My smile faded while Dwight caressed his nape. "Enough with that kind of dare." he said.
Katrin hissed and crossed her arms and feet. "Are you serious, Dwight? It's just a dare. She's not the birthday girl so she can't refuse."
Dwight shook his head as his eyes remained on the floor. "Come on, guys. This is petty,"
"What the hell?!"
I jolted when Katrin shouted.
"You were okay when Nikki was given the dare but now that it's Ginny, you won't shut up? Tell me—"
"Come on, Kat. Calm down," Nikki cut in.
"No! I've been noticing the both of you for a while now. You think I don't see how you throw looks at each other?"
Dwight furrowed his brow and cocked his head to look at Katrin. "Stop it. Here goes your tantrums again—"
"I know what I am seeing! I am not stupid!"
"You're paranoid," I said.
Katrin rolled her eyes at me and turned to Dwight. "If you don't like her, then shut the fuck up. Let her do the dare."
I quickly turned to Nikki but she didn't even fret. Von stood up and clapped his hands once. "Let's go, motherfuckers. We're leaving tomorrow so let's just seize the night."
"Come on!" he added, imitating a British accent.
They all stood up so I had no choice but to get up. They grabbed another bottle of beer on the table but I just picked another piece of fried oreo. I don't want to drink too much, we're leaving early tomorrow.
Nikki was holding a lamp that she took from the cottage so we had a light walking into the woods. When we reached the bottom of the hill's driveway, my heart slowly eased. Somehow, the thought of getting close to Don gave me comfort and I don't know why. I'm really hoping to get answers but all I'm getting is more questions.
We just stood there admiring the view of the hill. I noticed that Nikki is still a little anxious so I inched towards her and caressed her arm. "I'm sorry."
She smiled. "This is no one fault, silly. We're leaving tomorrow, anyway. This is actually fine, let's have some thrill."
While we were strolling along the driveway, we had to stop at the fourth post when Katrin asked Dwight to take a photo of her.
"Ugh, once we get reception downtown, I will upload everything. I miss the internet."
We finally reached the end of the driveway. I looked around to see if Pablo was around but he wasn't. The lights on the porch were on, which made me assume that Don must be inside.
Katrin edged to my side and grabbed my arm shoving me forward. "Come on, bitch. Knock on that door."
I turned to them and saw everyone smiling except Dwight who was crossing his arms as he watched me. I cleared my throat and slowly walked to the pathway and stepped on the porch.
I knocked twice but no one has answered.
"What now? Is someone there?" Katrin asked.
I faced them as they walked towards me and sat on the porch's steps. Von pointed at the night sky. "The stars look brighter here."
They made themselves comfortable on the steps so I stood there, surprised. "Are we really gonna stay here?" I asked.
"Yes, Ginny. Sit the fuck down," Von answered.
I sighed and sat beside Nikki who is now enjoying the view. On the step below us were Katrin and Dwight. I cocked my head to my left when I noticed a dense formation of clouds. It might rain later.
Dwight suddenly stood up and glanced at the mansion. "I know how to get him out of there." Then he walked away heading to our left. I wanted to follow him but I don't want to piss Kat off again so I remained seated.
The cold wind gusted that the fire on the lamp that Katrin was holding went unsteady. Later on, the lights on the porch went out so we looked around and tried to see from the now darker lawn despite the lamp's fire.
Dwight showed up so Kat stood to face him. "What did you do?" she asked.
"I found the fuse—"
"Ahh!"
I jerked when Katrin screamed and tossed the lamp on the wall. Fuck! My eyes almost bulged out of its sockets when the wall caught fire.
"Oh, shit!"
"What the fuck!?"
"What did you do!?"
They yelled in panic but I was dumbstruck to utter a word. The flame grew bigger and it reached the porch's ceiling so we all pulled away.
"I... I saw a cat or something! It's black and crawling!"
"A crawling cat!?" Von retorted.
Katrin's mouth hung open as she shook her head and stared at the fire.
"My God, Katrin!"
"Shit, shit, shit! Let's go!"
They began running but my knees were shaking and all I could take were a few steps back.
