Not that calling the cops would do much good. The reason people like Chad could still exist in such a small community was that the cops were absolute shit. Still, I reached for the phone anyway, because I don’t make threats that I don’t intend to keep.
Chad’s polite mask slipped off then, as I knew it would. I’d been hoping he was smart enough to high-tail it out of there when I made my threat, but my hope was clearly misplaced, especially since there were no witnesses to his behavior. His eyes darkened and he snarled, “You fucking bitch!”
In a moment, he was halfway over the desk and I shrieked. I stumbled backwards just out of reach as he lumbered towards me, sporting a tent in his pants that told me he enjoyed chasing me into a corner. In an absolute panic, I ran down the stairs to the basement, stumbling and falling the last few steps and sprawling out on the concrete.
A deep pain flared up in my arm as I landed on it, and I knew instantly that it was definitely sprained, maybe broken. I could hear Chad pounding down the steps and I crawled into the darkness, my legs shaking too hard to support myself.
I had just about made it past the little circle of light – he must have turned it on before he came down – when his hand shot out and caught me by my ankle. He was freakishly strong, although I shouldn’t have been surprised, given his physique. He clamped his hand down so hard I thought he might actually snap my ankle bone. I screamed again as I tried to pull myself away from him, but my attempts were futile. I heard him panting hard in arousal as he pulled me back.
“Filthy little slut, been teasing me all these years, now look what it’s gotten you…” he muttered, falling on top of me and pinning me down. I thrashed and yelped as he fumbled with my blouse, cursing its buttons.
And then, just then, I got that feeling again. That feeling of being watched.
This time it was much stronger than before. I instantly froze, suddenly feeling a great danger surrounding me – a danger other than Chad. The air in the basement seemed to have dropped a good ten degrees and I could see puffs of his rotten breath forming above me. On instinct, I began to strain my eyes, looking past his hulking body into the darkness, even as he undid the last button and reached for my bra.
There, in the darkness – something was moving.
It was as though the darkness in the room had become liquid, and it was shifting and twisting. My breath caught in my throat and I barely felt Chad’s hands on me. I had gone silent when I sensed the disturbance, but now I began to make strange wheezing noises as the liquid darkness moved towards us.
Chad didn’t ask if I was okay, or what was wrong. I don’t think he even noticed. He was too busy trying to get me out of my slacks.
He never saw it. But I did.
