The Intruder

The storm hit at midnight. Rain lashed against the vinyl siding, sounding like handfuls of gravel thrown by an angry god.

Elena sat on her kitchen floor, clutching a serrated bread knife. The power had flickered and died an hour ago, taking the landline with it. Her cell phone showed one bar of service that winked in and out of existence.

Bram’s warning had been playing on a loop in her head for hours. *Someone was watching.*

She heard the gate latch click.

Elena scrambled backward, pressing her spine against the refrigerator. She watched the back door, the frosted glass pane glowing faintly from the lightning outside.

A shadow fell across the glass.

*Bang.*

The fist hit the door so hard the frame rattled.

"I know you're in there, Elena!"

The voice turned her blood to ice. It wasn't a stranger. It was Marcus. Her fiancé’s brother. The man who had screamed at her at the funeral, who had blamed her for the slippery road, for the crash, for his brother’s death.

"Open the door!" Marcus screamed. "You think you can just hide? You think you get to live while he rots?"

*Bang. Bang.* The glass spiderwebbed.

Elena scrambled for her phone, dialing 911. *Call Failed.*

"Go away, Marcus!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "Please!"

"He’s dead because of you!" Marcus roared. The glass shattered inward, raining shards onto the linoleum. A hand reached through, fumbling for the lock.

Elena bolted. She ran into the living room, tripping over an easel. She heard the back door crash open, the heavy stomp of wet boots on her floor.

She had nowhere to go. The front door was triple-locked; she’d never get it open in time. She backed into the corner of the room, against the shared wall. The wall that separated her from the monster.

"Bram!" she screamed, slapping her palm against the drywall. "Help me!"

Marcus appeared in the doorway. He was soaking wet, his eyes wild, smelling of whiskey and rage. He held a tire iron in his hand.

"Look at you," Marcus sneered, stepping over a fallen canvas. "You're hideous. You deserve every bit of it."

He raised the iron. Elena squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the blow.