Behind me, Tex yelled, “Where are you? I’m going to find you! You can’t run from me.”
My breath came in heavy, ragged gulps. I swallowed it down and darted behind a huge mirror with tarnish like a spiderweb across the glass. If I went any farther, I wouldn’t be able to see at all, and I needed to see.
The light was faint in this part of the basement. I could barely make out the bulb that glowed from the front of the room.
I heard Tex enter. Risking being seen, I peeked out from one corner of the mirror. He held the knife and thrust it to and fro.
“Come out here, girl. You can’t hide from me. You’re going to die. Might as well accept it.”
As long as he didn’t hear my beating heart, I would be fine. I could wait until he passed, and then I could dash back to the stairs and lock him in the basement. It had to be close to seven a.m. The doors would be opening soon, and the ability to make phone calls would be engaged once more.
I just had to sit this out.
Tex came closer to me. “I know you’re here somewhere.”
Then my phone rang. From my back pocket it chirped. My heart thundered.
Tex’s footsteps closed in. There was only one choice. Shoving as hard as I could, I pushed the mirror over. It crashed down on top of him.
Tex screamed and I darted past. But then my ankle was being grabbed and I went down, hitting the floor with a thud.
My forehead hit hard and everything got fuzzy and I couldn’t move quickly. My legs and arms didn’t want to work. It was like I was swimming in molasses. I do not, under any circumstances, ever think that swimming in molasses would be a good idea.
I felt Tex climbing up my body. Then I remembered exactly where I was. His hands reached for my neck, and his hot breath glowed in my face. He easily weighed three hundred pounds. He would suffocate me before he strangled me.
I tried to scream, but it got strangled as his hands wound around my neck. I clawed at him, trying to get him off. I even tried to connect my foot with his gonads, but I was pinned tight beneath him.
Then he was up and flying against the wall. I choked and coughed, scratching at my throat.
Roan stood above me, hand out. The first question that popped into my head was,How?
But then I saw Sable had taken hold of Tex. “You are a bad, bad man!”
She grabbed hold of him, and he started to scream bloody murder. His dead wife had pressed her entire body over his and was slowly draining the life from him. I couldn’t look.
Roan grabbed me, and I ducked my head into his chest as Tex’s anguished screams filled the room. Then, after what seemed like minutes, they finally stopped.
When I peeked out, Tex’s spirit stood looking confused, but only for a second before the ground split open beneath him and a red light flickered below. He screamed again as dark hands grabbed ahold of him and sucked him down, down, down. His body disappeared below except for one hand that he used to try to pull himself out of the pit.
Then a dark shadowlike hand lifted his fingers, and Tex lost his grip. His hand slipped away, disappearing from sight before the earth was sewn shut.
Sable smiled at us. “My time is done.” The heavens split open, and the light pulled her away.
I turned to Roan. “How did you send Tex flying off me?”
“Somehow I gave her more power,” he said, looking at his hands. “That’s how.”
I shivered. “Are the police here yet?”
“They’re on their way.”
“Good.”
Roan hugged me to him. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine.” I took one last look at the basement. “If I never see this place again, I’ll be glad.”
Roan led me away from Tex’s lifeless body. “Me too.”
