8. Catherine
Chapter 8
Catherine
Me: You want to play a kids game?
Unknown: Ten.
Unknown: Nine.
Unknown: Eight.
Unknown: Tick Tock.
Me: Are you serious?
Unknown: I suggest you start running.
Unknown: The clock is ticking.
This is insane. I’m not going to listen to this psycho. My legs move at their own volition until I’m in the main room of the house. I look around; furniture is scattered around the room covered with dusty blankets. There’s a red door behind the couch with red eerie light coming from underneath. My phone vibrates in my hand, and I look down at the message.
Unknown: RUN
My pulse quickens as a thrill courses through my veins. I walk rapidly through the red door, adrenaline taking control of my body. I’m not sure what I expected, but an empty room is not it. I walk through another red door, stepping into a room with bloody hollow picture frames. I hesitantly walk towards one, expecting someone to jump out at me, but no one does. That’s odd. It looks like someone is meant to jump out at you from these. I walk into another empty room, but this time, there are three red doors on each wall. I stare at each one, contemplating which one to walk through when the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I look around but don’t see anyone.
Calm down, Cat. There’s no one here.
Though I try my best to calm my building anxiety, I find myself on edge. Someone could be hiding in any dark corners that I can’t see. I’m fighting with myself when laughter rings out around me. I twist my body this way and that way, trying to find the culprit, but there’s no one. The laughter gets louder and louder before it stops. I release a breath. Fucking hate haunted houses.
A whisper of a breath hits my neck, and I let out a scream. I turn around but see no one. Fuck this. I’m getting out of this room. I turn left and walk through the red door. Again, I’m presented with three more doors. I roll my eyes. This is starting to annoy me. I walk towards the center of the room and decide to go through the door in front of me, wishing that it’s the exit. Before I can turn the doorknob, a hand grabs my wrist, flipping me around. My chest heaves as I take in onyx eyes that remind me of an abyss.
“Caught you,” he whispers.
“No, you didn’t.” My fight or flight kicks in. I push him back with all my force, turn around, open the door behind me, and run as fast as possible. I run left and right, through door
after door, after door after door, with no idea where the hell I'm going. The only thought in my mind is to run. I open a black door, this time frantically looking around for another door, but there isn’t any. I turn around, readying myself to run back through the door I came in from, but it’s locked. I pull as hard as I can, but it doesn’t open.
“Fuck,” I scream out of frustration. I’m stuck here. This attraction isn’t open to the public. No one is going to come after me and rescue me. What the hell did I get myself into?
Calm down, Cat. Think. Think. Think.
My phone. The girls. With trembling hands, I reach into my pocket to grab my phone, my heart sinking to the floor when I don’t find it. I frantically search my pockets, but it’s not on me. I must have dropped it when I was running. Unbelievable.
Maybe there’s a way out. I look around the room as best as possible, with only the light coming through the window. There’s a bed with two nightstands on the wall in front of me, an armoire to the left, and a chair on the right wall.
Well, at least there’s somewhere for me to sit. I make my way to the bed and stop in my tracks with a scream leaving my lips as I see a shadow on the bed. I wait for a few seconds, quietly hiding in the shadows, waiting to see if the person moves. When no one moves, I relax slightly, creeping over to the bed, my heart pounding in my ears as I grab the blanket and quickly yank it off, jumping backwards at the sight of an animatronic. A nervous chuckle leaves my throat. It’s only an animatronic.
Slowly, as to not trip, I make my way to the other side of the bed, sitting and leaning back on my hand. I lean my head back, and with my eyes closed, I finally get to calm my heart and think. How the hell am I going to get out of this mess? Better question: how did I even get into this mess in the first place? The feeling of something cold and wet slides up my hand. I roll my eyes and clean my hand with my skirt. Choosing to sit up straight and lower my head. It's probably fake blood sliding down the animatronic. Since I weighed down the bed, if there was any fake blood on the animatronic the gravity made it come down to the bed.
I freeze my movements and breathing when hands begin to caress my hair. He found me. My pulse pounds against my ears, the butterflies in my stomach take flight, but not because of fear. No, every part of me screams at me to be scared, but any rational thought flies out the window when he is around.
“I win,” he whispers, kneeling in front of me. Something cold presses under my chin, and I slowly lift my head until I’m looking at him.
He drags the cold object down my chin and throat until he reaches the top of my shirt, putting pressure until he manages to slice it open. A breath gets lodged in my throat when a small amount of light reflects on the metal item he is holding. My heart stops. I shallow my breathing and try to stay as still as possible, anything to minimize the amount of contact between my body and the knife he has pressed against it.
He trails the knife back up my stomach to the center of my chest, slicing off the front of my bra freeing my breasts. My nipples instantly harden into peaks from the cold air. I wish I could cover myself, but I’m terrified to move, unsure of his motives. He drags the tip of the knife, scraping it across my sensitive nipple, wetness pooling in between my legs over the sensation.
