Chapter 8: Intruder
1500 Words
A thousand-and-one thoughts rampaged violently through my head and I tried to think of what to do next. I needed to call the police but before I could do even that, I'd have to fetch my phone.
I stood painfully still, as if that would save me from some intruder, racking my brain on how to get to my phone before whoever was in the house got to me.
Slowly, I turned and let my eyes scan the den. It was dark but a bit of light shone in from the kitchen. I saw nothing, but the stairs were on the other side of the house, far out of reach, even if I sprinted.
Gripping the bat to the point of pain, I tip-toed through the den and into a large open area that led to the kitchen and formal dining room and a hallway that would take me to the foyer where the stairs were.
I just had to stay quiet and stick to the shadows. Once I was on the stairs, I could risk sprinting to my room and shutting the door.
Easy-peasy. Right?
With a large breath held in my lungs, I took my first cautious step into the large open space. Shadows danced everywhere around me, but every time I focused my eyes on one shadow or another, there was nothing there. Worse yet, focusing on one seemed to invite other shadows to dance out of the corners of my eyes. It was a never ending menagerie of dark figures, dancing around for my terrified amusement.
I had to force my legs to move at a creeping pace – everything in my body screaming for me to sprint and get it over with. When I made it to the hallway, I checked behind me to make sure that there was no figure there, stalking me. When I saw nothing creeping up behind me, I focused my eyes on the hallway until they adjusted to see into the darkness ahead.
I forced my lungs to exhale and then inhale methodically a few times before I stepped into the foreboding hallway. Inching along the wall, bat held high, I made sure to check every room that I passed before I walked past its threshold. By the time I made it to the foyer, my body was screaming in pain from how tense my muscles were. I felt like an elastic band pulled to its limit, ready to pop.
The second my foot hit the first stair, I let all of the pent up fear loose on my muscles. I sprinted faster than I ever had before, closing the distance between me and my new bedroom in a matter of moments.
When I was safely within the room, I shut and locked the door with more force than I would have liked. I rushed to my bed and searched the covers frantically for my phone, almost succumbing to tears when the covers did not immediately surrender it to me. Did I leave it downstairs by accident? Was all of this for nothing?
Finally, I felt my fingers wrap around my cell phone and yanked it free. I fumbled a few times with my passcode, nearly screaming when I got it wrong on the third try and it warned me that I had one more attempt left.
I took a deep breath and tried my best to input the code calmly, laughing maniacally under my breath when it unlocked and all of my apps popped up.
Pulling up the phone pad, I dialled 9-9-9 and pressed the phone to my ear. It was then that I realised I didn't check my room after I ran in and slammed the door shut. For all I knew, the intruder could be in here, waiting for me.
The emergency operator answered almost immediately but the words lodged in my throat as I tried to speak them.
"Hello, is someone there?"
"Yes," I managed in such a soft voice, I was surprised when she heard me.
"What is the emergency?"
I looked around and slowly backed myself into a corner so that I could see if anyone came at me. "Someone is in my house," I whispered.
"I'm sorry ma'am, can you repeat that?"
"I think someone is in my house," I hissed.
"Okay ma'am, can you give me the address and I'll have someone on their way?"
I quickly gave her the address in as loud of a voice as I dared and waited for her to confirm it.
"Okay ma'am, I have an officer on their way. Is the person still in the house with you?"
"I think so," I said with my heart in my throat. “I can't be sure though."
"Is there a safe place where you can hide until the officer is there?"
"I'm in my room but I didn't check to see if there was anyone in here before I locked it."
I heard typing while she was quiet for just a moment. "Ma'am, what's your name?"
"Harlow, Harlow Clarke." I heard her type some more at a rapid, inhuman pace.
"Okay Harlow," the emergency operator said in a gentle tone. "I need you to stay on the phone with me until the officer arrives, he's only two minutes away. Is there somewhere you can hide in your room while you wait?"
I eyed the space under the bed, wondering if that would be a good place to hide. But then, visions of a man hiding under the bed, waiting to grab me by the ankles and drag me under filled my head. "I'm hiding in the corner, I'm afraid to move."
"That's okay Harlow, just stay there and try to be quiet until the police arrive. Just a minute now, okay?"
I nodded but said nothing, knowing full well that she couldn't see me.
That last minute felt like an eternity as I waited there in the darkest corner of my room. Finally though, the operator spoke. "Officers are there now Harlow, can you make it to the front door?"
"I can try," I said with a shaking voice. Would an intruder be so brazen as to attack me with police at the front door? Surely if I didn't answer the door and let them in, they would break it down to save me, right?
I stood from my crouched position and hated the ache in my joints. My entire body felt like a livewire of intense pain.
The walk from the corner of the room to my bedroom door felt like a marathon and by the time I made it to the front door of the house, I felt as if I was on the verge of collapsing.
"I'm at the front door," I said as I flicked the deadbolt and threw it open. I couldn't remember saying goodbye to the operator, or even thanking her. But a moment later I was off the phone and fumbling with the beeping security alarm as cops threw questions at me from left and right.
Once the alarm was off, I was pulled out into the night air by commanding hands as an officer stepped into the house.
"Wait there," a uniformed officer said in a gruff voice as he followed the first officer into the house. A second later, another car pulled up and another officer stepped out, walking up to me and scanning the yard for any signs of trouble.
"Harlow Clarke?" The newest officer asked after saying something into the radio strapped to his shoulder.
I nodded, my phone buzzing in my hand. I glanced down at it as I saw Olly's face pop up on my screen. "I have to take this, it's my boss," I said to the uniformed man in front of me.
"Your boss is calling you this late at night?" The look on his face said it all, but I was too terrified and tightly wound to smack him upside the head.
"No, well yes. He's the owner of the house. I'm the maid."
He looked me up and down subtly but I became acutely aware of what I was wearing at that moment. Oh God, I was basically naked in my thin pyjamas.
"He's away on a business trip, I'm home alone. Or at least, I thought I was." I looked back at the house as a few lights turned on inside and flashlight beams shone through the windows upstairs.
The officer standing with me nodded and said something else into the radio, but I wasn't listening. I slid the green button up on my phone and immediately heard a frantic Olly yelling for me to "Pick up the damn phone, already!"
"I'm sorry, Olly. I'm here, I'm okay." I tried my best to sound brave as I tried to speak over his ravings but he was deafening in his anxious ramblings.
"Why are there cops at the house, what happened? Are you okay? Tell me that you're okay!"
- Writer
