A/N: Well, this is one of the faster updates I have done. Pretty proud of myself. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up within anohter week, but again, no promises. This chapter was a bit iffy, but I actually enjoyed writing it. To be clear, I know that one of the facts doesn't match up with the song, but I wrote it in the first chapter and I'm just gonna run with it. Don't shoot me for it, okay? I hope the rest of the story makes up for it. Thanks to another wannabe author, Agathanancy98, LAurore and Steph B for the reviews. You guys are amazing!
Am I dead?
Annie's eyelids fluttered and she opened her eyes slightly. A faint light penetrated her lower right hand vision, so she turned her head towards it. Bad move. The small action had caused searing pain to tear through her face, neck and shoulder. She froze in place.
Guess I'm not dead.
She winced at the pain that was brought just from keeping her head in one place, but realized that was a bad move too. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out in pain as she gently lay her head to rest against the surface she was lying on, facing the direction of the light. She tried to relax and assess her injuries. She didn't know really what had happened, but she could feel blood seeping into her hair and over her face and neck. She'd obviously opened up some wounds. Nothing felt broken, and she (although with quite an amount of pain) could move each of her limbs. Closing her eyes, she wondered where she was. Last she remembered, she'd been at Aunt Reese's house…
xxx
"Okay Aunt Reese, bye!" Annie called after her aunt with a small wave.
Once the door had been shut and locked, she made her way to the kitchen. The popcorn she and Aunt Reese had made surely shouldn't go to waste. She took it out of the microwave and poured it into a bowl, sprinkling some salt over the top. After picking up the stray pieces and tossing them into her mouth, she decided she should head out to the lounge room. Maybe Grace would like to watch what her and Aunt Reese had been planning to.
'Final Destination 5' was already sitting in the DVD player, but Annie brought a couple of movies out from her aunt's limited collection in case Grace wasn't a fan of thriller. She decided on 'The Proposal', 'The Notebook' and 'Happy Feet', spreading them out on the coffee table for Grace to choose from.
A noise at the kitchen window made her look up sharply. To her relief, it was just the wind blowing past the slightly open window, creating a whistling noise. She crossed the room and pulled the offending window shut, cutting short the next bout of whistling. She spun around like lightning when she heard the front door click shut softly. Her heart pounded in her chest. The door was normally quite loud, nobody could sneak in or out without waking the entire household. Grace would have knocked and Aunt Reese would have barely made it to the crime scene now, let alone have turned around and come home. Plus, she would have announced her presence by yelling a greeting. Annie's breathing quickened slightly as she stepped through the doorway of the kitchen into the dining room to face whatever, or whoever, had appeared inside the apartment.
She was greeted by the shape of a hooded figure, dressed in black sweatpants and a similarly dark hooded jacket. The figure looked up at the presence of another person. Annie ducked underneath the table quickly, hopefully before she could be spotted. She got a glimpse of gold, yes gold, irises sweeping the room before the figure pulled the hood further around their face, effectively shielding it from view. She heaved a barely audible sigh of relief and the figure spun around to face her. Thankfully, the only light was coming from the kitchen and was in Annie's favour. She slunk out from underneath the table towards the wall darkened by shadows. Creeping along, she just barely managed to get halfway across the room before the figure started to come after her. With long, sure strides they crossed the room towards her. She turned and sprinted upstairs, praying that Grace would turn up and catch whoever it was that was chasing her. She could hear their heavy footsteps as they ascended the stairs after her. She realized it was most definitely a man, and he was gaining on her.
She reached the landing and, on instinct, turned into the guest room. She spun around once inside, nowhere left to run. The figure stood in the doorway, his hood slipped from his face due to the exertion of running after Annie. As the man paused, Annie took in his looks immediately. His dark brown hair was cut short; his gold irises bore into hers. She could make out a scar running from his right cheekbone to his jawline. The light from the streetlight outside gave her a good view of his body, tall, muscular, intimidating. She stepped carefully backwards, only stopping when her knees hit the edge of the bed. Her heart pounding frantically in her chest, she had the fleeting thought as to wonder why she wasn't being braver than this. She was Annie Lisbon, for Pete's sake. A small voice whispered in the back of her mind. He's going to kill you, it said softly. She refused to believe it. She didn't even know how it got there. The man slowly pulled a knife out from a pocket at his hip. His white teeth flashed as he grinned menacingly. The last thing Annie could remember was the man whispering the words ' Tiger, tiger,' and then he lunged.
xxx
A sharp grating noise brought her back to the present. The door opened, flooding light into the room. Annie discreetly looked around (as much as she could without moving her head), and she observed that she was being held some kind of warehouse. Shouldn't I be in a hospital? she thought fleetingly. If the pain is this bad… the thought trailed off as a figure stepped through the now open doorway, it's frame filling the space almost completely.
"Hello Annie," a gravely voice floated into her ears. It made her shudder, which caused her even more pain.
He walked with slow, heavy steps until he was beside her. She realized she was on a table, and as he bent over her, she felt her heart beat faster. She reached up instinctively when his face was mere inches from hers, but discovered her hands were attached to the table. She soon discovered her legs were attached at the ankles as well, she could barely move any of her limbs more than a few centimetres. The movement of the various parts of her body had caused a few of her cuts to open up, and she felt blood seeping down and dripping softly onto the tabletop.
A quiet, menacing laugh escaped from her captor's lips. "Do you know me?"
Annie stared deep into the gold irises that were so close to hers. She shook her head, a barely visible gesture.
The figure noticed though. An involuntary shiver coursed through her body.
"I am known by many names," he whispered. "But you may know me as Red John."
Well, as some of you may or may not have realised, I am ADDICTED to leaving you guys with cliffhangers! Don't hurt me, 'kay? Just leave a bad review if you don't like it. Anyways, I'd really love to hear what you guys are thinking and, as always, ideas are appreciated!