The Master's Tale - When A Stranger Calls, Book 1, Part 8

Chapter 4 - Let's Get Creative

4

The large bedroom was now shrouded in darkness with the only source of light coming from the dim moonlight escaping from the drawn curtains as I twitched lightly in my sleep, the lamp on the nightstand flickering faintly. Visions of a memory played in my mind as I slept, with a dimly lit and hazy living room of a run-down small house, with the old furniture now turned over and a man's legs appearing from behind the couch and filling my chest with fear as the rest of the memory played out.

"Vince?"

I turned around the corner into the bedroom at the end of the hall, my eyes falling on my then seventeen year old boyfriend, Vince, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and wearing cut-up dark jeans and a black band-tee, covered in blood with a dark look in his blank expression, his short spiky brown hair now even more messy and streaked with blood.

"No, no- help! Help m-"

I heard the sound of the aluminum bat as it cracked against my skull, and each time it connected with my legs or torso with a sickening crack.

"Somebody, please! Help me! Help me, please..."

I remembered the pain that riddled my body as I dragged my broken legs down the hallway and left a trail of blood that seemed to be a never-ending spigot coming from the top of my head where the aluminum bat first made contact. The end of the hallway only seemed to feel further and further until eventually, my attacker caught up with me, turning me over and pinned me down with his body weight.

"Vince, please... It's me... Why are you doing this?"

My last moments of consciousness were spent staring into the darkened eyes of the boy I once trusted- and maybe even loved- and wondered why his eyes were no longer a brilliant shade of green, and why he looked at me with such hate and never said a word.

The sound of glass shattering woke me up from a deep sleep as I shot up in bed, my entire body buzzing with fear as I instinctively reached for Sam and felt nothing but the cold mattress. I shut my eyes, burying my face in my hands as I slouched over, biting down and attempting to hold back the tears.

"It's just a dream... It's just a dream, he can't hurt you... He's still locked up... He can't hurt you..."

I sniffled and wiped my face, looking up and attempting to turn the lights on with my mind when I heard a spark, looking over and realizing that the nightstand was now covered in glass.

I made a face, letting out a sigh that turned into a groan, "Fuck."

I waved my hands lightly, drawing open the curtains and scooting down in bed before crawling off the end and carefully watching the floor for glass as I reached for my robe and tied it around myself. I appeared first in the bathroom, checking out the library next and scaring the life out of Addison in the process, and then appearing in the kitchen only to find that everyone was still settled in for the night in the mostly darkened house.

I furrowed my brows, starting to grow worried as I made my way down the hall and past the grand dining room, "Sam?"

I stepped through another large arch, looking up the grand steps and peering into the main living room and calling out in a sing-song voice, "Sam? Where the hell are you?"

I made my way around the left side of the steps and peered down the hallway when I noticed a dim light coming from the infirmary, "Sam...?"

I furrowed my brows, suddenly reappearing inside the infirmary and saw Sam sitting with his back turned to me at the counter, going over something on his laptop with various other reports and test tubes around him, and an empty syringe lying on a sterile sheet nearby.