The Intruder
A Serial in Five Parts
Previous Episode 1
Episode 2
She fought back the panic. She had to hide. She couldn’t use the stairs if they were in the downstairs hall. She couldn’t climb out the windows. They were too high off the ground. She had to hide. Where could she hide. Her mind blank, she stood shaking by the bedroom door. She clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms as she struggled to focus.
Try to think.
Get out of the bedroom. The intruder would see the bed where she had been sleeping. He’d search here first. Quickly she slipped down the dark hall to the guest bedroom, feeling along the wall with her hand. She could barely make out the furnishings in the dim light offered by the window. She struggled to think about the room and where she could possible hide. Her mind would barely work. It was hard to think with the rising panic. There was no good hiding place here.
She quickly went out into the hall and across to Davy’s room. His room was darker yet with the huge oak tree outside the window. She looked at the branches outside the window, but there was nothing close enough for her to reach. She searched the room, as much from memory as from what she could see in the dim light. There was no good place here to hide either. She turned and went to the door. Her hand was on the knob when she heard steps in the hall at the head of the stairs. It was too late to go out. Oh God. What now. Panic closed around her. She turned first one way and then another. She wanted to run, but there was no place to run to. She was trapped in the small room.
She put her ear to the door, but could hear nothing except her heart. It felt like it would burst from her chest. She opened her mouth, tried to control her breathing, and listened. Nothing. She put her hand on the door handle, but couldn’t make herself turn it. She stood with her head leaning against the door.
A noise in the hall outside.
To be continued
