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The sound of knocking woke me. My alarm clock read 3:42. Who could possibly be at the door this late? I got up to check, but my mother met me at my door. Her eyes were wide and panicked.
“Ana, code red.”
My own eyes widened. “But…”
“Now, dammit!” The knocking turned into pounding. I was frozen in my stance.
She pushed me into the room, pointing to the space under my bed, her eyes pleading for obedience. I listened. I crawled as far as I could go, until my back was flat up against the wall. My hands were shaking at my sides.
A moment later, I heard the front door open. My mother’s voice was surprisingly calm.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“Do not play games. You know what I am. You know why I am here.” The second voice was deep like a man’s, but it had a wildness to it—almost unnatural.
My mother’s reply was stern. "Leave this place. You have no business here.”
"Oh, but I do. Do you know how long we’ve searched for you? I cannot be true to my race and let you live. Such a thing is treason.”
“I said leave—“
My mother’s words became screams. I covered my mouth to keep the fear from sounding in my throat. Silence followed—long, never ending silence. I wanted so badly to call to her, to hear her tell me that she was okay, but I had been trained for this faceless danger my entire life. I knew to be absolutely quiet, at all costs.
The phone rang. The man answered. I heard him say Jasmine’s name. I heard him say my name.
“Impostor!” he shouted. “He said that she is but a schoolgirl. I’ll ask this question only once. Where is she?”
There was no response from my mother. I began to hear him move around the house, the sounds of things crashing and breaking serenading this nightmare until suddenly it was quiet. I closed my eyes when his muddy black boots appeared in my doorway.
“She’s gone!” my mother screamed from the other room. “She called to tell her friend goodbye. She should be half way to Brighton by now. We knew you were coming!”
His laugh was slow and deliberate. “You tip your hand, foolish hag. Listen to how much faster your heart is beating now—your voice, it reeks of desperation. She’s here. I will find her, and she will die.”
I could hardly breathe. With every passing second, I found myself fighting over and over the urge to scream. My body seemed to feel the weight of his presence. Every time his boot clunked against the wooden floor, my body shuddered violently. With each step, he was that much closer to finding me. And I was that much closer to death.
He moved first to the closet, ripping the door from its hinges. A low growl began to hum in his throat, and then he began to laugh again.
“I know you’re here young one, and if you’re not in the closet then…”
I covered my mouth.
“Peak-a-boo!” In an instant, his face had appeared in the space between the floor and my bed. He stared at me through blood red eyes, his face scarred and pale. Wild excitement gleamed in his pupils and his lips began to quiver, revealing blood stained teeth.
I screamed and tried to move but my muscles didn’t respond. His gaze paralyzed me. He inched himself further beneath the bed, bringing his face closer to me, his eyes never leaving mine. He began to whisper in some language I didn’t understand.
He reached out his hand and I felt the ends of his fingers graze my face. I wanted to scream for help but couldn’t find my voice.
"So pretty,” he breathed. His odor burned my nostrils like fire. I followed his eyes as they inched down my face to my neck. He bared his teeth and then, suddenly, he was shouting, writhing in obvious pain. He began to retreat, but not of his own doing. Something was dragging him from under the bed. He began to throw his arms around madly, alternating between impotently resisting whatever was forcibly removing him and last-ditch efforts to reach me.
Pulled completely into the light, I watched him curl up into a ball. Whatever he saw, it filled him with such terror that he covered his face. Another set of boots were visible just beyond him but I blinked and in that instant they were both gone.
I crawled from under the bed. I couldn’t explain what had happened, nor could I be sure the danger had passed, but an overwhelming need to go to my mother possessed me. I found her stretched across the living room floor. She wasn’t moving. My heart feared the worst, but when I knelt beside her, she began to speak. Her face was turned in the opposite direction, and I didn’t have the courage to face her. Our intruder had made one thing perfectly clear, he’d come for me.
“Oh, thank God.” She strained even to whisper. “Are you hurt?”
“No, but you…” I stood up and looked for the phone to dial 911 but found it broken in half on the kitchen floor. There wasn't another house for miles. I ran back to my mother’s side, dropping to my knees, tears now running down my face. I put my head onto her chest and closed my eyes. “I’m sorry mom. I’m so sorry.”
“There isn’t much time, Ana,” she spoke weakly. “He may not have been alone." She coughed loudly. "Bottom drawer… yellow envelope…must go now. You know the way.”
“But mom.”
“Now, Ana.”
I crawled to my feet. She had trained me to follow her every instruction without question, so I ran into her room. This was the first time I had ever been allowed inside. All around the room were pictures of me, dating back to when I was just a toddler. I choked back fresh tears and moved to the chest of drawers. Inside the bottom drawer, I found the envelope. There were plane tickets, three hundred dollar bills, a cell phone, and a map of the area inside. On the map, black ink zigzagged away from the house. It was obvious what she wanted me to do—but how could I leave her here? I wouldn’t.
I ran back to the living room, ready to protest my leaving her alone. I fell to my knees beside her, taking hold of her face and turning it gently to mine. When my eyes met hers, my voice faltered.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you Ana,” she whispered. “But I know that he will. You can trust him.” She was losing consciousness. Her brown eyes, covered by grey colored contacts, lost their focus and her body went limp in my arms. I felt myself shudder as a chill raced down my spine. I grabbed the envelope and ran out into the warm summer’s night, my soul aching.