I calm my mind and sit quietly as the dark descends upon us.
Landon: I’m sleeping in your bed since you’re planning on becoming a roof hermit.
Me: That is fine.
Landon: August and I are going to spoon in it.
Me: Spoon Pocket Lint so she doesn’t feel left out.
Landon: She’s curled up with Zacia. They’ve come to some type of truce. It’s rather cute, but I suppose you won’t see it from up there.
I do desire to see that, but I don’t want to face Ellison and tell him that I’ve got nothing for him again. So I remain on the roof, waiting and watching for the moment I feel the stalker’s presence.
The smallest sliver of a moon is high in the sky while I listen to every single noise inside and around the house. I want to catch it all. I don’t want a single incident to pass my notice.
My phone beeps at about midnight and I look down at it.
Ellison: Will you please come down? I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.
I slide my thumb toward the “I” a second before I feel someone right behind me. I twist, narrowly avoiding something coming toward my head. It’s dark and I can sense them, but the person is damn near silent as they move in the shadows.
A male voice says, “I’m going to tear you apart and destroy your life.”
I lift my gun and fire, but he’s gone and reappears in a second, foot already in motion as it slams into my face. The blow throws me back and I skid down the shingles while I shoot two more times.
He’s already gone in the brief time it took for me to pull the trigger. I scramble up but he’s in front of me again, and I find it impossible to make him out in the dark. It’s all so fast as I narrowly dodge the hit, only to have him kick me in the head before I even land.
How the fuck do I fight someone who can teleport at such speeds? He’s never even here longer than a second before he blinks into existence inches elsewhere.
I need to read him, I need to calculate where he’s going to come from, but it’ll take time to watch him and learn from him, and who knows how much time I have. He tries for another kick but I’m swift enough his shoe barely grazes my cheek while I skid down the roof, anticipating his next move as I turn invisible.
But when he doesn’t appear, anxiety that he’s gone for Ellison tugs at me. Dropping my invisibility, I begin to slide toward the edge so I can drop off the roof, when I twist and see him in the yard. I whip my gun up. I’m going to blow his fucking head off. I’m going to make him regret ever looking at Ellison. My finger slides down to the trigger, but just when I start to put light pressure on it, something tells me it’s not right and I draw back as the stalker disappears and August turns to look at me. My stomach squeezes as I realize that I camethisclose to shooting him in the head.
The stalker had tricked me; he’d baited me and driven me to the edge in the hope that I’d make such a mistake.
I gasp out a breath when I think about how close it was. How fucking close I came to killing someone else. I throw the gun and drop off the roof. I don’t see the stalker anymore, telling me he’s gone, and even if he’s not, I’d deserve it if he shot me instead.
“Deus!” August shouts, but I can’t even face him. “Deus!”
He reaches for me, and when I turn, I see my father’s face, a hole right between his eyes.
“DON’T!” I yell as I jerk away from him.
I almost killed him. I almost killed him. I almost killed him.
I stagger away from him, my world spinning out of control around me. I fall into the side of the house, confident it’s the only thing keeping me standing.
“Deus, what happened?” Landon asks.
“Stay away from me,” I order.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine!” I yell. “Stay away.”
I push off the house, not sure where I’m going and knowing I can’t go far when I have to protect Ellison, but what if I end up hurting him instead? What if I end up killing him?
Suddenly, I feel something behind me and I turn, expecting the stalker, but find that it’s just Ellison’s illusion.
