One by one, the stairs behind them groaned with the weight of the twisted shape slinking toward the girls as Johanna shoved Becky aside and screamed, “Then unlock it, you dumb bitch!”
Johanna turned the bolt and yanked the front door open just as the bottom step groaned. Kate was the last one out and, to this day, still swears she could feel its breath on the back of her neck as they scrambled through the open doorway.
The three girls sprinted across the front lawn and were halfway down the block before they realized they were no longer being chased. Kate glanced around as they stood there panting and realized she had no idea where they were. “What are you talking about? I thought the Ellis House was like two blocks from yours?”
“Yeah, it is. But see for yourself,” Kate gestured behind them to reveal several blocks of dark unfamiliar suburbia; the Ellis House was nowhere to be found.
HONK! The sound startled the girls and they turned back to see a car stopped in the middle of the street. A pretty teenage girl rolled down the passenger window and gave the three of them a concerned look as she said, “Are you okay?”
Kate and her friends exchanged a glance and then Kate nodded, “Yeah, just a little lost.”
“Where do you live?” Kate told the girl her address and she narrowed her eyes at them. “That’s like five miles from here. You guys can’t walk that far. Especially not in the middle of the night. We’ll drive you home.”
The girl turned to look at the handsome young man behind the wheel, presumably her boyfriend, and said, “We’re driving them home.”
The guy let out an exasperated sigh. “I guess we are.”
The girlfriend exited the car and waved them over as she opened the back door. Kate hesitated for a moment as she glanced back in the direction they had come from and that’s when she caught sight of the disfigured shape approaching from down the street. Kate rushed over to the car and hopped inside the backseat, followed by Becky and then Johanna who shouted at the boyfriend, “Go! Now!”
The guy gave her an amused grin. “Whoa, little lady. That’s not how you talk to people doing you a favor.”
