Escaped the Night (6 page)

My reac
tion took her
off guard and s
he
took a few steps closer and spoke in a softer
,
sweeter
voice.
“You’
ve been in here for a few
days
now, Shanntal. You had a horrific thing happen
,
but you are strong and have
already
gone
through
the worst of
it. We have doctors here that can help you should you ever need
it;
I mean
whenever you need someone
to talk to.
”

“
I’
ve been sedated for
day
s?”
I looked
at her completely confused.
I trie
d piecing
everything together
. That dreadful night
, my dreams
and the
darkness played over again in my memory.

Then a happier
memory c
ame into my mind
. I
t was
about Ginata. I needed
to speak with her; she
’
d understand everything
I was going through
because it was happening to her too
. “
I need to call
my friend
. Please, may I use the
phone?”

The nurse helped me to the long desk a few feet down from the doorway of my room.
I
called
her number
to find it
disconnected
. I called 4-1-1 to see if I could track down another number. No luck.
My heart broke as I wondered what had happened to my friend. Where did she go? Was she okay?

Now, I
really was by myself, though this ti
me I
remain
ed
strong
. When the thought
of isolation
hit me, I didn’t
breakdown
,
instead
I stood tall.
I
survived
that
horrific
night
and I owed it to all of them to live my life
to the fullest
and make them proud.

Later on
I spoke with
a helpful
doctor
.
He
taught
me
ways
to
overcome my fears
and
coping methods
,
which
enable
d me
to
deal
with the loss
of everyone
who had
meant something to me.

A few mo
re days passed
and
the doctor
finally
decided
I seemed to be
in cont
rol of my thoughts and emotions.
I was free to go
, but only
as long as I was under supervision
.

Free to go?
Supervision? W
here was I going to go
? W
ho was going to keep an eye on me
?

Just then two people came though the
double
doo
r
s
of the hospital
and
I recognized them at o
nce.
“Auntie Stephanie, Uncle Da
nier
!”
I
tearfully
ran
over
to them
,
opened my arms
up
as big as I c
ould
and gave
them a joint
bear hug.

I was so
incredibly
relieved and happy to see them. I wasn’t
alone
anymore
. I still had
a
family. Maybe not the family I wanted, but they were
without a doubt
,
the family
I needed.

Elements

~ Chapter Two ~

After leaving the hospital Uncle Danier and Auntie Stephanie took me over to the police station where I spoke with the officer who had helped me that dreadful night. I needed to find out for myself if he had any leads, versus what the papers were saying. He confirmed that the means of the deaths remained a mystery. But, he told me something the papers didn’t. He told me the bodies had been drained of all liquids and all of the victims sustained various bites, including our pet cat that also perished. Before we left he suggested it might be best for me to leave Greyton and move to Blackwood where Uncle Danier and Auntie Stephanie live.

This was all very weird. My family died from bites? And the cat? We didn’t even have a cat. They must’ve been confused, or a stray had wandered in while the door was ajar. Poor thing. So now I was left with no suspects, drained bodies and a dead cat.

We
passed
by
a
newsstand
after leaving the station
.
On that terrible night, t
he policemen had tried to warn me
about what was to come, but t
his was
simply
horrible.
The headlines said it all.
Guilty! Who really did
it? Coincidence —
A lone survivor.

A reporter stepped out from behind the rack. “How’
d you do it? What
kind of weapon did you use?
”

“I didn’t do anything
,
” I stuttered
,
pushing
the
microphone away
from my face
.

“What was your motive? Were you a
bused? Ignored?” He pried.

Uncle
Danier
stepped in and shouted
at the reporter to leave us alone and go away. I turned my head, jus
t in time to see more reporters gathering.
U
ncle
Danier
also saw them and hurried us
to the car
.
Auntie Stephanie hopped in
first
and
fired up the engine, while we climbed in the backseat.

“Why are they doing this?”
My world spun.
Why were people
being
so cruel?

“They’re grasping.” Uncle Danier
said, placing
a protective arm around my shoulders
as we drove away
.
“It’s all they’ve got to help them feel better
.
A monster is
loose out there. T
hey’ve got to place blame
somewhere
and this is
easier tha
n
not knowing.”

Their d
eaths
remained a mystery with no
real
suspects or
clues.
No
one
had
any ideas
of how my family
died, s
o the
t
abloids did what they do best and
created their own
story.

The headli
n
es pointed to me as a
person of interest
because
I was a t
eenage girl that
wore
black
clothes, worn jeans
,
had
piercing
s
, highlights and tattoos. Obviously
…
that meant
I did it.
What a joke!
How could they
get off doing things like this?
I’d just lost everyone
I cared about
, why couldn’t they just leave me alone?

The
suggestion of
moving away came up
again
and this time
I di
dn’t object
.
T
here
wasn’t
much left for me in Greyton, other than a few friends
I never really saw and a lot o
f memories
I needed to put some distance between.

We proceeded
to my house
to collect
some of
my things
for the move
.
I couldn’t
bring myself to
go
in
. It was too painful
. The
memories of that nig
ht flashed fresh in
my mind
.

Uncle Danier went
inside
and
Auntie Stephanie
sat in the rental car
with me
. She
reached back and held my hand as she
assured me over and over that everything was okay
. No one
else
was going to
get hurt
and
I was safe.

My heart beat sporadically
waiting
for my uncle
. I
found it
hard to breathe
; my body trembled from fear.
I needed him to come out now. Jus
t when
I was about to start sc
reaming my face off, he emerged with two
suitcases
.

The sight of him almost made me cry. I was so relieved that he
was safe and
made it
out of my house. He walked towards the car and put
my bags in the trunk and g
ot
in the
passenger
seat
. He
turned
to Auntie
Stephanie
,
giving
her
a
fake
smile
. I saw right through it. He was
insinuating
that
he w
ould
never go
back in the house again. Then
,
he turned
around to me. “I didn’t grab much, j
ust some
of your
clothes and a few
other
basics. You can check it out when we get home.”

We silently made our way to the airport. I
sat
thinking
about all the good memories
I was leaving behind.
Sadly, t
hey were
now
out
numbered by the bad memories residing
in their place. I
found myself
almost
relieved
to
be leaving. It would’
ve been too difficult to put m
yself back together with all this
uncertainty
in Greyton.
Uncle Danier was
extremely
quiet and I assumed it
was
because of
what he’d witnessed
inside of my house.
I was glad
no one spoke. I wanted to forget
about all the bad
—
all
of
the unknown
.

We arrived at the airport,
dropped off the rental car
and t
hen
proceeded
t
o the airline counter and
check
ed
in. The airline took our bags an
d we
made our way
through security.
As we boarded the plane
,
I
felt more and more
apprehensive about the fligh
t.
What about Ginata? I already missed her so much, could I leave her behind? Was this the right thing to do?
I was leaving everything I’
d ever known.
This was a
huge
change
.
I took a deep
breath
trying to get
back in the right frame of mind.
Change was good
,
I reminded myself
as I sat
d
ow
n in my seat. A fresh start was
what I
needed
.
I took another deep breath in and invited the change.