Ch 5

A/N: warning, this chapter is quite gory.

I watched as Jesse walked slowly across the street, head bent down, ignoring me, still deep in thought. I wondered what he was thinking about, but I couldn't read his thoughts. They were too…I guess deep that I couldn't.

His thoughts, I mean.

I went inside and slowly shut the door and bolted it after I saw that Jesse went inside the house. I kicked off my shoes and walked barefoot to the dining room, ready for dinner.

"Mom! Andy! David! I'm home! Anyone?" I stopped yelling when I noticed that no one was home. Strange. I wandered into the kitchen and saw a sign pointing to the fridge. Pinned to it was a note. I walked towards it and yanked it off.

"Suzie:

Went out with David and Andy for cuisine, be back around 10 because David has a science presentation at the Science Center. Brad is at a friend's house and won't be back until school starts. Lasagna on the stovetop, invite Jesse over if he's hungry, or, if you get lonely, ;). PS: Don't forget the rubber!

Mom"

Why does she do that?

I shuddered and looked at the clock; 6:15. I had a long time to go before anyone came home. I checked the stove and uncovered the strangely metallic smelling lasagna, then shoved it in for a minute forty. While it heated up, I pulled out a chair and started to read the paper. Stupid? Of course. Unlike me? Duh, but I had my reasons.

I skimmed through the articles, most about celebrities, sports, political crap, local news…then something caught my eye.

I shifted in my seat and read exactly what I thought would happen as the lasagna started popping.

Strange occurrences happened yesterday, August 28th. At the mission in Carmel, there was a phenomenal form of vandalism. The police confirmed that indeed, nothing was stolen and it was not a break-in, but something was spray painted on the wall. It read: Here, at the message part, it was ripped out raggedly. I stared at the empty slot where I could see a Marshall Field's ad behind it. What did the message say? A spray can was found three feet away from the crime site, but there were no fingerprints. Police aren't sure who vandalized the mission, but if you have any leads, please contact the police station nearest you with a complete report. "The mission will be starting school in two days, no matter what," claims Father Dominic, the principal and priest of the mission.

Another part below this article was something that also caught my attention. I read one sentence then stopped. At the same spot, a boy was found near the site, dead, completely drained of blood-

I stopped reading. Although it was an article I didn't want to read, I had to admit, it gave all the detailing I needed. Crissi was still after me, wasn't she? She was involved in the unknown vandalism and the slaughter of a boy. I went through our mail that we got with our newspaper. I came across two things that interested me; one was our school tabloid, the other was a blank, yellowing envelope. My fingers trembled slightly as I picked it up.

It was completely blank. I shuddered.

Oh, shit, this is probably from Crissi…

I started to open the envelope slowly, taking my time. I pulled out the letter. It was ordinary paper, but when I opened it I realized what the glued part on the paper was from; there it was, the missing part to the article I was reading. I matched it with the column I was reading, piece for piece like a puzzle. I stifled a cry:

"Suzie, watch ur back. I AM watching u, I kno where u live, I know" the newspaper clipping ended and was replaced with handwriting and it said, " ur in ur kitchen. And I can see u from my seat at the hottub. I am watching u. I'm waiting for you. And I'm going to get u and watch u hang and laugh at ur face as I rip and slash at u while ur still alive."

The timer beeped and I jumped. I walked over and opened the microwave and saw that the lasagna had exploded, revealing that inside the lasagna was something red, bursting out all over the inside of the microwave. The red color dripped from the microwave top.

I felt like gagging. It's just blood from the raw chicken that Andy didn't cook all the way or, it's just the blood from the chicken in the fridge that ended up somehow in the fully cooked lasagna! I opened the fridge and saw that the plastic around the chicken was unopened. I twisted around quickly and refocused my gaze back to the lasagna.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!

In my mind flashed the article that I only read a sentence from: At the same spot, a boy was found near the site, dead, completely drained of blood-

I dropped the letter as if it were a cockroach and screamed a bloodcurdling scream and backed away from the microwave, knocking my chair over. Was this the boy's blood? I looked all around, my hands supporting my gaping mouth. Where is that harassing bitch? I looked at the window. It was ninety degrees outside, but the windows were fogged up. I saw an invisible finger writing on the glass. I watched mesmerized as the finger slowly wrote each letter clearly:

"I SEE U SCREAMING. UR SCARED. MAYBE UR NOT SCARED, BUT U WILL BE. BUT NO WORRIES, JESSE WILL BE SAFE WITH ME. I'M IN UR HOUSE, SUZIE, AND U CAN'T SEE ME. HAHA. I'M GONNA KILL U. HAHA. AND NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW I MURDERED U. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THAT I CHOKED U WITH UR ENTRAILS AND DRANK UR BLOOD. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THAT A DEAD GIRL KILLED HER MOTHAFUKIN COUSIN, WITH THE HELP OF SOMEONE'S PAST FIANCÉE!"

I shut my eyes and ran from the kitchen as I heard the glass sliding door open behind me.

