I'm back on my feet, I walk to the door and peer out of the slim window next to it. Two police cars with their lights flashing sit out front.
“They've knocked about three times, but I haven't answered yet because this... looks suspicious,” he explains, gesturing to the entrance. He isn't wrong; the floor and walls are stained with blood, floorboards are broken, and then of course there's Denzel and I- both beaten, broken, and bloody. If the police saw any of this, they'd start questioning us immediately. And what would we say? A demon that lives within this house took my boyfriend, then I saved him but it killed my parents and took them somewhere? I glance at Denzel, who looks as worried as I feel.
“What should we do?” I ask, at lost for a plan. Saving Denzel and witnessing my parents get ripped to shreds had drained me of any energy I had left.
“They most likely don't have a warrant, so they can't just come in. I'm gonna say we just ignore them and wait for them to leave. Then we can figure out a way to get out of here ourselves. It's six thirty, so the sun is rising. Once they leave, we can just head outside and wait on the porch or something for the storm to let up. Then, we can get the hell out of here.”
“Sounds like a plan. Do we need to wait for the storm to let up, though?”
“Do you have your car keys?” I rummage through my pockets. They had been there, but now they were just gone. I must've misplaced them while either cleaning or fighting for my life.
“No, apparently not. Don't you?”
“No. That thing took my phone, keys, wallet, and everything else I had on me. I'm betting your parents didn't leave their keys in their car, either.”
“Awesome. So we have no means of transportation and no way to call for help.”
“It'll be fine, Ariel. We can figure this out. And... thank you for coming back for me.”
“I couldn't just leave you, idiot. Don't thank me. Lets brainstorm a way out of this hell until the uniforms leave, okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
And so we waited. Ten minutes later, neither of us had a plan but the police had left, so we started to get ready. The storm had picked up again, but we decided it was best to take our chances with it instead of staying here. I got my backpack, which didn't have much except a couple of notebooks and my wallet. Denzel got our jackets, and once our shoes were laced up, we were ready to go.
Until someone else knocked on the door.
“I don't see police lights,” Denzel noted, glancing out of the window. I bit my thumb nail and exhaled heavily. We had to get out immediately. We couldn't just wait for whoever was at the door to leave. We'd already waited much too long for the police to leave.
“Alright. Lets go out then.” I open the door and see my cousin Amy. She stands on the other side of the screen door, her blonde hair plastered to her skull and her clothes soaked through. She smiles when she sees me, and I immediately wish I hadn't opened the door.
“What's up?” I ask as Denzel and I walk out onto the porch. The moment her eyes take in our appearances, her smile falters.
“I could be asking you the same thing,” she responds, an odd note in her voice. Something about this seemed suspicious.
“Just... cleaning,” I answer, praying she can't see the blood on our jeans.
“That looks pretty bad,” she says, pointing at Denzel's face. She isn't wrong. His face was covered in cuts and bruises.
“I'm fine, no biggie. Just a few cat scratches, nothing more,” he says, sounding admirably casual. She raised an eyebrow and crosses her arms. She knows we're lying. She knows.
“Police! Put your hands up and do not move!” someone bellows. I look over, and at the bottom of the porch steps are five police men. In the dark, through the pouring rain, I see three police cars. Of course. It was a set up. I look back at my cousin, who looks horribly guilty.
“I'm sorry,” she whispers, her voice shaking. I couldn't be mad at her. None of this was her fault.
“I said put your hands up!” the man who had shouted before yells again. Slowly, I turn to them and raise both of my hands. Denzel does the same. This situation couldn't possibly be worse.
“Walk down the steps slowly and keep your hands where we can see them,” the same officer demands. I'm beginning to get the feeling that he's in charge here. All of the others seem to just be copying him; like little robots trained to shadow this one man. I gt the feeling that he doesn't like me or Denzel. I bet the others don't like us either, by extent.
Once we get to the bottom of the stairs, we're manhandled by two of the robots. They throw us against the hood of a car and handcuff us without any regard for our well-being. Denzel and I caught each others eye while lying face down on the hood. He looked sad. He gave me the smallest hint of a smile. I suppose it was his silent way of trying to comfort me.
Once we were cuffed, we were put in the back of a car and left alone. I didn't think that we would be in the same car. Honestly, if I had been the officer in this situation, I would've put my suspects in different cars. Apparently these guys didn't car.
“Go check inside. I'll take the upstairs with O'Neil, you two stay downstairs. Then we'll get together and check the basement together. Yell if you find anything.”
“Alright. Lets go.”
My heart races. They can't go inside! They'll either get ripped to shreds or the thing will return the bodies and frame us. Either way, we're basically screwed. One look at Denzel and I know he's thinking the same thing. We both start struggling in our cuffs and trying to break the windows, but there isn't much we can do.
“Do you have anything I can pick these locks with? Like a bobby pin or something?” he asks.
“No, nothing. I didn't think I'd be in handcuffs today,” I say somewhat bitterly.
“Well how the hell are we going to get out of here?”
“I don't know!”
Then it hits us both like a football to the face. “Amy.” We both begin yelling her name, praying she'd hear us. She's my cousin, and my best friend. We grew up together. We're closer than sisters. There was no way she'd just betray me and let me sit in this car without feeling the least bit of guilt. If I could appeal to that guilt, then maybe she could help us.
“Amy we're innocent! I swear on everything I have that we didn't do anything! You know me Amy, I'd never hurt anyone! Even during my worst episodes I'd cry and lock myself in my room instead of acting out and hurting you or my parents! We're scared, Amy. We're scared and we need help. But we can't get help if you don't get us out!” I plead. Silence. Either she didn't hear us or she just doesn't care. I slump in my seat, hot tears stinging my eyes for the millionth time today. It feels like I've been dealing with all of this for days. There's no way it's only been a few hours since Denzel got here. There's no way I only moved into my house yesterday.
“It's been a long day,” I whisper to Denzel, my voice thick with tears.
“Yeah... and I think it's about to get longer,” he responds. I look up, and at the drivers door I can see my cousin, desperately trying to get the door open. Her beautiful hair and pale skin are splattered with deep red blood.

A/N:
Not edited lmao. This book is tRASH but it's okay. I'll hardcore edit it someday.
Also
Get ready
For a huge
Ol'
Plot twist