in fine cursive. The two simple words didn’t really strike me as a tattoo that he would get. “I’m sorry,” it said. I wonder what he’s sorry for.
I snapped out of my thoughts when his deep voice spoke.
“W-what?” I stuttered.
“I said, move.” I didn’t think twice before moving out of his way.
He walked past me and jogged upstairs. I almost had to run to keep up with his long strides.
Once back in the kitchen, I was hoping and praying that Ben called the cops but I didn’t see or hear sirens.
I walked into the living room to see Ben sitting on the couch. I mouthed to him, “Did you call the cops?” He shook his head “no.” I walked over to him and sat down and asked him, “Why?”
“I couldn’t. The house phone wouldn’t work, and I couldn’t find your cellphone,” he said and looked down.
“Cassie, what’s going to happen to us?” Just as he said that, the man came back and stood before us with an angry expression.
“Heard someone was going to call the cops. Is that true?” His piercing green eyes locked with my little brother’s. Ben just sat there and shook his head even though the man already knew he was going to.
“Don’t lie to me!” the man said and raised his hand to slap Ben.
“No!” I said.
He stopped his hand mid-air and looked at me.
“No, i-it w-was my f-fault,” I said and looked up at the man.
“Well in that case,” he yelled and slapped me across the face.
My head snapped back at the impact. His slap left my right cheek stinging. I looked up through my hair to see a confused man standing in front of me. A tear slipped out of my eye and ran down my cheek. The man stomped into to the kitchen and started screaming random cuss words. Then I heard what sounded like glass shattering.
“Cassie,” Ben’s voice said.
I turned my head to look at him and saw worry written all over his face. A small tear fell from his left eye. I wiped it away before it could fall. I brought his small body onto my lap and held him close.
“What’s going to happen to us?” he asked.
“I-I don’t know.” I truly didn’t know.
All that I knew was that the man in the kitchen was a psycho.
Chapter 3
It’s been about an hour since the man had slapped me and gone into the kitchen. In that past hour, all I’ve heard was glass being thrown and shattered. I still let Ben rest on my lap. I looked down to see my little brother asleep in my arms.
I looked over to the clock sitting on top of the fireplace, it read 11:46 pm. Just then, I heard the man come back into the living room. My hands started to sweat and shake. They always do when I’m scared or nervous. I looked down again at Ben, pulling him closer to me.
“Get up,” he said, annoyed.
I did what he said and got up, heading for the stairs.
“Oh yeah, there’s a mess in the kitchen. You can clean up.” I let out a groan and continued walking up the stairs.
Once in the hall way, I headed for the first door on the left, opened it, and set Ben down on his twin-sized bed. I pulled the duvet over his chest, kissed his forehead, and then headed back down the steps. Even though Ben might get on my nerves sometimes, deep down I still loved him.
Back in the living room, I saw the man sitting on the couch and messing with his phone. I somehow gained enough courage to walk over to him.
“What’s your name and why are you here?” I blurted out.
He looked up from his phone and said, “That’s none of your business,” he snapped at me.
“Well at least tell me your name,” I asked, hoping to get something out of him.
“Hunter,” his deep voice rang.
“Now go clean up the kitchen.” He smirked and looked at his phone.
“No.” The word slipped out before I knew I said it. He looked at me with a shocked expression.
“What?” He growled and stood up.
I took a step back but still held my ground. His height towered over me. I looked him straight in the eyes and said no with all my courage. The thing that happened next shocked me. He slapped me on the face, sending me to the ground, holding my right cheek. I felt the tears coming. I tried to hold them back, not wanting him to see me as weak; but one slipped out anyway.
He got down to my level and said, “No will never be an answer for me.” And with that, he got up and went off somewhere.
I lay there for a few minutes, just letting the tears fall and not knowing what was going to happen to me and my brother. It scared me more than anything.
Once the tears dried up, and there were no more left to fall, I got up and went to the kitchen to find pieces of glass scattered everywhere. I walked over to the basement door where the broom stood in the corner. I grabbed it and started sweeping the small pieces of glass, being careful not to step on any. I started to think back to when Hunter told me his name. His name just doesn’t really fit someone like him. It sounds so much… It just doesn’t sound like a name he would have. It just doesn’t fit him. I continued to sweep the pieces, letting the thought of Hunter’s name drift to the back of my mind, not wanting to think about the man who just hit me.
After I finished sweeping the floor, I walked over to put the broom back when I felt something stab my foot. I let out a scream of pain and sat down on the floor tiles, holding my foot. Tears started to fall as I saw blood pouring out of the cut. I heard what sounded like someone running down the steps, then Hunter came jogging into the kitchen with a worried look. I looked away from him, knowing he didn’t care about me. I directed my attention back to my bleeding foot. I heard him walk closer. I just held my foot closer to me till I felt two cold, strong arms wrap around my back and under my legs. Carrying me, Hunter walked up the stairs and towards the bathroom.
“Put me down,” I said, trying to get away from his grasp. “Shut up,” he said and continued to walk up the stairs.
