Page 15 of Echo
It was strange that the front door didn’t have a glass pane to look out on the porch with, but occurrences like this wereprobably why. I touched my fingertips to the door, and the scratching halted.
I pressed my ear against it, listening for any sounds that would give away what was on the other side; sniffing. It was inhaling spurts of rapid breaths, like a hound dog looking for a raccoon. But the sound was coming from up too high and loudly to be a dog.
Whatever it was, was the size of a full grown man. My best guess was that it was that bear from earlier, and it had Ranger’s scent.
A soft growl rumbled on the other side of the door. A certain primal desire reverberated deep in its chest, and I knew that was a bad sign. It wanted to eat my dog.
Or me.
A groan of need made my breath catch in my chest. That wasn’t an animal.
A loud bang slammed against the door and knocked me backwards to my ass. The hinges screamed and hollered as the thing on the other side body checked it over and over again. Pictures fell as the entire front wall shook from the force.
I crawled backwards to put some space between me and the door, that I was no longer confident could hold. Ranger stood over me in a protective stance, growling and barking at the door.
Each time the body banged against the door hard, as whoever it was grew more frustrated that they couldn’t get to me. I bit my bottom lip until the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth.
It’s him. It’s Mark. I’ve done it this time.
My chest tightened until every single inhale was a struggle. I’d already known running would make him more violent. What was I thinking?
No. Don’t stay on the ground like a victim. Get up and find something to fight with, Maddie. It’s not over yet.
I scrambled to my feet and ran to the kitchen, fumbling with shaky fingers to get the big chef knife out of the block and grabbed the clean cast-iron skillet I’d left on the stove. Big bong and stabby stab was a solid plan of action.
It’d gotten me out of scrapes before.
Probably a bear would rip my throat out before I could get close enough to even try to do some damage, but that wasn’t any damn bear.
“Get off my fucking porch, before I chop your ass up and serve you as a bacon substitute.” I stomped back into the living room with more gumption than before. It was pure bluff. I tightened my fingers on the handles of my weapons to force them to stop shaking.
Mental breakdowns are for later.
The banging stopped, leaving the room uncomfortably quiet after all that noise. I held my position and waited on bated breath. I knew they were still there. Ranger continued to barked in alarm.
Psycho Ex meet Crazy Skillet Lady.
My heart pounded against my chest hard enough that I thought it would burst out. I couldn’t hear my ragged breathing over Ranger’s loud barks. That also meant I couldn’t hear anything moving on the porch. I could only rely on Ranger’s signals. But after five minutes, there was still no banging, while Ranger was still going strong.
The phone was on the kitchen counter. My dad was too far away to do anything about this. If I called him, all he could do was worry. I could call the cops, but how stupid would I feel if it was indeed an animal? Panicking on day one. It wasn’t like cops had ever helped save me, anyway.
Whenever I called them on Mark, the day he sent me to the hospital, they blamed my dog for what happened. That things got a little heated, and I overreacted. ‘A tiny girl like me getsscared easily when a big man gets angry.’ Completely ignorant of the fact that my father was a six-foot behemoth with a nasty nightlife enforcing rules for a motorcycle club and I had an ex-husband that was even worse.
Fuck it. I was better off saving myself.
I went over to the front window and took a deep, steadying breath. I pulled the curtains back, mentally preparing myself for anything I might see on the other side.
What I wasn’t prepared for was for the illuminating glow shining on an empty porch. I pressed my face against the glass like an idiot, to see further to the side. In case a genius ducked out of view, so I’d step out in some sense of false security.
But I couldn’t see anything.
I removed my face from the glass, then secured the curtains back over the window.
“Madison.” I heard my cousin Mary Ellen’s voice whisper on the other side. No fucking way. She’d made it clear she was headed back to the city.
I grabbed my phone and was about to dial her when Ranger suddenly went silent. He stared at the door, still ready, but slowly eased the tension out of his body.
Run.
