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The Demon was right behind Nest…
She raced up the steps and
yanked on the handle of the porch door. The door opened easily,
and she was inside in the blink of an eye. She slammed the door
behind her, threw the lock, rushed to the front door, and began
to pound. Inside, she could hear the sound of laughter and music.
She pounded harder.
The door opened. A young woman
dressed in a sweater and jeans stood there, holding a drink in
her hand and staring in disbelief.
”Please let me in!”
Nest began once more. “There’s someone after me, and
I need to call—“
A storm window flew apart
in an explosion of jagged shards as the demon crashed onto the
porch and slammed into the front wall of the house, snarling
and snapping at the air with its massive jaws and hooked teeth.
The young woman screamed in terror, and Nest shoved her back
inside the house, followed her in, slammed the door shut, and
threw the bolt lock. The young woman went down in a heap and
lay there, sobbing. They were in a hallway leading to a series
of rooms, the nearest of which was filled with other young people
who stared out at them in surprise. Laughter and light conversation
gave way to exclamations. Nest went past them down the hall in
a rush. Behind her, the demon was tearing at the door, stripping
away the wooden façade as if it were cardboard.
Party-goers spilled out into
the entry to help the young woman back to her feet, some calling
after Nest, some staring wide-eyed towards the sounds coming
from outside the door. “Don’t open it!” Nest shouted
back at them. Not that anyone was that stupid, she thought in
a sudden moment of giddiness.
At the end of the hallway
lay the kitchen. Inside, she found a phone and dialed 911. Maybe
the old couple down the block had already done so, but maybe
not. She told the operator there was a forcible entry in progress
at a house just north of Lincoln Park. She said there was screaming.
She gave the phone number of the house and then hung up. That
ought to bring someone.
There was a new sound of glass
breaking, this time from somewhere at the side of the house.
The demon was trying to get in another way. She leaned against
the kitchen counter, listening to the sounds, staring into space.
If she remained where she was, she was risking the safety of
the people in the house. If she went out again, she was risking
her own safety. She closed her eyes and tried to think. She was
so tired. But she was alive, too, and that was more than she
could say about Boot and Audrey and Ariel. She pushed away from
the counter and went through a laundry room to a back door. The
demon was still trying to break in from the other side of the
house. She could hear the party-goers shouting and screaming,
crowding down the hallway, trying to get away from the intruder.
She could hear the phone begin to ring.
She yanked open the door and
fled once more into the night.
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