I backed into the door a little too hard, trying and failing to swallow the lump in my throat that threatened to choke me. My legs suddenly felt like rubber bands bound to snap. The monstrous guests of mine had left the living room and were now standing in the threshold of it, their eyes absolutely burning holes into me. I didn't have time to notice that two of them were missing. It didn't matter at the moment.
What mattered was that I was trapped, sandwiched between two horrible fates.
On my left, Casper and the doll stood at the opening of the kitchen, the former bent over in subsiding pain.
On my right, the rest of the intruders stood, some of them wearing the biggest shit-eating grins that I had ever had the misfortune to see. They looked a bit too fucking pleased with this turn of events. I wrenched my head between the two sides, not entirely sure which one was worse.
"Looks like it's playtime." Taunted the doll, grinning wickedly as he freed his knife from underneath his overalls.
Red and Green gave a flick of his gloved hand, splaying the blades out with an all too threatening sound of metal. Shink! The finger-knives flexed just after, probably imagining themselves being shoved inside of me and getting tangled up in my intestines. By the maniacal look in his eyes, it seemed he was every bit as ready to play as the doll was.
The gripping and brandishing of weapons seemed to be the general consensus. By the grace of some kind god I didn't piss myself right then and there.
This..
This really wasn't looking good for me, was it?
What could I do? I needed to get away, but the only way out now was up. And up only led back to where this awful night had begun. Still, up was leagues better than here. Quick! Distract them! Say something! SAY ANYTHING!
A fragmented and obnoxiously uncomfortable laugh threw itself out of my mouth. Shaking hard enough for all of them to see despite the distance, which really didn't feel all that far, I took a leaning step forward. My hands smoothed themselves down over either side of my hips as I stammered; "G-Gentleman! I…Wow. You uh, you caught me!" Another strangled laugh. "Where do I go from here?" I had a pretty good idea of where to go from here, but I didn't want them knowing that and hopefully they wouldn't catch on immediately. Hopefully I could put on some display, something so graceless and pathetic that it would be underestimated in order to accomplish this. Don't stop, moron! Keep yammering! "Uh, I uh h-had no idea I had guests! Wo-Would you care for something to drink? Food? We, we got lots of food...Uhahaha..Uh, buut you probably already knew that.." They definitely already knew that. My body tensed and prepared itself for what I had in mind, all the while trying to convey a very awkward nonchalance while I continued a slow, off-kilter path for the stairs. "Li-Listen, I would really, reeeaally appreciate it if you all just, lowered your weapons," I gestured with the suggestion as it was being said and took another step towards the left of the space. "I mean, there's really no need to-"
Now in hindsight, I could have tried to quickly calculate some clever plan; Something way more clever than the one I had come up with. Perhaps I could have negotiated and attempted pleading conversation, and probably end up begging for my life. But that's not what I had chosen to do. Like a true scared little mouse, I had chosen to run back to the safety of my hidey-hole and 'really no need to' had become my own special replacement for 'ready, set, go!'.
So when the last word left my mouth, it was the start of a no doubt inevitable chase.
I ran.
They followed.
And the game was on.
I narrowly avoided running into Casper and the doll in my sprint to the left side stairs. There was a thunder of racing footsteps, mingling with the mad sounds of their laughter as I took three steps at a time, up, up, as quickly as I could go. I didn't dare contemplate the results should I trip. There wasn't any time to go up the stairs like a sane, normal person. The risk of tripping onto my face and getting myself killed was high, but whether my legs liked it or not, they were going to do their fucking part. They had no choice but to. I tried not to waste precious brain power thinking about falling though. The only thing I focused on was putting one foot in front of the other. When I reached the peak, I grabbed onto the banister at the very top, pulling and wheeling my body to make the turn as fast as possible. The horrifying sounds of pursuit followed hot on my heels, but there was no way to know how close they actually wer-
It happened all too quickly.
One second I'm running and I have the whole hallway to myself, and the very next I'm competing for the space with a pair of hands. Even as it was transpiring, my brain attempted to back pedal through the events to make sense of it. The storage room door had opened and with its sudden entrance emerged the masked man in blue. The ruckus down below left little room to deny the certainty that it had snagged his attention, and as a result, he had stepped out to investigate. With the crowd of his unfriendly friends behind me, it must have spelled out a pretty clear instruction and that was to catch me. One of his arms extended farther than the other, one large hand reaching towards me as though to snatch me up like a rabbit by its ears.
