Luckily, I’d made it home during my lunch break to take him out for a walk.
The outside garbage can stood on the side of the house. I rounded the front of the house, passing my car in the driveway. A slight breeze was in the air, causing me to shiver. Before placing the bag in the trash, I looked around.
My neighbor, a few doors down, was returning from work. He threw up his hand and waved. “Looks like I made it home just in time,” he said and pointed to the sky.
The incoming, shadowy clouds cast a dark glare overhead.
“Yeah.” I waved back. That was the reason I opted not to take Henry for a walk that night. The rain would start at any moment. An eerie feeling crept over my skin. I turned in the opposite direction only to find a couple of cars coming and going.
The block was silent as people went inside to shelter from the incoming storm. Though mostly empty, I couldn’t shake the uneasiness that took root in my belly.
A clap of thunder rent through the air, startling me into movement. I shook off the weird feeling, tossed the bag in the trash can, and headed back into the house.
Not even a full minute after I closed the door, the comforting sound of rain rattled against the roof. I always loved rain and thunderstorms.
Henry, on the other hand, did not. He whimpered and buried his head in my lap. “You big baby,” I teased. “It’s just a storm. It’ll pass.”
I let him lay his head in my lap as I consoled him with one hand and rubbed my weak leg with the other. I hadn’t needed to watch the weather channel to know that a storm was coming. The ache I had had in my leg all day was proof enough.
“What should we watch?” I asked, grabbing the remote from my coffee table. Henry didn’t answer, of course. I flipped through the different streaming channels I had and selected my favorite. “Hamiltonit is,” I said as I turned on the original Broadway play for probably the fiftieth time. Musicals were kind of my thing. I knew every song in this one word for word.
I watched for some time when another loud, booming clap of thunder ripped through the air, scaring Henry.
He lifted his head and growled in the direction of the back door.
“It’s only thunder,” I assured him and tried to focus on Daveed Diggs rapping about being a Fighting Frenchman to the secret behind America’s revolutionary battle win. “Everything’s fine,” I murmured, staring at the screen while rubbing Henry’s ear.
But Henry’s body remained rigid as he watched the back door as if at any moment something or someone would come through it. That prickling feeling against my skin that hadn’t entirely gone away started to gnaw at my belly even more. I peered toward the door, glancing at the lock to make sure I secured it.
“It’s fine,” I murmured, reassuring both Henry and myself.
* * *
Images of Creekviewresidents struggling while strapped to their hospital beds filled my mind’s eye.
“What’s happening?” I questioned, looking around for someone to help them.
“Help me,” Ms. Anderson begged from her bed, positioned by a solid, black wall.
“I’m coming,” I called, starting for her to help, but I remained stuck in place. I glanced down to find my feet shrouded in cement blocks. “What the…?” I tried to raise my feet, but they refused to budge. The bricks sealed me in place.
“Reese, help us.”
I turned to find another of the Creekview residents, Mr. Samuels, reaching a shaky arm toward me.
“I-I can’t,” I cried out as I struggled to break out of the weights. The attempt proved exhausting and fruitless.
“You should’ve stayed out of our business,” an evil voice said behind me. Then it began laughing at me, the sound tormenting me while the other residents begged for help.
“What?” I sat up in bed, rattled. My gaze swung from one side of my bedroom to the other.
Henry barked from his position on his hind legs in my bedroom doorway. That was odd since he usually slept right by my bedside in his doggy bed.
“Did I frighten you?” I pushed out a breath and turned on the lamp next to my bed.
Henry stiffly rose to his feet and barked again, pacing back and forth.
“Seriously? Now?” He was doing his bathroom signal.
