𝐖𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐍. ˢᵗᵉᵛᵉ ʰᵃʳʳⁱⁿᵍᵗᵒⁿ ¹

014

014. 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 !

𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐈 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐄'𝐃 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" she belted, her voice bouncing off the walls. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god—"

"Lori— stop! I need you to calm down!" Dustin shouted from the other end of the hall, his voice frantic.

Lori was still in front of the door, her eyes struck wide and her mouth agape. She felt like she couldn't move for a second, as if someone had bolted her feet to the carpet floor, right in front of the room. Her chest was suddenly rising and falling at a rapid pace, faster than she'd ever noticed her body doing before. Her eyes darted in a straight line across the bottom of the door, trying to process what she'd just seen— what she'd just seen, was some sort of mutant animal, hunched over in the corner, eating away at something. She didn't even have time to see what it was devouring, she didn't even take a second to see what the it was, because she'd closed the door so fucking fast, with only a single glance at the thing's face.

But she'd had enough time to see the gaping hole that was its mouth, and its head turning in her direction to flare its bloody teeth at her— a gut wrenching shriek coming from within its slimy body. She'd had enough time to see that, which was enough for her heart to fall into her ass.

And that sent her body into a panic she'd never known before.

Lori didn't even think to rule out the possibility that she was seeing things, that maybe she was hallucinating, maybe it wasn't a creature at all— maybe it was a street animal that had hopped through the window. Because all she could think about was the slimy mouth and bearing teeth, and her sudden urge to race for the telephone.

"Holy shit!" She yelled, her throat aching from the volume of her voice. A picture frame jiggled on the wall from the loudness. She turned away from the door at once, not even cutting an eye to Dustin as she raced on her feet. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD!"

"What are you doing!" Dustin yelled after her, but she was already around the corner. "NO! STOP!"

Lori didn't move anything out of her way, all she did was run a clean line towards the phone on the cabinet, bolting for it as fast as her feet could take her despite the objects guarding her trajectory. She let out sharp breaths, her heart beating so fast against her ribcage that it made her hands shake, so much that when she grabbed the phone, it nearly fell right out of her grasp. She stood in front of the phone, her shaky finger reaching for the dial.

Dustin was trying to follow her as fast as he could, waddling down the hallway. He had hockey guards on his legs that slowed him down a considerable amount, and the hockey helmet obscured his vision. He dropped the hockey stick at the door and hopped on his feet, side to side, towards the threshold of the living room with great panic.

"Lori! Wait!" he called, urgently, his voice alarming. "What are you doing! Look — I can explain!" he shouted, through pants.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Lori couldn't stop repeating. Her shaky finger pressed on the 9, and then less than half a second later, she double on the 1's.

Her hand was clutching so hard on the phone's speaking handle that her knuckles turned white. She listened to the first ring, her foot tapping on the ground rapidly.

"Hurry up!" she slammed her hand on the cabinet, referring to the Sheriff's Department. A vase and some coasters on the cabinet clinked together from the impact. "Holy shit this can't be happening."