We followed his car to his house. We drove behind his pickup truck and talked about the situation. He seemed like he wanted to help us, but Caitlyn and Elle weren’t 100% sure about it.
“He was afraid of that thing during the party,” I said. “He even drove me home and didn’t really try anything.”
“He drove you home?!” Caitlyn asked.
“He did. I was too afraid to walk home alone so he offered to drive me since it was on the way to his house,” I answered. “If he wanted to do something bad, he would have done it already.”
“You know that psychopaths are smart, right?” Elle replied. “He wouldn’t just attack you the first chance he got. He would plan it and find a way which would allow him to attack you without leaving any evidence.”
“He’s not a fucking serial killer, Elle. You girls are too scared,” I told them.
“And how do you know that?” Caitlyn argued. “Did you like bond or something?”
“Kinda,” I replied. “Fear is the thing that bonds the best.”
We arrived at his house after about 15 minutes. Compared to where we lived, this looked like a completely different country. Where our suburbs were filled with new big houses and are perfectly and tightly arranged to fit with the new and well-organized roads, these houses were spread out with no fence in between them. The roads were old and damaged. They spanned all around and were wavy like snakes. The holes made our car jump a few times so Elle started avoiding them. On one side, we saw a huge empty field that is used for corn or wheat during the summer. On the other side, there were huge fenced meadows for cattle.
The path to Terrence’s house was made of a thin layer of gravel that sunk a bit into the dirt below. I knew my mom would be angry at me when she saw that my shoes were dirty. The house was smaller than any of our houses and clearly much dirtier on the outside. The front porch had a rocking chair but no one was sitting in it. It was a really tall front porch as well. There were 7 wooden steps leading up to it. When we climbed it, I noticed some tools laying on the floor next to the door. It was a shovel, rakes, a hammer, and some other stuff. I guess they didn’t really have a place to put them since they didn’t even have a garage. They kept their cars under a large tin plate that was connected to the wall on one side and lifted up by two long sticks on the other. They had two cars but both were beaten up and old.
Upon entering the house, Terrence took off his shoes and put them outside. He told us to do the same and said that they do it only when the shoes get really dirty. None of us minded it since we always took our shoes off when inside. After taking off his shoes he opened the door which was immediate to the left after entering the house. It was a bathroom. Its outer wall was coated in wooden plates. The bathroom itself looked old and there were spider webs in its corners. It was so small that only a single person could stand in it and it would already be too small. We washed our hands one by one before leaving the bathroom. Terrence offered us some slippers claiming that the floor was cold.
To the right of the entrance, there was a doorway and it looked like it led to the kitchen. We didn’t really see it too well since we just continued forward after we were done with the bathroom. Right after the bathroom, there was a living room. It was much smaller compared to the ones in suburbs. Its walls were almost completely covered with large windows of which a few spanned from the bottom of the wall all the way to the top. The rest of the windows were casual, but all of them had those old white knitted curtains decorated by flower-like elements.
In the middle of the living room, there was an old couch pointing towards a TV that stood on a small cupboard. There were two people sitting on the couch. It was a man and a woman leaning on his shoulder. They were watching some action movie and I guess they didn’t notice that the three of us came in with Terrence.
“Ey, Terrence,” the man said.
“Sup, big bro,” he replied. “We have some guests.”
The man quickly stood up while the woman stopped leaning onto him and looked towards us. After the man turned around, I noticed that he was very similar to Terrence. He was a bit taller but much more muscular. He also had a beard and a man bun. I’m sure that if he had shorter hair and no beard, I would have believed that they were twins.
“Hello,” he said offering each of us his hand one by one. “I’m Matthew. This is my girlfriend, Sarah.”
“Hi,” Sarah said and waved at us.
I smiled at her and turned back towards Matthew.
“So… what brings you here?” he asked us.
Before we could respond, Terrence answered the question.
“Don’t bother them,” he said smiling. “I just took them here to show them the gear.”
“You girls are interested in that stuff?” he asked surprised.