And he would've if my father hadn't forced me to play baseball for seven years.
The scenario had something click into place inside my brain. The movement that followed came as naturally as another breath after an exhale, and before I knew it, I had slipped into a slide towards a base that wasn't there. It was beautiful. My father, if he had been present and if this had been under less fatal circumstances, would have jumped to his feet and screamed on invisible bleachers. One leg stuck out ahead while the opposite calf folded underneath my weight. Both hands went back behind and below to keep my balance throughout as I surfed underneath the killer mechanic's arm, cruising with the combined help of momentum and my pajama bottoms on the hardwood floor.
When I went entirely underneath his arm without incident, it was my old baseball coach's voice that erupted inside my head and for the first time, her voice sounded more angelic and less like the always angry, always-on-my-back woman that I had known her to be; GOOD SLIDE, CADDIE! YOU'RE SAFE!
Safe? For those few seconds maybe, but I let the imagined compliment propel me to what I yearned to be escape and victory.
The leg under me shoved up into a stand and I added the push of both hands to heave myself up. Resuming my sprint down the moonlit hallway, I made straight for my bedroom door. Hope foolishly blossomed in my chest at the familiar sight. Yet as soon as I was close enough to kiss the threshold, the door was slammed in my face by some unseen force, denying me sanctuary. Ignoring the instinctual impulse to wail in my misery, I pushed myself to the option closest: The way leading to the attic.
"Hey! Mike, whAT'RE YOU-"
Before I could hurl myself towards the second flight of stairs, I instead stumbled away when something-
Excuse me..
When someone crashed face-first into the wall directly next to my door. The initial flurry of colors, a blurred vision of red, beige, and blue mixed with an ongoing shout that continued all the way up until collision, had my brain scrambling to make sense of what had been thrown in an attempt to stop me. Catching myself against my door and its frame, I stared down at the view of the doll now sitting upside down on the floor up against the wall. Miraculously he still had his knife, but he was far too busy groaning and rubbing his aching head to use it.
Now wasn't the time to marvel over the fact that his companions had just used him as a dodgeball. The look I had thrown to my left to see them all zooming towards me, closer than ever, amplified that fact. Ejecting myself from the embrace of my door frame with a shout of fright, I raced past him to the attic. As I left the wounded toy behind, his words carried on from his place to groan loudly. "Chhrriiist. Why'd you throw me, you dick!" The others didn't care to answer and neither did I.
I flew up the left stairs with a quickness that I hadn't seen in years, not since the dreaded 400m dash. The steps creaked and groaned viciously behind me, their laughter ever present as it echoed in the narrow space of the enclosed staircase. The hurried ascent felt wobbled, propelling myself forward with the help of the walls and handrails, pushing off from them with my palms.
If this door was locked too, it would surely be the end of me.
PLEASE! PLEEAASE!
My hands clutched at the doorknob as if it were a lifeline and screwed it to the side. I practically fell into the room, letting out a thankful cry before slamming the door closed. Allowing myself no break for temporary relief, my hands darted to lock the door and secure it. No sooner had I accomplished that, the door visibly jumped and shook violently with the assault of pounding fists. I fell backwards onto my rear, staring with fear at the door as it trembled on its hinges. The sight of the doorknob jiggling and turning as if possessed had me scooting back in a backwards waddle.
"Little piig, little piig, let us inn." Red and Green sang it out rather playfully, and it was Casper's voice that finished the rest from the classic storybook line; "Or we'll huff and we'll puff." They laughed unsettlingly at the joke.
"Leave me alone!" I shouted, tears nearly blinding me. I couldn't sit still. I realized how hard I was shaking as I sat there, teeth chattering, my body trembling as if I'd been wandering Mount Everest for hours.
The door ceased vibrating just as the knob quit turning altogether, but that didn't mean they still weren't there. With a few much gentler knocks, Casper's voice followed to say; "Aw, Jennifer! Don't be like that! Let us in, we won't bite." As if he hadn't been trying to kill me only moments ago and earlier before, he was right back to his friendly façade. 'Casper the Friendly Ghost' my fucking ass!
"Bullshit you won't!" I cried out. There was a quieter response, as if it wasn't meant for my ears as he let out a laugh and said; "Gee, I wonder what gave it away."
"Wouldn't you like to get to know us?" Questioned Tentacle Head's dark voice.
