Chapter 5
Monica arrived at the Tuckers' a few minutes later. They had already gone, but she had brought along a book on pregnancy and childbirth and casually seated herself on the couch to read it. Certain parts of it were a little frightening, but she pressed on through the pages, knowing she had to be prepared for whatever was to come. But after she had been reading for about an hour, she realized she needed a break right away. Some of this stuff was just so overwhelming.
She stood from her comfortable perch on the couch and headed over to the kitchen to grab herself something to eat. Pulling open the fridge door, she reached in to snatch an apple off of the bottom shelf, but just as she drew back and closed the door again, she was almost certain she had seen something out of the corner of her eye out the kitchen window. Had that been her imagination? No, there it was again. Some sort of movement outside the window. For a moment, she assured herself it was just the neighbors' kids playing hide and seek, but something deep inside suddenly made her heart pound so loudly she was sure people could hear it for miles around. What was that and why was it making her feel so afraid all of a sudden? For all she knew it could just be a squirrel or a stray cat, but again, that tiny feeling inside of her told her otherwise.
After staring out the window for a long, silent moment, Monica eventually decided it would just be best to prove it to herself that it was nothing. Moving over to the front door, she turned the doorknob and swung it open, half expecting to look around and see nothing at all. At first, that's all she did see. But then she felt her heart drop into the depths of her stomach as her eyes feel upon the truth behind all this. Somewhere in her heart, she felt she knew this would happen all along, but had forced herself to believe otherwise.
But now Monica froze in fear, as this was very real indeed. Right there, on the Tuckers' front lawn, stood a lion. But not one of the gentle, beautiful lions you would find at the zoo. Oh no. This one did not escape from the zoo at all. Nor did it look at all friendly. This one Monica had encountered before and she knew who it was. Satan himself stood before her and as much as she hated to admit it, she knew why he was here.
For a moment the two just stood there, staring back at one another, angel and devil in a sort of stalemate, each waiting to see what the other would do. But then Monica's pursuer let out a long, terrifying roar that seemed to shake the very planet itself beneath her feet. As if by instinct, Monica's right hand immediately strayed to rest upon her slightly swollen belly, as if preparing to protect the baby from whatever was about to come. She wasn't afraid for herself, but she wanted to keep the infant growing inside her from harm more than anything else in this world. And so, when her enemy allowed another, ground-breaking roar escape him, clearly displaying his massively, intimidating canines, Monica let out a short scream and darted back into the house before slamming the front door as quickly as possible and locking it after minimal fumbling. Her hands her trembling so deeply that she was sure she would never get them to stop.
Both her breathing and heart rate quickened to suck an extent that she thought she would die of a heart attack before that beast got in here. But she wasted no time in making sure that didn't happen. She then raced around to the back door and locked it as well before making sure all the windows were shut. Of course, it was obvious enough that you can't really keep evil out by locking doors, but Monica didn't know what else to do to save her little one.
For a moment, there was complete silence throughout the house and Monica could here nothing but her own heartbeat as she glanced around out of all the windows in search of any sign as to where her perpetrator had gone. But the silence didn't last long, as before she knew it, she heard another frustrated snarl from the back door as Satan realized he was barred. But he would keep trying. Monica knew it wouldn't be long before he found his way in, or broke his way in, whatever came first. She thought desperately for any ideas as to what to do. She knew she had to keep the wee one safe. No matter what. But then she suddenly realized what she had to do.
Rushing over to the phone in the kitchen, she picked it up as quickly as she could, hands still shaking violently, and paged Andrew.