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Chapter 26
Howie laughed at some comment Shannon was making as they entered into the house, late that night, having just come from the party.
"Yeah, well you should have seen how you looked when that girl propositioned me right there by the punch bowl," he retorted. She grinned.
"Well, for pete's sake, you don't go talking about that sort of thing in public. I was shocked." He nodded as he walked into the living room.
"Well, you get used to it after a while, believe me," Brian commented. "Nothing shocks me anymore."
Ryan raised her eyebrows as she looked at him. "Oh really? Well have you ever accepted any of the offers?" she asked as she sat on the edge of the couch, interested in the answer.
Brian sorta coughed and then changed the subject. "Well, the party was awesome. Your friend Shaun knows how to really have fun."
Colleen nodded absently as she filed through the new batch of mail. A chill went up her spine as she came across another unmarked envelope. Her hands trembled as she turned her back to her friends and silently opened it up. It was heavy and revealed pictures inside. She took one out and practically cried as she saw a picture of herself in her underwear, taken through her balcony doors.
He knows where I live. He's been here, she thought frantically. Her breathing grew fast as she started to hyperventilate. She was being stalked.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she chanted beneath her breath as she sifted through the other pictures. Nick looked up.
"Whatcha looking at Colleen?" he asked as he saw her staring intently at the mail in her hands.
Colleen quickly stuffed the pictures back in the envelope and turned around. "Oh nothing," she said shakily as she ran her hand through her hair. She looked around nervously and licked her lips as they were suddenly dry. She ran her hand through her hair again as she shifted her balance from foot to foot, uneasily. Just as the group started noticing how weird she was acting she burst out suddenly. "I'm going to bed!"
And with that she turned and went to her bedroom, running up the stairs to her balcony where she locked the doors. Then she looked around and grabbed a chair and wedged it under the handles. She sat down on her bed.
"What am I supposed to do?"
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Colleen tossed and turned, trying desperately to go to sleep but it was just not working. She decided that she would have to tell her friends in the morning and ask their advice but she couldn't figure why it was happening to her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the pictures of her practically naked and tears would silently run down her face as the feeling of being horribly violated swept over her. She had only felt this violated once before.
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"If you don't fight me, you won't get hurt," he whispered in her ear, his hand running up and over her body.
Colleen was too scared to move as the knife bit a little more into her neck causing a trickle of blood to run down her slowly.
"What do you want with me?" she asked fearfully, pleading to understand.
"Just a bit of fun. Don't worry, you'll probably enjoy it," he promised.
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Why me?? She thought as she struggled to break away from the old memories. She looked at the clock. 3:45 A.M. She turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to do. Colleen had been lying there for a while, listening to the silence and staring into the dark when she heard something.
She sat up straight as she heard a small thump outside. Holding her breath, Colleen waited, listening intently, hoping that she was hearing things but then it came again. Then again.
She quickly grabbed her kimono and slowly walked down her stairs. Taking a deep breath, she opened her bedroom door. Her shoulders shuddered as another small thump came and quickly her hands snatched a baseball bat from the closet. She walked towards the front door and waited for another sound but it didn't come.
As silence was the only thing she heard, she slowly turned the handle and opened the door, baseball bat raised. But only darkness greeted her. She tentatively took a step out onto the porch. And then another. Suddenly her feet started to slip, her breath caught in her throat as she tried not to fall but something slippery caused her to slam against the door as she stumbled over. She fell to her knees and her hands oozed into something warm and thick. She stood up, realizing that she was covered with something sticky. She reached for the porch light and looked down.
Kevin sat straight up as he heard a piercing scream, startled from his deep sleep. It came again and panic started racing through his blood as he quickly threw back the covers.
"Kevin? Did you hear a scream?" Brian asked as he stood up and Nick tried to understand what was happening.
Kevin nodded, his face worried as AJ and Howie came running.
"Did you guys hear . . ." AJ stopped talking as another scream was heard. "That?" He finished. The door flew open as Shannon, Kendall, Ryan, and Morgan burst in.
