Curious

Front lines

After sending the girls to bed, I went out into the rain.

I don't have a plan. What am I doing out here?

I step down some concrete stairs into mud, I'm bare foot and in my pajamas.

"I know that you're out here," I announce calmly.

I step away from the house to search around the dark area, I look through the metal fence into the plains and bushes that surround the house.

I'm not currently thinking, I'm reacting. The masked man remains concealed in the darkness around the property.

I take a few more steps away from the house. If he wanted me dead, he would shoot me while I'm out in the open. This is a free ticket, but for some reason, I am gambling that he's not here to kill me.

Not yet at least.

I look around, a flash of lighting illuminates the area for a moment, revealing their hiding place behind a Sycamore tree about 40 feet away.

I sweep my wet hair to the side and head back into the house.
I grab a towel and dry my head, hands, and clothes before I clean the mud off of my feet.

I wander to a window facing the Sycamore tree and try searching for his figure. My eyes catch a slight glimpse of movement and I spot him.
I don't think he realizes that I know where he is.

Or maybe he simply doesn't care.

Either way, I watch him.

This is probably what he did back in the city as well. He just...watched.

I peeked through an undetectable hole in the blinds for hours. Neither of us moved.

My eyes began to feel heavy, and my posture slouched as I became exhausted.

It had to be at least 1 in the morning.

I just... need to close my eyes.

Just for a moment.

For a moment, I won't fall asleep.

I let myself close my eyes, its more of a long blink.

I blink again and again, it only feels like seconds before I hear a noise on the wood floor board behind me.

I jolt up out of my chair and spin around, but no one is there. I'm not paranoid, someone is in here. My feet wander forward towards the kitchen, I carefully look around, but I can't see any signs of anyone or even of a break in.

I relax and lower my hands. Big mistake.
Someone's arms grab me from behind and put their hand over my mouth.
I hold my breath in case it's chloroform.

"Shhh Shh Shh." The person holding me sounds different from the masked man. He certainly sounds panicked. He doesn't seem to want to hurt me. I relax, and the hand let's go of me.

I step away carefully and look behind me, "Mr. Lettel?" I whisper.

"Yes. Yes. It's me again," he whispered harshly and grabbed my wrist, he pulled me along into the kitchen and we ducked under the table.

"Do you know who Stein is?"

I remain quiet, how did they all find me here at the same time?

"Not exactly, who are they?" I reply sheepishly. Maybe he's actually investigating Stein and not Tyler.

Maybe Tyler was involved with them.
Could that explain why they are so interested with me?

Mr. Lettel looks around the dark room fretfully.

"Why are you here, how did you find this place?" I ask, he's not the one in the mask, right? No way... They're wearing different clothing and they seem to have different body types.

Before he can answer, I hear what sounds like the front door opening.
Mr. Lettel reacts to the sound by covering my mouth with his palm.

I glare at him momentarily but he is too focused on the noise to notice.

It's the masked man. We remain quiet from beneath the kitchen table. I slowly reach to my side for my pistol.

This doesn't make sense. Why are they both here? I proved that they don't want me dead. Does Lettel realize that I'm being stalked by Stien? Maybe he thinks I'm a victim in Tyler's case. He saw me fight, there's no possible way that he thinks I'm a hopeless victim.

I frown to myself. It's not over.

I'm not sure if I'm relieved or not.

Moments pass as we listen to the masked man's foot steps travel around my house. I patiently wait, trying to trust that the girls can remain calm and quiet if they were still awake.

We watch the foot steps wander slowly around the corner and towards the table.

Why are we hiding? Confronting him would be much quicker. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that even though I'm allowed to live, Mr. Lettel may be the real target.

We're knelt beneath the table, huddled together with our backs up against the wall.

I hold my gun up, close to me with the barrel pointed at the ceiling. Lettel doesn't seem alarmed by this.

The masked man hasn't noticed us, I watch his feet carefully tread the wood floor like he's skating on thin ice, his weight shifts while he carefully examines the house.

Had it not been raining, I'm certain that just our breathing would have given us away.

Finally, he walked into another room. Lettel's body relaxed, and he started to look around the room, probably for an exit.

I'm sorry Lettel. I would love to conveniently play along with you, however, I'm currently responsible for the safety of two young girls.

I grip the gun in my hand tighter, feeling the weight of it in my hand. I hold my hand out, motioning for Mr. Lettel to stay put.
I quietly maneuver to the kitchen, beside the door that the masked man entered into.

I duck low beside a desk and grab a pencil.

Okay.. now I'm going to throw the pencil across the room, he'll hear the noise and come looking for me.

I throw the pencil towards the front door, he immediately takes the bait and walks out of the room, holding a pistol in his hands.

I sneak up behind him and wrap my arm around his neck and placing the barrel of my gun to his temple.

" Oh, did you think that you were clever for following me all the way out here?" I say, "I clearly didn't want any thing to do with you then, so why would I now? "

We remain quiet.

It's not over... I shouldn't have expected it to be so easy.