Wind

• • S I X T E E N • •

"Hello," Jeremey called into the void.

"Shh," I automatically hushed him, feeling like disturbing the space with any noise above a whisper might somehow cause it to all come crumbling down, burying us alive inside.

"You said there was someone in here." Jeremey faced me. I accidentally shone the flashlight in his eyes, and he put his hand up to cover them.

"Maybe she's hiding," I suggested. "Around the corner."

Jeremey turned back to the basement. "Hey, you can come out. We aren't going to hurt you. We just want to help you get out of here."

Something moved in the beam of light like a rat or a snake slithering across the floor. I jumped back, my eyes automatically snapping shut. When I opened them again, it was gone. Nothing. The basement was still. Just my eyes playing tricks on me.

"Hello," Jeremey tried one last time. "Are you sure you saw a hand down here..." Jeremey grabbed me by the arm suddenly, dropping the bat to his feet. "Fuck!" he hissed as it clanked on the cement floor, the noise reverberating through the entire basement.

"What?" My heart pounded against my rib cage. Dogs barked in the distance.

They'd heard us.

"Fuck, look." Jeremey pointed just past the stairs, ignoring the sounds of the dogs as they drew closer. He bent down to pick up the bat as I slowly shifted the light in the direction he was pointing. I nearly dropped it when I saw it—a woman's face, peering through the handrail of the staircase.

Her eyes glowed white in the light.

In one swift movement, the young woman crept out from behind the stairs, approaching the caged-off doorway. She hugged a tattered blanket around her body, and her eyes were as wide as saucers. I fought the urge to step back behind Jeremey and hide. But then, when I saw her face illuminated in the beam of my light, a strange warmth coursed through my body.

She was beautiful.

But also... she was familiar.

She was the girl from my dream.

"You need to be quiet!" she said, her voice thick with an accent I couldn't place. "He'll be back soon. The dogs—" she paused as a distant howl pierced the air. "You have to get out of here now. If he knows you've seen me..."

"No, we need to get you out of here first," Jeremey said. "Maybe we can cut these bars. Harper, get the bolt cutters out of the backpack."

I didn't move for a second. I was too distracted watching the girl. She winced in pain, and a blue vein throbbed on her forehead. Her skin was so pale. Sickly.

"Are you hurt?" I asked her.

"We can talk later!" Jeremey shouted. "Pass me the flashlight and get the bolt cutters!"

As I was handing Jeremey the light, a sound more terrifying than even the dogs echoed through the night—a truck pulling into the driveway.

"Get out of here!" the girl whisper-shouted. "It's him! He's back!"

"We'll come back for you," Jeremey said. "We'll bring the cops."

"No! No, he'll kill me. Please, no cops."

"Fine, just the two of us," Jeremey agreed. "No cops. But we'll be back. I promise."

As Jeremey returned the flashlight to me, it shone into my eyes. I squinted. And then when I reopened them, they met the eyes of the girl. Her ice-blue eyes stretched wide. I was about to look over my shoulder, thinking maybe the dogs were at the top of the stairs, but then I realized she wasn't looking behind me. She was looking at me.

She recognized me.

Before I could say anything to her, the echo of a door creaking open somewhere within the house broke the silence. The girl spun around, retreating back to the adjoining room to hide.

"We've got to get out of here!" Jeremey grabbed me by the arm, pulling me toward the stairs.

The first few steps blurred into one, my feet tangling together and a haze clouding my mind. The next few steps I took on my hands and knees, unsure exactly how I had fallen and unable to see in the dark. A hand grabbed me by the arm, pulling me to my feet.

My head cleared as I stood up, but then, my heart slammed against my chest when my vision finally returned. There, perched at the top of the stairs, were the two dogs, growling and snarling in the beam of my flashlight.