She wasn’t even sure if he wascapableof listening anymore. That part of him seemed long gone, at this point. And now something else was in its place. Something beast-like. Something that growled louder, at the sound of a name it no longer knew. Then it took one more terrible step toward her, and she did the only thing she could. The only thing that made sense.
She swung the hatstand.
And the second she felt it make contact with something, she ran. She ran faster than she ever had in her life. It barely felt like her feet touched the ground. She all but flung herself up the stairs, and when that didn’t seem fast enough, she actually grabbed at individual steps to haul herself up. Splinters bit into her palms; she ripped a nail enough to sting. But she kept going even so.
Yet still, it didn’t save her.
Three steps from the top she felt something snag her by the ankle—hard enough that she knew it was only a matter of time before it had the rest. There was no way she could haul herself out of its grip, clearly. Though god knows she tried. She threw herself left, away from that feverish touch. And she yanked her foot toward herself with as much force as she could manage. Then when that didn’t do a single goddamn thing, she kicked with the other.
Pathetically, she thought. Like someone trying to blow a truck off themselves after it had run them over. But she made contact with something. And this something didn’t like it either, because it grunted and went sideways.
She saw the banister beside her shake. Dust sifted down from it onto the side of her face.
So she kicked again. She kicked, and screamed at the thing.Letme go you motherfucker, she tried. And oh god, oh god, it let go. It let go. She didn’t know how or why or what she’d hit with her bare foot. But the iron bar around her ankle was gone, and she was free, and the exit out of this basement hell wasright there.
She just had to reach for it.
And she did. She grabbed the edge of the hatch and pulled herself up. All in a mad scramble, desperate and breathless, and even though she immediately wanted to collapse in the blissful cool safety of the hall, she didn’t pause. She scrabbled for the trapdoor and slammed it shut.
Then padlocked it, just for good measure.
Only apparently it wasn’t good measure enough. Something slammed into the wood from beneath, about ten seconds after she snapped the lock shut. And it did it so hard that she heard the trapdoor splinter. Hell, she heard somethingscreech. Metal on metal, like the padlock was actually giving.
Then she remembered what he’d said.
About the heavy thing over the trapdoor.
She got up off the ground. Even though she was shaking and every muscle was screaming, she forced herself to get up. She staggered to the dresser that stood by the entryway to the living room. And just as wood and metal screamed again, she shoved it. She shoved, and shoved, thinking,oh god I’m not strong enough, oh fuck it’s not going to move, he’s going to get me he’s going to get me I’m going to have to stare up into my former friend’s face as I’m brutally murdered.
Then suddenly it gave.
It slid.
And there was nothing but silence.
CHAPTER FOUR
She didn’t know how she’d managed to fall asleep. She just knew that she had when she woke to find herself curled up on the floor, by the dresser she’d shoved over the hatch. And that she’d done it quite a long time ago, because sunlight streamed through the windows in the kitchen. Good, bright sunlight that warmed her cold skin and her stiff limbs.
And more importantly: it made everything look sonormal.
There were her shoes, by the door. The ones she’d worn to pedal into town the day before. She could see the pot she’d cooked the soup in, still on the stove. Her apron, tossed over the kitchen table, smeared with the usual mess she made whenever she tried to cook anything. Bits of garlic skin scattered across the floor; chili oil splashed all over the place. And all of it so mundane that she could barely believe what had happened the night before.You must have imagined things, she told herself.Maybe he just wigged out from wanting weird drugs, and because he’s so big now, it scared you enough to make you see things.
And that all sounded really true and reasonable, it did.
But she still screamed when she heard a thump from below.
Then when the thump turned into the sound of someone obviously climbing the stairs, she couldn’t help it. “You stay down there, Seth Brubaker,” she yelled. And got a satisfying silence in response. No more shuffling, no more coming closer to where she was. Just complete quiet for what felt like a pretty long time. Before finally, finally, it was broken.
With the most ridiculous opener of all time.
“Cassie? You’re still up there?” he called to her.
For reasons she couldn’t even begin to guess. At the very least, he should have started with whatever the fuck happened the night before. But he hadn’t. He had asked an absurd question. So now she had to get into exactly how absurd it was.
“Of course I am. This is my goddamn house now.”
“Well, yeah, sure it is. But I figured after I terrified the bejesus out of you, probably you had fled to someplace you felt safer. Like maybe the other side of the planet. In a steel-lined bunker. Under the ocean.”
