She

It Starts With A Memory

She walked ever so carefully across the carpeted floor while the moon cast eerie shadows from corner to corner in the unusual room. The once white walls resembled a more of a swirled brown and tan from the dirt and age. It matched the old feeling of the grand house she and her partner had decided to accommodate for the night. There were two floors, an attic, and a six-car garage. Earlier that evening they had wandered through the house and found fourteen rooms altogether. But they were sure that there had to be a secret layout of some sort built into the house and the grounds. People were always looking to hide things within their house, especially back in the day when the world was a bit more secretive.

Even though most of the rooms had junk in it, they were unoccupied. Judging by the amount of mail left at the door, and the collection of dust that was starting to grow, the occupants had been gone for at least three weeks. Stopping she attempted to listen for the sound that woke her, but she heard nothing. She must have overslept if he was here already. “But I never do that,” she thought to herself. The sound of her breathing through her mouth overpowered her eardrums. She closed her mouth and attempted to breathe through her nose, which she found difficult as it was still tender from her last face to face encounter with him.

Switching focus, she tried to remember how far down the hall she heard the footsteps, as she crept towards the door. Five doors down, maybe five minutes ago with any luck, she thought. Looking at the illuminated clock as it blared 3:04 am in neon red. Hoping she was right, she stood by the door waiting. When the time was right, she would make it down the steps, down the hall, make a left, a few doors down, and straight into the garage, where thankfully the 2014 BMW 380i was waiting. She and her partner had stumbled across it two days ago while scouting the acres of land the house is on. It was only right they bring it back to the house with them when they discovered the alarm didn’t work and the doors were unlocked. It didn’t even take her five minutes even to disable the “advanced” GPS tracking software. Barely broke a sweat with all the technological advancements they say they have, she thought to herself.

Finally, she heard the light shuffle of feet as he made his way to the next door in the hallway. This was her chance. Shifting her backpack so it wouldn’t get in the way, she waited for him to open the door. If she opened her own door too early or late, the echoing squeak would give her away. Lifting the door slightly she opened her door nearly simultaneously to him. Mimicking the movements, she heard, she lightly shuffled out of the room as he shuffled into the room three doors down. Holding her breath, she waited only a moment after he closed the door to fly down the stairs. Taking the steps three at a time she knew it would be impossible to hide the noise she moved as quickly as possible. Five steps up she hopped over the banister and dashed down the hallway. Before she could even reach the end of the hallway her heart was racing. What was wrong with her, she never had such an intense reaction even in the most stressful of situations. Before she could stop to contemplate her intensified emotions, she sensed his presence getting closer, which meant he was already on the steps. She found the third door on the right that led to the garage. Busting through the door, she ran to the car door nearly falling over an unusually placed blue toolbox. She punched in the code for the driver’s side and hopped in while throwing her bag in the passenger’s seat. Pushing the button for the garage door, she counted down the seconds until he would reach her. “Eight…seven…six” She could hear him in the hallway now. “Five…four…Got damn it this has got to be the slowest thing that has ever lived…two…” Barely missing the bottom of the rising garage door, she rammed her foot into the gas. She glanced at the rear-view mirror only once, and right into his intense brown eyes before speeding around the bend and out of sight.