"NO! What I-I would like is for you to get out of my house!" I nearly shrieked it.
A chorus of "oohs" and chuckles broke out like a rash from behind the wood. Tentacle Head cooed; "Poor baby. Let us in and we'll make it all better." The doorknob turned fully to both sides, as if to accompany the suggestion with a visual that was supposed to convince me. The disconcerting threat of it was enough to make me shiver.
My chance to respond was taken away by the doll. It appeared as though he had finally recuperated from his being used as a ball, because his voice marched into the fray; "HEY, ASSHOLES!" Judging from the sound of his voice gradually becoming louder fairly quickly from behind the door, he hadn't enjoyed the stunt that had been pulled. "Thought that was a fuckin' riot, huh? Mike! What gives?!"
Who the fuck is Mike? More importantly, why the fuck was I asking myself that?
When 'Mike' didn't respond, Casper snickered; "He probably thought you made a great projectile."
Red and Green agreed; "You flew pretty fuckin' far," With a laugh he conceded; "You're more aerodynamic than ya look, tater tot. Who knew."
Doll ignored him to ask instead; "She in there?"
Casper huffed; "Noo. We're all standing around the door because we have nothing else better to do."
"You whacked your head a lot harder than I thought if you're asking such a stupid fucking question." Sneered Red and Green.
"Alright, I get it! I'll ask a better one," Doll audibly cleared his throat, before assumedly leaning forward to speak to me, his voice clearer than before. "Hey, goldilocks! Where's the rest of you?" Rest of me? He didn't mean..
He wasn't seriously expecting me to tell him where the rest of my family was hiding, was he? I mean, they weren't hiding at all. They weren't even here. And if they had been, nothing in the world could have made me rat out my family members to the likes of them. Especially after they had all just fucking chased after me with weapons. So all in all, only one answer seemed appropriate.
"Fuck you!"
Tentacle Head laughed; "Such language from someone so young."
Doll wasn't as entertained; "Oooh, so brave behind a door. You were skiddin' around on the shit-trail you left behind a minute ago. So you better keep that attitude, doll. This door ain't gonna hold forever. Once it gets knocked down, and it will, we'll see how brave you are then. We're gonna find the rest of you, and when we do-"
"What the fuck do you want!" I snapped, quite tired of their twisted games and sick senses of humor; Thoroughly exhausted with this demented scenario that I found myself in. I didn't want to hear any more threats. He could go choke on them for all I cared. I just wanted this settled. I wanted them GONE.
There was a long pause at the question.
"We just wanna get to know ya a little better, that's all." Chuckled Red and Green.
"Well I definitely don't want to know you!" I retorted hotly.
That's when some of the voices lowered, murmuring amongst themselves. No doubt planning the next course of action. Ignoring the burning in my lungs, I leaned in curiously despite myself. Carefully, though I was second-guessing my actions the entire time, I scooted closer to the door and pressed my ear against it to listen. I quieted my breath to hear them:
"Do you think the rest of the family is in there?" Wondered Tentacle Head.
Thank God they're not.
"Gotta be, right? We already looked everywhere else," Doll had hardly finished the genuine response when he suddenly spat venomously; "Will you fuckin' move? You're drippin' all over me." There was a sound of shuffling then.
"Yeah, looks like you took a swim." Red and Green chortled.
"The bitch soaked me, okay? You got a problem, you can take it up with her." Casper's voice then, before he cleared his throat to change the subject; "So now what?"
"You're a fuckin' genie, can't you magic the door open?" Questioned Doll impatiently.
Tentacle Head, now Genie, considered and chuckled; "I could, but that wouldn't be half as fun, now would it?" A moment went by before a snap of fingers could be heard, then Red and Green hissed; "Hockey Stick! Get up here!"
The sound of Hockey Stick's deep footsteps could be heard from down below.
His rough voice went on to growl; "Make yourself useful and bust down this door, will ya?"
The slow thud of footsteps became more apparent as they approached closer. Whoever 'Hockey Stick' was didn't seem to be in any hurry. Was 'Hockey Stick' the one with the hockey mask? If so, it would've been fitting..
"Speed it up! At this rate we'll kill her by the new year." Hissed Doll.
Kill her?
..Me!
OH GOD!
I gulped, my heart thumping painfully at the sentence. Well of course, you idiot. What else are they going to do? Braid your hair?
