I was stopped in my tracks from a spectacle out the window.
Small whites dots flurried past the panes and my jaw dropped as best it could. I remembered myself and threw the gun to the side, ragging in terribly nauseous breath, heart thundering, as if trying to escape my ribcage.
I retched but there was no vomit, only a dollop of bile that I wiped away on my thighs. Kicking the gun away further to steel myself with what I had just wanted to do I craned my face back towards the window to distract myself with anything there.
It's snow. It's actual, real, snow. I had never seen it in person, Florida was mediocre that way. I rushed down the steps and flung the creaky back door open, stepping out onto the crusty grass and sticking my palms out past the overhead.
It was beautiful. Swirling around and gathering into heaps. My feet bounced with unspeakable giddiness, one I had not felt in such a long time.
One that was entirely false and pushed me further into a disassociation that made my body feel as though it were not mine. The hair at my head felt like someone else's, my feet that were cold did not chill me in this body because it wasnt mine.
So I stood.
For a very long time.
I was shivering and frozen to the bone when the sun began to dip low, casting a white sheen instead of a grey one, then the moon rose to my back and still I stayed.
Curled in the grass in frozen pain, biting and picking at my body, all over. I was sure my toes would shrivel and fall off, perhaps that's what I wanted, I really, truly did not know.
I closed my eyes and drifted away into fitful sleep, at least in my subconscious I was smart enough to drag myself through the opened door well and warm in the cooled heat.
It was well into the night when they opened, the snow gifting bright light to see my surroundings, but the flurry in the air dashed that away with vehemence. I wasn't sure why I woke, and tried to fall back asleep, but my hair was on end.
Warning me to get up and to go.
Looking around the large field, where my brother was buried, I couldn't pick out movement. Couldn't see anything beyond my hand, and that alone terrified me. But then I heard voices, carried by the whipping winds, and to my ears.
There was no one around for at least an hour, this was an attack.
I shut the door behind me, locking it and flicking off lights, rushing up the steps and to the discarded gun that would be my only ticket to survival.
I slung it over my back with the strap, threw open his wardrobe and pocketed knives I didn't know how to use, bullets I didn't know how to load, and flicked off the light in there as well.
Kicking away the rug and fumbling for it's so called latch, I shimmed into the floor boards and unfurled the rug back over the door. Locking it firmly in place.
I had no light, it was pitch black in this makeshift oubliette, and I didn't bother praying, I vowed to live through this night. Noises made their way into the home itself, a pair of males speaking urgently, one harsh, biting. The other softer, listless.
The stairs crunched in front of me as they made their way upstairs, not bothering with the ground level, and I knew they knew, that Jamie had a woman here that he loved very much.
Their indistinct voices were shouts and grumblings as they made themselves home, moving around and talking without a care in the world. And I, scared beyond my wits, waited for them to find me.
A lot of time had passed and they were still here, still conversing and moving, going all about the home and forcing my soul to abort my skin when one ran across my head then up and down the stairs.
I listened hard, trying make out their words, but it was hard to hear over the slamming of my heartbeat and breath. I willed it to quiet down, if they were going to find me they would've done it by now.
It seemed to do the trick and I listened hard, pressing against the beams holding this secret hideaway up.
Their voices were still blurry but easy to make out now.
"There's only two people who know, that girl and Mike, they are both gone." The lazy one said, sighing heartily, "I doubt the princess had the means or the connections, so that roots out only one path."
A weak groan sounded throughout even the beams, it rattled my head and I grew dizzy for a moment. "He wouldn't."
"But he would." The other impressed, "he stands alot to gain if you die." A pause to let it sink in, "Even I'm jealous of you most the time, though killing you wouldn't be the first thing I tried to take some of your glory off your huge hands."
I bit my lip to stop a laugh, his inflection was hilarious, the way he delivered his words was the punchline regardless of if there were a joke at all. If he wasn't here to nab me or worse, I'd admire him, if only for that.
There was no answer from the other, and the funny one sighed, it was less rattling but still carried strength. "What do you want me to do?"
Another pause but this one didn't go unanswered. "Find her. Please." The last part was tacked on after a pregnant silence ensued from the comedian.
"I will find her, those footprints were recent, water doesn't stay wet for too long." He groaned softly and got to his feet, I wondered if they were hurt from their noises, if so, I had a real chance. He said something unintelligible and I shifted to hear him better, putting my hand out to feel where I was going.
"We need to move before Mike figures out where we are," He hissed as if being overheard, perhaps he could feel my presence under his boots. I sidled up to a crack that shone a bit of light to the level near my head.
I stood underneath it, peering upwards to catch a glimpse of whoever was there.
One man came into view, dark black boots laced up his ankles and had something awfully red stained on the bottom. My view was dead between his legs. He was leaning forward, long blonde hair had come loose out of its bun and shimmering across his cheeks where more bloodstains.
His knobby fingers weren't cleaned, brown and blackened red mixed together and were interlaced as his jaw stretched with anger. He was dressed similarly to Jamie had been when he left, and that was all I could see.
I pivoted to see the other male, but the same black boots were the extent of my vision of him. I turned back to recede into the blackness, if I could see them, they could see you. That was all I had to advise myself with.
In my haste I hadn't been paying attention to the long gun slung over my shoulder, the barrel had connected with the beam in a resounding *Thunk*, and I prayed it went unheard.
They had not been speaking when it happened, I just hoped they were fond of the term "Old houses creak."
Heavy footsteps crossed the floor and I pressed into the second room I had been spying on them in, deep in the shadows. Movement shuffled directly over the entrance and a scream was building in my throat.
I did the next best thing.
