Intoxicating (Ticci Toby FF)

XIII

      "Alluring smells of gingerbread and roasted turkey invaded the 17 year old girl's senses. As she sat down around the large, beautifully decorated Christmas table, Natalie eyed the many dishes laid on top of the red table cloth. It looked so appealing, the girl was almost drooling. The jolly holiday music that sang in the background was the perfect touch to this festive family dinner.

   Looking around herself, Natalie observed all the people who sat near her at the table, chatting and enjoying each other's presence. Her eyes stopped upon her aunt Lidia. The elder woman quickly turned around and grinned playfully at the girl. 

    "You doin' alright sweaty? How's school treating ya?", her aunt questioned in a thick southern accent. Natalie adored the holidays since it was the only time a year she'd see her relatives and feel the love and warmth of having a family.

  "I'm great, aunt Lidia, you know, as far as great goes in this time of year." Natalie responded with a chuckle, referring to the stressful school exams that would follow after the holidays.

   "Oh, ain't that great to her! You know, don't worry one bit about all that school stuff, believe me girl there will be things more important to life than a flimsy exam!", aunt Lidia exclaimed, laughing full-heartedly. 

   A feeling of glee took over Natalie, laughing along with her aunt. But something felt...wrong. Something felt out of place. Just as she was looking around to discern what exactly wasn't adding up, a rough voice broke the girl from her trance. 

    "Wake up!"

    Natalie turned her head swiftly to face the source of this disturbance and to her surprise...her dad was there. Confusion replaced the once happy expression on her face, but before Natalie could say anything, the man started yelling at her to wake up. Suddenly, everyone was starring at Natalie with piercing, cold stares, all chanting for her to wake up. The girl's pulse started quickening and confusion was soon replaced by fear. Now the voices we're all around her, yelling and pleading to wake up. It felt like it lasted hours until it stopped. There was silence and darkness engulfed the girl. 

   "You should wake up, angel.", a dreamy, familiar voice echoed from behind her."

   Suddenly, Natalie jolted awake gasping for air. Her eyes were wide and cold sweat was covering her body. She looked around. She was in tucked in safely in bed. It was dark outside so it must still be night, the girl concluded as she slowly pulled the blanket away and stood up from the bed. Taking a deep breath, she started walking towards the bedroom exit with the intention of going to the bathroom, but before she could even make it out of the room, something stopped Natalie in her tracks. A creak. 

   Natalie stood completely still and listened. It was coming from the living room, which should've been empty. Maybe it was Toby? No..it couldn't have been. She heard him leave after he tucked her in, and the girl would've definitely heard if he came home once more. Right? Her heart started picking up its pace. "I'm just being paranoid", Natalie reassured herself as she took one more step towards the door and peaked her head out.

   The moment she did that, her gaze met with another dark, twisted pair of eyes. Like instinct, she hurried back into the bedroom and locked the door shut. "Shit. Shit. Shit", she thought while looking around the room for something to defend herself with. This wasn't good. Someone was in her house and they weren't looking friendly. The split second Natalie got to look upon the intruder was enough to discern that they posed an imminent danger. There, feet away from her stood a man, with his face covered by a white mask with dark holes. What Natalie also noticed before closing the door was the threatening gun the intruder was holding.