Sean grabbed Garnet, pulling her behind him and standing in front of her protectively as Garnet tried not to cry, hands over her mouth. Her worst fear was coming true right now.
Garnet's mother was screaming.
Her father pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, hands shaking, and the lights went out.
Sean backed up until he and Garnet were on the couch, then pushed her down onto it and guarded her with his body. His hand held hers tightly.
She tried to keep from whimpering as she watched her dad's phone screen.
He dialed '91' and the phone fell to the ground.
She fought back a scream, panic and fear building up in her until she felt like she would explode with it.
This was the worst kind of torture.
"Garnet? I have your mother here. My knife is to her throat. Come out right now and I won't hurt her."
"Garnet, don't do-"
Her mother screamed, cut off in the middle of her sentence.
Tears rolled down Garnet's face and Sean clamped his hand over her mouth to help her hold back her scream.
"She's annoying me. I'm going to count to ten, and you're going to come here or I'll kill her, then your precious bodyguard, then I'll find you."
The tears came harder down as she pushed Sean out of the way so abruptly that he fell to the ground and stood, preparing to run.
But Sean, damn him, grabbed her ankle and she fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Pain radiated up her elbow and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.
She tried to kick, but Sean climbed on top of her, holding her down. She was shaking now, crying too hard to hold back.
"...Seven...six..."
Her heartbeat kicked into high gear. She couldn't let her mother get hurt. She couldn't. Not when she could help it.
She said a silent apology to Sean.
"I'm right here!" she yelled, sobbing now. "Just don't hurt her, please."
"That's a good girl."
She heard a thud, heard her mother whimpering.
"Mom?" she cried, desperately reaching out a hand.
Her eyes were just starting to adjust to the dark. Instead of her mother's hand, she found her father's phone. She grabbed it and Sean slowly, quietly, moved off of her, having seen what she had done.
She slowly, quietly started scooting backwards, holding her breath so she wouldn't make noise. Footsteps came her way and she saw a pair of black, shiny boots turned away from her.
"Now where are you?" Mayne asked.
She was quiet, not daring to even breathe. He hadn't turned around yet.
"I said where are you!"
She saw his dark form leap through the air, mistaking Sean for Garnet in the darkness.
Though it went against her every instinct and she had to force herself, she scrambled behind the couch in the confusion and unlocked the phone, pointing the screen down. She tried not to cry out. Sean could handle himself...she hoped.
She choked back a sob, trying to see the phone screen clearly through her tears. She prayed that the sound of the struggle would mask her whispers.
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped the phone as she dialed '911' and hit send.
Mayne was scrambling up, talking loudly and demanding to know where she was, being blessedly loud. She tried not to think about the fact that Sean wasn't talking and she couldn't hear him moving.
"I'm at 2011 Stoneybrook Lane. There is someone in my house trying to kill me. Come now. Send an ambulance."
She hung up quickly and tucked the phone into her pocket.
It had gone dead quiet again. She couldn't see anything anymore and was afraid the loud beating of her heart would give her away.
Help was on its way. She just had to last until it got there.
She heard slow footsteps coming towards her, and she risked jumping up and sprinting around the corner to the kitchen, grabbing a knife. Adrenaline was keeping her together. She focused on the open cupboard door.
"There you are! Garnet, come here! Garnet!" Mayne screamed, gaining on her.
She pushed herself even harder.
He reached for her, his hand grabbing her sweater as she yanked the cupboard door closed on it.
He yelped and she opened the door a crack, slamming it as hard as she could again and again until he removed the offending hand.
She slammed it and locked it, backing away.
She was shaking so hard she felt like she was vibrating.
He pounded on the door.
"Dammit, you little bitch! Let me in here before I kill you!"
She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out as she backed up until her back hit a shelf. Shaking, she pulled the phone out of her pocket and unlocked it so she could have some light. She held the knife out in the other hand, pointed to the door. It shook so badly she almost dropped it.
Each pound on the door made her heart pound more, made her hold back a yelp. Finally, she heard him kicking it. The door shuddered, and she knew it wouldn't last long. She fought to steady her hand, but her vision was blurry with tears now and she couldn't see.
Where was Sean? He had to be knocked out or dead if he hadn't come to her aid by now.
The thought caused a stabbing pain to her chest, but she held it together as the door splintered with the next kick.
He was coming in here.
She had to stab him or be stabbed.
She hurriedly wiped her slick palm on her jeans and repositioned the knife so that it was pointing away from her. She carefully slid the phone into her back pocket and was in total darkness again so she would have the advantage.
She would know where he was, but he wouldn't be able to see her.
She prayed that it would be enough.
"You can do this, you can do this, you can do this," she whispered over and over again, shaking so hard she was afraid she would have brain damage.
The door gave out and she didn't even think. She lunged, sticking the knife into soft flesh.
Mayne roared and she ducked under his arm. She didn't know where she'd stabbed him, but it had obviously hurt.
She started running, but suddenly she was on the floor and Mayne was on top of her.
"You little bitch. I am going to kill you."
She saw the knife glint in the darkness, raised above her head.
She flailed and fought to get away, but he slapped her across the face so hard that she lost her vision and her head lashed to the side. She cried out as he brougth the knife down and closed her eyes.
Then he grunted in pain and collapsed on top of her, the knife clattering to the ground mere inches from her face.
She scrambled out from underneath him and saw Sean doubled over, his flashlight pointing at the ground.
"Sean!" she screamed.
He pointed his flashlight at Mayne and she saw that he'd stabbed him. She saw her knife sticking out of his side, saw that Sean had aimed his perfectly between the ribs.
Her knees went weak and she collapsed.
She backed away from Mayne, her back hitting the back door. She opened it and scrambled to her feet, running outside. Sean followed, slamming the door behind them.
She looked at him in the moonlight and saw blood pouring down his face.
Relief hit her so hard that it nearly brought her down, then then her emotions caught up to her in full. She retched, falling to her knees in the snow.
"Ma'am? Sir?"
She saw a police officer standing there, saw that more had swamped the house. The lights were back on.
"Are you alright?" he asked them.
Garnet stood, wiping her mouth.
"We're fine," she whispered.
"What was that?" he asked.
"We're fine," she said again, the words sinking in. "We're fine."