With that, I started down the hall and accidentally hit over some paint cans as I went. I hopped out of the door on one foot, struggling to ditch my shoes in fear that they would leave pink footprints that would lead him straight to me. I bolted to the nearest tree I could find, ignoring the pieces of yellow rock that pierced the bottom of my stockings as I ran over the path. I ducked behind it and peered over the side, watching as Wally made his way to the door seemingly laughing at my wrecked shoes. I watched him look around before his eyes landed on the slightly messy path I had run through clumsily.
A thrilled smile spread across his lips and he skipped over to the yellow path, just a few feet in front of me. As quietly as possible, I reached up to the branches of the tree and pulled myself on to them. I held my breath as the branches shook the leaves. Wally noticed this and made his way to the tree, peeking over as if he was expecting me to be there. I watched him turn back around and pick up a yellow pebble, tossing it into the tree and just narrowly missing me. He began to prance away, satisfied. I saw him walk further down the path through the leaves, watching as he shoved the knife up his sleeve while passing by the other neighbors. I climbed down from the tree and ran in the opposite direction, coming up to a very pink house. I hid behind it and leaned over the edge, scouting out a hiding place to spend the rest of the morning in.
"Hey, new neighbor! Why are you behind my house?" A squeaky female voice asked from behind me.
I jumped and turned around in freight, only to see a cute female standing before me. She had a red dress with a white circle belt, long yellow hair, and greenish blue stockings - she was the one I saw at Wally's home.
"Oh uhm.. it's a long story-" I said, suddenly feeling watched.
My eyes shifted past her shoulder and saw Wally. He was standing in front of a gray male, but he wasn't paying attention to him. His eyes were locked on me like a predator watching its prey.
"I need to go." I blurted out, my hand going to grab hold of the scissors.
"Wait! Won't you come inside for a bit?" She said, pleadingly.
Before I could say no, she had already grabbed hold of my hand and started dragging me around the side of her house and straight to her front door. I thought about pulling away but realized Wally wouldn't hurt me in front of the other neighbors.. Right? I entered the house with her and noticed how pink everything was.
"My! What happened to your shoes? Here, come with me. I have some extra pairs I don't wear much." She said, smiling sweetly at me.
"Oh, thank you..?" I said, following her into the living room.
"Julie!" She said, winking and leading me down a hallway and into her blue and pink room.
I blushed slightly at the gesture. She waltzed over to her walk-in closet and opened the sliding door, revealing hundreds of dresses and different colored flats and heels. I glanced up at the flower clock above her neatly made bed, noting I still had two more hours until noon. When my eyes traveled down from the clock and scanned the room, I could've sworn I saw someone's eyes staring at me through the window. I gasped and quickly turned around, grabbing a pair of red shoes to distract Julie before she could question me.
"Oh! Red is SO your color. Try them on!" She said in excitement.
She watched intently as I slipped them over my skin-tone stockings. She stared at me in awe, causing me to blush from embarrassment. She reminded me of my mother when we went prom dress shopping. Before I could remove them, she stopped me.
"Keep them. They look better on you anyways." She said, looking away with a small blush glowing on her cheeks.
I smiled and hugged her as a thank-you. I checked the time, now only an hour and a half remained. I told her I needed to leave since I had to meet with Barnaby, hiding the fact I didn't want Wally to know I was cheating at the game. She walked me back to her door sadly but before I could go, she grabbed my hand and ran her thumb over my fingers reassuringly.
"Come by sometime, I'm thinking about trying a new cookie recipe that I think you'll like." She said, looking away flustered.
"Oh? I definitely will!" I smiled brightly at her.
She released my hand slowly and waved bye as I left her house and stepped onto the yellow path. As the light from her door faded, I felt a hand grip over my mouth and pull me back behind the house. I struggled and kicked but to no avail. The person threw me to the ground behind the pink house and their shadow loomed over me. I looked up and a wave of fear crashed into me like cars colliding. Wally was standing over me, holding the knife against his cheek and watching me lovingly.
"You two are awfully friendly. I think she just LOVES you." He said, angrily.
Wally ran his hand through his hair, pushing a few pieces that had fallen out due to the chase back in their place.
"I never lose! Ha. Ha." He said, coming closer.
He gripped my hair and forced my head back, bringing the knife up to my neck and pressing it into my flesh. I felt the cool metal dig into my skin and break the first layer, a stinging sensation radiating from my neck. Swiftly, I reached for the scissors in my shorts and pulled them out, stabbing them right into his shoulder and cringing at the blood that splattered on my face.
"That's for biting me, bitch!" I yelled, kicking him away.
He stumbled back and laughed as he reached up and pulled the scissors out of his shoulder. I watched as deep red blood oozed from the jagged wound. He threw the scissors off to the side, them landing in the brush with a clank. I crawled away from him until my back hit Julie's white fence. Wally slowly made his way over to me, crouching down over my shaking legs and setting his kitchen knife onto the dirt. He reached out and held my face in one hand.
"I thought ninth time would be the charm. Oh well." He said, pulling his hand away and reaching for the knife.
Then, in an instance, it all finally clicked. The eight children that disappeared and his direct connection to them - how they were all with him before they disappeared from here too. What did he do to them? I kicked the knife away from him before he could get a hold on it and jumped on him, wrestling to get on top and finally pinning him to the ground.
"Wally, what did you do to them. What did you do to those kids?" I spat, looking down into his crazed eyes.
He looked back at me with an empty expression and immediately stopped struggling. I sat back and released his hands as he hid his face into his palms.
"It wasn't my fault. I- I didn't do it.. I didn't mean to." He said, gasping for air.
Is he.. crying? Why is he crying? I thought.
"Wally, what happened?" I asked, leaning back over him and removing his hands.
"I can't tell you." He said.
"It will hurt me if I tell you."
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