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“Andy?” I rushed into the empty great room, then into the kitchen. My arms swung at my sides. “Andy, where are you?”
“We’re upstairs. Hurry up.”
Against logic, I ran up the stairs instead of out the unguarded front door. At the top of the landing, I caught my breath. There was still time to run the other way.
“Erin!”
His cry came from the spare room with the crawl space. My steps were slow as I closed the distance between the landing and the room that had been my prison for weeks. One more step and I’d be inside. I flattened my back against the wall, giving myself to the count of three. Releasing a deep breath, I turned into the bedroom.
A scream tore my lungs to shreds. “Oh, my God! What have you two done?”
Slouched in a kitchen chair was Joe, with Doris and Andy standing on either side of him. Doris’s clothes were covered with more blood, as were her hands and face. Blood dripped down Andy’s arm. He held the butcher knife I’d used to kill Newbie in his right hand.
“We thought you might want to help finish what we started,” Andy said, waving the bloody knife in the air for me to take. “Don’t look so upset. Isn’t this what you’ve wished for since the beginning?”
“He’s your father.” I then directed my attention to Doris. “And your husband. This is crazy! You are both going to go to prison for this. I’ll be damned if you try to take me with you.”
“Come on, Erin, don’t be that way. We did this for you, for all of us. He’s a bad man. You know he is. It’s time you finish him. This can’t end if you don’t help us.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Andy? What do you want from me? He’s already dead. You both killed him.” I gasped for air.
Just as I declared Joe dead, he launched himself at me, begging me to save him. I jumped back, hitting the edge of the door with my shoulder.
As I stared into his black, bloodshot eyes, a part of me wanted to do what Andy asked of me. But I couldn’t.
“I won’t do it.”
Andy’s eyes bored into mine as if accepting my refusal wasn’t an option. Coercing me into becoming a killer like him and Doris wouldn’t work, but he had other ways to force my participation.
He tugged on Joe’s shoulders, bringing him back onto the chair. His eyes never left mine. I would be an accomplice to whatever came next. He raised the knife above his head—a ray of sunlight filtered in through the curtains onto the sharp blade. Joe’s eyes were wide with terror as the knife tore into his flesh and punctured his heart. In seconds Joe would be dead, but that wasn’t enough. Andy freed the knife to stab Joe in his shoulders, his neck, his stomach, one thigh and then the other.
I screamed as the sound of flesh ripping apart circled me. There was blood everywhere. I wiped my face, drawing back bloody hands. Joe was dead, but Andy wouldn’t stop.
Doris’s eyes were alight with humor. On her lips was a menacing smile—she’d won. They all had. I was a changed person, no longer trusting or kind. The images they put in my head would never go away. The experiences I had while in their hold would never leave my thoughts. Two people I’d cared about had died; one by my hand and the other by Joe’s.
I screamed at the murderous scene before me. I wanted out. I wanted it all to stop.
Someone, please save me.