Anne was as bundled as she could get at this stage. A long-sleeved shirt under her puffy jacket. The leggings she wore were her greatest concern outside of her running shoes when the thought of the cold rose in her mind. Not the most ideal collection of clothing given the circumstances. However, the circumstances themselves weren’t quite ideal. They were horrifying.

  Anne had fully absorbed her reality in those minutes she drove. Minutes that extended into what felt like hours from where she sat. This reality where she was alone. She was alone right now. She would be alone if she managed to regroup with the others. She would be alone everywhere she went now that the largest piece of her heart had been ripped from her. All sense of safety and stability were fiction as far she was concerned.

  The young woman had never been an overtly emotional person. The screams and howls that exploded out of her as she had driven felt foreign to her. These heavy emotions that held her internal organs in a vice grip. She felt utterly lost. Everything about her new reality was different and disgusted her.

  The dry heat and reddish-brown surroundings where she happily went on with her life had been completely uprooted. All around her was white with splotches of black and brown crying out for breathing room. It reminded her of paper, once adorned with pencil scribbles and illustrations, now left with marks of what once was. Erased. Everything that crafted the picture of who she was felt like it had been erased. She had nothing with her here and -

  The thought of the demon of a man that came upon Tony flashed into her mind like a blade cuts through meat. She closed her eyes so tightly she felt her eyes might burst inside their sockets. She screamed as she tried to overpower the noise in her mind. The noises of all the sounds from inside the hotel. The noise of her own screams as she watched Tony’s life disappear. Her balled up fists struck the top of her cranium as she attempted to distract from the images that wouldn’t leave. It was outside of her control.

  Who could win? Who could feasibly kill a man who struck with the speed of lightning and made such quick work of various bodies? Bodies created by the universe or by God or by thousands of collective years of evolution. Regardless of origin, these bodies were built with muscular and skeletal systems crafted with the intention of stabilization and strength. None of these were a match for the ferocity that existed inside that stranger who took everything. Anne had no chance.

  The cold was increasing. The car’s heat was still on, but it was no more than an illusion. The dropping temperatures could be felt from all angles. This heat was nothing more than a bubble. A bubble that was slowly shrinking in size. Anne was numb, but her numbness could not fend off this cold air. Even if it could, it would only be in feeling. Her body would still have to weather the sharp pain of the cold winds and it would only be able to withstand these circumstances for so long.

  “Why should I even bother? WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I BOTHER??? WHO is listening to me?? WHY am I here?? I’m so desperate and I need SOMETHING! I don’t want to die here… I don’t want to LIVE here! Why can’t I just disappear… Why can’t I cease to exist? Erase me from every part of my life so that I don’t bring my parents pain… but so that I don’t have to accept how things are now! I can’t go on like this. I can’t accept any of this…”

  Tears were flooding from Anne’s eyes. She could barely breathe as she gasped between her sobs. Her mind wished for death while her heart wished to go on. Then the two would switch their stances and argue in favor of the opposite. Anne was completely out of control of her emotions. She burned with heat inside of her chest. She was so hot she felt it suffocating her. Then she would inhale and the cold seeping in through the cracks in the warmth stabbed at her trachea. She shuddered and she sweat and she froze over and she would overheat. Nothing made sense and this rising anxiety would not spare her a second of reprieve.

  There was no happy ending for Anne. This was the only thought that crystalized and embedded itself in her psyche. Hopelessness and nihilism intertwined into one detrimental mindset. Her motivation to continue on was depleted and the only part of her incessantly working was her mind. It was filled with images of what was to come. Anne, frozen in her seat, dead. Anne wandering into the snowy landscape until she collapsed and lied there; only to be found once the snow melted. Anne’s throat ripped out of her skin by the stranger in black. These were the only options she had to look forward to.

  Anne looked down at the steering wheel, expressionless. She felt like a husk; living cells with no subconscious. Then, a thought manifested itself from the smog in her skull. There was one other option that was now apparent to her. Her heart began to regulate as she pondered her future actions. What could she do? She was unsure, but her body was responding to this newfound motivation. She had one path forward, she might as well take it.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Evan was seated in a recliner in the living room. Jessica and Tyrone were seated on the couch while Janet continued looking upon the building snow piles on the deck. She spoke, “So we’ve barricaded all of the doors other than this one and the front door, right?”

