I DROVE the car up my parents’ long driveway, stared at my childhood home, and wondered why I was afraid to be here alone. It was sheeting rain, but light shone brightly from half the windows in the house. My mother and I had been getting dinner ready when Helene’s water unexpectedly broke. Panicked, we left in a hurry, and apparently, we had left most of the lights on. For some reason, it made the place look creepy.
My mom spoke to me from my speakerphone. “Krista, are you there?”
“I just pulled up. Hang on.”
I ducked my head against the rain as I ran to the front door. I fumbled with my mom’s keys, but when I went to unlock the door, it was already unlocked. “That’s weird.”
“What?”
“The front door was unlocked.”
“We went out through the garage. We probably didn’t remember to lock the front.”
I stepped into the foyer and listened. I could hear nothing but the sound of the water dripping off my jacket. “What am I looking for?”
“It’s a silver elephant on a necklace. It was supposed to be in her baby hospital bag.”
“Why is this important?”
“Her meditation coach used it as a focal point during her breathing. Now she can’t concentrate without it.”
I looked up the steps. “Where am I looking?”
“Try her room?”
I was about to kick off my shoes when all the lights went out, leaving me in complete darkness. “Shit, the lights went out.”
“There’s a flashlight under the kitchen sink.”
I used the light on my phone to move to the kitchen. I rummaged under the sink before putting my hands on a heavy flashlight. “Found it.”
“The electrical panel is against the garage.”
“Outside?”
“Yes, outside.”
I moved to the mudroom, and my runners squelched with water. I could feel the wind before I saw the open door.
“Mom, I have to go.”
“What’s wrong?”
My voice was shaking. “The back door was open. There’s water everywhere.”
“I locked it.”
My voice dropped to a whisper. “Are you sure?”
She paused for a long moment. “I’m not sure.”
This felt like the start of a bad horror movie, and I dutifully said my lines. “It’s fine. It was probably the wind.”
“Okay. Call me when you get the lights back on.”
I shone the light out into the pouring rain. It created a weak beam that showed me nothing but pounding water being whipped around by the wind. I took a deep breath and dashed into the rain. Icy blasts assaulted my face, and I was soaked by the time I located the electrical panel. I flipped every switch, but nothing made the lights go back on. The power was probably out from the storm, and there wasn’t anything I could do about that.
I held back a scream as lightning zapped in the sky above me. Almost immediately, heavy thunder shook the air around me.
Fuck this, and fuck the elephant. I slid and slipped my way back to the house. I needed to locate the damn thing and get the hell back to the hospital.
As I stepped into the darkness of my mother’s kitchen, my phone rang. It was Levi, and I had never been happier to see his name come up. It was a moment of weakness, but I was feeling so alone in my parent’s home, I answered.
“Hi.”
Without a greeting, his voice rumbled in my ear. “What hospital is your sister at?”
I walked across the kitchen, the flashlight casting long, eerie shadows. “How did you know—”
He cut me off. “Krista. What. Hospital.”
“The general hospital. Levi, what’s going on?”
“Stay there. I’m on my way.”
My heart jumped at the thought of seeing him. “What are you doing in Victoria? Did something happen with Buffalo?”
I heard him speak to the driver. “Take me to the general hospital.”
I interrupted him. “I’m not at the hospital. I’m at my parent’s house, but I should be back there soon.”
“What is the address of your parent’s place?”
I wasn’t sure what he was doing in Victoria, but I needed to find and get this damn elephant back to my sister. I shone the flashlight over the kitchen table. “If you head to the hospital, I can meet you there. I’m just grabbing something. What are you doing here?”
He spoke in a calm voice. “Give me your address.”
“I’m at…” My foot shot out from beneath me on the wet floor. A squeak escaped me as I flailed backward. The flashlight and my phone flew out of my hands. I heard a sharp crack when the flashlight hit the floor, and then I was plunged into complete darkness.
“Shit.” I winced as I crouched down and felt with my hand along the wet floor.
With relief, my hand closed around the handle of the flashlight. I whacked the side twice and the beam came back on. I found my phone, lying facedown in a puddle of water. When I flipped it over, it was dead.
“Come on,” I complained to no one.
My parents were among the few people who still had a landline. I limped over to the phone on the wall to call Levi back. I swore when the phone had no dial tone, mostly because it made me feel even more alone.