A scream came alive from my throat as part of the attic door thumped and splintered right next to my face. Pieces of wood soared down to the floor as the sight of a large hand whirled and stretched its fingers. It swiftly closed into a fist and sank back through the hole that it had made.
"Ohh, I like the sound of that." Snickered Red and Green.
I could practically hear Doll grin; "Way to take initiative, Mike."
Apparently 'Hockey Stick' had taken too long.
It was the last thing I heard before I made the executive decision to back the fuck away from the door. Before my very eyes, the door continued to splinter and break in a designated section. The hand punched, ripped, and beat at the wood from the other side, creating fist-sized holes all around the first. It was all too clear then: Whoever 'Mike' was, was breaking the door open.
Spinning around and launching myself to my feet, I whipped my head around the room for a place to go, to hide, anything. Although I knew in my heart that there were only two ways out of the attic: The entrance and the window. Seeing as I was not going to sprout wings anytime soon, I knew deep down I was fucked.
There has to be something! My mind argued, my eyes ransacking the darkened surroundings. But where to go from here? All the while, the door was coming apart behind me, my window of opportunity was closing and it was closing fast.
The attic was an additional space dedicated to storage, boxes piled high and teetering, left to sit forgotten. Much like the unpacked room, the attic was just a bigger version of it. Picking the tallest stack of parcels and crates, I raced towards the only salvation left: Hiding. I slipped past the tight knit spaces, sliding along cardboard walls to what I hoped would be safety. The echoes of wood splintering and cracking was the soundtrack to my impending doom. It was only when my back was against the wall, surrounded by multiple stacks of brown did I stop. I slid down the wall to the floor, holding my breath, completely hidden from the outside view of prying eyes. Scared that simply breathing through my nose wasn't good enough, I soon clamped both hands over my mouth and stilled myself completely.
Finally, the destruction of wood stopped. A loud, lone click punctuated the silence followed by the most baleful creak of a door fathomable. Footsteps poured into the room and I knew they were in. There was no telling what state the door had to be in.
"Aww, you shouldn't have! How'd ya know my favorite game was hide-and-seek?" Teased Red and Green. The rest seemed to share this sentiment by the sheer amount of malice in the way they laughed.
My body trembled as if freezing and I had to concentrate to stop my quivering short. My eyes dashed down around me, scanning the floor for anything I could use to defend myself with. A singular pen lay idly inside my box fortress, barely visible in the low light thanks to the large attic window. Without thinking, I snatched the writing instrument from its place and held it protectively to my chest. I buried it against some of the fabric of my top to muffle the small click as my thumb pressed the small button at the top to unsheathe the point.
I knew how pathetic I must have looked then: Shivering, drenched in sweat, terrified, holding a stupid pen in my hands as if it would save me. The blatantly obvious downgrade from baseball bat to pen was laughable. Poor Mr. Lucky..
Just what the Hell did I think I could even do with this thing? Stab one of them in the eye and hope that would be enough to get away? I tried to visualize threatening any of them with this goofy ass 'weapon' of mine: 'You better back off! I-I'll stab your eyes out! You'll get ink in your eye! And, and you really don't want that!' How fucking stupid was I?
The pen is mightier than the sword.
What a foolish quotation. I doubted if I even had the luxury of a sword, that it would do me any good. This pitiful little pen was all I had left in the world; In a world full of fear and monsters. If I couldn't even fight off one of the fuckers with a whole baseball bat, then obviously a pen wasn't going to keep any of them at bay. They knew I was here. They wouldn't abandon the search if they couldn't find me immediately. Could I sneak my way back to the door? Sneak and sprint by them as they would surely spot me fleeing? What if one of them was by the entrance to guard it? As a preemptive measure of their own to keep me from getting away? It was clearly too late to throw myself out of the window. Some slim part of me shamed myself for not having considered it earlier, but my overwhelming fear of heights would have refused the scheme either way. And even if I hadn't had the phobia, there hadn't been a whole lot of time to even get where I was now. The thought ran like a movie in my head to imagine myself running for the window, stepping out onto the roof, only to be yanked back inside kicking and screaming. Yeah, no. That wouldn't have worked. Hiding was all I could do now, so I tensed myself there on the floor to await the inevitable.
Just then there was a clattering explosion of glass as the only window in the attic broke, shards and debris scattering as something huge stumbled onto the floor.