  Evan nodded, “Yeah, we’ve checked and re-checked. There are no openings that we won’t hear unless they’re close by. We seem safe right now.”

  “Have you heard anything from your friends? I haven’t gotten anything from Carl, but given the weather…”

  Jessica shook her head, “We’re in the dark with them right now. I’m getting a bad feeling, though.”

  Janet cleared her dry throat, “Don’t entertain those thoughts. We have an objective here and that’s to get through this storm. After that, you and your friends can get out of here and we can get this whole thing figured out.”

  Tyrone chuckled, “That’s a weird thought.”

  Evan raised his eyebrow to this comment, “What do you mean?”

  “It just feels like we’re in this, y’know? We’re attached to this shit and I don’t think anyone can deny that anymore. But we’re gonna get to skate out before things get resolved. Feels like the main characters dipping out of their movie at the halfway mark.”

  It feels like we should be here for this. Obviously we shouldn’t, but I’m not sure how to place these feelings. I guess it just feels anticlimactic.”

  This prompted a greater chuckle from Janet, “I’ll take anti-climax over the alternative. Besides, I’m sure you kids can catch the news. You’ll get to see Davie smile for the first time. Hell, it might be the first time I see the old man smile.”

  Evan spoke out, “What’s his story? He seems a little… unpleasant?”

  Janet turned to the group with a soft smile and sat down on the armrest of the couch, “That’s probably a good label for him. He is more than that though. He’s paternal. More than you’d think he is. He takes a lot of care in the department.”

  “Like, TLC?”

  “Not that much. He just cares more than most folks realize. He recognizes the small changes in us from day to day. He doesn’t necessarily try and fix things or give us advice. He’s more interested in making sure our heads are on our shoulders at work.”

  “So, he’s a boss then? Makes sure his workers are good?”

  “See, that’s a little reductive too. He was more than that. It’s tough to explain without giving you guys details that you probably don’t need.”

  Jessica interjected, “I mean… we might not even see him until he leaves. I don’t want to be too messy, but we do have some time to kill.”

  Janet looked at Jessica’s face. It was innocent in intention. “I can’t speak on too much. His personal life deserves to be kept as private as he wishes. He’s been through a lot in his life. We all have, I suppose. No one gets by living without dealing with struggles at some point in time. I’m getting off topic, though.

  Him and his wife have had a rough marriage. From what he told us, they were thick as thieves to start their marriage. Some things ended up happening that put a strain on them. I won’t get into specifics, but it’s affected them both for a while now. I suppose his outlet is work and he isn’t really satisfied at work either, so it’s made him a little rougher around the edges. He’s always remained caring, though. I appreciate the way he leads more than I think I could ever let him know. Maybe I should work on that some more so that I can tell him soon.”

  The students nodded in understanding that Janet didn’t feel comfortable divulging more. Hopefully they could bug Davie one more time and ask him about his life. They’ve certainly only had unilateral conversations to this point. Maybe he would appreciate the effort.

  Knockknockknockknockknock

  All four of the current residents stood in silence, their back muscles straining as if they would be unable to bend. A few more knocks followed the initial flurry. Each individual had their hopes of who it could be, but none of the scenarios made sense to them. Could this be the killer? Would a tactic as brash as this possibly be taking place?

  “Hey! I’m freezing my ass off out here and I need HELP!” The voice called from the other side of the door. A voice that was familiar, but none of the group could identify it at the moment.

  The knocks became angry, strong thuds. “Get me the fuck out of this weather! I am NOT dying because whoever the fuck is in there is too lazy to let me inside!”

  This sentence conjured a wince from Evan. He looked at the other three in the room and sighed, “That’s Mel.”

  Tyrone scrunched up his face as he asked, “Why is this dude here right now?”

  Janet sucked her upper teeth. She responded, “He sounds like he’s alone. No one else knocked and no one else has spoken up. So why is he here, yeah… but why is he alone?”