Once we got to the bathroom, he set me down on the counter and shut the door with his foot.
“How did you have this?” He asked while looking at my bleeding foot.
“I stepped on the glass that you broke,” I said, annoyed, and looked away from him.
“If you had never gotten mad—”.
“So now it’s my fault?” He yelled.
“Yes, it is your fault!” I snapped back, my temper getting the best of me.
“You know what? J-just shut up!” He yelled and grabbed my foot, making me wince in pain.
Hunter put one of his hands in his pocket, dug around till he found what he needed, then pulled it out. My heart stopped. He held a black pocket knife.
Chapter 4
I sat there on the bathroom counter, staring at the black shiny object in Hunter’s hands. I was not able to concentrate on anything else in the room except the black pocket knife he held in his large hands. I began to shake. My hands then started to get wet. I was afraid of what could possibly happen next. Probably sensing my uneasiness, Hunter looked up at me. We made eye contact for maybe two seconds before I looked away, afraid of his intentions with the knife.
“Afraid, babe?” His raspy voice broke the fidgeting of my hands.
Instead of saying anything, I just sat there, trying to think of something other than the possible chance of me dying at this moment in the hallway bathroom.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Hunter crouching down to inspect my bleeding foot. Not wanting to see what would happen, I closed my eyes as I felt something sharp pierce into my flesh. I quickly grabbed onto the closest thing I could find. I ended up gripping the bathroom counter. And squeezing my eyes shut tightly, he continuously pierced the fairly long pocket knife into my sensitive foot.
Minutes had already passed, but Hunter still tried to get the piece of glass out of the bottom of my foot. I let out a muffled scream when Hunter pushed the knife too hard. A tear fell and ran down my right cheek. I opened my eyes as Hunter
pushed the knife harder. I looked down at the head of curls before me. I tried to pull away from him, but he just grabbed my foot again and forced the sharp tip of the pocket knife back into my now bloody foot.
“Y-you’re h-hurting m-me.” I croaked in between cries. He still didn’t listen. He just forced the sharp object harder. “Hunter!” I finally yelled.
He quickly looked up at me. Instead of the piercing green eyes, I was met with dark, green pools. I quickly pulled my foot closer towards me, and knew then that something wasn’t right about him. I mean, yes, I already knew that something was missing, but right then he just looked like a plain psycho.
“D-don’t hurt me. Please,” I cried.
In seconds, his eyes changed back to their normal color. Then he just jolted up from his position and stormed out, leaving me sitting there, clueless of what’s going on. I looked down at my foot to see blood still coming out of the small cut right above my heel. Still shocked from Hunter’s behavior, I got off the counter. I opened the cabinet below the sink and looked for a bandage of some sort. After I dug around, I finally found what I was looking for. I took the bandage and wrapped it around my foot.
Once done, I tiptoed out of the bathroom and headed to my room, hoping I would not to get caught by Hunter. As I entered, I heard a scream of pain from downstairs. I quickly ran down, not really thinking about what could be going on. I just wanted to know why there was screaming.
When I was downstairs, I heard heavy breathing coming from the kitchen. I hurried and ran towards the room, only to be met with a pacing and frightened Hunter. He grabbed his curls and continued to scream words that I couldn’t quite make out.
“Hunter,” I said slowly while I approached him.
He looked at me with puffy bloodshot eyes.
“I did it! I was the one!” He screamed half to me, half to himself.
“What? What, Hunter?” I slowly said, not to scare him.
“I...I k-killed them...” When the words left his lips, I felt my heart drop.
“I-I can get y-you h-help, Hunter. I can,” I said calmly, so that I won’t trigger anything. But what resulted was something completely opposite.
“No! I’m sick and tired of people telling me I need help!” I didn’t even have time to comprehend what was said before his fist hit my head and I felt my body hit the ground with a thud.
My eyes started to close slowly. The last thing I remembered was slowly fading into a world of darkness.
Chapter 5
“Cassie.” I heard a small voice called my name.
I tried to open my eyes but I just couldn’t seem to get them to.
“Cassie, you have to wake up. You can’t leave me here by myself with that man,” the voice cried.
I slowly realized to whom the voice belonged. It was Ben’s.
“Please, don’t leave me. I never meant the mean things I said. I love you, Cassandra, a lot” His voice continued to cry over my body.
I again tried my hardest to open my eyes, and this time they did.
“I love you too, Ben.” I quietly said to the crying boy in front of me.
His eyes opened as soon as he heard my voice.
“Cassie!” He mused and hugged me as tight as he could.
“I thought you died, and… A-and I’m so glad you’re alright!” he said and hugged me again.
After our sister-brother moment, I asked the young boy in front of me a question. “Where’s Hunter?” Ben looked at me with funny expression. “The man, where’s the man?”
“Oh, the man. Yeah, he went down to the basement,” Ben said.
“What is he doing down there?” I asked, wondering why he would go back down there.
“He said he just needed to cool off and for me to keep an eye on you,” he said while helping me sit up.