Levi would probably head to the hospital. I felt a surge of renewed motivation to get back there myself. Why is he in Victoria? I shone the flashlight around the kitchen sink. My heart beat at the thought of seeing him. I should find some dry clothes before I go back to the hospital. We had been in the middle of cooking dinner when my sister had gone into labor. As I shone the flashlight over the half-chopped food on the counter and pots that sat, full and cold, on the stovetop, it reminded me of a scene from a horror movie.
“Stop it,” I said out loud to myself. “Just get the job done.”
My call with Levi bothered me. It wasn’t his cryptic conversation but rather his tone.
I looked in the television room. Then I searched the sitting room.
Suddenly I realized what had bugged me about the conversation. Levi had been too calm. The kind of calm you use when you’re trying not to panic someone.
I swallowed hard before I moved upstairs and pushed open the door of Helene’s bedroom.
Why had Levi been so determined to get my location?
I shone the light on Helene’s nightstand.
I should get out of here. Just find the damn elephant.
My emotions warred with my logic. I walked through her bathroom and found her chain next to the tub.
“Gotcha.” I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. A noise behind me made me spin around with my heart in my throat. A bloodcurdling scream ripped out of me.
Eduard stared at me without emotion, menacing in the beam of my flashlight. “You got married.”
Fear spiked through me. Terrible, heart-pounding fear. “That’s old news.”
He looked down at the heavy flashlight in his hands. “Do you want to tell me why I had to find out you got married while watching the news? I realized that you kept this from me. For months.”
It terrified me that he was speaking like we were still in a relationship. When had he gotten so scary? I tried to find the words to appease him. “It was a mistake. We immediately filed for divorce.”
He didn’t blink. “You were afraid. Afraid of what would happen when I heard that news.”
I hated the begging note in my voice. “I was drugged. I don’t remember that night or the decisions we made, but the moment I found out about it, I worked to reverse my mistake.”
“That’s not good enough.”
I tried to think of anything that would make him back away. I needed to distract him from my relationship with Levi. “Helene’s in labor. Your daughter is currently being born in the hospital. It doesn’t matter how you feel about my sister, but this is your child.”
“Your sister was only a means to get your attention. The baby was her doing. I never would have agreed to that.”
“You’re becoming a father tonight.”
“I won’t be that child’s father. I’m merely your sister’s sperm donor. We both got what we wanted out of that relationship.”
I edged away from the tub, taking minuscule steps towards the door. I needed to keep him talking. “What did you get out of it?”
“Let’s just say it wasn’t what I expected.”
I tried to imagine what Eduard would want to hear from me. “I was so selfish. I was only thinking about myself and not about us. And I wrecked everything.”
He stood there and looked at me with a cold expression. “You’re trying to manipulate me.”
I swallowed hard and lied again. “No, I’m not.”
“This wasn’t some mistake. You continued to fuck him.”
I had no idea how he knew this. “Excuse me?”
He scoffed. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
My heart thudded hard. He shouldn’t know these things. “How do you know that?”
“You just told me,” he snarled.
The sting of his slap caught my breath. On instinct, I swung my flashlight and felt it graze across the side of his temple. He grunted in surprise, but it was only an ineffective, glancing blow. It did throw him off-balance, however, giving me the seconds I needed to flee. I tore down the back staircase that led to the kitchen, but in the dark, it felt like I was moving in slow motion. I gasped, holding the walls of the staircase as I counted the steps down. I could hear the pounding of his heavy footsteps, so close behind me. I spilled into the kitchen and managed to slip and slide my way around the corner to the dining room. He managed to grab onto the sleeve of my jacket, but the slick fabric made it possible for me to yank out of his hold. I had the advantage of knowing my parents’ home and the fact that my mother hadn’t rearranged her furniture in thirty years. I wound my way into the living room, weaving around chairs and tables as I worked my way towards the front main staircase.
I heard a loud crash behind me as I pounded my way up, clutching the heavy banister. I should have gone out the front door. I flew through my parents’ bedroom and came out through the laundry room. He was coming after me with tremendous speed, and whatever he was running into behind me wasn’t slowing him down.
I need to get to my car.
I hesitated as I decided between the front or back staircase, but I was closer to the front. I was almost back at the top of the landing when he tackled me. The weight of him landing on top of me, knocked the breath completely out of my body, leaving me gasping for air.
He flipped me over and then his hands, so bony and hard, were around my neck. My hands flailed at his face, scratching and clawing.
He smiled down at me, his features barely distinguishable in the dark. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.”
I frantically reached behind me in the dark, and then my fingers curled around something cold and hard. All I needed to do was connect it with Eduard’s head.
