Jamie sat in his plane seat annoyed, annoyed that the stewardess mistook him for a girl, annoyed that the baby behind him had been crying for hours and annoyed that he only had a single earplug rendering it useless. He was always teased for his looks, but he just grew accustomed to the teasing. As a matter of fact he was glad of his appearance it was because of his looks that he was able to meet his girlfriend Lindy. She mistook him as some tomboy in college and their relationship seemed to blossom from there. It had been 6 years since he mustered enough courage or alcohol to ask her out at that fateful party in college. He knew he would need that same level of tenacity or intoxication to ask the question, "Will you marry me?"
The flight was brutal, but that small box in his pocket gave him the strength he needed. Through the airport he kept checking his pocket for that little box: the box that represented his future, the box that the jeweler probably conned him with, the box that encompassed the two things Jamie feared the most "commitment and rejection". He kept rehearsing that line, over and over and he would cringe whenever he realized he was repeating it out loud. He fucked up so many things in life and it was because of Lindy he was able to claw out of the pits he dug himself, so he kept praying, "Please God, please don't let me screw this up" He was far from religious and he only prayed when he was in dire need, but this was more often than not that he might as well say he was. He tried his best in life and that's what his Lindy says she loved about him the most.
It was late, but he thanked god he was home, he peered at his house to see that the light was on upstairs. He opened the door to the house and immediately knew something was wrong. It was dark, no lights were on, clothes were scattered around, drawers were opened, things that belonged on the coffee table was shoved on the floor. "What happened here?" His heart raced like it was trying to escape his chest, "Wait, why wasn't the door locked?" he couldn't seem to catch his breath, "What's going on here, where's Lindy?" his brain throbbed as he tried to overcome his shock. "Calm down, it's fine, Lindy was probably out somewhere!" he rationalized "Its 3AM where would she be!" he refuted. "Calm down, call the cops, report a break in, grab the gun upstairs just in case... Wait what's that sound..."
A faint sound came from upstairs, he closed his eyes and tried to focus, it was a continuous stream of slaps, then... a loud shriek, it was Lindy. He dropped everything and rushed up the stairs, the slapping noises and shrieks grew louder the closer he got to the master bed room, while the screams became more frequent, he began to hear another noise a loud thumping. Picture frames on the wall were on the floor, the door to the bedroom had a hole in it, a little lower than waist height as if someone tried to ram it open. He quickly prepped himself and lightly pushed the door and it came crashing down, the hinges were already broken. Light exploded from the room blinding him momentarily driving him into a brief haze and that's when he saw it.
