Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Is he not watching? I find it hard to believe. I don’t understand. A throbbing pulse makes me wince and I close my eyes until it goes away, holding both of my hands to the sides of my head.
What are you doing, Jay?
Why this? I open my eyes, remembering John. Maybe he convinced him? It hurts to think that way. It fucking shreds me, but it fuels me to move. I need to get out. I’m not safe here, and neither is he.
I grip the doorknob, expecting it to be locked, but it’s not. My heart stutters and I test it again.
It’s too easy. I jiggle the knob again, and it turns easily. The soft click fills the air as I turn it and pull the door open slowly.
I can’t breathe. My heartbeat is too fucking loud.
I stand in the open doorway, too afraid to peek out, but somehow I force myself.
My brow knits as I rest my hand against the doorjamb and bite down on my lip, looking down a hall to what appears to be a basement. There’s a door at the very end, faint morning light spilling in and a set of stairs leading up to the outdoors.
I cautiously take one step, my bare foot sliding across the cement.
Did he really just forget to lock the door? Or is this a test?
I don’t take a moment to think. I don’t try to understand.
He’s not well, and he needs help, desperately. I can get him help. The thought pushes me to move faster, one step at a time as I look over my shoulder to a set of stairs that leads to the first floor of this house. I can’t hear a damn thing other than the blood pounding in my ears and the slamming of my heart.
My palms turn sweaty as I keep walking.
I can leave and get help. I’ll come back for him.
My body buckles at the thought, and I lean against the door to my potential freedom. The doorknob is cold in my hand.
I was going to come back, I almost whisper. I tried. I tried to go back, but the house was gone. I close my eyes, my body trembling and the memories flooding my mind.
His eyes are the same. God, his eyes are everything. The only thing I can see. The boy and the man looking at me are the same.
He needs help. I need to help him.
A low growl makes my body tense. It continues, long and low and threatening, and coming from my right.
I can’t breathe remembering the dogs. No. No. I’m frantic as I rip the door open, pulling with everything I have and luckily, it too swings open and doesn’t hold me back.
It bangs hard against the wall, the harsh noise joining with the loud bark of the dog. I can’t help but look back, and staring straight at me are the dark eyes of a large black dog. His hackles are raised. He’s snarling and his white teeth are exposed, drool dripping from his jowls as he snaps them shut and barks again repeating his vicious warning.
My legs seem frozen, yet they move me forward. Terrified and without any other option, I move so quickly my body slams into the concrete wall straight ahead.
I reach back to the door, my hand slipping on the metal doorknob as terror races through my blood.
I try to close the door, I try to lock him in the house and escape, but it’s too late. The dog is too close. He charges for me. His large muscular body propels him at a speed I can’t match. A scream is ripped from my throat as I take the stairs two at a time.
The dog’s teeth clamp down on my legs near the top of the stairs and I fall hard, landing on my side with half my body still on the cement stairs and the upper half laying in a mixture of mud and grass. The dog releases me in an instant, but the moment I move my legs, a rough and vicious snarl rips through the air.
Jay.
My heart shatters in my chest.
His father had dogs too. How could he? How could he do this to me?
I try to get to my knees, to make a feeble attempt to run, but the black dog snarls and bites down on my arm the moment I lift it. He’s so close, so massive. He must be ninety, or maybe a hundred pounds and built with speed and muscle.
I’m no match for him. My cheek rests on the grass as my body stills. I'm frozen with fear. The dog doesn’t bite down, and he doesn’t growl, he merely holds me in place.
Waiting for his owner.
The dog’s teeth feel so sharp as I whimper. My body’s shaking, freezing in the cold dirt and earth at the bottom of the cement stairs. The early morning sun rises, and it's enough light that I can see around me. Trees, open land… nothing else. Nowhere to go, no one to call for help.