“What did I say, Mat?” Terrence told him.
“Ah, you know me. I’m not really the best at small talk,” he chuckled. “Enjoy the tour,” he said.
He returned to the couch and sat close to Sarah.
“If you want anything, you can ask me,” Sarah told us. “I live here as well. In fact, I know this place better than these two donkeys even though they lived here their entire life.”
“Yeah, yeah, just lie to yourself,” Matthew told her.
After hearing his response, she smiled and winked at us before turning back around and leaning his head onto Matthew’s shoulder. When I turned my head towards Terrence, he was holding the top of his nose with his right hand before putting it down and looking at us.
“So, can we go already?” he asked me.
“I don’t know,” I told him. “You’re supposed to get us there.”
I heard Matthew chuckle and Terrence looked toward him. Before saying anything, he turned around and walked towards the end of the living room where there was a small hallway to the right. On the right side at the end of the hallway, there was one staircase leading to the first floor and the other leading down to what I assumed to be the basement. Terrence started going down the stairs leading to the basement. On the half-floor, the staircase turned 180 and I saw what was at the bottom. An old wooden door. On the wall next to it, there was a tiny hook with keys hanging from it.
“Hey, Terrence,” I said.
“Yeah?” he replied.
“You live alone? I mean, with Matthew and Sarah. Your parents aren’t here?” I asked him.
“Yes. My dad is in New York,” he said picking up the keys and trying to find the right one. “He needed a job and found one there. It was a bit harder to learn how to live alone, but he sends us the money, and Matthew mostly deals with the bills and stuff. He won’t have to stay in New York for much longer since Matthew has found a good job and has started working. He’ll probably return in a few months.”
“And…” I realized he didn’t mention his mom. “What about your mom?”
He stopped searching for the right key before returning to it after a few seconds.
“She… She’s dead.”
Caitlyn, Elle, and I looked at each other.
“Terrence,” Caitlyn told him. “We’re so sorry.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize,” he replied. “You didn’t know.”
He found the key and put it in the lock but before he unlocked the door, he leaned onto the door with his forehead.
“It was hard when she died. It was cancer, and we didn’t have enough money for the treatment so she died soon after the cancer was discovered. Even though my dad, Matthew, and I could work in the field, without my mother, who was the only one who knew how to sell it and make good deals, it would mean nothing. We sold the field to some company and we asked for more money than the field was actually worth. My dad used that money to pay for a small bad flat in New York and found a job. Quite a bit of money was left which was split between our dad and the two of us for the taxes and everyday needs like food. It happened 5 years ago when I was 14. Matthew was 19 at the time and he basically became my second dad.”
After he told us all of that, we stood there in silence. The last thing I expected was to hear Terrence’s tragic story. Once more, I looked at Caitlyn and Elle. Elle ran down the stairs past me and hugged Terrence. Tears were running down his shoulders but he stopped himself from breaking down completely. He hugged Elle back.
“Terrence,” I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. If you need anything, all of us can help. When it’s really bad or you can’t sleep… you just need to call us. We’ll give you our numbers.”
He let Elle go and wiped off the tears with the back of his right hand.
“Thank… Thank you,” he replied. “But I don’t think I’ll need it soon,” he chuckled and the light that came from the hallway upstairs made his teary eyes sparkle.
He returned to unlocking the door still sniffing because his nose started to run. Elle looked into my eyes while standing at the lowest stair. There was sadness in her eyes and her expression. Her eyes turned towards Caitlyn. Terrence opened the door and stepped inside. Elle looked into the basement but before stepping in, she took another glance at me and Caitlyn. I saw the basement light up. The light was weak and yellow but just strong enough for us to see everything as much as it was needed. Elle went inside followed by Caitlyn who passed next to me as well. I took in a deep breath and walked down the stairs into the basement.
