The blue baby slippers were beneath it on the floor.
I dropped the pamphlet in alarm and leaped back in my bed, my heart doing a jackhammer impression. I grasped nervously at my hoodie and wished to God that my parents were home.
Seriously, what the fuck was going on? Had Ada brought them to me? I peered my head over. The slippers looked clean and new, waiting for newborn baby feet. There was no sign of them ever being in the trash but I know they had been there. I had seen my father put them in there and I even tossed an empty carton of orange juice on top of them in the morning. I could have gone downstairs and checked but leaving the false security of my room seemed out of the question. It didn’t matter anyway. Somehow they had found me again and I didn’t think I could ever ful y escape. Like clock wheels that were just beginning to fit in place, I realized someone, or something, was on a mission to frighten me. It wasn’t al in my head. It couldn’t have been.
With my parents out and Ada on her date, there wasn’t much I could do. But I could cal Maximus and I did just that.
I grabbed my phone from the table, keeping a safe distance from the slippers in case they started moving on their own, and quickly dialed his number.
“Perry,” he said warmly as he answered.
His voice fil ed me with a spark of hope. “Hi, listen, what are you doing right now?”
“Right now?” he repeated careful y. I held my breath, afraid he might already have plans. I was so scared though, I would do what I must to convince him.
“Yeah, I could real y use some company. I need to get out of my house,” I tried to say as calmly as possible, but it stil came out flustered.
“Are you in trouble?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
“I’m not sure,” I said honestly.
“I’l be right over. Where do you live?”
I told him and we hung up. The thing I knew about Maximus was when you cal ed, he came running to you.
I passed the next thirty minutes by dol ing myself up. I don’t know what possessed me to start thinking I was going on a date – he was saving my ass from going crazy was what he was actual y doing – but looking at it this way eased the terror from my stomach and replaced it with butterflies. The good news was when I final y found the courage to look at myself in the mirror, my reflection was no longer demonic. My eyes were back to normal, and though I was pasty, I covered that up with a swipe of bronzer.
I ransacked my closet looking for something to wear but couldn’t decide on anything until I spied a purple sundress at the back. For some reason I was drawn to it and I slipped it on.
I glanced in the mirror. It was startling to see myself in that color but it went wel with my black hair and paleness. I looked girly and for once I liked it. It felt oddly natural. I put on my own leggings and black combat boots to even things out and as I grabbed a cardigan from the closet, I heard a car vroom up to the house.
Below was an old-fashioned red truck with white trim, steam rising up from the exhaust and blowing away in cold gusts. Maximus kept the truck running and got out. I knocked on the window quickly to indicate I’d be right down, then I grabbed my purse and went for my door.
I hesitated before I touched the door knob. There was a tingly feeling in my hands, kind of like when you think you’re going to get a static shock. I wasn’t afraid of no shock; however. I was suddenly, inexplicably afraid that I’d try to open the door and there would be something on the other side refusing to let me out.
“I’l just jump out the window then,” I said out loud to intimidate things that were probably in my imagination.
It was true, too. The roof below my window sloped gently and with an oak tree at the corner of the house, it was easy to stealthily move across and then climb down the tree. It was an escape route used many times in high school.
But this wasn’t a time to sneak around. I breathed in deeply and grabbed the door handle. It swung open with ease I wasted no time running down the hal and stairs and to the front door. The lights were on, which made things less creepy, but I didn’t want to spend an extra second in that house anymore.
I leaped out the door and quickly locked it behind me before speed walking toward Maximus, who was holding open the passenger door.
“Nice truck,” I said with a smile.
He returned the smile with extra wattage. “Nice dress.”
I was too cold and uneasy to blush. I jumped in the seat and he shut the door just as the wind picked up again.
He got in his side and gave me the once over. “Where to, little lady?”
“Somewhere far away from here,” I said, eyeing my house. It looked menacing, ominous, and not at al like the house I grew up in. “And somewhere with booze. A lot of it.
This little lady needs a fucking drink.”