Chapter 29
AMY
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I’m trapped in that proverbial nightmare, the one where you’re running and running, but it’s like your legs are moving through molasses and no matter how desperately you pump them, you can’t escape the slow-motion feeling.
I stumble down the hallway, unable to stop myself from glancing back.
Any second now I expect an enraged Kane to come charging after me.
I pass the room with the cage inside, then I scramble down the stairs and glimpse the closed door of the entertainment room.
Both places hold so many humiliating memories I shudder as I run past them.
There’s a niggling sense I should pause for a moment, plan my next move, but I can’t stop running. My only thought is to get as far away from Kane as I can.
Then I remember Jill. What if I encounter her? Or anyone else belonging to this deranged, animal-obsessed group?
The thought causes me to come to an abrupt stop in a large open-plan living area. Catching my breath, I listen for the sounds of anyone moving about. The house is too quiet.
Run, I tell myself urgently. Get out of here.
There’s a kitchen on my right. I dash into it, yanking open drawers, the uneasy feeling I’m wasting valuable seconds a rising tide in my chest. I find what I’m searching for in the third drawer.
Grabbing the butcher knife, I turn around too sharply, my feet sliding out from under me on the tiled floor.
It’s a hard fall. Tears fill my eyes. Just once, can’t something go right for me?
Trying to ignore the pain streaking down my back, I get to my feet and pick up the knife I dropped.
Where is the front door?
Holding onto the knife, I manage a kind of loping shuffle past the dining room, a playroom on the right, and an atrium bursting with plants.
And then I spot the front door.
With relief coursing through me, I hurry to the door, grab the handle, and tug.
It’s locked.
My throat closes over. I pull on the handle again, wrenching it up and down, unable to believe that after all this a locked door will be my undoing.
Frantically, I look around. A coat rack and umbrella stand are the only pieces of furniture in the entryway.
There’s no key holder anywhere. Disappointment shreds me.
I don’t have time to hunt down keys. Kane could regain consciousness any second.
In fact, he might already be awake and stalking me this very minute.
Think, think, think.
I have to double-back. My heart lurches in terror. What if I run right into him? Clutching the knife and staying close to the wall, I head back the way I came. I peer inside the playroom. The windows are too small to crawl through. I cross to the dining room.
Please, please, I pray.
A large, fixed pane of glass looks out onto a landscaped garden.
In that moment, I hear sounds that chill my blood. Indistinguishable shouts. Doors slamming. Footsteps. The sounds of someone coming for me.
A granite statue on a sideboard catches my eye. With a sense of déjà vu, I pick up the statue and hurl it through the window, bringing up my arms to protect my face as the glass shatters into a glittering sea of uncountable pieces.