Dead By Dawn

Chapter Four:

(Flashback)

      LeAnne McCarthy said goodbye to her parents as they left to attend Aunt Mariel's wedding, the next town over. She wasn't really an aunt, just a close friend of her mother's. 

      It was cold and the sleet was pouring down so hard it left big red marks on her skin as she waved goodbye at the front door. She locked it after she went inside, not knowing her murderer was already one step ahead...

       She got into bed and turned her light off by the long string hanging overhead. The room was almost pitch black. Little did she know that she couldn't wake up the next morning. And her parents would be the ones to find her body. Then her head.

      She saw nothing but the bright, wide eyes of the man standing over her, his eyes shining as the lights from the street-lamp outside reflected off them.

       He seemed to smirk, maybe even smile, even though she couldn't see his face, she could tell. His breathing became calm, less angered, less stressed. And slowly she felt herself fade away.

      Her vision went blurry, and then started to turn black. Suddenly she passed out.

      She never felt the knife plunging into her chest, or the slit to her throat that led to her beheading. She was asphyxiated and died from that one action. The stabbings, the beheading... there was no need for that. It was overkill.

      Someone must really hate her to do that...at least that's what the detectives thought the next day when her body was found.

*****

       Carrie walked along her hallway sleepily, until a shriek sounded from downstairs, followed by a bang...

      She froze. Suddenly awake.

      Then there was silence. Has he finally got to her? Carrie wondered. Am I in the same house as the killer?

      She walked silently into the nearest room, which was the storage cupboard. In there was a bunch of things she could use as a weapon. Hammers, screwdrivers, pocket knives, and for some reason, a baseball bat. 

      She left the cupboard a few minutes later...unarmed.

*****

     "Steve? What are you doing here?" Carrie asked as she entered the kitchen, where the noise and scream had come from. Kady was standing by the sink, and a chair from the kitchen table was tipped over.

      "Just making sure Kady was all right." Steve said quickly. "I couldn't get in touch so I thought I'd pop by." He said as he picked up the tipped over chair, and placed it back under the table.

      "So what was the screaming about?"

      "Oh, that was me." Kady admitted. "I pulled out the chair to sit down and there was a huge spider on it. I have no idea where it is now though."

      "And you screamed because it jumped at you with swords and shit?" Carrie joked. She'd never been scared of spiders, and saw no reason for anyone to be.

      "It was massive!! And I swear to god, it jumped at me." Kady said, her eyes wide.

      "Of course it did." Carrie said mockingly.

      "Anyway...." Kady said, "I'm gonna go back to my dad's for the night and maybe see you guys tomorrow, if you wanna go grab some food somewhere?"