Page 5 of Never Give Up

Fear eats at my body, making it impossible to move. My feet are lead, and my legs are just ropes attached. My body screams to run, but I can’t budge.

“I know you’re scared.” He breaks through my panic. “I’m going to stay on the line with you. Breathe. Just breathe.” Daniel, a dispatcher who’s been doing the job longer than I’ve been alive, gives me the same instructions he’s given a hundred times before. “Where are you now, Maya?”

I can’t seem to catch my breath. “I’m in the hall.” My eyes are locked on the door to my room, and even though I can’t hear anything, I can picture someone waiting on the other side of the door, just waiting for me to look away.

“Okay, you need to move. Carefully, quietly, get to a room and lock yourself inside.” I hear him typing in the background. The tapping of the keys is too loud. Everything is too loud. Even my joints creaking as I try to move. Staring at my still-open door, I know I can’t go into my bedroom, or Brandi’s for that matter. There are closets and beds and places someone can hide.

“Move, Maya.” Daniel’s soft-spoken command propels me forward, finally forcing me to do just that.

“Alright.” I step away from the wall at my side, my eyes still locked on the light shining through the gaps in the door.

A shiver slides down my spine, and I know I’m being watched.

While I slowly make my way down the stairs, creeping as silently as I can, never looking away from my door, I wait for the moment someone will run after me.

My door will be thrown open, and I’ll be forced to face whatever evil there might be on the other side.

A knife or a gun.

Hopefully my death will be quick.

I haven’t even lived yet.

I was almost to the bottom of the stairs, holding my breath the entire time, just waiting while my heart pounds an unsteady beat in my chest.

Nothing happens.

Whoever it is, is still there, hiding.

I have no doubt about it.

Just like every horror movie I’ve ever watched, I grab the biggest and sharpest knife in the house while I pass the kitchen, then make my way to the bathroom to hide. After I lock the door, I slide down the wall and press my feet against the door to keep it closed as long as possible. The knife? That I have clutched between my fingers, ready to stab someone like a slasher movie.

“Maya.” I drop my phone into my lap, barely biting back the scream of shock at hearing Daniel speak into my ear. “Two minutes. Hold on for two minutes.”

I can’t speak, can’t say a single thing. Not while I’m staring at the doorknob, waiting for it to jiggle. Listening to the silence in my apartment, hating that I almosthopeI’ll hear the sound of someone moving. Anything except the sound of my heart slamming against my ribs or my struggle to breathe quietly.

As the seconds tick by, my resolve to stay calm cracks. Beyond the fear for myself, another horror rises up in the back of my throat.

What if something happened to Brandi?

What if the note on the fridge wasn’t really written by her?

What if my roommate is upstairs, hurt? Or… worse, and I’m just hiding in the bathroom. I start to get up, determined to save my friend, when Daniel’s voice filters through the silence.

“Jake is at the front door. I need you to go let him in.”

The knife clatters to the tile floor, and I race to the door.

Standing on my doorstep is Jake Findlay, one of the deputies. His flashlight and gun in hand, he motions for me to get behind him.

Without a word, I follow the silent order, knowing better than to argue when there’s a gun pointed in my direction.

“Stay on the porch while I check it out.” Jake’s gruff order has me frozen to the spot.

Relief slowly trickles into me as the minutes slip by. I’m not alone.

“Someone was here.”

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