The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

17)Attack

"The Bird and the Worm" by The Used
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During the next two weeks it became quite apparent that Blake had not been fibbing regarding the fight of his parents. Mr. Bradshaw seemed to have moved out immediately after Blake stated the incident occurred. For three whole days after the Summers' fence went up, the man did not come home. Mr. Bradshaw came back little by little to pack up his belongings in the house.

Next, he seemed to move out completely. He packed up clothes, some furniture, and objects from his garage. The man came back to pack up all of his belongings into his trailer he used for his cars. Once all of that was packed up, Daniel Bradshaw hooked up the trailer to his red pickup and drove off. Nowadays, the Summers were on the receiving end of wicked glares from Mrs. Bradshaw and her elder son. Blake always seemed indifferent with his frighteningly blanketed expression and his dead looking eyes.

"I wonder what the ramifications of that impending divorce are going to lead to," pondered Alex one night. Sophia and her mother were making a tomato salad while the eldest Summers' daughter was wrapping up hot-dogs in crescent rolls to place into the oven.
"What do you mean?"

"I s'pose your sister means that if that boy seemed to be bordering psychotic while the parents were together, I wonder how things are going to be now that the only person who seemed to be reigning him in is now gone," said Mrs. Summers. Sophia, Alex, and their mother soon stared off into space for a long moment as if trying to imagine how it would be.

Mrs. Summers waved her hand airily. "Your father and I are not going to let anything else happen. Worst case scenario I'll go over to that creeps house and smack the bejeezus out of him."
Even though Sophia grinned at her mother's word, a part of her did wonder how things would be now that Blake's father was out of the picture.
Little did the teenager know days later would be the night Sophia nearly died.

***

"Thanks for picking me up," said Sophia with a smile. A tiring dance class with lots of tumbling had just commenced. Dylan had offered to drive her home earlier in the day on count of not seeing her lately. With midterms and after school activities taking both of their time, he was wanting to spend time with her.

"No problem," he said as they walked the dark parking lot. "You hungry? We could stop by that burger place on the way back, my treat." Dylan frowned as they reached a certain part of the large mall parking lot where Sophia's dance school was located. He looked around in wonder, seemingly confused.

"What's wrong?" asked Sophia, noticing his puzzled expression.
"I swear, I parked my car right here."

She laughed. "I hate to break it to you but I don't think you did." There were no cars along the entire row of spaces they were standing in.
"No, really," said Dylan, scanning the entire lot that was void of vehicles. "I parked my car right here."
Sophia looked around but could not see Dylan's familiar 2005 Jeep Cherokee. There was no vehicle in near sight. "Do you have a car alarm or something?"

Dylan nodded as he pulled his keys from his pocket. The teenager pressed the button, causing the siren to start. Only, his car alarm did not sound from anywhere nearby. Across the parking lot on the far side of the mall at least two-hundred feet away, sat Dylan's car. "Did I really park out there and not notice?" said Dylan, seemingly more to himself than to Sophia. He still looked very confused by this discovery.

"In your defense studying for midterms has been brutal."

"I guess," Dylan allowed as the pair started to make the long walk across the parking lot. He seemed to relax the more he thought about it. "All my studying and I'll probably still only get a C- in math. Really, I don't think Ms. Smith went over half the curriculum that she gave us on those practice sheets. It was like taking kids who've never been swimming before and throwing them overboard."

Sophia laughed as the bright lights of a nearby truck suddenly went on. The layout of the mall was set up oddly. There was the oversized shopping center -always lacking individuals at nine-thirty at night when dance class was finished- the large parking lot, and then the small overlay of a forest. It consisted of trees and bushes on the outside of where to park vehicles. The nearest vehicle was a large pick-up truck that suddenly came to life. The truck was pointing its brights at Sophia and Dylan, the lights shining into the forest now behind them some distance.

"Do they really need their brights on?" Dylan complained as they continued their long walk. The air was chilly. No sounds could be heard other than the soft hum of the nearby truck. Suddenly, the truck revved its engine. Before they knew what was happening, the large truck zoomed at an incredible speed towards the direction Sophia and Dylan had just been in, barely missing them. The truck continued driving before making a large U-turn in the parking lot.

"That guy could've friggen killed us!" Dylan snarled.

He was not wrong. The truck had only been less than two feet away from them. As the duo continued their brisk walk, the truck repeated its earlier movements. It zoomed at a too fast of speed in the direction Sophia and Dylan were just in. As the truck raced forward, it pulled another U-turn, this time aligning itself exactly with Sophia and Dylan where they stopped. The truck was now only ten-feet away as it revved its powerful engine some more.
Sophia had stopped to stare at the truck, unable to see anyone inside given the large tinted windows. When she stepped towards Dylan's direction to continue their fast walk, the truck revved its engine again. It was now plenty obvious the driver of the truck was enjoying their sudden fear.

"What the hell is the matter with you!?" Dylan screamed at the driver.

The driver of the truck merely revved their engine once more in response. Sophia could not find any words to speak as the name of the game became quite simple; Don't move.
Every time Sophia attempted to step towards Dylan, the truck revved its mighty engine. If she tried back stepping, the truck lightly lurched forward before stopping when she stopped. If she didn't move at all the truck didn't move either.

