Painting the House Red

Chapter 4: The Stake Out

I munched on my Sour Patch Kids and Paige glared at me.

"Is that really necessary?" She hissed at me. I shrugged and forced a grin. I knew she wasn't really mad at me, it was just the situation stressing her out. Charity had decided to become bait for the monster and Paige was having a hard time processing it. This was hard for her to let go of, since she's basically the mom of the group. She felt a need to protect us, even when she really couldn't. I put down my snacks, despite the fact that I really just wanted to munch some more. My appetite had increased recently and I wasn't sure why. It seemed like nothing could satisfy me. I craved spinach and dried apricots, even though I had never been fond of them. They just tasted so good now!

"Hey!" Paige whisper-yelled at me again, "Stop daydreaming and pay attention! We'll never catch it if we're goofing off." I sighed, frustrated, but I listened to her.

We stayed there for hours, just waiting. I could feel the sleep creeping in and I stifled a yawn. I saw Paige nodding off and Cate had fallen asleep a long time ago. I have to stay awake, I thought. I'm the last one. Despite me trying not to, I eventually drifted off anyways.

My breathing was ragged. My vision was red and the gnawing in my chest wouldn't leave. Maybe I'm hungry, I thought. I saw in front of me what looked like a delicious meal. It smelled amazing, but I couldn't discern exactly what it was. It didn't matter. My hunger was more than that. I ripped into it and loved every single second, but the satisfaction soon disappeared and I was left to mourn my emptiness alone.

For the second time in a row, I was shaken awake. I opened my eyes to see Paige's horrified face and I didn't even have to ask. My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. We fell asleep, and now Charity is gone. I pushed thoughts of my strange dream aside.

"Paige, she's gone, isn't she?" She stopped shaking me and, letting out a sob, nodded.

"Why did we have to fall asleep and let that... thing, attack her? Why couldn't I have stayed awake?!" The tears rolling down her face broke my heart, but I kept my cool. I got up from my slumped over position on the floor. My back cracked loudly and repeatedly. Why did I have to fall asleep in such an odd position? I asked myself. All of a sudden, I spotted the body. She was lying on the floor, chest down, in a pool of what I assumed was her own blood. I held back a gag. I had already seen one dead body that week, I didn't need to see another, but I forced myself to suck it up and I turned her over. Just like Cate, her chest had been ripped apart and her heart was removed, but it was nowhere in sight. I carried out the same procedures I had after Cate died. I disposed of her body as carefully and respectfully as I could. Once that was taken care of, I went back inside to check on Paige.

"Hey..." I put a hand on her shoulder, "You holding up alright?" She turned to look at me, the tears finally gone.

"As well as I can, I think. How about you? You've been pretty collected this whole time." I shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure it just hasn't hit me yet. It doesn't feel quite real." She nodded.

"You're probably right. Sometimes it takes a while for stuff like this to kick in." She stood and walked around the couch to hug me. "I just feel like I should have been able to do something, you know? It's like I'm helpless." I stood there with her for a while, holding her close. After that, we decided it would be best to put feelings aside and plan our next move.