She was stunning. Her hair was long and looked so unbelievably soft, I couldn’t help but be impressed. I decided that was as good a conversation starter as any.
“Your hair is gorgeous. What kind of products do you use?” Once it came out of my mouth, I suddenly realized what a lame pickup line it was. She didn’t seem to mind, though; the smile she gave me made my heart flutter. I felt like a grade schooler with a crush. She told me her go-to products through a giggle, seemingly honored by the compliment. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t so lame after all.
“I’m Katie,” she introduced herself through a playful smile.
“Dana.”
“Nice to meet you, Dana. Can I buy you a drink?”
We talked for hours; she was such a fascinating person. I would think she was embellishing just to get laid, if she didn’t come off as so genuine.
“Oh shit, it’s getting late,” I mumbled as I glanced at my phone. “I should probably get going soon… But you’re more than welcome to join me,” I offered sheepishly. I was so out of my element. But she shot me that same charming smile.
“Absolutely. I live just down the street. How about you come to my place?”
She led me into her apartment, and we made quick work of our shoes and jackets. She pushed me onto the couch, and I was thrilled everything was going so well, despite my shy nature. It wasn’t until I heard a door opening that I started to realize this was too good to be true.
“What was that?” I poked my head up, interrupting a kiss.
“I didn’t hear anything,” she answered quickly. “Just kiss me.” But I couldn’t let it go. Her insistence put me off even more.
“I think someone’s here.”
“Oh, that’s just my family. Don’t worry.”
“Uh, should we be out here with your family home? I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.” She replied with an aggressive kiss, and my first instinct was to push her off. “Woah, hey! I just said I’m not comfortable.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. I glanced behind her, and Katie was suddenly the least of my concerns. A woman stood in the open kitchen across the room. She behind the counter, staring directly at me with eyes that glowed like a cat in the dark. My skin started to crawl, and my gut told me to run. I rolled off of the couch and leapt for my things in a hurry.
“Where are you going?” my date asked in a sad, pouting voice. The woman in the kitchen didn’t move; those wide eyes stared at me, following me closely as I scrambled to my feet. That’s when my heart sank.
“Where’s my bag?” I knew I had set it down right by the door when we had walked in.
“You don’t need that anymore.”
I had no idea what was going on, but there was no way in hell I was going to stick around to find out. I made for the front door, but it wouldn’t budge. They must have locked it from the outside somehow. Panic overtook me, and I started ramming the door with my shoulders.
“Oh, stop,” Katie chided. “Brother is waiting outside of the door, so even if you break it, he’ll stop you.”
“I’m leaving! Give me back my shit or I’m calling the cops.” I picked up my coat and dug desperately through the pockets. Empty. Oh god. The woman in the kitchen—she never took her eyes off of me for a second. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even blink.
“What do you want?!” I begged. “Just let me go!”
“We want you, Dana,” Katie cooed, and I saw the strange woman lick her lips in the corner of my eye. Katie produced a knife, and lunged at me in an instant, lodging it into the door when I barely managed to jump out of the way.
“Very good, Dana!” she praised me with a twisted smile. “Fight for your life!” She yanked the weapon out of the door and ran toward me again, this time tackling me to the ground and digging the cold steel into my arm. I cried out in pain, but the adrenaline gave me the strength to push her just enough to crawl out from under her.
Mother pulled out a serrated blade from the knife block, silently approaching me while Katie watched impatiently. This gave me a chance to stumble back onto my feet and reclaim some distance between us. The older woman flipped the knife around in her hand, now holding it by the blade, and held it out to me. She wanted me to take it. I flipped an end table over to stop her in her tracks.
“Get the fuck away from me!” I hissed. The woman tilted her head curiously. She dropped the knife onto the floor and kicked it toward me, eyes watching.
“Go on, Dana. Take it,” Katie encouraged. “Not a fair fight without it.”
I hesitantly knelt down to pick up the weapon, watching them both like hawks. Neither of them moved an inch. But the second I stood back up, she dashed at me again, swinging violently. I just kept kicking furniture over to keep her at bay. Backing away from her into the kitchen, I slipped on the wet tile and fell onto my back with a loud thunk.
As I struggled to get up, she knelt over me and sliced into my shoulder, then drew the knife to her lips for a taste.
“You’ll like her, Mother!” she exclaimed. “She tastes perfect.” Those words must have dialed my survival instinct up to eleven, giving me the burst of speed I needed to bury my knife into her stomach. She yelped in response, stumbling backwards as I scooted away from her, sliding through the strange puddle on the floor. I barely managed to stand up, and dashed over to the kitchen table and grabbed a chair. Without hesitation, I bashed her over the head. Stunned for a few moments, she left with me a chance to finish her off.
Mother never stopped watching. She looked at me with those lifeless, beady eyes. Without a word, she ran into the kitchen, so hunched over that I thought she was going to start running on all fours. She threw herself onto the floor, scooping up handfuls of Katie’s pooling blood and shoveling it into her mouth. I kept my knife on her as I slowly stepped around her. She was like a wild animal; a single wrong step might have shifted her focus to me. I had almost made it to the front door when I heard the lock click from the outside. A man emerged, thin and gangly, barely even resembling a human. Those same soulless eyes. I leapt at him on instinct, still high from the adrenaline rushing through me, but he didn’t fight back. He simply grabbed my wrist to hold me in place, overgrown nails digging into my skin. I heard footsteps behind me, just before everything went black.
Mother stood in the kitchen, licking her lips.
“I know, Mother,” I sighed. “I know you’re hungry. I’m going out tonight; I’ll try to bring you guys dinner.” I lovingly patted her chin dry with a rag. She always drooled when she was hungry, so much that it would drip down her face and onto the old, worn linoleum tile.
I sat at the bar for a few hours, people watching, as I normally did. The petite brunette approached me with a flirtatious smile, and bought me a few drinks.
“Wanna take this back to my place?” she practically purred. I gave her a warm, inviting smile.
“Actually, how about we go back to mine?”