"Hey, run to the car!" said Dylan suddenly, pointing towards the direction of his jeep. Sophia glanced towards the direction. It was at least a hundred feet to his jeep. No sooner had Sophia looked at Dylan's car did the driver of the large truck rev their engine one more. It was as if the driver -in their own way- was warning that was not how this game was to be played.

"I d-don't think t-they're going to l-let me," said Sophia, unable to see the driver given the tinted windows along with the trucks brights in her eyes. The driver seemed to only have eyes for her and a clear lack of regard to Dylan who had slinked a two feet distance away.

"What kind of friggen psycho does this to people!?" yelled Dylan, only antagonizing the driver enough to rev his engine once more.
That statement made it apparent to Sophia who it was who was behind the wheel of the truck; Blake Bradshaw. There were no license plates or anything to indicate who the driver behind the wheel was. Still, that meant nothing. Blake was the only person cold enough to do this to someone. It was when Sophia and Dylan locked gazes did they seem to instantaneously reach the same conclusion of who the driver was. Fear enveloped Dylan's face as Sophia could feel her heart pounding and her stomach dropping.  "Run!" said Dylan as he himself ran to his jeep. "Just run!" he screamed.

As soon as Sophia made a fast movement towards his direction, the truck revved its engine once more before flying forward. The rules of this sick game were very simple: Dylan could move, but not Sophia. She was quite lucky. Had she not jumped out of the way she would have become a bloody pancake on the asphalt. The truck did yet another mighty U-turn in the parking lot it's tires burning into the asphalt. Only when Sophia ran for Dylan's direction again did the truck race forward once more. Very narrowly was Sophia missed. The truck was getting too close for comfort. Each time it moved it was getting closer and closer to hitting her. The driver was having fun showing how much faster their vehicle was compared to her. It was near enough that the teenager could feel the whizzing air of the vehicle as it raced past her. Dylan was now to his jeep, looking very awkward. "What do I do??" he yelled.

Sophia did not have a moment to answer. She was losing this game and growing tired of dodging the truck. If she continued trying to run to Dylan's jeep, the truck was going to intentionally hit her. The impact would fling her slender body like a ragdoll. She would be lucky to survive a hit.
A constant dance of dodging was now being played, only causing Sophia to grow weaker with each time she had to launch her body towards a new direction. By some miracle, Sophia next found she was only eight feet from the edge of the small forest. If she could somehow make it through the opening, she could avoid getting hit by the truck given it wouldn't be able to make it through the trees or the thick brush. Sophia back stepped slowly, causing the truck to lurch forward at a slow pace.

The thought of never seeing her family again caused Sophia to realize she needed to put everything she had into sprinting. If she didn't try putting absolutely everything into saving her own life then no one else was going to do it for her.  But running was down to a matter of when. As she slowly back-stepped the truck lurched forward at a slower pace. Deciding her only chance was to make a break and run for it, Sophia turned into a sprint and ran. Her dance bag flew from her shoulder as she raced as fast as she could for the forest. She pumped her arms and lifted her knees high while feeling she was in a literal race to avoid death.
The truck was catching up behind her. The engine had revved before zooming after her direction. Sophia ran as fast as she could, mentally praying that she would not trip in front of the truck to become roadkill. It was a close race by the time she closed the distance to the small woods in a few seconds. The truck was nearly on top of her. Sophia was able to feel the heat emitting from the truck given how close it was. Before it could touch her with its bumper, Sophia launched herself into the forest and through the brush.

Only, Sophia had missed something rather important. This was not a flat-ground forest where running into it provided immediate safety. The forest layout caused a large drop to happen before dipping into a small stream. Sophia had been running and jumping so fast she had no chance of seeing the drop before she hit it.
The teenagers legs swooped out from under her. She went head over heels, back over the head, and hit her legs and arms awkwardly on her way down. By the time Sophia landed in the small stream on the bottom, it was a miracle she did not become paralyzed from the fall. Blinking a few times she shook in sheer terror.

Her left knee hurt tremendously. Sophia's right foot felt agonizingly painful. A finger or two felt broken on her left hand while it hurt her ribs to take a deep breath. Cuts and scrapes stung her horribly while her now-wet hair covered her face. Sophia was soaking wet and very cold as she gasped and spluttered disgusting murky water from her throat. But the very best aspect of the fall and all the pain was simple; she was alive. Insanely, Sophia started to laugh. It was low and hollow, and it hurt just like the rest of her body. The small movement burned her ribs and throat. But still, flexing her fingers and toes -the ones that weren't horrible aching or broken- felt incredible.

That feeling of utter relief was short lived. No sooner had Dylan's random scream stopped, Sophia heard what suspiciously sounded like his jeep zooming away from the mall. Where he went, she had no idea. After that, Sophia could not hear anything else. It sounded as though the truck that had been trying to take her life, simply left.

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A/N Just to have it known in case anyone was concerned, the 'real' Sophia of this story is alive and well.