"Are you guys okay? Who screamed?" Shannon burst out, as she looked around frantically. Another scream was heard and they realized that only one person wasn't there. Colleen.
Kevin started running, his throat closing with fear, as he pushed through Shannon and Ryan, and headed down the stairs. "Colleen, COLLEEN!" he yelled, as he ran towards the front of the house. He heard the others following. He saw the front door open, Colleen standing there, now whimpering and he stopped as he realized something.
She was covered in blood.
Colleen looked up, staring at them with blank eyes, her hands raised and streaked red, her shoulders shaking with fear. Kevin took a step forward but she immediately backed away. As she backed away, she stepped to the side and then they saw.
"Shit," AJ swore as he tried to believe what was before him.
"Oh my god," Shannon moaned as she saw what was behind her sister. She felt her stomach turn and she took deep breaths, trying desperately not to throw up.
A large cat was hanging from their porch, butchered, cut, and destroyed, still warm blood dripping into the large red pool that was already on the porch. One eye was missing, a paw was cut off, it's intestines hanging on the outside of its body.
Ryan gasped as she saw what else was there. She silently pointed to the cat and the rest saw the note. The note, a note pinned to the cat's guts, covered with blood but heavy black marker still visible.
YOU'RE NEXT COLLEEN
Kevin walked carefully to Colleen, his eyes on the note as he reached out and slowly pulled her into his arms. She shook as he hugged her gently, not caring that she was covered in blood but just relieved that she was okay physically.
He turned her away from the cat and picked her up in his arms and took her into the house. He was careful not to get blood on the walls as he carried her into her bathroom and set her in the bathtub.
Shannon was behind him and he looked at her, his face white, his care for her sister evident. "Kevin, I'll take care of her. I need you to go call the police," she said softly as she grabbed a towel from the closet. He nodded and turned to go downstairs.
He hesitated as he looked back at Colleen who was staring vacantly at the wall. "I'll be right downstairs if she needs anything," he told her. "Anything."
Shannon nodded, practically crying. "Okay." She closed the door behind him and turned to her sister who was coming out of shock.
"Shannon?" she whispered pitifully.
Shannon gathered her close as she tried not to think of what was happening. "We're going to be okay, Colleen." And she turned on the bath water.
*********
"So have you noticed any other strange occurrences around this fancy joint recently?" Officer Kaplan asked offensively.
Shannon stared at him angrily before answering. "Other than the phone calls and emails and what my sister has told you, no."
The officer nodded while he cracked his gum noisily, reading his notes on his pad. "So you think that it might be this Caine fellow? The guy from California? Doesn't seem likely, I mean he didn't have your name or number," he pointed out as he stared at Colleen, giving her a condescending look.
Colleen flinched and Kevin drew her closer to him.
"You know, I think we could do without the attitude, officer" Kevin said sternly, while rubbing his hands up and down Colleen's back, trying to comfort her. "You're job is to figure out who it is, not belittle others opinions and ideas."
Officer Kaplan stared at Kevin and then shut his notebook. "I think we have enough for now. Call me if anything else comes to mind." And with that he left.
Colleen immediately locked the door behind him and then went back to Kevin, who opened his arms and drew her close.
AJ nudged Brian and gestured towards outside and Brian nodded. They silently got up and went outside to remove the cat and clean up the porch. Shannon heard the whistle of the kettle and went to make some hot chocolate.
Nick sat there and decided that it was his job to lighten the mood. "You know what I think we should do?" he said brightly.
Kendall looked at him wearily. "What?"
"Let's have a all-night slumber party thingy," he suggested. "We could um, eat junk food, tell stories, talk about being famous and adored." He paused. "Well, I can talk about being famous and adored."
Kendall snorted but she had to admit Nick's idea was a good one.
"Okay, let's do it."
They spent the rest of the night talking and chatting by the fire, and Colleen actually started to relax somewhat.
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