Heat flushes over my body, erasing all touches of the cold November air that blows in the door.
The stranger doesn’t relax, even for a second, but just as darkness threatens to take me from a lack of air, the pressure is gone.
I collapse to the floor, gasping and coughing at the muddied boots of my attacker.
“Place is empty,” grunts a second voice, and a second pair of boots comes into view as I retch on the ground.
“You see Caleb, you tell him we’re looking for him, understand?” The first voice drifts down from above. “If I have to come back here, then I don’t care who I’m taking my pound of flesh from. I’m getting it one way or another.”
Wheezing, I scramble away on my hands and knees and collapse against the wall while both men turn and exit my apartment.
Through hot tears, I see their blurred forms make their way down the path and into a blue car, then they drive off as if nothing had ever happened.
“Oh my… Oh, my God!” I blink, and the tears spill while the deafening silence of my apartment alerts me to how alone I am.
Even the street outside is bare and gray thanks to the overcast clouds.
What the fuck just happened?
Scrambling to my feet, I slam the front door and lock it, then I rush to the bathroom, tripping over myself in desperation.
My red cheeks stick out like gleaming lanterns in the watery light and a red ring encircles my throat.
Swallowing sends sharp pains down my neck and my tongue is too fat for my mouth.
“The police,” I gasp at my reflection. “Call the police!”
It’s a scramble to find my phone in my bedroom but as I dial 911, a hand suddenly slaps my phone out of my hand.
I scream as it lands on my bed and turn, expecting one of the attackers to still be here, but I come face to face with Caleb.
My closet door hangs open behind him.
“You were here this entire fucking time?” I scream, slamming both hands into his shoulders. “You were hiding in here? You fucking coward, what the fuck?”
Caleb slaps my hands away with a grunt. “I was asleep.”
“Fuck you, no, you weren’t! You were hiding while your friends fucking attacked me?”
Caleb brushes me off with a scoff and leaves my room, but I follow him all the way into the living room.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“They’re not my friends,” he grunts, dropping down onto the couch and grabbing the remote.
“Are you serious?” Lunging at him, I snatch the remote away. “You’re just going to sit there and watch TV after I was attacked by people looking for you?”
“They’re gone, aren’t they?” He glares at me. “Give me the remote.”
“You fucking asshole. I’m calling the cops.” I throw the remote at him and it hits his chest, but when I turn back to my room, he’s suddenly on his feet dragging me back.
“No cops! Are you trying to fuck shit up for me?”
“Get off!” I wrench my arm free, but he hangs on like an iron manacle.
“Call the cops and I’ll tell them you’re fucking crazy and attacked yourself, then me.”
That stops me dead in my tracks.