First, I looked to my left and saw not much. Some tools and old stuff. The rest of the basement was mostly empty with an exclusion of a table opposite the door. When I looked to the right, I saw a wall that ended halfway to the other side. There, I saw Elle and Caitlyn standing in awe. I slowly walked up to them and checked what they were looking at over Elle’s right shoulder. As soon as I did, I realized what surprised them so much. On the wall at the end of this little open room, there were one and a half dozen guns. Most of them were hunting rifles with 4 of them being shotguns and 5 being handguns.
“What. The. Fuck,” Elle said.
“My dad and grandpa were really into hunting. They tried teaching me and Matthew and while we ended up being good shots, neither of us liked hunting. Matthew just couldn’t handle how much time it took to find something and I just didn’t have a stomach to kill an innocent animal,” he explained. “My dad and grandpa didn’t really mind that but they joked about it constantly,” Terrence smiled.
“Who was the best of you?” Elle asked him.
“Oh, definitely Matthew. He was a phenomenal shot,” he smiled. “That’s not to say that we were bad. I was also very talented.”
“We shall see about that,” Elle told him.
“What?” he grinned.
“We need to practice if we are going to hunt this thing, right? Let’s make it a bit more fun. Let’s make it a competition,” she offered.
“That’s a good idea,” he replied. “Have you shot from a gun before?” he asked her.
“Have I shot from a gun before?” she laughed out loud. “I don’t know if there’s a gun I haven’t shot out. My dad is really into it and took me since I was young,” she told all of us. “I’m going to wreck your shit,” she told Terrence.
“Do you two know how to shoot?” Terrence asked the two of us.
Caitlyn and I shook our heads left and right and he smiled.
“Doesn’t matter,” he told us. “We’ll teach you. Two teachers, two students. How about we compete in that as well? We’ll train them, and after some time, we’ll put them to a test.”
“Agreed,” Elle told him offering him a hand.
Terrence grabbed Elle’s hand and they shook on the competition.
“We’re starting now,” Terrence said taking a hunting rifle and a shotgun off of the wall.
He handed them to Elle. She grabbed them by the barrels and moved away. Terrence gave Caitlyn and me a handgun each and took another hunting rifle and a shotgun off of the wall.
“There’s a shooting course behind the house. I’ll take you there, but first, we need to take some beer cans,” he told us. “We’ll bring the guns there and I’ll return for the empty cans.”
He put the strap of the hunting rifle over his shoulder and with his empty hand, he put cartages of all the ammo we need in a small purse and picked it up. The three of us followed him while carrying the guns he gave us. When we climbed up the stairs, I noticed the door on the opposite side of the hallway. I don’t know how I haven’t noticed it before since it had a large portion of it made of glass. The light from the outside shined inside even though the sky was a bit cloudy. I reckoned we had about an hour before the rain started. We put the stuff next to the back door and returned to the front door to get our shoes.
“Matthew, we’re going to shoot a bit,” Terrence said while passing next to the living room.
“Okay, but be careful,” Matthew responded. “We might join you a bit later.”
“I don’t need you to boast more,” Terrence told him.
After we put our shoes on, Terrence took the shotgun and the bag with his left hand and he used his right hand to open the backdoor. They creaked a bit and just by looking at them, I realized it was old wood almost rotten and so light that even a weak punch could do serious damage to them. After I stepped outside, I was amazed by the view. The back porch was literally identical to the front porch. Elevated above the ground with exactly the same number of steps leading up to it. The only thing missing was the rocking chair and the tools. If you asked me, I would have put both on the back porch. The view was much better, and no one could see the tools.
The backyard spanned far away and ended where the fields started. To the right, about 100 meters away, the first line of forest trees made you feel like the house was secluded just enough. In the distance, behind the vast fields of dirt, you could barely see the tree line where the fields ended and the forest started… or, well… continued. Depends on how you see it.
“Hey, Terrence,” I called after him.
He was already putting the guns and the ammunition that stood in the yard. There were a few sticks laying on the ground next to it. They were organized in a long line. On the edge of the yard, there stood about 10 logs with some bullet marks on them. It was clear that we would be shooting at the cans placed on those logs.
“Yes?” he asked looking at me.
