The Callahan Dynasty

Intruders

It was the day of the fashion show.
I was rudely awoken by Lisa who called me up at 5.am in the morning and yelled at me to not to dare be late.

It took all I had not to yell a few unpleasant words at her.

I tossed my phone aside after she was done talking.

I walked up to the mirror that hung on the wall and cringed when I saw how swollen my eyes were from all the crying I had done.

And just like that, all the feelings of loneliness returned.
Jason would be back today but would that really change anything?

He hadn't texted me or called and that alone told me a lot about where we stood.

Was the moment we had just that? A moment?

This was crazy. Was I really stressing over Jason the way a girl might overthink her interactions with a crush?

I hadn't had a crush on anyone in a long time.... excluding Alex of course.

A lot changed in me after my parents died.

I just couldn't be with anyone because I was so sure that if I let them get close, that they would just hurt me in the end.

I sighed. Thinking about the past and all my problems would only depress me even more and I would probably cry my eyes out again.

Speaking of my eyes. I should probably take care of the swelling.
Lisa would probably claw them out if I showed up like this.
I had gotten very good at concealing my swollen and puffy eyes with makeup after spending the whole night crying.

After my family died, I would cry myself to sleep every night and would have have to cover up every morning before school.
But since I was expected to be at the Dynasty hotel without any makeup whatsoever, I had to opt for a more natural method.

Ice. Ice always works.

I headed out of my room and was about to turn down the hallway when I heard a sound come from the balcony.

I whipped around immediately but not fast enough because at that moment I felt a hand wrap around my mouth and someone wrap another arm around my waist to keep me secure.
I tried to scream and I squirmed and struggled in the person's hold.

But due to my failure, I deduced that the person must have been really strong.
But that didn't stop me. I kept struggling. I wouldn't die like this.

My eyes caught sight of a flower pot on a table not too far away from us.
I quickly reached out and picked it up. I raised my hands and threw it back; slamming it into my attacker's head.

I heard it smash and seconds later I was released from the persons hold.
I jumped out of his hands and didn't waste time in running down the stairs.

He was hurt but that hadn't put him down.

I stole a quick backwards flame but all I could see was a black hoodie.

My first thought was to find my phone. But I remembered that I had left it upstairs in my room.
My mind then went to the safe Anthony told me about. The one where the gun had been stashed.

Also up in my room.
The safest option was to escape out the front door.

I rushed towards it and started punching in the code. Maybe it was the fact that I was scared out of my mind or the fact that I was in such a hurry but my first attempt failed and the code was denied.

My hand got shaky as I tried to punch it in again.

Denied.

I sucked in a deep breath. Focus Kate. Focus!