"Putang ina! What have you done!?"
I jumped when I heard Pablo from somewhere. He went near the wall and grabbed the hose attached to it.
"Why are you back here?!"
I gathered all my strength and ran away. When I caught up to the other down the hill, I saw them waiting for me, panting and distressed.
"Why are you so slow?!" Nikki ranted.
I pointed my finger behind me. "The caretaker came. He's putting out the fire."
They all sighed in relief and we began walking along the road going to the woods. After some time, we heard a noise, like when someone walks on dry leaves. We're already past the cliff so we're only seeing trees everywhere.
I glanced at the sky. The dark clouds are catching up.
"Fuck!"
Dwight growled so I turned to him. My palm landed on my mouth when he fell to his knees, a small knife pierced in his shoulder
"Dwight!"
"Oh, my God!"
"I've told you! This is a bad idea!"
They went into a round of yelling again but I remained silent as I felt a churn in my gut. What is happening? Did Don do this? Was he around? I shivered at the thought of him hunting us. My hands started shaking while I scanned the area trying to see in the dark but to no avail. Von handed the lamp to me so I turned to him as he tried to help Dwight stand on his feet.
We scurried to the woods until we reached the mansion. I locked the door and quickly placed the lamp on the table to close the windows. My sweat was dripping on my temple as my heart pounded painfully. The lights went out and Katrin shrieked as she fell on the floor.
"Fuck! I wanna get out of this freaking town! Let's go home!"
I placed my palm on the chair's top rail and turned to Von who was sitting beside Dwight on the couch and now reaching for the knife.
"We have to pull it," he said.
"What!? No!"
"What do you want to do then?!"
"Call an ambulance!"
"There's no fucking service here!"
I heaved a deep sigh as I watched them scream at each other. A shadow moved on my far right so I quickly turned around only to see the open door that leads to the kitchen. There were no lights but I could see a little from moonlight passing through the window next to the sink. I squinted trying to see clearly but I gazed away, scared that I might actually see someone.
We heard a loud crack from the windows and we all squealed when an axe pierced through just a few inches away from Dwight's head.
"Motherfucker!" Von yelled at the window trying to make sure that he was heard by whoever was outside.
Then he dragged Dwight on the floor. "We have to pull the knife!" He didn't wait any longer and just held onto the knife and tugged it off of Dwight's shoulder.
"Fuck! Fuck you! Fuck!" Dwight growled in pain while Nikki squatted down to wrap his wound with a black bandana.
"We messed up!" she yelled in frustration.
"What are we going to do now?" Katrin asked as she leaned against the magazine rack beside the couch.
Nikki closed her eyes for a while trying to figure out how to wrap the bandana in Dwight's shoulder. "We... uh, let's—"
"What?!" Katrin yelled again. "Are we going to die here!? I don't want to die here! Where's Olevia and Andres?!"
"I sent them off." Nikki replied, stammering. "I told them that we might be loud all night so it's better if they sleep in their house in San Antonio."
"How about the van? Where is it?" I asked.
"I let them use it, so they can gas up before they get back."
Katrin brushed her palm on her face. "How are we going to get out of here tonight, then?!"
Nikki finished wrapping Dwight's shoulder and stood up. "We have to go out," she declared.
Katrin's jaws dropped in an instant. "What!? We're safer here!"
Instead of arguing, I tried to push the axe using the throw pillow and peeked outside. Then there I saw the small house on the riverside at the far left of this mansion.
When I turned to Nikki, she pointed at the door. "There's a warehouse at the riverside. Sometimes, a local sleeps over."
"Sometimes?!" Katrin questioned. "What if no one was there tonight?!"
"What the fuck, Katrin?! You asked for something and this is all I could think of so shut the fuck up if you won't help!"
"Look at what he did to Dwight." Von cut in. "We're not even a kilometer away from his house and then this. How could we possibly reach that warehouse?"
I didn't waste any more second and hurried to the door. "We burned his house. We will die here anyway so we should try everything."