Elle and Caitlyn were already next to him and putting the guns he gave them on the table. He started walking back into the house to get the empty cans. We met each other at the steps and standing very close, we looked into each other’s eyes.
“Uhm…” I was mesmerized for a second. “How long is the yard? I mean, what is the distance between the porch and the field.”
“Oh,” he said looking towards the field. “It would be about 200 feet that way,” he pointed to his right. “About 150 feet that way,” he said pointing behind me over my shoulder. “And about a 100 or so feet towards the forest.”
“Mhm,” I stared into his eyes. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he smiled and climbed up the stairs.
I followed him with my eyes and after he disappeared inside the house, I took in a deep breath. I walked off of the porch with a big smile on my face. Caitlyn and Elle walked closer to me and we stopped around halfway between the porch and the table.
“What the hell was that?” Caitlyn said clearly filled with joy.
“I don’t know,” I smiled and took in a deep breath. “I don’t know, but I loved it.”
“I’m sure he did as well,” Elle said before squealing. “I’m so happy for you,” she hugged me. “He clearly likes you.”
“I know,” I replied.
We heard the old door behind us open and all three of us looked at them at the same time. Terrence was pulling a large trash bag behind him. It was completely full of cans. He stopped to wipe the sweat off of his forehead and continued dragging the bag behind him. He seemed like he completely ignored or didn’t understand what happened on the porch stairs. Even before I noticed it, I started to feel anxious and my face started to turn red. I believe I somehow played that smoothly, but I didn’t know how the hell I did it. This was the first and only time in my life I flirted with someone and I did it subconsciously.
“Okay. I’ll put three cans on each log,” he told us. “We have more than enough cans and bullets. If all of us try shooting at each can 20 times, we would still have bullets left. My dad and grandpa were always a bit too enthusiastic while buying the guns and bullets.”
He started to load the guns and Elle asked to help him. He allowed her and was genuinely surprised when she knew how to do it. He loaded the two handguns Caitlyn and I brought up and put them on the table with their safety still on. After loading the guns, he dragged the bag of cans to the logs and put three on each of the logs. If you ask me, I’d say that it was a bit stupid to load the guns before putting the cans in their places.
“So… what gun are we trying first?” he asked Elle after returning to the table.
“Hmm…” she replied by putting her finger on her chin and making a cartoonish thinking face. “I’d say that the best choice is to start with the easiest. Let’s start with the rifles.”
“If you want so,” he smiled. “A magazine carries 9 bullets so you try to shoot at cans from left to the right. If you miss, you continue shooting until you get that can. If you miss the can you’re aiming at, but hit a different one, it doesn’t count.”
“Let’s do this,” she replied.
“Girls go first,” he said as a friendly grin appeared on his face.
Terrence offered the gun he loaded to Elle and she took it from his hands. After lifting it properly and nesting it properly at her shoulder. With her right arm, she gripped the rifle near the trigger and pointed the gun toward the cans.
“Remember, we go from left to right,” Terrence told him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Elle replied cockily.
I could hear her take in a deep breath before calming down and gently pressing the trigger just enough so that it didn’t shoot. She exhaled and immediately after that, she pulled the trigger. The shot rang out through the air and I had to cover my ears. I inhaled through my teeth as the pain appeared in my ears.
“Fuck,” Terrence shouted. “I forgot the ear protection.”
He ran inside while Elle, Caitlyn, and I were trying to recover from the loud sound. The ringing stayed for a bit more. Honestly, I thought it would be much worse than it actually was. When Terrence returned with 6 headphones-looking things, he gave each of them to one of us and the other two he put on the table.
“By the way, Elle. Good shot,” he said after seeing that the first can was missing.
“How could have you forgotten this?” she asked him. “I was excited. I had never done this with any of my friends before. But you also claim that you go to shooting ranges. You should have remembered as well.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said. “It doesn’t matter who’s wrong. We can just continue wearing the protection and everyone will be fine.”
All three of them looked at me with a confused smile.
