I've Heard Enough

     The streets were empty. Not like the usual late at night drive with one or two other cars on the road. Empty. I was in the heart of Twinbrook and I did not see one other car on the road. There were no people on the sidewalks. I had never minded having some alone-time, but the silence of the dead streets unnerved me to my core.

 As I rounded the corner to Main Street, I saw that no one stood in front of the movie theater and as far as my eyes could see, the road stretched on undisturbed. I glanced over at the old salon. All of the lights were out, the closed sign was plastered to the door, and there was truly nothing remarkable about the building, yet a cold chill snaked its way down my spine as I gazed at it. I swear, the figure came out of nowhere.

I slowed down and scrutinized the image behind me. It was a woman, cast in shadows. I knew she had not been there when I first passed by. I bit down on my tongue out of sheer anxiety as I pulled the car to a halt. I had to get answers.

 I threw it into reverse and pulled the car right up on the sidewalk. I sure as hell didn't want to be far from my ride. I brandished Bailey's gun in one hand (no one needed to know it was empty) and Therese's crucifix in the other, gripped in my palm out of sight.

As I stepped around the edge of my old van, I was greeted by the striking image of a statuesque woman, who looked quite chic in contrast to myself, adorned in stretch pants and a simple tube top. She was the woman who bought the beauty shop. The same one that had moved into the creepy old Tolliver place. We stood, discerning each other for a moment. I couldn't quite make out the expression on her face, but if I had to guess, I would have said she was amused.

 "I know you," She broke the silence. "You're the Lawson girl. You never did make it back for your appointment."

"Yeah... Well, I kind of had other things on my mind," I snapped at her. "Do you know what in the hell's going on around here? It's like everybody in the whole damn town just up and left." None of it made sense. This was proving to be one of the most horrific nights of my life. Although I'd been left with no choice, I'd already killed two people, and that grin on her face made me feel like I might be ready for number three.

"I can assure you," she crooned. "No one, has left."

"That's it," I snarled, gripping both my gun and my crucifix tighter. "Take off your glasses. Show me your goddamn eyes."

"Oh, alright. I'll play along," She spoke to me as if I were a child. "But surely, dear, you don't think I'm one of them?" She teased, lifting her fingers to rest delicately on the frames of her glasses.

"Only one way to find out," I insisted.

As the cool black rims fell away, I immediately knew I'd gotten more than I'd bargained for.

 "No, silly girl. They are all mine," she breathed into the crisp night air. There were to black orbs of nothing where her eyes belonged. She was hallow inside, like an old tree left to rot.

I'd heard all I needed to here.

 I was on her. I let out a primal scream, flung the empty gun down on the ground, and bore the cross into her face with both of my hands. She gasped and snarled and shrieked, but I didn't let up. I stayed on her with the intent that only one of us would walk away from the encounter.

                                        

 "Get down on the ground you fucking bitch!" I bellowed at her as I pressed the necklace deep into the tender skin of her cheek, rubbing it all around as if I meant to burn off her entire face. An animalistic rage overcame me and I forgot myself. All I cared about was ending this miserable, abomination of a  creature's existence.

 Her resistance grew weaker and weaker and my rage seemed to melt away along with her life force. I eased the pressure on her face as her legs gave in and she collapsed to the ground. Her face had not in fact smoked like Jeannine's had, but her stony figure looked pretty damn dead to me.

 I scooped up my empty gun and piled in the car. I got a whole block before I peaked into the glass of my rearview mirror. Sure enough, there was no body on the sidewalk. She was gone.

I stomped harder on the gas since there didn't seem to be anyone around to give me any trouble over it. I soon realized that I had no idea where I was going. I slowed my acceleration just enough so that I could confidently operate my cheap cell phone and dial one of my contacts.

"Speak," I was surprised to hear Lydia's voice. This was supposed to be Drake's number.

"Lydia, it's Abigail," I panted out, relieved to be having a conversation with a normal (kind of) person. "Where's your brother, what's going-"

"It's still her," I heard her say to someone on the other end of the line. "You can speak to her now."

I heard the phone fumble around before Drake spoke, "Abigail, where the hell are you? We figured you were gone."

"Where the hell was I gonna go? I'm in town right now, where are you?" This was followed by a long pause in which I could hardly contain my thumping heart and my mounting anxiety.

"You need to get out of there right now, Abigail," He told me gravely. "We're at the Twelve Oaks Plantation. It's a about fifteen miles west of the city limits. You know it?"

"Yeah, I do, actually. They held my senior prom in the ballroom," I mused. "I'll be right there."

 The trip out to the old plantation seemed to drag on for a lifetime, but I just kept going. Not a moment went by when I wasn't going at least ten miles of the speed limit, and I certainly wasn't stuck in traffic, so that cut the time in half. I made it there in twenty minutes flat and on a better day, I might marvel at my own excellent driving skills.

I collected myself and my meager belongings and hopped out of the van. I padded across the soil leading up to the main house faster than a bolt of lightning. I raced towards the door as a drowning man races to the surface, eager to take my first breath in my only safe haven.