Innocence and Arrogance

Chapter 1// A Fitting Companion

Chapter 1// A Fitting Companion

"You're absolutely absurd," I mumbled with a deep breath as the lights from the television flashed in my face. And believe me when I say it wasn’t the girl in the screen. No. It was I that I was rambling about; mostly because the events in the movie, Scream, even as bland as it may seem compared to the modern scary movies, were happening to me in the exact order.

I know I was ridiculous to think a knock on the door and the ringing house moblie could be anything than what it was but yet I was scared out of my wits.

"Just pick it up." My simple request should have been simple enough to carry out because I was almost positive it wasn't a killer on the other end of the line, even though there is no one who would or should be calling at this late hour. And it wasn’t as if my mom or dad was working late again, my family was all accounted for. Mum and daddy were in their room on the complete left of the house, most likely in slumber since they’re the ones waking my brother and I up for Sunday service at church tomorrow and my brother was in his room on the right, definitely sleeping as he always does after a ride on a plane.

Even so, after listing every reason to why I should run to the closest room and fake sleep till the noise ends, I picked up the phone.

 "Hello?" I murmured. My eyes were stuck with glue to the front door when I realized the knocking had stopped the exact second said the greeting. There was no one talking back and after fifteen seconds, the dial tone played its monotonous drawl so I placed the phone back onto its charger.

I stood from the couch, which its colour, in the dim light of the parlour, matched the red of blood, and tip-toed my way to the front door. I looked through the glass of the door but I saw no one out and I thought maybe it was all part of my imagination; the knocking and the ringing phone, but a slight sound changed that.  

The click, the lock made when I turned the door sounded close to the cocking of a gun and for a moment I feared it wasn’t me. I focused my attention on keeping the inevitable creaking of the door scarce with every push. It was halfway opened when I stuck my head through.

It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the sky but as I was about to sigh a breath of relief, a miniscule movement caught my eye and the only thing that stopped my screams from waking up the other side of the world was a calloused hand cupped on my mouth. And no, I wasn't ready to die.

"Please don't kill me," I mumbled through the tight hand on the bottom half of my face that belonged to my kidnapper/ murderer/ rapist. It probably sounded something under lines of "mmhph mm mdmm m". For God’s sake, all I wanted to do was to watch an old movie, not for its plot to happen to me.

"Shh, I'll let go of you. Just don't scream." A rugged hushed voice spoke. A chill ran through my bones and I nodded feverishly, already planning how to alert the whole neighbourhood of the crisis.

The millisecond I felt the cold breeze of the air flitter through my lips again, I opened my to yell my head off and the person's ears deaf but as quickly as I did so, as quickly did the cold hand latch onto my mouth again.

"It's me." On cue the creepy music from the television played, usually where the girl turned around to meet the psychopath with a knife in his hand. What a coincidence.

The situation stayed the same, no matter how many times I shut my eyes tightly and quickly opened them but I kept at it as if the next time I’ll wake up from a dream.

"Alex," I bit the inside of my lip when the voice spoke again, an accent becoming clearer with every word. The name sounded awfully familiar but I was sure it was the blood rushing directly to my head that made it out that I couldn't think straight. "Alexander Wilton," he continued.