“Wha…” I started before realizing it. “Oh. Yeah, ear protection.”
“That’s it,” Terrence chuckled and shook his head before putting on the ear protection and showing thumbs up to Elle.
She pointed the gun towards the cans once more and aimed at the next one. The second and third shots missed, the fourth she hit, and the fifth was a miss. Sixth, seventh, and eighth all hit while the last one hit, but it was a wrong can.
“Really?” Terrence asked. “I thought you’d be better,” he told her.
“Well, I’ve never shot out of this type of gun,” she told him irritated.
“Yeah, yeah,” he smiled while taking the gun from her hands.
He loaded it and stopped at the same exact spot Elle was standing in before him. He lifted the rifle and started aiming. It took him much less to prepare for the shot. I saw him inhale and exhale deeply before he took a shot. The first one went right through a can he was aiming at. The second and third shots connected with the cans as well. He missed the fourth, fifth, and sixth shots. He took another deep breath as the chances of him winning narrowed down. After a few seconds, he fired the seventh shot with took the right can down. After another deep breath, he missed the next can before trying the ninth time. The ninth shot connected with a can he was aiming at and it evened their score out.
“Really?” Elle asked. “I thought you’d be better,” she told him.
“Was it a tie?” Caitlyn asked.
“Yeah,” Terrence answered. “Somehow, it was.”
He took a look at the gun and then at the cans.
“What is it?” Elle asked him. “You can’t handle not being first.”
“No…” he answered. “I used to be much better. I even managed to get 7 out of 9 last week.”
“Maybe it’s the weather,” Elle chuckled.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. “Who are you going to mentor?” he asked her.
While he was looking at the cans, Elle took a look at me with a big grin on her face. Then she looked at Caitlyn and nodded.
“I’ll take Caitlyn,” Elle answered. “She just seems like she’ll be better,” she winked at me.
“Eat shit, Elle,” I joked.
“Okay,” Terrence replied turning around. “Which gun are we starting with?”
“I think we should start with the rifles,” Elle told him. “I find them the easiest.”
Elle and Terrence showed us how to load a gun. It took us quite a bit longer than them to fill up the magazines but I was sure that we would get the hang of it after trying it a few more times. They showed us how to aim properly and fixed our forms. I could feel Terrence’s hands grip my arms and gently push them into the right positions. His grip was just strong enough to show his strength and soft enough to show his tenderness. After fixing my right arm, he stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders fixing my aim. After he was finished, he noticed some hair that fell over my face and removed it with his fingers.
“Take in a deep breath and then let it all out slowly,” he told me. “It will calm you down.”
I did as he said. The air passed through my nose and entered my lungs. I felt the smell of the grass wet from the previous rains. After I exhaled, I felt my heart calm down and I focused only on the target. It took me a few seconds to pull the trigger. As my chest filled with uneasiness because of the shot, I decided to just do it. I pulled the trigger and heard the muffled sound of the shot. My right shoulder, on which I leaned the gun, jerked backward a bit, but I managed to hold it in place. The adrenaline grew in me and I started breathing fast. I could feel my ribcage spread and shrink as I tried to realize if I managed to hit the can or not.
“You did it,” Terrence shouted from behind me. “You hit the can.”
“What?”
“You hit the can!” he shouted.
I looked back towards the logs and realized that there was one can missing. I was so happy that I screamed and jumped. After turning around, I expected Terrence to hug me but he just gave me a high five and told me I did well. Caitlyn missed her first shot, but she hit the second. For the next 40 to 30 minutes, we shot at the cans. I managed to hit a few more and Caitlyn did as well. Elle and Terrence told us that it was good for the first time. Terrence even had to go put up new cans.
Suddenly, we heard the door behind us open, and as we turned around, we saw Matthew leaving the house. He slowly walked up to the steps leading to the back porch and leaned on the porch fence.
“Go inside, now,” he told us. “It will rain soon.”
“We’ll be inside soon,” Terrence told him. “We need to knock down all the cans.”
“Okay, then,” he said and started to slowly walk up to us.
