In the dark house.
Only I’m not alone.
A stranger is here with me.
‘Wake up.’
This time I know I heard something for sure and I reach for Luke and feel his warmth beside me. ‘Luke, wake up.’ I give him a hard shake, my eyes frantically scanning the room. But there’s no one there. ‘I think I hear someone … out in the living room.’
It takes him a second to come out of his sleep, still dreary eyed as he flips on the lamp and looks at the clock. ‘It’s two in the morning … what’s going on?’
‘I hear someone in the living room,’ I hiss, sitting up and straining to hear the noise as I grip tightly onto the blanket.
This can’t be happening.
Not again.
No.
No one is here.
Thud … thud … thud …
A second later, Luke is out of bed and on his feet, chucking me the phone. ‘Get ready to call the police.’
I grab his arm as he cracks the bedroom door open. ‘Don’t go out there.’ I dig my nails into his flesh, clutching onto him like a terrified child.
‘I need to go check and see if someone’s in the house.’ He slips his arm from mine and walks out of the room in his boxers with no weapon, nothing to protect him.
Panic flares through me like a wildfire and images of that night blaze through my mind.
Darkness.
The Voices.
The noises.
The singing.
The blood.
The fear.
Jumping from the bed, I grip onto the phone and rush after him into the hallway, not wanting to let him out of my sight. Letting him out of my sight means that I may never see him again.
‘Violet, get back in the room,’ Luke hisses, putting his arm out and shoving me back.
I shake my head, my entire body trembling as I hear voices and see lights flashing from outside. The night when my parents died there were fireworks being lit off and I thought the gunshots where firecrackers. It’s happening now.
It’s happening again.
‘Are those fireworks?’ My voice doesn’t even sound like my own, lost in a traumatizing memory I’ve been thrown back into.
Luke shakes his head. ‘No … it’s the police I think … Violet, go back to the room. Please,’ he begs.
I shake my head again, hugging the phone to my chest. Rattled, rattled, rattled – my insides are rattled and I can’t think straight. It’s so dark. It’s so loud. I’m so scared. ‘I can’t … I can’t leave you … I don’t want to be alone.’
I can’t see his face, but I feel his fingers lace through mine and hold on tight as he peeks around the corner into the living room. ‘I promise I’ll be right back,’ he says then his fingers slip away from mine.
I start to cry.
Bawl like a little baby as I collapse to the floor.
Chapter 15
Luke
Everything had been going so well. I’d gotten her to agree to go to the gym, get out of the house, hoping that maybe she could discover another way to release her pain and anger. But then a very terrified Violet wakes me from my sleep.
As soon as I saw that damn sliding door open, I knew someone had been in our apartment. We haven’t been that careful about locking it, since we’re on the second floor, but apparently we should have been. I’m getting a fucking alarm system – I can’t take it anymore. This helpless feeling that I’m going to wake up and find Violet hurt by that fucking piece of shit.
The fact that he scared the shit out of her was enough to make me want to beat the shit out of him. If he would have still been in the apartment when I walked out there, I’d have lost it. I could tell she was thinking of that night her parents were murdered, could see the fear in her green eyes. She thought something was going to happen to me and that she’d never see me again. It fucking hurts, seeing that in her eyes, makes me want to do anything to take the pain and fear away from her. But again, all I feel is helpless.