Laughing At Prey

My breath is coming out in ragged gasps and my heart is accelerating beyond its more comfortable pace.

"What should I do, what should I do?" I whisper to myself.

Hot tears are streaming down my face. I can hear his footsteps echoing in the hallway. The no longer sound like soft steps... everything seems even louder than usual.

My heart leaps into my throat as the doorknob squeaks as it turns. The door creaks as it opens. Stay as still as I possibly can, I watch as the man let his eyes drag across the room. His fierce green eyes pass my hiding spot and my breathing stops. He grins a nasty smile and walks slowly and confidently to the closet.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he sings out in a haunting tune. I shiver; his voice gives me goose-bumps. His voice is very deep, and when he speaks, it sounds more like he's growling.

The man kicks open the closet door and roars in frustration when he sees no one is in there.

I'm on a shelf where no matter where you are in the room, you can't see me. That's the upside to my hiding spot. The downside is it is very dusty and very uncomfortable. My nose itches, and I know I need to sneeze. I quickly, but quietly, moved my hands to my face, forcing my eyes open, remembering how one cannot sneeze without closing their eyes. After trying to come back a few times, the sneeze dies away, for the moment.

I decide to try and calm down. I lick the warm salty tears from my cheeks and dry the rest of my face with the sleeve of my night-shirt. I take a few shaky, deep breaths. 

The man with the green eyes now walks toward the bed, placing his hand on the center of the bed, where the covers were askew. Noticing the bed was still warm, he lets loose that nasty grin of his again. "You'd better come out right now, before you really piss me off," the man barks, "I'll give you five minutes, and if you don't come out by then, and I find you, which I promise you, I will, I will kill you."

Time slowly ticks by; each second feels like an eternity. When the five minutes pass, my muscles tense as the man once more, lets his eyes travel all around the room, looking for me.

I lick my lips nervously as the man walks back out of the room and continues his search for me. As soon as I hear his footsteps fade away, I quietly and carefully climb down from the shelf. My eyes dart around, looking for danger. I go to the window, and slowly ease it open. After one glance at the door to the hallway, I leap out of the window. As soon as I stand up, I turn around and close the window from the outside, as if to make it look as if I'm still inside.

A scream issues from inside the house. I look up and see the man with the green eyes pressing his face to the window above me. I dart away from the house, running.

I'm panicking now. As my bare feet brush quickly, with mute thuds, on the smooth concrete, I hear the door to my house be thrown open, banging against the wall, and the man with the green eyes is grunting angrily, chasing after me.

An odd choked cry comes out of my throat and I pump my arms, my feet gaining speed, in the attempt to get away. My lungs are burning with each gasp of the ice cold night air I take. "Wh-why are you doing this?!" I scream, tears streaming down my face as I continue to run, not daring to slow down.

I hear him chuckle and I quickly glance back to see how close he is. I cry out because I notice he is gaining on me. I gather what energy I can and try running even faster. It's a small boost, but it might be what I need to get away.

The clomps of his boots are getting louder behind me and I know I'm losing the battle. "Please, somebody, help me," I cry out in a desperate plea.

It suddenly goes silent behind me, but I don't dare stop running. My whole body is screaming, begging me to stop, ready to give out any moment, but I continue. What else is there for me to do? I don't want to die.

My fear spikes even higher when I hear the clomping of boots behind me again, and they're gaining fast upon me. I am so tired, I can't go any faster. A pitiful whimper escapes me because I know sooner or later, I have to stop.

The next thing I know, arms are thrown around my middle and I'm screaming as loud as I possibly can. I hear his voice and yet, I can't make out what he's saying due to the fact I can't stop screaming. Twisting out of his grip, I squeeze my eyes shut tight and throw a punch at the man with the green eyes, successfully hitting him, causing him to grunt. I try to dart away, but he grabs a hold of me again, this time covering my mouth to stop me from screaming. "Stop screaming and struggling. I am not going to hurt you. I knocked out the man who was chasing you. Now, if I let you go, will you run away?"

I frantically shake my head and stay as still as I can, which isn't very, because I'm trembling violently. As soon as he releases his hold on me, I whip around to see a boy about my age, peering down at me with what appears to be concern.

"Are you okay?" I take note of his soft blue eyes, which seem to be kind, and nod at him with a quick twitch of my head. "Is that your dad," the boy asks, pointing back at the unmoving body on the ground.

"N-no," I yelp. Looking around at my surroundings, it dawns on me that I have no clue where we are. I didn't pay attention where I had been running. I pull in a sobbing breath.

"Do you know who he is, or why he was chasing you?" The boy searches my eyes, and out of the corner of my eyes, I see his hands twitch, as if he is going to try to grab me again, but his arms don't move an inch from his body.

"No, I don't! I swear to God, I don't know him! Please don't let him get me." I hear myself going hysterical, but I can't seem to calm down. I'm trembling so violently--it must look like I'm going through a miniature seizure. I fall to knees, my leg deciding not to support me anymore.

"Hey, hey! It's okay; I won't let him hurt you--Hey! Do you hear me?" He lowers himself beside me and gently places his hands on my shoulders. "I will keep you safe. It's okay." He gives me a small shake, and I stare at him anxiously.

