He’s after me, I thought frantically, he wants me dead.

It was down-pouring outside. I crawled desperately under the front porch. My
body created a disgusting sloshing sound as I meshed with the mud. Breathing heavily, I
hid my face in the joint of my arm. I was terrified. Then, above me, footsteps caused the
wooden planks to creak. I snapped my head up and covered my mouth, unable to fully
control my heaving.

“Marie,” he sang sadistically. “Come on out, you can’t hide forever, you know.” I
heard the sound of metal, as well as his humming, as he skimmed the metallic object
across the wooden railing. I whimpered, loud enough for him to stop humming and listen.
Shaking, I shut my eyes tightly, silently hoping that this was all a horrible nightmare.
Suddenly, I felt an abrupt squirm underneath my leg. Gasping, I rolled over, creating
another series of sloshes in the mud. By then the humming had continued, and the
footsteps trudged right over me as they headed for the stairs. Then, another set of
footsteps. They were softer, quicker. I heard my pursuer gasp after a faint thud, which I
assumed was the knife he grabbed when he chased after me from the kitchen. His body
collapsed with a crash onto the wooden planks. I shrank at the sound.

Was he dead? I wondered.

Still covering my mouth, I felt something warm hit my arm. Slowly, I peered
over. It was blood. I peeked above me, but when I did, I almost wished I hadn’t. Through
the small gaps between each individual plank, I could see my pursuer’s corpse staring
lifelessly at me. From what I could see, with the eerie moonlight shining through,
someone had slit his throat. My eyes widened in fear, I tried to scream but no sound
escaped from my parched mouth. The other set of footsteps were still present above me. I
trembled violently, as the figure glided across the planks and down the stairs, pausing at
the bottom. Before I knew it, I couldn’t hear anything except for the loud drumming of
my heart and the pitter patter of rain hitting the house.

“Marie?” the figure spoke in a rather calm tone. “Where are you?”

I didn’t answer.

“Your father sent me; I won’t hurt you.”

My father? I thought. But, he’s dead.

I debated amongst myself; I wasn’t completely sure if trusting this person
was a ingenious idea since I had just been chased around my house with a knife. Who
knew, maybe this one was my pursuer’s accomplice, but then again, why would he allow
himself to be killed? Finally, the latter got the best of me. “I-I’m here,” I stammered.

The pair of feet at the bottom of the stairs turned and began to cautiously saunter
toward me. The figure stopped right in front of my face and then knelt down, holding out
a hand. I couldn’t see the person’s face since the light post shone from behind, but I could
tell from the shape of the stranger’s figure that it was a male. I probably would’ve been
able to figure that out ahead of time, but I was too distracted on the current situation, so I
took his hand anyway.

Once I scrambled out from under the porch, the man shrugged off his leather coat
and wrapped it around my freezing cold body. “Did he hurt you?” the man asked,
concerned.

I shook my head, but he didn’t look convinced.

“My name’s Reid, your father hired me to protect you,” he changed the subject.

“M-my father?” I looked up at him, though I couldn’t make out what he looked
like.

He frowned. “He hasn’t told you anything since he left, did he?” Reid asked with
a hint of pity in his eye.

I shook my head once more.

“Here, let’s go somewhere safer,” he changed the subject again, glancing at the
bloody mess on the porch. I watched him hobble towards a silver Mustang parked on the
side of my house against the curb. When he was less than half way there, he glanced over
his shoulder; I hadn’t moved. We paused for at least a full minute. He was
probably debating whether or not I was reconsidering going with him. Then, Reid
returned to gather me up anyway, carrying me to the car.