Blood at the Doorstep 2
527 Words
The room fell into complete silence.
Amelia couldn't breathe.
The text message still glowed on her screen.
LOOK BEHIND YOU.
Her fingers tightened around her aunt's phone.
Someone...
...was standing outside the bedroom door.
A shadow stretched beneath the gap at the bottom of the door.
It wasn't moving.
Neither was she.
A floorboard creaked somewhere in the hallway.
Amelia's pulse thundered in her ears.
"Amelia?"
Dante's voice echoed faintly from downstairs.
She tried to answer.
Nothing came out.
The doorknob turned.
Slowly.
Once.
Then stopped.
Whoever was outside wasn't trying to force the door open.
It was as if they were waiting.
Watching.
Testing her.
Another vibration came from the phone.
A second message.
DON'T LET HIM SEE THIS.
Amelia frowned.
Him?
Did they mean Dante?
Before she could think any further, the bedroom window burst open with a violent crash.
Cold wind rushed into the room, sending papers flying everywhere.
She gasped and instinctively stepped back.
By the time she looked toward the door again...
The shadow was gone.
The hallway was empty.
"Dante!" she shouted.
Heavy footsteps pounded up the staircase.
Dante burst into the room, his pistol raised.
"What happened?"
"There was someone outside the door."
He scanned the hallway.
Nothing.
One of his guards checked every room on the second floor.
"Clear."
"It can't be," Amelia insisted. "I saw the shadow."
Dante walked to the shattered window.
The rain had washed away most of the footprints outside, but one detail caught his attention.
On the windowsill rested a single black chess piece.
A king.
He picked it up without a word.
Amelia noticed.
"What is it?"
Instead of answering, he slipped the chess piece into his coat pocket.
"You know what it means, don't you?" she asked.
His jaw tightened.
"I was hoping I'd never see this again."
Before Amelia could press him, another guard called from downstairs.
"Boss!"
Dante and Amelia hurried down.
The guard stood in the living room, pointing his flashlight toward the fireplace.
"There wasn't anything here before."
Carved into the wooden mantel were four fresh words.
THE GAME HAS BEGUN.
The letters looked as though they had been scratched into the wood only moments ago.
Amelia felt a chill crawl down her spine.
"Who could have done this?"
No one answered.
Then every light in the house flickered back to life.
The television switched on by itself.
Static filled the screen.
A second later, the static disappeared.
A man wearing a white mask appeared on the television.
His voice had been digitally distorted.
"Good evening, Attorney."
Amelia froze.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you."
The masked man smiled.
"Tell Mr. Romano..."
He paused, as if savoring every second.
"...that this time, he loses."
The screen went black.
Silence returned to the house.
Dante stared at the blank television.
For the first time since Amelia had met him...
She saw genuine fear in his eyes.
Very quietly, he whispered,
"...He's alive."
Amelia turned toward him.
"Who is alive?"
Dante didn't answer.
Outside, hidden in the darkness across the street, a lone figure lowered a pair of binoculars.
The figure smiled.
Everything was going exactly according to plan.
- Writer