I nodded and asked, “How long have I been out?”
“Well this morning, I went to your room but you weren’t there so I came down here to find that man sitting beside you on the floor. He looked in pain so I really don’t know.” He breathed out.
“Well he knocked me out last night.” I said looking down.
“He knocked you out?” Ben raised his voice.
“Yes. Now, how long has he been down in the basement?” I asked.
“He went down there like, maybe, uh, like five minutes ago or something.” I stumbled a little, trying to get off the kitchen tiles and then stood upright.
“What are you doing?” Ben asked, grabbing onto my arm while I walked over to the basement door.
I turned around to face him and said, “We’re getting out of here,” I said, smiling at my little brother. Soon his smile matched mine.
“Now go upstairs but be quiet and grab my backpack and get your shoes and coat on,” I ordered.
He nodded then quietly hurried up the stairs. While he went upstairs to get his things, I went over to the basement door and looked down, making sure Hunter was nowhere in sight. Having not seen him, I quietly shut the door and locked it. It was followed by hooking the latch. But I still needed something else to put in front of the door so I looked around the room, and my eyes fell on this cabinet that holds Mom’s nice dishes. I quickly ran over to it and slowly tried to push it towards the door. After a good three minutes of pushing and tugging on the oversized cabinet, it was finally in front of the basement door.
“I got the stuff, Cassie,” Ben said, coming back into the kitchen.
“Okay good. Now go grab my shoes there in front of the door in the living room and get my coat please.” With that, he handed my backpack to me and was off to get my things.
I ran over to the fridge and grabbed five bottles of water then ran over to the cabinets and stuffed some protein bars in the backpack and then threw in some other snacks.
“Here are your shoes and coat,” Ben said, handing me my things.
“Thanks.” I quickly put on my boots and laced them up, moved onto my coat and buttoned it, and put the backpack on my shoulders.
“Come on, Ben, let’s get out of here,” I said as I grabbed onto his arm, walked over to the back door, opened it, and then shut it behind us.
“Why are we going this way?” he asked. “I’ll explain in a little bit. We just need to get out of sight first.” He nodded then followed me down the back steps.
All we have to do is cross the field then get into the woods to be out of sight.
I still couldn’t believe Hunter punched me and knocked me out. There’s something seriously wrong with that man, but I guess one good thing is that he got the piece of glass out of my foot. It still hurt like hell every time I take a step, though. I wasn’t limping too badly so I could still run, though not just as fast as I could if my foot wasn’t hurt.
We hurried and went into the forest of trees, trying to get out of sight. But before we completely got into the forest, I looked back only to find Hunter standing on the back porch of the house, holding what looks like a gun.
Chapter 6
We have a choice in this world: to give up when life gets tough or fight for what we believe in.
Many of us do the first. We give up when things get hard. Most of us don’t even try to overcome the problems we face. We simply say things like there’s no point I’ll lose anyways or what’s the point of trying when there’s no hope. We all want to win. We just don’t want to fight because we feel as if there’s no hope. But I’m not like that.
I believe in hope and fighting for what you love. The man standing on the porch with a gun pointed right at me and my younger brother needs to know that I’m not giving up.
“Run,” I said, not looking away from the hard stare of the man standing on the back porch.
“What?”
“I said, run Ben.” I turned to look at him.
“Trust me.” With that, my younger brother took off and run into the forest, leaving me standing there and smirking at Hunter.
I raised my right hand in the air and slowly put down every finger except the m
iddle one. Then I took off running in the woods.
I could see Ben about thirty yards ahead of me. I knew he was a slow runner that’s why I let him go ahead of me. When I heard the sound of Hunter’s gun going off, I looked behind me only to see him still on the porch, shooting the gun in mid-air.
“Game on, Cassandra!” His deep voice boomed throughout the forest and the field.
I made the mistake of looking behind me again. I now saw him off the porch and running through the field towards us. I ran as fast as my short legs would go, trying to catch up with Ben. It was even harder to run when you have a backpack filled with bottles of water and a foot that was just cut last night due to a glass that was stuck in it.
“Keep running, buddy,” I said to Ben as I was only five feet behind him.
“Is he chasing us?” he asked out of breath.
“Yes, but it will be okay. I promise,” I reassured him. I was now running beside him.
* * *
We’d been running non-stop for probably twenty minutes, trying to make some distance between us and Hunter. I think it’s working because he’s now out of sight.
In a little bit, my asthma had really been acting up. I’d tried to not let it bother me but it’s kinda hard when your chest feels really tight and your breathing isn’t normal.
“Can we stop for a few minutes, Cassie? I’m really tired,” Ben’s little out-of-breath voice spoke.
“Yeah, we can. I’m tired too, buddy,” I admitted, slowing down and stopping by a tree. I took off my backpack, let it sit by the tree, and then sit down leaning against the trunk.
Ben sat beside me, leaning his hand on my shoulder.
“Can you give me a water please?” he asked, looking at the backpack.
Psycho Sitter: Mystery/Thriller Page 2
