The Speed of Sound

Chance helped me out of the car and to my front door. It was about ten o'clock and all the lights in my house were low. I was sure mom and Janice were asleep.

“Hey, look, I kind of acted really weird tonight and I just want to say that, I have a lot to deal with, but I’m just hoping we can get past my weirdness.” He said.

“Consider it in the past.” I said resting my arms on his shoulders. I was extremely curious about what he was talking about, but I didn’t want to push him into talking about something he wasn’t comfortable talking about.

He leaned in and planted his lips on mine again. “I’ll call you in the morning.” He said.

“Hopefully the sun will be up this time.” I said.

He smiled at me and kiss my forehead. “See you soon.” He said, walking back to his car.

I opened the door and hobbled inside. “Mom? Janice?” I shouted. “I’m home!”

There was no answer. I limped upstairs and into my moms room, but no one was here. I picked up the phone and called my mom.

“Hello? Everything going alright?” My mom asked.

“Uh, yeah, I just got home, where are you guys?” I asked.

“We went out for frozen yogurt! We thought you’d be home way later.¨ She said. ¨Chance, what a nice boy he is, bringing you home before midnight and all.¨

I scoffed. ¨Bye, mom.¨

¨See you when you get home dear!¨ She said before I hung up.

I laid down in my bed, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in. I wrapped myself in my blankets and shut my eyes, replaying the events of my first date with Chance, over and over again. I felt so happy and warm inside. I wished I could go back and replay it over and over again.

I heard a small tink! on my bedroom window. It was a pretty common sound for me to hear, only this one was different. Almost like when Chance was throwing rocks at my window. I felt a huge, goofy grin appear on my face as I jumped out of bed and hopped over to my window. I pulled back the curtain, but I didn’t see his headlights, or him for that matter.

I peered into my front lawn and noticed someone...or something outside. It was tall, very tall, I couldn’t see very well in the dark, but it was clear this thing was almost seven feet tall. It was eerily skinny and swayed in the wind, in an almost tree like fashion, but it was moving, taking almost stilt-walker like steps toward my window. My eyes almost bulged out of my skull, and pulled the curtains shut, hobbing to my bathroom and shutting and locking the door behind me as fast as I could without crutches. I backed into the corner of my bathroom, remembering phone phone on the table by my bed. I cursed myself, being too afraid to go back out there.
I decided to wait it out in my bathroom, I was probably dreaming, who knows. I sat with my head against the cold tile wall. I heard light thumps on the floor, then softer ones. Like someone was walking on the carpet in my room. I crawled over to the door, and peered under it. I was starting to feel a little anxious and embarrassed. I had nothing really to be afraid of.

I saw black, high heeled boots walk across my floor. I’ve never seen them, but I figured they were Janices. I used the side of my bathtub to help me off the floor.

“Jan?” I said easing open the door. She stood there, her back facing me. I walked up to her, grabbed her shoulder turning her around. “Ja--”

I caught my breath as she turned around, her face was horribly mutilated on one side, and badly burned on the other. I took a step back, about to run back into my bathroom, but I lost my footing and fell backward.

“He’ll throw you away, you know.” She said in a harsh, raspy voice. “Maybe you’ll get lucky, and he won’t leave you stuck between the two worst levels!”

She lunged at me, showing several rows of sharp, jagged teeth. I threw my hands up over my face, but it was like she was barely trying to come at me, not that I wanted her to. It was almost like she was leaning against me. I pushed her away, watching her fly to the other side of the room. She layed there for a minute, I tried to control my breathing but i was hyperventilating. She rolled over and groaned. I pushed myself up, using the wall behind me and stood up as best as I could, in a fighting stance.

My bedroom door swang open, I lifted my arm, ready for whatever was next but before I could swing I noticed that my mom was standing in front of me.

“Autumn, what did you do?” She asked, looking over at the girl.

I stammered trying to explain when the girl sat up, but it wasn’t the same, mutilated girl as before. It was Janice. I stood there baffled while she put a hand over her head.

“What the fuck was that for?”

I stammered. “But- you were just- your face.” I said.

“Well, I thought I did my make up pretty well today.” She said standing up.

My mom looked over to me. “Are you okay Autumn?”

I shook my head. “I-I just--”

“Look, it’s late, you’re probably exhausted. Why don’t you get some sleep.” Janice said.

I nodded. “Yeah, okay.” I said.

“Well, do you want me to stay in here, until you fall asleep? You look like you were having a pretty tough time.” My mom added.

“No,” I said sitting down on my bed. “I’ll be fine. I just need some sleep.”