Tears ran down her soft, freckled cheeks. She sobbed and he stopped for a moment. He looked down at her, then slowly starting to pull down her jeans. But of course to do that, he had to let go of her with one hand, which meant that she had one hand free. She wracked her nails against his face, leaving four large scratch marks.
“Ow!” he exclaimed, putting his other hand up to his face.
She was free now, but the door was still locked. She ran over to the window, trying desperately to open it.
“You stupid bitch!” he shouted, punching her across the face.
She hit the floor like a ton of bricks and then started to cry once more.
“I’ll teach you...” he slapped her across the face.
Through her tears she looked around the room for something, anything she could use as a weapon. Something to defend herself with. He sat on her and grabbed at her. In desperation, she kicked him in the groin.
He bent over in pain, then drew back and punched her again. Then he got up and tossed her clothes onto her. “Pff. You’re not worth the trouble. Stupid whore.”
He kicked her once as hard as he could, in the ribs, then left. He went back down to his friends to lie, to tell them what the two of them had done.
She was still crying uncontrollably. There were already bruises starting to form on her face and chest. As she got up and got dressed, she happened to glance in the mirror at her battered face and her puffy eyes. She broke into a whiny cry and walked out into the hall. When she got there, she started to feel dizzy. Her head started to hurt and then, without warning, she lost consciousness.
Grendel was greeted with the hoots and hollers of his friends as he walked down his stairwell. The music started to play again and everyone got back to the party. Grendel walked over to Tommy.
“Did the guys give you any trouble?” he asked, grabbing a drink from an end table and taking a long slurp.
“Naw, take a look for yourself.” Tommy laughed, cocking his head in the general direction of the downstairs bedroom. In it, Mike and Xander lay sprawled across each other. Their faces were masks of pain as they slept off their injuries.
Grendel walked over and closed the door. “We’ll have some fun with them later.”
Outside, Sara was still waiting for Xander to come back. She had no idea what was going on inside the house. Out here, everything was quiet. She stood there, her head hanging over the balcony, her satin shirt swaying in the breeze behind her. She looked out at the lights of Coral Beach, sparkling along with the stars in the sky. On a night like tonight, it was hard to tell where sky ended and the earth began. Everything was quiet, still, peaceful... perfect. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath of the cool night air, thought of Xander, and felt a smile cross her lips.
-Shink-
She opened her eyes.
-Shink-
Again. A metalish sound, like Mr. Calendar desperately trying to create a spark with two pieces of metal in the physics lab.
-Shink-
Again. This time she looked around.
Nothing.
Just the cool air and the black of night.
Fidgeting and rubbing her exposed arms, she turned to look around.
There was patio furniture on the far side of the balcony, of the sort that was typically hidden from public view unless it became very necessary to have it out. It had been painted white with some sort of base that didn’t agree with it and the colour chipped off in random shapes, revealing rust underneath. The vinyl strips that covered the chairs were broken in places and missing in others, creating a mishmash hammock of plastic and metal that was sure to leave its user nervous and uncomfortable.
There was a book bag sitting snugly in the lap of the chair closest to her. The plastic buckle on it had drooped down over the side and swaying lightly into the breeze, connecting with the leg every so often.
-clink-
-clink-
-clink-
She sighed, then placed the buckle onto the chair and went back to looking out onto the city.
-Shink-
She sighed again, turning to put the belt buckle back on the chair.
It hadn’t moved.
-Shink-
She looked up, leaning over the rail of the balcony to see if there was anyone under her. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her side. Blood oozed into her shirt as the killer twisted, then pulled the knife from the mouth it had just opened. Sara let out a little sound like a dove cooing, a small tear rolling down her cheek. The killer wiped her cheek clean, then sliced her slowly across the throat. Her hand went up to her wound, and was instantly covered in blood.
The killer put a finger up to his hooded mouth. “Shh.”
She opened her mouth to scream a warning to the others, but couldn’t. All she felt was her blood pour out onto the wooden balcony. She lay down on the floor and her eyes rolled back into her head as a small puddle of blood began to form all around her. As the killer walked through it, he gazed into the room filled with teens. A wry smile spread across his lips.
The last thought to go through her mind was of Xander.
“I been sittin’ here... trying to find myself...” Tommy sang drunkenly on the coffee table, a small group of people incoherently singing along with him. “...I get behind myself... need to rewind myself...” Then without warning, he fell onto those gathered around him. Swears were loudly uttered by those directly in his path, but then they
