Sophia Turner yelped on hearing something crash downstairs. Her eyes darted to the open bedroom door. Only blackness visible beyond it. In the dim light of her room, the laptop on her thighs bathed her face in soft glow that reflected off the windows. Outside, the mostly flat, rural landscape of Comus, Maryland seemed eerie in dusk’s golden light, the sun dipping below nearby Sugarloaf Mountain. The house was somehow darker than outside, or maybe that was just her imagination. As far as she knew, she was alone in the two—story house. Had someone broken in? Had she locked all the doors? Her ears strained for other sounds but heard nothing.
Her mother might have come home early, but Sophia would’ve heard a car pull up or a door shut. But then again, she’d been engrossed in Facebook updates. One, from a recent ‘friend’ named Jess, had suggested Sophia was in for a special surprise this first day back from college for the summer, but Sophia hardly knew the girl. Why would Jess arrange something for her? She hadn’t talked to the girl since high school and they’d never been friends. Sophia had only accepted the friend request months ago to be nice.
She closed the laptop and glanced around for a weapon, spying a small volleyball trophy. The gun chest was downstairs, an intruder likely between her and it. Biting her lip, she took the statue and quietly padded to the door in her socks. There she paused, caught between wanting to hear nothing and hoping for something to suggest she was being silly. But she heard nothing.
She gingerly stepped into the hall and tiptoed down the stairs, which creaked alarmingly, giving away her position. At the bottom, she saw the front door still closed, the deadbolt turned in the locked position. Still no sound. Down the hall she went, peeking into the kitchen. And there stood the cat, looking nonchalant beside a ceramic dish that lay in three pieces on the linoleum floor.
“Minx!” Sophia scolded, relaxing. She flipped on the light as the cat perked up and pranced over. “I’m not home two hours and you’re already causing trouble.” She scooped up the white Turkish Angora and kissed her pet’s forehead, not in the mood to clean up. Her mother wasn’t supposed to be back from vacation with her new beau for a week, so the mess could be left for now.
Sophia frowned at the thought, for she’d never had a boyfriend, despite trying. She’d found most boys pretty unromantic. They didn’t seem to know that sending her a picture of their cock turned her off. Sometimes she felt like she knew what every local guy’s tool looked like despite having never seen one in person. How had that come to be the staple of modern dating? Whatever happened to asking a girl out? Or chivalry? Or coming to her rescue? Guys sexting her were the ones she increasingly felt in need of rescuing from.
That reminded her of Seth, her friendly neighborhood stalker. He’d been a lonely, downtrodden kid in high school, so she’d befriended him only to realize he’d taken that as something more. When he wouldn’t take no for an answer, one thing had led to another and eventually to a restraining order. She hadn’t seen any sign of him in a long time, thankfully, and hadn’t really given him a second thought until now. He’d never done anything too foolish.
She put the cat and trophy on the counter and grabbed a premade pizza from the freezer, then popped it into the microwave. Then she reached into the fridge for a beer. Her sophomore year as a photography major at Syracuse University in New York had just wrapped up and she looked forward to a quiet summer of practicing what she’d learned. Sugarloaf Mountain had inspired her to take up the camera. Now she gazed at it through the back door, rays of the sun setting behind it burning orange like her long, wavy hair.
As she stood sipping the beer and waiting for the microwave, two pieces of the shattered bowl behind her clinked together. She turned with a smile, thinking the cat was pawing at them. Too late, she realized a floorboard had also creaked. The beer fell from her hand, spraying foam across the floor, as two men in black pants, shirts, and ski masks grabbed her while a third, smaller, one raised pepper spray.
