Like Yesterday (first draft)

Chapter Eight

It takes a full thirty minutes of begging from Dani to get me to back into the house and show her what we saw. Trying to explain what I had seen had just brought back nauseas feeling. Luke and Dani wanted to see what I had seen themselves, but they decided I needed to go back inside too.

Carter and I lead everybody inside and up the stairs to her room. I stay as far away from the door as I can, not necessarily wanting to catch a view of what lies behind the door of the room. Carter grips my arm so tightly that I am sure my circulation is being cut off. Sam and Luke open the door slowly at first, and then push it completely open. Sam gags and backs away from the door, his face pale. Luke gawks at the scene in front of him. He turns back towards Dani and she takes a look inside. A small scream escapes her throat and she scrambles back towards me.

“That’s him! Oh my gosh!” Dani exclaims, “What do we do?!”

“I don’t know.” I fight the urge to puke again –the sight of blood makes me very queasy- as I get another quick look in Carter’s room. Everything is torn up and thrown on the floor. There are shattered picture frames and ripped papers everywhere. Broken glass covers the carpet from a window that was shattered by a rock that rests a few feet away in a pile of glass. On the bed still holding the paper is Mike, lying in a pool of blood with a knife sticking out of his chest.

“Dude, you’re green! Stop looking at him!” Luke says, pulling me down the hallway. I fall to my knees and fight the urge to throw up.

“He must have been in here while Sam and I were outside…” Carter whispers, refusing to look in the direction of her room. “I had been outside almost two hours with Sam. This must have happened when we weren’t here…”

“Guys,” I mutter, holding down puke. “Can we get outside? I’m gonna puke if we don’t hurry up and get away from the blood.”

I see Sam and Luke exchange quick glances before practically carrying me down the stairs. I ignore the pain in my ribs from this morning and focus on just getting outside before I lose the rest of my breakfast/lunch. We get outside and Luke helps me to the bushes just before I puke. I hear him gag and he runs back towards everyone else.

A few minutes later, I’m standing next to Carter with a horrible taste in my mouth. Sam reluctantly walks inside to get me a glass of water. We all wait in silence until Sam comes running out of the house. He hands me the glass, acting as if he's just seen a ghost. I thankfully take the water and chug it down, washing down the nasty taste in my mouth.

"Sam, what's wrong with you?" Dani asks Sam, "You look almost as green as James did!"

Sam takes a deep breath, looking down at the grass. "Nothing," he mutters. 

Dani and I exchange uncertain glances. She takes Sam by the arm and walks with him a few feet away from us. I look suspiciously at the house. Sam hadn't seem as phased by Mark's dead body as he is phased by whatever is causing him discomfort now. Carter and Luke both exchange words of discomfort about the situation. I block out their voices and focus on the house, specifically the second floor. Something had obviously spooked Sam. The only other thing in his house other than us was Mark. Of course he was dead though. I try and see if there is any marks on the way as to how he got into Carter's room. I examine the window that would lead to her room from the front. Since her room is on the corner, there is chance that Mark could have gotten in through a different window that's not on the front side of her house. I still continue to inspect the window. The curtains are drawn shut, and the window is closed. From where I stand, I don't see any cracks on the window. I take a few steps closer to the house, never taking my focus of the window. look to see if I can find any foot prints or any kind of mark that would show how he got into the house. Nothing. I'm about to turn back when the curtain moves slightly. My eyes snap to something like looks like a small peek hole between the curtains. I freeze, my breath caught in my throat. In the peek hole I swear I see eyes. The peep hole closes up. My heart starts beating  faster and faster, but I still can't breathe. My eyes are glued to the window, to the same spot in the curtains. I try taking a step back and fall flat on my back. Quickly standing up, I run over to Dani and Sam.