Captivate

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

By the time I had walked the forty-five minutes it took me to get home I was irate. It had started to rain half way home and now I was soaked to the bone. Cursing Landon under my breath, I opened the kitchen door and entered the house. It was quiet. My parents must be out somewhere. Perhaps that’s what happened to Landon?  I grumbled to myself and stomped upstairs and took a hot shower to take away the chill.

After my shower I felt a little better but I was still angry. Why did Landon tell me he’d pick me up and then bail on me? I didn’t know what he was like. Maybe he was a player. If he was, then I would put a stop to it because nobody played Kara Winters….well anymore at least. No more Jake’s for me.

            Going down to the kitchen to get a snack I found Stella, our cook prepping food for supper. Thank the heavens she was back. Her cooking was the best.

            “Hey Stella,” I said, opening the fridge and poking around.

            “Hola chica,” she said, her Mexican accent heavy as she spoke.

            I found some carrot sticks and grabbed some ranch dip. Sitting down at the breakfast bar to face Stella, I watched her chop vegetables for supper.

“How was school?” Stella asked.

“Fine,” I said, a little harsher then I wanted to.

“Something wrong chica?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“No, just a lot happened today that kind of pissed me off,” I replied.

She clucked her tongue at my choice of language but didn’t comment.

“Where’s mom and dad?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Oh they were here earlier,” she said pointing to the basement door.

My heart immediately started doing double time. Did they catch Landon again? Is that why he didn’t show up after school? How was I going to get down there to check? Stella was going to be in the kitchen until well after supper. I slammed my fist down on the counter and Stella looked at me like I had gone crazy.

“Sorry, I just remembered I forgot something at school I was supposed to bring home.” With that I got up and stalked out of the kitchen, choking down the last carrot stick I had eaten.

I went up to my room and paced the floor. I had to get down in that basement. What if Landon was tied up down there again? What if it was too late? Holy shit! What the hell was I going to do if I went downstairs only to find Landon’s lifeless body? My knees grew weak at the thought and I sank to the floor of my bedroom.

Trying to rationalize with myself was nearly impossible after finding the hidden weapons in my dad’s closet. Okay calm down! I had to think of a way to get Stella out of the kitchen just long enough for me to sneak down to the basement.

Taking a marker out of my desk drawer I drew a long line down the front. I rushed down the stairs and in to the kitchen putting on my best Academy Award performance.

“Oh Stella,” I sobbed, holding out the front of my shirt. “I accidently got marker on my favorite shirt!”

It worked because she rushed over, shaking her head. “Oh chica, give it to me and I will get it out,” she said, motioning for me to take the shirt off.

Luckily I had a tank top on underneath so I pulled it over my head and handed to her.

“Thank-you so much Stella,” I said, hugging her.

She rushed off to the laundry room just like I had planned and I grinned to myself. Not wasting any time I ran over to the basement door, praying the key to the door was still up above. To my tremendous relief, it was. I unlocked the door and replaced the key before slipping inside and softly shutting the door behind me.

Like last time, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness not wanting to chance having the light on. I raced down the stairs as soon as I could see well enough and went straight to the room my parents had left Landon in last time. It was empty. I sighed with relief and went back down the hallway. Something down at the end of the hall by the stairs didn’t seem right. I went closer so I could get a better look.

There was a door made out of some kind of metal, instead of the usual wooden one. On the right side was a huge latch with a large spike going down through it, keeping it locked from the outside. Holy shit! I bet that my parents had Landon locked up in there. The only question was he dead or alive? Well reason would tell me he was alive. Why else would they need to lock it so securely from the outside?

I pulled out the large metal spike and pried open the latch. The door was heavy but I managed to pull it open. The room was utterly dark, darker than the rest of the basement. Leaving to go back to one of the other rooms to find something to see with because there was no way I was going in that pitch dark room without light.

I found a flashlight in one of the few normal rooms in our basement that actually held normal household items. Quickly I made my way back and turned on the flashlight before I entered the room. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of what I might find beyond the door. Taking a deep breath I stepped through the doorway.

Shining the light around, I didn’t see anything at first and almost sighed with relief just as my eyes caught something up above. A scream ripped out of my throat. There hanging by a rope from his neck was Landon. I sank to the floor and covered my head with my arms and wailed. I couldn’t believe it! My parents killed him!

“Kara,” I heard a whisper from above. What the hell?

I stopped and listened. It couldn’t be. I was too afraid to look up again.

“Kara!”

I looked up in shock. Landon’s eyes were open and looking down at me. I screamed again. This is not happening!

“Help!” he croaked.

I shone the flash light up to the rope around his neck and cringed. It ran up over a steel beam and was tied to the wall at the back of the room. I jumped up and ran over to the end of the rope. Thankfully it was tied to a hook mounted to the wall and all I had to do was unhook it. Landon’s body fell to the floor with a thud and I winced at the sound. I was almost too scared to look but I did anyways. He was already sitting up to my relief and I rushed over and knelt down in front of him.

I recoiled at the sight of his eyes. They were glowing and he looked pissed.

“Landon?” I whispered.

He growled and bared his teeth at me, giving me a good look at two long fangs extending down past his normal teeth. I scrambled backwards but it was too late, he had lunged forward and grabbed my head forcing it to the side.

“Please no!” I said, struggling.

Next thing I knew he had his mouth on my throat and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. Oh shit I’m going to die! I screamed as I felt his lips touch my throat and then blackness took over and I fainted.