Killer Instinct

32 | Mary

"You may leave now."

Mary looked up from her position sitting on the floor as the voice spoke for the first time in over twenty minutes. She had been sitting on the old, creaking wooden floor for twenty minutes, not quite sure what she was waiting for.

But she certainly hadn't expected to be told to leave.

So she stood up slowly, her legs slightly sore from being in the same position for longer than five minutes, and walked towards the door. Mary felt like if she tried turning the doorknob something would shock her or a blade would pop out, but nothing of the sort happened. She turned the doorknob and stepped out into the hallway to find Jordan and Roland already outside, looking around cautiously as two doors could be heard opening from downstairs.

The three didn't say a single word as they all walked down the rickety staircase single-file, Mary in between Jordan and Roland. They reached the bottom to find Lindsey and Michael already standing by the door, standing at least five feet away from each other with their eyes towards the floor. They looked up as the other three approached before Michael opened the door silently, leading the five out to the stalker's car.

They all took their seats from the ride there and waited until the GPS lit up and began to speak. Mary felt herself cringe every time the voice spoke—she knew this one was just a regular GPS system, but that would forever be the voice that instructed her to betray her friends the second it asked her to.

Jordan put the car in drive and started forward, away from the cabin and away from all the terrible things that had happened there. Mary felt herself wishing she could ask what had happened, ask the others what the voice had told them or asked of them. But no one else was speaking, and from her position in the back seat behind the driver, Mary could see that all of their faces looked as though they'd seen ghosts.

Mary studied the faces of the other four as they drove. Jordan was visibly shaking, but she was the only one—something that seemed strange. What had been said to her that was so much worse than what had been said to the others?

It took less than half an hour to get back to the Hadden's, where everyone's cars were still parked where they had left them. The lights were all off inside and the five got out of the car slowly, closing the doors quietly behind them so as not to wake up anyone inside the Hadden mansion. They milled around the car in silence until Mary finally decided to speak.

"Well...goodnight."

"Goodnight." Four voices chorused back to her before she turned and followed Michael into their home, assuming that the other three were getting ready to drive off from behind them. She closed the front door behind her and stood still for a moment, her eyes closed with her back pressed up against the door.

The events of the evening seemed so incredibly surreal that she had to keep reminding herself that this was her reality, and not simply a bad dream that would go away in the morning.

"Michael?" Mary asked, seeing her brother stop in his tracks. She could only make out his silhouette, illuminated by the moonlight shining through the countless windows in the Hadden's foyer. "Can we talk about what happened?"

Michael was quiet for a moment before nodding and turning back around to walk towards his sister.

"Sure. Let's sit down."

They made their way to the kitchen and turned on the light. Michael started to get a pot of coffee ready for the two while Mary tried to keep her hands from shaking.

She did not succeed.

Michael had just barely sat down with two cups of coffee when a knock sounded on the front door.