When he got to the table, he took a handgun and loaded it. He walked up to me and stopped right next to me. He lifted the gun with only one hand and started shooting. The cans went down one by one as he wasted the bullets. With the 12 shots he fired, he managed to knock down 12 cans. Only two were left standing, but the only reason they weren’t knocked down was because he had no more bullets. Matthew walked up to the table and put the handgun on it.
“You should pick up the cans, Terrence,” Matthew told him. “We shouldn’t leave them outside.”
“And why wouldn’t you do it?” Terrence responded.
“I’ll put the guns away,” Matthew answered. “You three can stay for dinner if you want,” he smiled. “Sarah made the food and it’s amazing.”
“We’ll just have to tell our parents,” Elle said.
“Great,” Matthew replied. “You can go inside if you want. Just take off your shoes before you do.”
We walked up the back porch and took our shoes off before stepping inside the house. We walked up to the front door and left them there. I knew my parents would be angry at me for skipping school since they probably got the message that I didn’t appear in the last few classes. They didn’t really fear where we were since they knew I only hung out with Elle and Caitlyn and they knew that I wouldn’t do anything dangerous. However, this is an extreme case. I have a stalker, and on top of that, it isn’t even human.
“Hey, you staying for dinner?” Sarah asked us in her sweet tired voice.
“We have to,” I smiled. “Matthew told us that you are an amazing cook.”
She smiled back and pointed toward a dining table in the kitchen.
“You can sit down,” she told us. “I’ll join you soon. I just have to go to the bathroom.”
“Thank you,” we told her.
The table had 6 chairs. 2 chairs on each of its longer sides and one on each of its shorter ones. Each of us sat on one of the chairs. Caitlyn and I sat on the wider side while Elle sat on the shorter one.
“OK, this was really weird,” Caitlyn told us.
“What?” Elle replied elongating the word. “They seem pretty nice to me… and we had fun, didn’t we?” she smiled.
“I know that but Terrence invited us in just like that and Matthew didn’t even care,” Caitlyn argued.
“They’re literally just two guys living alone,” I replied. “They don’t really get visitors, I assume. Also, Matthew probably assumed that Terrence knew us for a longer time. When it comes to Terrence himself, it’s clear that he has the same goal as we do.”
“My goal isn’t getting into your pants,” she replied.
“Oh, come on, Cat,” Elle said. “Don’t be so skeptical. They’re good people.”
“Are you going to tell that to yourself after we are murdered?” Caitlyn protested.
“Who is going to murder you?” I asked her almost laughing.
“Don’t be like that,” Elle told her. “You know that everything’s okay with these people. If they wanted to, they could have killed us already.”
Caitlyn was clearly unhappy that we had a different opinion of her. She crossed her arms and looked away from us. Elle and I decided to talk to her later since we believed she needed a little space. Only a minute after we were finished with our conversation, Sarah came back into the kitchen and sat down opposite Elle. This meant that the two seat on the wide side opposite Caitlyn’s and my side. I hoped that Terrence would sit opposite me. Terrence was the first to come. He hid all the cans somewhere and joined us at the table. Just like I wished, he sat down opposite me. He even gave me a smile while bending down. Matthew was the last to come. He was a bit wet from the rain and he wiped his face with his hand. He took a bottle of water out of an old fridge in the corner of the room and he drank from it.
“We’re waiting for you, babe,” Sarah told him.
“Oh, sorry,” he smiled. “I forgot.”
He put the water back into the fridge and sat down by the table.
“Bon appetite!” Sarah said smiling.
She made some sort of a stew and at first glance, it didn’t look that tasty. However, after I tried it, I could not get enough of it. It was probably the best food I have ever tried. Caitlyn and Elle were amazed by the food as well and I knew Caitlyn wasn’t against this family after trying the stew. I asked Terrence to pass me a salad at one point and while he was giving it to me, our hands touched. I gave him a flirty smile but he returned an uncomfortable one. It honestly surprised me a bit, but I assumed he was just shy around Matthew and Sarah. When we were finished with dinner, we talked for a short time before leaving. Matthew told us to come back again and Terrence clearly enjoyed our company. Sarah, of course, loved hearing us compliment her stew and took a liking to all three of us. We also had to practice shooting if we wanted to go hunt that thing.