"SUZIE! I'M HOME!" There was cruel, sardonic laughter, and heavy footsteps heading towards me. "What's the matter, pretty girl? I'm not good enough for you? Not good enough for Jesse? Don't wanna play? Don't wanna face me, cousin, don't wanna die?" More laughter. I ran harder, as fast as I could. I turned the corner and ran even faster, the front door in my view.

Damn, where's Jesse when u need him-?

I ran into something solid.

NO!

Before I could react and dunk or something, I was punched in the temple.

Hard.

I didn't know she'd punch me!

I blinked back blood, and saw her leaning against the wall, one foot against the wall, checking her un-ruined black nails and fist.

"Hey Suzie…" she pushed back her hair, reapplied some black lipstick, and looked at me. "How's your life? I'd tell you how mine is going, but-" She let out a bark, or, laugh, "I don't have one! Thanks to YOU!" She advanced on me.

I looked around. What were my chances of escaping without a fight, or calling the police?

She backed me into the hallway, pushing me further away from the door.

"You're a stupid, good for nothing, motherfuking bitch, who-"

I continued ignoring her as my blood dripped on the hardwood floor. Could I get past the cow?

"-too fucked up to-"

No, I couldn't. Maybe if I-

"-too busy messing with my fuked up life-"

I sighed silently. Would she ever stop swearing?

"-I'm WAY more powerful than you-"

Psh. Yeah right.

"-fuking poser, jocking off me and stealing my future boyfriend-"

I looked at her and couldn't believe what she just said!

"-just let me kill u so we can get this over with."

That stopped my pensive thoughts. I was flippin' ticked off.

"Crissi, you're seriously going to kill me? What did I ever do to you?"

She glared at me. "Hell yeah! You took EVERYTHING I HAD AWAY FROM ME!"

I frowned. "Crissi, hate to break it to you, hon, but you had no life, okay? You were a whore who sucked at everything else but blowjobs. You tried to steal my boyfriend away from me, and now you're trying to kill me. What the heck's your prob-"

She tried to hit me again, but I was ready this time. As her usual predictable self, I knew what her nonexistent conscious was telling her. She wasn't going to use the element of surprise on me again.

I dodged, and when she met nothing but air, I quickly crouched back against my legs and grabbed her wrist and jerked it towards me. She went flying over me and using my hands to support me, I kicked up and made contact with her torso. She went sprawling and I quickly jumped up on my feet. I ran at her and slammed my heel into her back on a pressure point. She screamed, and quickly vanished leaving me alone with a mess I couldn't explain.

"I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO EAT MY DINNER YET!" I yelled towards the ceiling at nothing. I had to do something to protect me. She was going to hurt me. She was going to come back. I didn't want a ticked off ghost after me. Would she kill me if my family was around?

The phone rang. In my mind, I thought of every horror movie where the girl gets a phone call and dies afterwards. (The Ring, Scream…) I frown again and hesitated, then picked up the receiver slowly. "…Hello?"

I heard static in the background. "Hey, Suzie?"

I breathed a sigh of relief, the tension in my neck and sore thighs easing a little. "Mom."

"Hey sweetie-"

"So glad it's you! Man, when are you coming home because I am SO lonely right now and I-"

"-we won't be back until tomorrow because David won first place and we have to go send it to Sacramento in the annual Californian Science Competition. Will you be all right? I'm so glad we still have two days left until school, or else we wouldn't be able to do this for David! I'm so excited! I'm extremely proud of him!"

My breath caught. "What…when will you be back?" I whispered apprehensively. My palms started to sweat.

"We'll be back by Sunday night, that way we can get David to school because we already went supply shopping. Is that all right with you?"

What else could I say? "Yeah…it's fine."

Mom started to say something else, and then she hung up. I did too, and started to cry. I was falling apart. Oh God, she was going to kill me.

"SUSANNAH!"

I jerked around and wiped my eyes. I smiled widely. "JESSE!"

"Querida, are you all right? I felt that something was wrong so I came to check." His eyes roamed around and saw the scene. "What happened?" he breathed. Jesse rushed to me and held my arms upright, his grip on my arms tight and he pulled me up. "Querida, what happened? Tell me!"

He gave me a gentle shake and I tilted my head back, staring at his face. So handsome…he noticed my gaze stop at his mouth and almost instantly, he gave me a deep, passionate kiss.

"Querida," he said hoarsely, "what's wrong?" So I reviewed everything in exact detailing. He read my mind and stopped breathing. "YOU ARE NOT TO STAY ALONE! We're going to call the police about the lasagna. In the meantime, you are to sleep next to me instead of here, do you hear me? It's too dangerous." He picked me up and carried me to my room. "Get your belongings; you're to stay in my home."

I just smiled weakly and said, "So is it okay if I spend the night?"

He looked lovingly at me. "Susannah, it would be okay if you stayed with me forever." He said something else in Spanish, maybe it was "Usted es seguro ahora" or something, but I didn't understand. All I understood was that I was safe, in his arms, and I collapsed, completely drained.

"It's good to know self defense…" then I fell asleep.

A/N: Well, was that interesting? I hope that kept you awake. I was in a mood for something interesting. PLEASE REVIEW! Please! I need some inspiration, and maybe some pointers.

What do you think will happen? ;)