Beach Week

Chapter 10- "It's a long story."*

Taylor threw the covers over her head, trying to block out the fact that for some reason her window blinds refused to shut tonight. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force sleep to come, but she couldn't keep her mind from wandering. With all of the strange things that had been happening around the house lately, she was extremely happy that she had claimed this room for herself. She rolled to the middle of the bed, placing her two extra pillows on either side of her body. She always felt more comfortable when there were pillows pressing against her sides; which was probably caused by her years of sleeping with stuffed animals. She hugged one of the pillows close to her as she thought about the strange happenings in the household recently.

First off, Sara had come across muddy footprints just outside of the sliding glass door that led from the balcony and into her bedroom. Then Avery had complained about hearing knocking on the window behind her bed. If those two things hadn't been enough to scare Taylor into wishing they had come a different week, then today's events definitely were. The writing that Sara found in the bathroom today scared her almost as badly as it had Sara. Aaron had finally checked Sara's car and found that the brake line had come close to breaking completely. He said it was straight, almost as if it had been cut. Taylor shuddered underneath the covers again. She wasn't willing to openly admit that she was afraid, but ever since that happened, she had been glancing over her shoulder at all times.

 The other events had been easily explained in Taylor's mind, but the writing on the mirrors and break line had no logical explanation except that someone had done it on purpose. She had almost asked Aaron to tag along with her to the bathroom, and stand outside in case something happened while she used the restroom, but that would have been going overboard. Unlike everyone else in the house, she believed Sara didn't do it. Sara's thoughts had been written across her face, and when everyone had come into the bathroom earlier, Sara looked truly afraid. There was no way that she had written the messages; someone else did.

There could have been anyone in the house, but like Sara had said, no one seemed to have broken in. In Taylor's mind, there was only one logical person who could be behind everything; Amy. She had the opportunity to do it, because when Sara was in the shower she listened to music and would sing, she wouldn't hear anything over it. Amy would have been able to write on the mirrors, and be back out before Sara or anyone else noticed. She could also have taken Sara's wallet and returned the license when Sara started to wonder where it was. All of the mysterious events had been directed at Sara, so it would make sense if it was Amy. Taylor came up with different ways that Amy could be behind everything, and she felt herself relaxing at the thought. The idea of Amy being the evil mastermind was a lot less scary than the idea that there was someone watching their every moves, and being inside of the house with them. A shiver went down her spine, and she tucked herself farther under the comforter.

Just as her eyes drifted shut, the sound of footsteps outside her door met her ears. Instinctively, her eyes shot open and she slid away from her door. She grabbed the blanket's edges and hugged it tightly to her body, focusing her eyes on the bottom of the door. Her heart pounded as she watched the shadow pace back and forth in front of her door, silently cursing Sara for leaving a bathroom light on in case Taylor needed it late at night. If the light was off, she could have ignored it but not for long. The doorknob twisted and then the door slowly began to open to reveal a dark figure. She froze with fear, her vocal chords immobile and her body unwilling to move. She could have alerted everyone else in the house, isn't that way they forced Aaron and Brett to stay the night?

"Taylor, are you up?"

"Aaron?" Taylor let out a deep breath, placing her hand on her chest to cover her heart, which was beating uncontrollably fast. "You scared the crap out of me!" she whispered.