Nobody’s here,I reassured myself.
But I couldn’t shake that weird feeling. I took a deep breath before rushing to the front door. My fingers trembled slightly as I put the key in the lock, but they fell onto the ground with a metallic jingle that startled me.
Before I realized what was happening, a big hand covered my mouth and stopped me from yelling.
“Shh. We’re gonna play a game now: You don’t scream, and I won’t drag you into my car.”
10
June
I felt my legs tremble and my blood pressure drop so fast that my vision got blurry.
“Try to scream, and I’ll cut your tongue out. Do you understand?” I nodded when the guy repeated his threat.
I would’ve done anything for him to take his sweaty hands off me. I would’ve done anything to take those sweaty hands off my face. The pungent smell of smoke made me nauseated.
He finally took his hand off my face, leaving me free to look at him.
It wasn’t Ethan Austin.
I was convinced that it would be him, and instead it was someone I’d never seen. But they definitely looked like each other. Same glassy eyes, same wild reddish beard.
I wasn’t thinking rationally then. Fear turned me into a ball of disjointed impulses.
I looked down at my bare thighs, then lifted my leg and kneed him hard right between his legs. I wasn’t expecting the guy to scream and double over. I ran away immediately. Or at least I tried to, because a figure emerged from the parked SUV and swiftly stopped me.
“Did you get beaten up by a little girl?”
Austin’s dark, gloomy voice startled me.
“Let me go!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.
His grip tightened around my arms, and his body clung to my back. I tried to break loose, but he was too strong. I was never going to break free. I needed to call for help.
“Now, here’s what we’re gonna do.”
I glanced down crookedly and saw him take a knife out of his wrinkled jacket pocket. At that point I stopped breathing.
“Shut your mouth, or I swear I’ll cut you.”
He pressed the ice-cold blade against my cheek, making me burst into quiet sobs.
“Okay, I’ll be quiet,” I muttered between my teeth, shaking like a leaf. My assailant started laughing, but not at me.
“A high-school girl beat you up? Seriously?”
“That bitch kicked me in the balls!” the other howled.
Finally, Austin moved the knife away, but brought his head a little too close to my cheek.
“Who would expect that from a little angel like you, huh?”
I tried to stretch my neck out to avoid touching the tip of his cold nose, which he was rubbing against my skin.
My eyes widened in terror, then I said the first thing that came to mind.
“Of course. He said that he wanted to kill me!”
