A Different Kind of Animal

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

“See you later,” Arabelle called over her shoulder, raising her hand above her head in a half-wave.

Crystal yelled another “Thank you!” into the evening, and then shut the door to the cozy, one-storey home where she lived. 

As Arabelle walked away from the little house, heading down the side street toward her own home, she found herself surprised that she hadn’t actually hated her visit. After buying a loaf of bread from Foodland—for she’d had to buy something to make Crystal believe her fib from earlier—she’d opted to go back to the girl’s house to help her with her history project. 

The project had turned out all right, even without either of them ever actually going to the hospital like they were supposed to have done as a project requirement. The Internet supplied more than enough information for Crystal to seem knowledgeable about the topic.

A smile formed on her lips as she tried to imagine Crystal up in front of the classroom reiterating everything that Arabelle had crammed into her head and forced her to remember. It was bound to be both entertaining and longwinded. At least the girl had a poster board to help her along in case she forgot anything.

A sudden breeze made gooseflesh rise up on her arms, and she rubbed them vigorously in an attempt to warm herself. She hadn’t anticipated staying out so late into the evening, so she hadn’t brought a jacket along on her walk earlier. Now she regretted it.

Pulling her cell phone out of her small denim handbag, she saw that it was already eight o’ clock. She hated that it didn’t remain daylight in the spring as long as it did in the summer. Within minutes, dusk descended rapidly, and she was soon anxious as the shadows between the trees on either side of the road grew darker and more impenetrable.

Only a few more minutes, and I’ll be home, she thought to herself, resisting the urge to go ahead and call her mom to ask for a ride. Besides, when did anything ever happen in Kingwood? Never, so there was nothing to fear.

She almost believed that until something stirred to her left, making leaves rustle together. She thought that maybe she had even heard the scuff of movement along the ground. Footsteps? Someone walking?

Eyes wide, she didn’t stop to investigate, but instead kept her eyes locked on the single glowing light over her porch that was steadily getting closer and closer, a beacon of safety—but still not close enough for her to feel any comfort.

Straining her ears, she tried to hear if whatever was there in the woods was following her, but only silence answered.

Still, she was horrified by the sense that whatever was there was following her, so she trusted her intuition and broke into an all-out sprint towards her home.

“No—wait!” someone called out behind her, obviously expecting her to stop.

But the voice was masculine, which only made her run all the harder. She wasn’t stupid enough to fall victim to the false cry for help. She’d watched enough of the news to know that dirty trick.

“Please! Stop!” the voice continued.

Arabelle’s mind did panicked cartwheels as she realized that whoever had yelled that was frighteningly closer than she had previously thought. How did he catch up so fast?

She felt like screaming, but she was breathing too hard to do anything but wheeze. Why did it seem like her house wasn’t getting any closer? This was a nightmare.

But then a car turned off the main street into the lane that she was in, lighting up the road and giving her a brief moment of relief. Encouraged by the light, she glanced over her shoulder just in time to catch a glimpse of something white pulling into the shadows of the trees.