He leans back slightly, devouring me with his eyes. The fire in his gaze sears into my skin. “Mine,” he breathlessly lets out, staring back up into my eyes, tracing my puckered nipples with his thumbs. His words send my stomach into a frenzy with flutters.
“You belong to me.” He places the knife back on my throat. Fear and lust consume me. He presses the knife in deeper until the blade pierces the skin, and a droplet of blood pools around the silver blade, dripping down my throat to my breast. “Only mine.” He commands. “Do you understand?”
My insides warm, and the base of my spine dampens with sweat. This is insane. This is fucking insane. I should be screaming for help, I should be doing... What should you be doing, Cat? You have nowhere to go? “Stay away from me,” I choke out, trying to sound convincing but failing. The fear in my voice is overpowered by need. I try to scramble back onto the bed, away from him but don’t get to go too far because he grips my ankle with his hand. The low, raspy chuckle that leaves out of his mouth sends chills up and down my back.
He tsks, twirling the knife between his fingers. “Stop trying to run, little shadow. Haven’t you figured it out yet? There’s nowhere you will go that I won’t find you.”
My eyes widen, and my stomach clenches. That chuckle and the way he is maneuvering that knife skillfully has my legs trembling and my core pounding.
“Leave me alone,” I beg more for my sanity, than the actual desire of him leaving me alone. I beg because when I look back to this night, I want to at least feel like I tried. I want to feel somewhat like a normal person. A normal person would be scared out of their mind.
I squeeze my eyes shut. What is wrong with me? I’m trying so hard to feel fear for him and this situation, but all I seem to want is for him to pin me face down on this bed and fuck me so hard I black out. The conflict between my body and mind is leaving me confused, and I can’t help but feel like I may be going crazy. This night has been unreal, straight out of my darkest imagination, straight out of my deepest darkest fantasies. Desires that I’ve only ever read and dreamt about. I can’t believe this is actually happening to me. I want to escape this, but at the same time, I want to bask in his crazy; I want to drown in this madness.
“Let’s stop playing pretend. Stop begging me to leave you alone and beg for what we both know you really want.” With one little tug, he has me close against his chest, wrapping my legs around his waist and his hand around my throat. My heart accelerates.
“Let’s stop pretending, my little shadow?” he whispers, dragging the knife up my thigh. I whimper over the sting of the blade cutting into my skin. “Tell me that if I were to slip my fingers in between your thighs, you wouldn’t be soaking wet for me.”
If I’m being honest, I’m wetter than I have ever been in my life, and he clearly knows it.
He swipes the blade through my folds, “Fuck,” he growls, as he lifts it to his nose, the blade glistening with a mixture of my arousal and blood from the nick he made into my flesh. He swipes his index finger on the knife picking up my blood, brings his index finger down to my thighs, and starts writing something.
Mine.
I scoff. I’m not sure where this courage comes from, but I’m going with it. “Why don’t you just tag me since you already think I belong to you?”
“Good things happen to those who wait.” My eyes widened. What the hell does that mean? He doesn’t give me a chance to ask before he starts to talk again. “Surrender yourself to me, surrender yourself completely to me . I want your heart, your body, your soul, and as a reward, I can make all your dark fantasies a reality. I can make every dark dream your head has ever conjured come true.”
My pulse starts to beat faster. I’m not going to agree to his madness, am I? What if he is a murderer? What if I’m his next victim? My fear and desire continue to have an angry battle for dominance inside of me.
“Say it. I need to hear the words come out of that pretty little mouth,” he demands, releasing the hold he has on my throat, and grabbing my face with both of his hands. I flinch against the cold steel blade as it touches my face. My instincts scream at me to run, to fight back, say no to him, to end this madness.
“Yes, I surrender,” I finally blurt out. As crazy as this situation is, it’s evident how aroused he makes me. My body is practically begging for him. My slick thighs are proof of that. I’m not going to miss out because of my fears. This is just one night, one night that I’ll remember forever, one night that I let myself enjoy, one night I put my wants first.
If he would have wanted to hurt you, he would have done so already.
The voice inside my head screams at me, and I have to agree with her. He has had multiple opportunities to do so over the years. I purposely leave my window open to make it easier on him when leaving me notes. My gut is screaming at me to tell him I know it’s him but I don’t want to break the spell of tonight just yet. I’ll keep the mystery alive for a bit longer.
He grabs the tie from around my neck. “Stand up.” The command in his tone sends a shiver up and down my spine. We stare at each other for a few seconds, something forming between us, something I can’t describe, before he flips me around, pressing my back to his front.
“Be a good girl for me and lay down on the bed,” he whispers in my ear, eliciting goosebumps all over my body. I do as he says, but before I can lay my back down on the mattress, he grabs the back of my neck. “Face down,” he orders.
I go to take a step but change my mind as the desire of needing to know how he tastes consumes my mind. These are my darkest fantasies, after all. If I get one night to make them all come true, I’m going to enjoy every last second of it.