“It was a really nice day,” Elle said with a big smile on her face. “I’m almost sad that it finished,” she said putting her arms on the wheel of the car.
“We’ll visit them again,” I told her while sitting next to her. “We need to learn how to shoot if we want to go hunt that monster down.”
“But you also have an alternative reason to come here,” Caitlyn said gently punching me in the shoulder.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “He seemed kinda hesitant during the dinner and while we were shooting.”
“Bullshit,” Elle told me. “He definitely likes you and he knows you like him.”
“Maybe it’s the age difference,” Caitlyn suggested. “I mean 2 years ain’t much, but still… he’s 19 and you’re 17.”
“I’ve heard and seen much worse,” Elle told us. “This is nothing. He’s probably just very shy.”
It took us 15 minutes to get back to the town and Elle dropped me off first. I told them goodbye after leaving the car and said that I’ll text them about when we would be meeting the day later. After I watched Elle drive off and disappear behind a house at the end of the street, I turned around and started walking towards the front door. I stopped in front of them, took in a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.
“Where have you been!?” my mom shouted immediately after opening the door.
“With Caitlyn and Elle,” I answered. “You don’t have to worry.”
“I don’t have to worry?” she asked surprised. “There’s a rabid animal running around the forest and it could possibly jump out at you any second and I shouldn’t worry?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I can defend myself and Caitlyn and Elle would certainly be more than able to help me.”
I was focused on my mom so when I got into the kitchen, I didn’t even realize what was waiting for me. As soon as I turned around, I saw my brother and my dad sitting by the table and Lucy was sitting between them. She was sobbing and her face was completely red and covered in tears. I stopped due to the shock caused by the difference in the atmosphere I felt. My brother and dad were clearly trying to calm down Lucy, but it wasn’t going too well. As soon as Lucy saw me, she stood up and ran up to me. She hugged me tightly and I slowly and gently returned it. I placed a kiss on top of her head and looked back at my dad and my brother. My dad covered his face with both of his hands.
“We found Bunny,” he sighed. “Dead.”
After crying with her for about an hour, I went to my room. Lucy needed to be alone for a bit. While crying, I heard my phone buzz. Aftar taking a look at it, I saw that it was Terrence calling the WhatsApp group we made earlier.
“Hello?” I said after answering.
“Taylor?” Terrence replied taking in deep and scared breaths. “I… I saw ‘IT’.”
He didn’t even have to specify what he meant by ‘IT’. By the time I gathered myself, Elle and Caitlyn were already in the call and talking to Terrence.
“What does it look like?” Elle asked him.
“I… I can’t see it too well. It’s just a silhouette,” he answered. “There are no lamps on the street so I can’t see anything.”
“OK, OK,” Caitlyn said franticly. “Can you describe the silhouette then?”
“Uhm… human-like,” he said before stopping to think for a second. “But it sometimes walks on all fours and sometimes on two legs. It looks really… like… malnourished, I guess. It’s incredibly skinny and it keeps sniffing the ground. The head looks terribly off. It’s longer and it looks like it has a snout instead of a nose.”
“Try hiding somewhere,” I told him. “I… I don’t know. You probably can take a gun but don’t try hunting it. We don’t know how…”
Before I could finish my sentence, I heard Terrence gasp. I immediately stopped talking and waited to hear his response.
“What happened?” Elle asked him.
“It saw me,” he replied letting out a few deep breaths. “It was sniffing the ground and then… then it turned its head towards me.”
None of us replied. We didn’t know what to tell him. The creature was there, in front of his house and it saw him. We assumed that it would try to break in or something and judging by what I saw before, it would have no problem breaking in and destroying the whole house before finding everyone that lives there and murdering them all.