The Neighbor

Hot Pursuit

      The car ride was agonizing. I felt helpless, I was forced to just sit and listen to the pounding of my own heart. It was pitch black outside, so I was worried I would miss an exit, or a deer would jump out in front of me. All I could do to calm my erratic nerves was turn on the radio. The radio made me feel better at first, playing some fast, upbeat music that sounded like it came from an action movie. I was jamming out and began raising the volume when the music slowed into a sad love song. I began to feel nauseous. Then I was angry, and I hit the OFF  button as fast and as hard as I could. I drove the rest of the way with no music.

     When my GPS said, "Arrived at your destination," I worried there might be some mistake. My stomach was in knots. All I could see in front of me was a long winding road. I drove up it, praying that it was the right way. When I arrived at the top there was a steel gate, stopping me. In front of it was a silver Corvette. I pulled up Blade's license plate on my phone and compared. It was his car. I looked behind me, saw there were no other cars, and put my tiny Nissan Versa (little blue as I liked to call her) in park. It was hidden behind some tall trees. I hopped out and ran up to the gate. I tugged on the rusted doors to no avail. I began to panic. I read the name on the building, "Clementine's Residence." I was positive I had to break through this barrier now. This was it. I looked up at the top of the gate. It wouldn't be easy, but my only chance of getting in was to climb. It looked to be about 8 or 9 feet tall. I secured my hands and feet and slowly made my way to the top. By the time I reached it, probably 15 minutes later, I was covered in freshly bleeding scratch-marks, but I didn't care. I was just happy to have made it this far. The view was insane up here, I wished I had more time to enjoy, but I was on a time-sensitive mission. I sat at the top and my stomach dropped when I realized I would have to jump. I needed to get down and quickly. I didn't have 15 more minutes to waste descending. I scanned my surroundings and felt elevated when I saw a thick bush almost directly underneath me. All I would have to do is get my self a couple of inches to the right and that beautiful bush would break my fall. Thank you! I said a silent prayer, inched over and leaped off the gated fence.

      I was floating on air for what felt like the longest time. My stomach doing somersaults. I refused to look down, afraid to see that I may have missed my mark. I was sure that I had until I heard the bush bend underneath me, supporting my weight. I was grateful I wore a hoodie because it was the only support my skin had against the rough branches scratching hard on my clothes. I sat up, feeling only a dull pain in my back and left leg when I worked to stand. I got to my feet and crept up to the front door. I was astonished to find the door cracked opened. I peeked into the darkness but saw nothing. Something's not right, I told myself, why lock the gate so tightly just to leave the door opened? I hesitated a minute, remembering Niki's telling me how dangerous this could be. If she is facing her fears right now, then so can I. I had a bad feeling about this place, but that only made me want to go in more. I needed to find Blade, he could be in serious trouble as I stand here. I tiptoed in through the opened door into complete darkness.

      I felt around until I hit a wall and I followed it. What is this place? I wondered. I went quietly from room to room. It was dead silent, too silent for comfort. It's late. Everyone's asleep. I reassured myself. I felt defeated until I saw a light coming from another room down the hall. I went towards it, unsure of what I would find. I stopped right outside the only lit room. The light was very faint, just barely bright enough to make anything out. Hurried whispers hit my ear, sending nerves through me.

    "Are you sure nobody saw you?" The voice was raspy and unfamiliar. I stood completely motionless, afraid to breath and give myself away. I didn't know who this voice belonged to, they could be dangerous.

    "Yes, let's get out of here before the guards come back around." I gasped and covered my mouth. It was Blade. What are you doing Blade? Unfortunately, I had been too late, my efforts to block the sound from coming out of my mouth were in vain. I saw his yellow eyes look out the doorway into mine, resembling the sun coming up. He grabbed me and pulled me into the room.

    He turned me to look him directly in the eyes. "What are you doing here?!" He scream whispered, looking flustered. 

I tried my best to look composed but inside I was freaking out. "What are you doing here?"

His face was inches from mine. "You shouldn't have come here Amaya. It's not safe."

    I started to respond when a raspy voice cut me off. "Who's this?" I looked up to see a man with black hair, dark brown eyes and a deep tan pointing at me. He looked to be about Blade and I's age and he didn't look happy at all  to see me. 

     Blade turned his attention to the other man, "Don't worry, she's with me. She won't be a problem."

   The guy quit pointing at me and faced Blade, looking unimpressed. "It doesn't look like she'll be able to help us out much."

    Blade moved in on him, "She's with us. She's coming wherever we go and that's that." The man with the raspy voice took a step back, looking intimidated then nodded. Blade grabbed my arm and walked me toward the doorway.

"What's going..." I began, but before I could finish Blade's finger came gently down to my lips. My eyes found their way to his finger then up to his eyes where they landed. 

    "Shhhh." He whispered. I saw the pleading in his eyes and choose to listen to him, he clearly knew more about what was going than I did. He motioned for the other guy to come. All of the sudden we were running full speed down the hall. We made it about halfway down the hall when I heard a blood curdling scream. Blade picked up speed and the other man was right behind him, moving with a sense of urgency. I tried my best to keep up, but their legs were twice the length of mine. I put everything I could into keeping up with them but kept falling frustratingly short. 

     "Blade. I can't move that fast." I pleaded. He glanced back at me, turned and threw me onto his back continuing running. We were almost out the door when the screams finally caught up to us. I felt a hand reach up and wrap around my leg, pulling me back. I looked back to see a young woman with choppy cut red hair and crazy dark brown eyes. She was wearing a long white night dress that had rips in it and random stains.

     "GIVE ME MY SISTER!" She wailed, clinging onto me. I held onto Blade for dear life, not wanting us to get separated by this distraught woman. Blade struggled to spin around, meeting her face to face. She let out another blood-curdling scream reaching frantically to grab me. I looked around for anything that may be able to save us. 

    "Linda honey, it's time to go to the ball." The raspy voiced man stepped in between "my sister" and Blade and I, willing the girl to look his way. I smiled at him, grateful he was helping me even though he didn't want me here. I wondered how he and Blade knew each other. I would have to ask Blade later, now was definitely not the time. 

     She let go of my hand and ran over to the man, jumping up and down. Chanting "It's time to go to the ball, it's time to go to the ball." She skipped down the hallway. I quickly noticed that it had been too late. I watched as heads peeked out of their rooms, entering the hallway. I stifled a scream. Many of them had a similar appearance to the screaming woman, deranged.