As Lucy hid away in her closet, Jeremiah crept closer and closer towards her hiding pale. Lucy wants to cry and scream for help, but she knows he will find her. She squeezes her hand against her mouth as his footsteps inch closer. “Lucy!” he taunts. “I will find you and kill you just like your family!”
Images of her family laying deceased overwhelm Lucy and she begins to sob. Her parents slumped on the couch, both with matching lacerations across their necks and stab wounds covering their stomachs. Blood covers the couch from their pale, lifeless bodies as she stands above them.
Lucy remembers following a pair of bloody footprints from the living room, down the hall, and into her little sister’s room. He was standing there, a kitchen blade in his hand. She watches it drop deep into her sister’s chest and screams, “NO!”
Jeremiah turns toward her, an evil grin on his face. “Everyone you love is dead,” he explains. “Now, I’m the only one to love!”
A twisted look fills his eyes and Lucy runs. She sprints toward the door, but he grabs her. He throws her over her parent’s bodies and laughs maniacally. “Why won’t you love me, Lucy?” he asks, his words slow.
“Leave me alone!” she screams, attempting to get up.
Lucy’s hands and feet slip in the still-wet blood pooled on the ground. She finally gains traction and sprints down the hall. She slips into her parent’s room and hides deep in their walk-in closet. The closet, Jeremiah is standing outside of at this very moment. He knocks on the door and whispers. “I know you’re in there!”
Lucy has nowhere to go, he will kill her if she tries to run for it. She can see the shadow of his feet through the crack at the bottom of the door. She hears him wiggle the locked doorknob and laughs. His feet move away from the door and she hears him sit onto her parent’s bed. “I can wait, Lucy,” he calls. “I’ve waited thirteen years, even fooled your parents.”
Lucy sobs silently, remembering the years Jeremiah has been apart of her family. She called him “uncle”. Now, he murdered her family to get her love. “I’ll give you a chance,” he barters. “Be mine forward and I won’t kill you!”
Lucy’s hands tremble as he approaches the door. “Stay in there, and I will ensure you have the most painful death,” he adds.
He slams his fists into the door, and she screams. Jeremiah cackles and states, “You have ten seconds to decide.”
Lucy’s tears dry and make way for fear. She searches for a weapon as he begins to count. “Ten… Nine… Eight…”
Lucy’s slides to the corner of the closet and brushes the clothes to the side to expose a tall metal safe. She smiles and presses her thumb to the glass surface, and it beeps. “Six, five,” he continues.
Lucy carefully lifts a large object out of the safe and stands to her feet. She presses it to her shoulder and takes a deep breath. “Three, two.” Jeremiah counts on.
“ONE!” she screams, pulling the trigger on the twelve-gauge shotgun.
A hole blasts through the closet door and the gun flies out of Lucy’s hand. She is thrown back into the wall and slides down to her butt. Her ears ring violently, as she wipes the gun powder out of her eyes. She slowly stands to her feet, her right shoulder screaming in pain. She pushes open the door until something stops it. She peers around and sees Jeremiah laying on the ground, a hole through his stomach. He stares at her with fear-filled eyes and joy washes over her. She slips out of the closet and grabs the knife from the corner of the room then approaches him. She drops a blanket onto his stomach and kneels on his wound. He cringes and blood pours down his chin. “I’ll give you ten seconds to live,” she states, a look of revenge in her young eyes.
Lucy lowers the blade toward Jeremiah, prepare to strip him of the life he has left.