The Aliveagainers

15 - Escape

She looks like she's underwater, dressed in robes. Strands of nighttime blue swirl around as she looks right back at me. Then she turns to her right, facin' down the driveway that leads up to the house. I move over a bit to see and I gasp as I see a man runnin' up the driveway. I look back and she's gone.

I run back into the kitchen and grab a knife then move around to the side door. I open it quietly and scoot round the back of the house. My heart's poundin' and I wonder what the hell am I thinkin'. Am I about to try killin' someone? My hands are shakin' and I have to try to calm myself.

I move around the side of the house and peer across. It ain't a man, it's a kid, maybe fifteen or sixteen, and he's standin' beside the truck parked in the drive. He opens the door and moves inside then I hear him cursin'. I creep up closer and take a look and I see it's the kid from the photo.

"Jamie!" I hiss.

He freezes then turns around and sees me. His eyes widen as he looks at the knife.

He opens his mouth but doesn't say anythin'.

"Jamie, I'm with a friend of your dad's. A friend of Ryan."

He looks up at the house then back to me.

"I don't know you!" he shouts, too loudly.

"Sshh!" I say, then I lower the knife and put it on the ground. "We stayed here last night. I'm with my ... my boy … and we got lost and we met a lady who knows your dad."

He seems to calm down a bit, but still acts real suspicious. "Are my mom and dad inside?"

He's tired I can tell, his eyes all sunken' like, and I wonder if he even slept at all last night.

"No, Jamie, they ain't here but I think they must've just left.”

He’s nervous I can see, and damn tired no doubt. It’s no surprise he ain’t feelin’ too trustin’ what with a crazy lady standin’ with a knife in front of him.

“Come on inside, we can talk—"

A scream echoes and I shiver, lookin' up at the house.

"Kayla!" comes Késhaun's voice.

"Késhaun!" I shout then grab the knife and dash round the back of the house. My heart's beatin' and I'm cursin' myself for leavin' him inside but also fillin' up with a hot rage. I know it's her, and I'll kill her if she does anythin'.

I bound inside then come to a stop, nearly fallin' over to hold myself back. The lady is standin' there in the hallway by the front door. She's got Késhaun held in one arm, with a knife to the side of his head. The blade seems to flicker.

"I'm sorry, but I told you. I did tell you there's somethin' not right about this boy," says the lady in her drawl.

"Let him go!" I screech.

"There's a way with things and some ain't natural. All this—" she waves her arms, motionin’ outside "—all this is not how it's meant to be. There's a darkness. And this boy is a part of it."

I take a step forward, slowly.

"Put the knife down," she says.

I do, and then hold my arms out, thinkin' back to the many fights I had to diffuse back inside.

"It is bad out there, I know. I know." I speak slow and softly. I chance a glance at Késhaun, his eyes full of fear.

"But we gotta stick together, you know? He ain't behind all this. He's just a kid."

"He's not a kid. You didn't see what I saw!" she yells. "What he ... did to you!"

I notice movement and see that Jamie is movin' outside the front door, peerin' in the narrow glass window that frames it. Then he's gone.

"He went in you! He put something inside you!" shouts the lady.

I take another step towards her. "Listen, let's just sit down and talk. How about you put your knife down too?"

She don't say anythin' but I know she's calmin' down a bit.

"Come on, he's just a boy. Nothin' more. You got a boy, right? You wouldn't hurt a child?"

She hesitates and lowers her arm a bit, the knife now a few inches away. I wonder if I can lunge for it and grab it. I know if I do she might still cut him, or me.

Then the front door slams open and Jamie bursts in and smashes his hand right on top of the lady's head. I leap forwards reachin' for her hand with the knife with one hand and tryin' to knock Késhaun down with my other hand. She brings it up in a big arc and it cuts me right in the side of the arm and I feel a fire burn.

The lady starts to turn and Jamie hits her again, real hard this time and she crumples to the floor and then I see he got a big stone in his hand. Written on the stone are the words HOME SWEET HOME. Its smoothness is marked by dark lookin' blood stains.

Késhaun squeals and runs to me and I look at my arm which is spurtin' blood. I suddenly feel like I'm about to throw up and I fall to my knees.

"What the hell is happening here!?" yells Jamie, as he reaches down and grabs the knife, hurlin' it outside the front door then slammin' it shut.

Késhaun runs to the kitchen and comes back with a dryin’ cloth and hands it to me. I push it on my arm and Jamie squats next to the lady. The back of her head is dented in and blood is spillin' out on the floor.

"She tried to kill him!" I say, grimacin’ at the pain. "You saw it, right?"

"Yeah I saw it. Who is she?"

"She's the one I said, the friend of your dad's."

He reaches down and places his hand on her neck which is slick with blood.

“Oh my God… I … I killed her,” he says, stumblin’ back and leanin’ against the wall.

“Jamie, just calm down, I can explain a bit. She weren’t right, she’d been taken, by one of them.”

Outside a crow calls. Jamie leans back, lookin’ up. He’s turned real pale and I think he might be about to throw up. Smellin’ the blood in their air makes me feel a little unwell too. I look at Késhaun and somehow he seems to be calmest of all.

"Let me see that," says Jamie and he reaches for my arm.

We pull the gauze back and see the cut. It's shallow, but long. "That'll need to be stitched up."

"Kayla," says Késhaun but I stand up and look at Jamie.

"You know how to stitch? You got the gear?"

"My mom's a vet and, yes, we have some gear."

"Kayla," says Késhaun again and I turn to him.

"What, sweetheart? You're ok, right?"

"Kayla, we have to go," he says and then motions to the lady's body.

I can't hardly explain it but her body seems to be almost ... glowin' or, smokin'? A swirliness of blackness seems to dance around her, like ink underwater. The room starts to feel cold and then I taste it again, that dry, metallic taste.

Jamie seems to sense it too.

"Get to the car," he says then bounds upstairs.

Késhaun and I head outside, me holdin' my arm tight with the cloth that's now deep red and soaked.

Késhaun helps me in the back and I lay down, my body quiverin'. He comes and sits next to me.

"It'll be ok, Kayla, but we need to go."

I nod and roll my head back. I look outside the back window, turned at an angle. I see the sky above, startin' to cloud over and graced by the dead branches of the trees. The edge of the car window loops around and it feels like I'm starin’ through a microscope at a world that's died.

I hear a door open and Jamie gets in the car. He places a package on the seat next to him. I can see a first aid box as well as a bottle of water. And a handgun.

The engine revs and we move off quick.