Escaped the Night (5 page)

I wiped away more
tears in time to see
movement
behind him
.
Mor
e officers had arrived and
were closing
in on my house
with
their
weapons drawn.

That
really freaked me out.
I
unlocked my door and
flung
it
open.
I go
t out of my seat and
almost fell to the ground. My knees
were
weak and
my
head spun. The officer grabbed me
,
placing
his arm around
my waist for support. He rushed me
toward
s his cruiser and put me inside
.

I sat
across the street
watching
the
chaos happening
around me.
Police were everywhere;
neighbors
poured
out of their
comfortable
houses to see what was taking place on our
normally
quiet street.

Light
s
went
on in my house
shortly
after the a
rmed officers
entered. My whole house,
room by room lit
up
,
but
still
no one came out.
I
felt dizzy and
thought I
’d
blacked out
, yet
I could
see everything
happening. It was blurry —
dream
-
like
.

The officer got in the car just as a
voice came over the
police
radio
.
“You’ve
got to get her out of here. Media’s gonna
h
ave
a field day
with this
. Man…
it’s
bad… it’s…
uh…
nothing
like
we’ve
ever
seen before
.”

I
sobbed
hysterically as
the officer drove
away
. What was happening? Where were all the people I loved?

“My family
?
”
I
manage
d
to
say
.

The officer
pulled
his cruiser over to the shoulder of the road
once we
’d
got
ten
far enough away from my house
. He looked over at me with regret
in
his eyes. “Honey, I know
you heard what they said on the radio, about
the
…deaths
.
I’m sorry dear, there weren’t any survivors.
”

I was lost, u
nable to comprehend what was going on. I felt safe in the
presence
of the officer, but it quickly disappeared when I realized I was alone. “They’re all gone?”

“
Yes, I’m afraid so. There was
actually
one
survivor
, YOU
.
You’
re the lucky one
,
honey
.
You are safe and alive.
”

I nodded
,
still overwhelmed
.

“
I
’ve seen cases like this before and I
must warn
you,
please
don’t listen to what
the
tabloids
are going to
say
. S
peculation
,
it’s all they
have to
go on
so they’ll poin
t fingers everywhere —
maybe even at you
.
”

“Me?”
I looked back at him.

“
Just ignore them and stay strong.
I
personally
promise you, w
e’
ll catch whoever did this.
They’ll never get away with it.
”

I was the only survivor. I tri
ed
process
ing
it
.
No
thing really made any sense
. Minutes
passed and
one clear thought came
in
to
my
mind.
“Ginata,
I need
to
tell her
. She
’s
lost
just
as much as I have
tonight
.”
I gave the officer her address
.

“Okay,”
he
agreed
.
“It has
to be
ju
st between us. I could
get in a ton of trouble for this.”

I agreed to keep the secret
and h
e turned his cruiser around
. W
e
headed
to Ginata’s house
and
pulled
up into the driveway. Before he could even l
et
me
out of the car,
Ginata
burst through the
front door
and
raced
down the front path towards
us
.

“What’s going
on?”
she demanded.

He lifted the handle and my door opened. I
overheard as
t
he officer
tried
gently
explain
ing what
had
happened
.
I got some strength back in my legs a
nd climbed out of the cruiser.
I got out j
ust
as Ginata
collapsed
in
to
a
heaping
pile on
the ground. I stood watching
as a
ll of her brightness went completely dark.
Her body shook as though she
was crying
,
but no sound came
out
.

I
watched
in silence
as
my
best friend fe
ll to pieces.
Suddenly, i
t felt like I couldn’t br
eathe and I
started getting
really
dizzy. The crazed world around me
spun faster and faster
—
I hit
the ground
—
b
lackness.

When I
a
woke,
I was in a
very
differe
nt place. Everything was white and
sanitized
.
I
jolted upright in the bed
when I realized where I was.
This was a hospital. W
hat was going on?
Why was I in here?

Just
as I tri
ed to get
out of
the
bed
,
a nu
rse came into the room
and spoke
calmly
.
“You
’ve ta
k
en
a spill and hit your head. We’
re keeping you here
fo
r
observation
.
So
just
lie
down
and
relax,
you
’
re saf
e
,
get some
rest. You’
ve been through a lot tonight
,
poor girl
.”

Eve
rything came flooding back
.
I
remembered
the events of the night and the fact that
I was
alone. I had no family left.
I was
eighteen
, not exactly a child anymore
,
but not
quite
ready to be considered an
adult
. What was I
going to do
?

H
ysterics
flooded
out
of
me and
b
efore
I could
react to what I was doing
,
the nurse pinned
me down a
nd gave
me a shot
. I felt the slight burn
of the sedative as it made its way through my system.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open
any longer
.

While under
sedation
,
my dreams
decided to ta
k
e
a new path.
Darkness became my friend. I didn’t have any pain or sadness in the dark and I wasn’t afraid of being alone. It brought me comf
ort by wrapping me in its arms and
keeping me there, safe and calm. Soon
thou
gh
, I noticed I was no longer alone.
I saw the
silhouette
of
what I thought
to be a
man over and over again.
He
wasn’t
clear to me because I couldn’t
see his face.
W
herever this
figure went, the
blood followed. The
n I realized, the
figure was
death
and it
was in the darkness.

That
morning
I woke up
and
ca
me to terms
with the fact that
my family
and
my best friend’s parents were gone.
It hurt
,
but I didn’t cry
.

The nurse
came in
to my room and
glanced over at me.
She looked as if
she was mentally preparing herself for our
daily
dealing. What was today going to bring?

I
looked up
and gave
her a
quick smile. I
saw
that
s
he was stunned by my gesture.
“Hello. What is the date today?” I used
my typical voice
not the hysterical
one she’
d
recently become
accustomed to
.
I
wanted
to gather my bearings
. I had no idea how long I had been in and out of
consciousness
.

“Today is Saturday, October
twelfth
.”

I watched her
studying my every move.
She looked li
ke she was
ready
to pounce on me.

“Oh
…” was
all I
manage
d
to say.
I didn’t cry
or turn into a raging lunatic
as I
ha
d
previous
ly
. I simply
sat there
quietly processing how long I’
d been in a daze.
I felt numb; I couldn’t have managed more tears even if I’
d wanted to.