Katrin and Von lent a hand to Dwight so I twisted the knob and pulled the door. The cold wind struck as I let them head out first. Nikki was holding the lamp as we ran to the warehouse. I cocked my head in the sky and noticed that the clouds were almost covering the moon now. It's gonna get totally dark later.
When we reached the warehouse, I banged a few times on the door but we didn't hear a single voice from inside.
"Is anyone there?!" I asked.
Katrin stood beside me and knocked twice. "Hello?! Can you help us, please?!"
We fell silent waiting for someone to answer until Katrin smacked the door. "Damn it!"
Someone pulled us away and we saw Von twisting his neck. I turned to Dwight who was sitting on the grass with his back leaned against the wall. Nikki sat on her heels beside him, fixing the bandana on his arm. I heard a loud thud on the door as it flew wide open and the small metal lock dropped on the floor.
"Come on!" Von instructed.
When they were able to go in, I scanned the area one more time until Nikki grabbed my arm. "Stop spacing out!"
I followed her inside and we pulled a dusty wooden table to block the door. My eyes roamed the warehouse. There's nothing much here other than the table, a wooden stool chair, a few empty bottles of liquors in the corner and a ladder that goes to an empty loft with a small window.
I sat on the chair as I watched them gather in one corner. I heaved a sigh when I realized that I wasn't breathing enough. My head started spinning when I thought of the possibility that it could be Don who was after us.
"We burned his house..." I muttered, a little fuzzy.
"Stop reiterating!" Katrin blurted.
I pursed my lips and kept myself from arguing with her. Had she been more careful, she wouldn't have accidentally tossed the damn lamp and why the fuck would Dwight turn off the lights?
Someone knocked on the door so we were alerted. They crowded further at the corner so I stood up and edge to the table. "Who's there?"
"Me."
I held my breath in shock.
Fuck.
It was really him. My lips trembled as I balled my fist. My mind just decided on its own to think of our death in all possible ways. I got weak in my knees so I placed my hand on the table for support. I glanced at the others who were still crouching at a corner.
I turned to the door and cleared my throat. "I'm sorry..." He didn't say anything so I continued, "I'm sorry for burning your house. We didn't do it intentionally. We will pay for the damage, just let us go, please."
He was silent yet again until all we could hear were the crickets outside. "What do you want?" I asked, getting a little impatient.
"You."
Fear crept in me as I felt another churn in my gut. It feels like all my blood went up to my head but I kept my eyes open, trying to calm myself.
"I knew it. You should've ignored that man!" Dwight suddenly screamed.
I glared at him. "Are you saying that this is my fault?"
"I'm just saying, you shouldn't have come to him. You kissed a goddamn murderer and now he's after you!"
The others exchanged a surprised look and turned to me. Nikki stood up and grabbed my arm. "You, what?!" she asked, obviously disgusted.
"We... kissed," I replied.
She gripped on my arm tighter. "Where? When?!"
I looked away as my heart pounded in embarrassment. "At the wedding's reception. He was there."
She let go of me and eyed me from head to toe. "My, God, Ginny! You're disgusting!"
As if on cue, my eyes welled as I leaned against the edge of the table.
"So he's after us because he wants you?" she asked.
I quickly shook my head. "He's after us because we burned his house."
"But he wants you now! Because you flirted with him!" she roared.
We all fell silent. No, I don't think he chased us because he wants me. He knows that he doesn't have to do all this, because I... I will eventually come to find him again.
Von stood up as well and walked towards me. "Now what? We will just make it out of here if he gets you?"
"He... he won't kill us," I replied, not really sure at that. I turned to the door. "Are you still there? The fire was just an accident—"
I gasped when I felt a painful strike on the back of my head as Nikki and Katrin screeched. A few glasses dropped on the floor along with my weakening knees.
"What the fuck!"
"What did you do?!"
My face hit the floor and a painful quiver travelled through my body. Tears formed in the corner of my eyes as my heart thumped hard, like it's tearing its way out of my chest. I can't move a muscle as I watched Von grab me on my arm.
"Help me drag her out," he muttered. "I won't want to die here. If he wants Ginny, then he can fuck her for all I care."