Into Darkness

Chapter 3

Wendy quickly rushed over to her neighbor, Mr. Rawlson who she hoped would still be up.  He was getting there in age, but for being somewhere in his eighties, he was still able to get around pretty good and she thought that he would be the one to out live all of them.  Either that, or she was going to come home one day and find him dead in the road as he was always walking the neighborhood.

Keep moving so the grim reaper can’t find you was one of the many things he had told her throughout the years that they had lived next to each other.  If there was anyone who could out run the reaper, it was definitely him.  He had spunk for being so old.

He was also kind of a pervert as she knew he liked looking at her, her daughter, and whoever else he could see in through the windows late at night.  There was more than one reason for why such an old man took walks late at night.  Not that she could really blame him too much.  Mrs. Rawlson had passed away just over ten years ago, and he has been alone since then.  She couldn’t imagine how it would be to be that old and alone.  God, she hoped she didn’t end up that way.  

Yeah, well, men weren’t worth the shit that spouted, and all they spouted were lies.

She stepped up onto his little porch and rang the doorbell.  She hoped that he was home and not gone on one of his little walks. When she had started out from her house, she had planned on walking along the path Bobby should have been coming, but what about if she missed him. She could be wondering for hours looking for him just to find out that he was at home.  

It wasn’t like he would call her when he got there, their home telephone was currently disconnected, and why would he even think to call her.  He would just go to his room and play Xbox.  He wouldn’t know that she was out looking for him.  She could leave him a note, but the chances he would read it would be like expecting him to get his homework done without someone asking him.  Like that would ever happen, it just wouldn’t.

The door opened, and she released the breath the hadn’t realized she had been holding.

“Hey, is everything alright?” Mr. Rawlson asked as he pushed open the screen door, making her step back.  He didn’t come back, but he stood there in the gap, leaning on the frame.  He was a taller man, silver hair that was never out of place and glasses that came down to rest on the tip of his nose.  She thought he had once been a school teacher though she wasn’t sure what he had taught.  He had talked many times about his students, but she had never did more that the courteous listen, nodding her head when it seemed appropriate.  It did make her wonder, with how he watched people just how he had been with kids.

Is this really the person you want to be watching your house while your out looking for Bobby?  What if Bobby does come home.  No, no, don’t be silly.  Mr. Rawlson, Ted, he was a decent guy, and always looked at the ladies, it would be fine.

She didn’t know how well she was convincing herself, but that acid that started to twist and turn in her stomach didn’t make her feel better.  No, that was probably just nerves with Bobby being missing.  It had nothing to do with this man who she was trusting to stay in her house.

“Hi Ted, I’m about to go looking for Bobby, he should have been home and-“ Her voice caught in her throat as she suddenly had to bite back tears.  Breathing changed back and forth rapidly.  First she couldn’t breathe and then breaths were coming quickly and in short bursts.  Like her body couldn’t decide how it wanted to function.  She saw stars at the corner of her vision and the world around her started to spin.  

She felt his hands come around her and she couldn’t do anything about it.  She wanted to pound on him and push him away.  He was attacking her.  Another man was attacking her, trying to beat her down.  No, well, she wasn’t going to allow another man to do that to her.  She tried to twist free.