Page 81 of The Harbinger
“Sem'.”
“Dammit, this isn’t funny.”
The ache in my buttocks grew sharper as I limped up the steps, his shoes echoing like a muffled drum in my head. He grew closer, but I’d hit the top of the staircase, the fear of his presence like rippling waves, cresting and receding to the rhythm of my erratic heart.
“Vosem'.”
He counted as though he wanted me to have the advantage as if he wanted me to get away and use the knife on him. It was a sick and twisted game meant to cause fear as he terrorized me, and it worked. My lungs pinched as I dashed down the hall to my door.
“Devyât'.”
His feet hit the top of the stairs, my breaths ragged, and my hands shaking.
“Leave me alone,” I screamed as I slammed the door and rushed to slide a white, waist-high bureau across the floor. The stick legs screeched as I pushed until it sat lodged beneath the door handle.
This was insane.
Hewas insane.
I leaned against the bureau, my knees like liquefying jelly, as my pained chest searched for air, then froze.
Sacha’s shoes scuffed against the hall floor, and icy dread stilled my exhausted, piqued muscles as he stopped in front of my door. I bit back a sob and held my breath.
“Desyât'.”
The door handle turned, and the bureau scuffed against the floor as he pressed into it, pulling a squeal from my pressed lips. I backed up, my liquefied legs wobbling when his laugh beat through the door, encompassing me in blackened panic.
“This won’t save you,milaya.”
“Stop, Sacha. You’re scaring me.”
He pressed into the door again, scraping the bureau a little more. I moved back until the backs of my knees pressed into the bed.
Skrrreeek.
Sacha squeezed his body between the newfound gap and shoved the door wide with both hands wrapped around the edge, his back lodged against the frame.
Skrrreeek.
My heart kept up a rapid beat, and my breath came in shallow gasps. But I couldn’t run even as he stepped into the room.
“There you are.”
I stood paralyzed with terror, the eerie smile he’d had before vanquished by the chase, and for a brief moment, everything sat in a blissful bubble of silence, then he took a step forward, and my stomach clenched. I bolted to the left, towards the bathroom, and scrambled into the closet where I’d hidden the knife in the litter box.
His arm wrapped around my waist, and I squealed. My feet lifted into the air, kicking out in front of me as he turned me sideways and placed me on the floor with an unexpected gentleness that sent my mind rolling with confusion.
“This has been fun,“ he growled. “But I’m ready to erase your purity and defile everything about you.”
My disquieted terror morphed into horror as he raised his hands to his collar and unbuttoned the top button, his words slamming into me. His fingers hit the fourth button, allowing the goat head’s glowing eyes to peer through with abject evil.
“Wha-what are you doing?”
I stared at the beast, its presence drawing me in like a moth to a flame, then raised my hand to touch his fur-covered face when Sacha moved for the fifth button.
“Taking what I want.”
The trance vanished like inflamed parchment in the wind, and I twisted to my belly, army crawling toward the knife, when he grabbed me by the waist.