I launch myself at the boy, startling him, causing him to jump, and I break down in his arms. After a few moments, he wraps his arms around me, and holds me, gently rocking back and forth, doing his best to calm me down.

When the last of my tears fall, I wipe my face, pushing myself away from the boy. He eyes me wearily. Then, making a funny face at him, I mumble, "You never told me your name."

"Nor I yours," he counters.

Glowering at him, I, in a tart voice, reply, "You first."

He hesitate far a moment, seeming to be trying to decide whether or not he should tell me his name. Finally, he says, "Iain."

"Iain?" I give him a calculating glance, wondering if I could really trust him. Sure, I cried in his arms, and he knocked out the man with the green eyes, but does that mean I can trust him?

Iain stands up and holds his hand out to me, offering to help me up. I grasp it tentatively and he gently pulls me up. "Are you going to tell me your name, or am I going to have to guess?" His eyes are smiling even though his face is serious. I cannot help but give him a half smile.

"You can call me by whatever name you want." I stare at him, waiting for him to come up with some horrible name by which to call me. That's what always happens to me, after all. This time won't be any different.

"Alright, how about Kain?" Iain's face doesn't show any sign that he is teasing me, or being mean, but I can't trust him yet.

"Kain? Why Kain? What does it mean?" My voice is revealing my suspicious feelings and I know it. I really don't care. I need to make sure I can trust Iain enough to let him help me.

He shrugs, "I have no clue as to what it means, but I really like the sound of the name, that's why I chose it. If you don't like it, I can come up with something different."

Not sure what to make of it, I tell him that Kain is fine. "Okay, Kain. Next on our agenda is figuring out who that man is. We should check his pockets for an ID of some sort. Let's go." He turns around, only to find that the man with the green eyes is gone.

Taking a few steps backwards, whimpering words incoherently, I turn around and start to run away. Before getting very far, Iain has me in his arms, murmuring words of comfort. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was crying again, trembling. Becoming cross with myself for crying so much, I push Iain away, wiping at my face muttering, "Look, I'm not so brittle. I can handle all of this. Actually, I don't even need help; I can manage fine by myself. So, Iain, thanks for all the help, but I'm going to go now, so bye." I try turning around and walking away, but Iain does not let me, grabbing my arm.

"I don't think so. Whatever you think you are, you are in need of help. Seeing you running in the streets, barefoot, in your pajamas, screaming, while being chased by a man, tells me so. Don't try brushing me off; I knocked the guy out, not knowing what I was getting myself into, so now we are in this together, understand?" Iain stares me straight into my eyes, watching for signs of me trying to run away once again.

 I know I have no choice, so I nod, an pull my arm out of his grasp. Hugging myself, I wait for whatever to come next, as Iain holds his stare steady like he doesn't trust me not to run away. I got fed up of him staring at me, so I wave a hand agitatedly, "Well, what's next?"

He stays silent for several seconds before replying, "I'm not sure. You don't know me, and I don't know you, so it wouldn't be safe for either or us for me to take you to my house, but we need to get out of the public and into somewhere more private, and just for the record, I'm not sure whether or not you're planning to run away, so wasting my money buying a place to stay would be a waste of time."

Glancing at the silent, dark houses around us, I shift my feet, suddenly uncomfortable. I don't know if I planned to run away from him or not, either. It would be pointless for me to make a promise I didn't know I could keep. "Then what are we going to do? I don't want to stand out here much longer."

 I know he noticed that I didn't say I wasn't going to run away, but didn't push it. "As I said, I really don't know. Do you know anybody around here who could give you a place to stay for a little while as we figure this out?"

"No, I don't know anybody here actually... it may seem surprising, but I only just moved into my home, and I'm here alone." I look down at the sidewalk to discourage any questions about my home and about how I got there.

Iain seems thoughtful for a few minutes, and goes really still. Getting cold, I start pacing which seems to snap him back into reality. "Okay, got it. I have a friend, who could store us at his house for some time, but we may have to pay--both of us--and I don't even know if he'll ask for money or what."

I decide that's better than nothing and tell him to lead the way, since I am getting colder by the second and I am still very tired. Iain reaches into the pocket of his jeans and pulls out a cell phone, stepping away and calls somebody. I watch him as he makes gestures with his hands, and nods and shakes his head occasionally. Finally, he seems to have reached an agreement and hangs up, walking back over to me.

"We have a ride coming to pick us up, and it will be about five minutes before our ride gets here." He sits down on the curb of the sidewalk, and looks up at me, waiting for me to sit beside him.

"Your friend, he doesn't have any rodents, like a chinchilla, does he?"

Iain makes a surprised face, and frowns. "No, I don't believe so. Although, he does have a couple of cats; they're great, and very intelligent. Very people friendly."

I then sit down beside him and we wait for our ride in silence. I stare at the black sky overhead until a black Buick pulls up close to us. Jumping up, a step backwards as Iain says, "That's our ride."

I frown, and out of the care, the man with the green eyes leaps out, hands outstretched, and closes them around my neck. A strangled cry escapes me, my eyes dart to look at Iain and he looks completely calm, like he expected this. Iain smiles, walking towards me saying, "That was easier than I thought it would be. Stupid girl, you should never trust a man you don't know."