Chapter Text
The house was alive with noise, despite how dead inside you felt walking there.
When they first offered you the job it seemed simple enough.
Sit around and watch the house, when they get back from their “fancy” dinner take the money and leave.
The cash was too good to pass up. Being one of the richer families in Detroit's suburbs, they were absolutely loaded.
When you entered the lavish building, you quickly noticed how large it was.
Cream walls were dotted with gold light fixtures, and Hallmark photographs of the family.
Being only 20 and still struggling to find a job this was easy money.
There was just one catch. She was here, Rebecca.
The couple that lived in the house just had to be the parents of the girl that picked you out as her target for unrelenting bullying during high school.
And even though you barely managed to graduate a full 2 years ago she was still finding a way to make your life a living hell.
Her steely blue eyes met yours as you sat awkwardly on the couch.
Her parents and aunt were still bumbling around getting ready to leave and you had dumbly showed up early.
Rebecca glared at you and huffed before rushing upstairs.
The parents hid their classism behind a polite plastic facade.
They gave you money to order a pizza with, and a mess of sticky notes with all the emergency numbers on the fridge like you were a child.
You rolled your eyes at this behind their backs and used the landline to get your pizza.
“God, how much mascara does she have to put on?” you grumbled to yourself.
Rebecca's parents were in the kitchen talking, calling her name.
“Honey, we'll be late for our reservations at 8:00!”
A very shrill “I’m coming!” flew downstairs before her mom shook her head.
A loud knock at the door startled you out of your thoughts.
“Could you get that sweetheart?” said her mom.
You nodded before getting up to answer the door.
It was the pizza man. Finally you thought.
“Hey, delivery for…” his voice trailed off as he looked you up and down with a strange expression. The guy was a little older than you, probably in his late twenties.
“It's for me,” you quickly added, taking the box.
He reluctantly parted with it.
“Here” you gave him the cash and that seemed to stop him from ogling. “Oh uh, thanks man. You have a good night, alright?”
You smiled and nodded as he walked down the porch.
That was strange. You closed the door and set the pizza box down on the living room table.
Was there something in my hair? glancing at the dark windows showed you your normal reflection, but something else was wrong.
You didn’t see a car outside as you watched him disappear behind some trees, how’d the pizza guy get here?
Did he walk all that way?
“Alright we’re finally leaving” complained the aunt.
Rebecca had come downstairs and sneered at you as she walked out the front door with her parents. “And no parties!” the aunt added as the door slammed behind them.
You let out a sigh of relief to be rid of that awful family.
At least they’d be paying you a hundred dollars when they got back.
Switching on the tv you dug into your pizza, happy to spend the rest of the night watching cheesy horror movies in someone else's house.
They wait outside, patiently for the ritual to begin
You’d only eaten three slices when you started to feel sick.
Pushing the rest of the pizza aside, you focused on the movie. Yet you couldn’t help but notice how dark it had gotten outside.
The clock on the wall read 9:45.
Has an hour and a half really passed since they’d left?
In your mind it felt longer.
Knock knock knock.
Sitting upright you turned to the front door. Who was knocking at this hour?
Probably the neighbors. You crawled to the window that overlooked the couch facing the living room. Peering outside from the blinds, at this angle anyway could make out who was on the porch.
Expecting a door to door salesman you were surprised to see, no one.
It was definitely some kids playing a prank, or the wind somehow.
You went back to your movie.
Knock knock knock.
You were in the middle of the part where Michael Myers was slashing at the girl through the closet when the sudden knocking pulled you right out of it.
Growling obscenities you got up, not before peeking out the window again.
There was no one there.
This was getting annoying, you really didn’t want to open the door, more out of laziness than anything. Still you marched down the front hall to the door.
Unlocking it and opening it part way you were met with nothing.
Outside it was windy and dark. The porchlight illuminated the front yard and driveway which were both empty.
You frowned and closed the door.
Just as you were getting comfy on the couch again you heard it.
Knock knock knock.
You got up once more hopefully for the final time.
Swinging it open you called out;
“If you're trying to scare me then stop, this isn’t funny!”
The wind whistled through the trees and the front yard was still.
Staring down the driveway you could see that the street was empty
The houses across were dark, the only bit of light a faint glow from a streetlight a ways off.
Just as you were about to go inside a very faint laugh echoed over the wind.
Your face turned red and you scowled.
You rifled through a drawer in the entryway and found a small flashlight.
Having enough of this you put on your sneakers and carefully walked out onto the porch.
“I know you're out there! Why don't you just go home, ok?”
The flashlight shined over the grass showing nothing of note.
You walked down further off the porch onto the cobblestone path.
Shining the light onto the fence where you could have sworn a dark figure duck behind the hedges.
Quickly stepping closer your hopes were dashed when you noticed that it was just the shadows cast by the flashlight.
“Dam” you grumbled. There was nothing out here, maybe that really was just the wind.
BANG!
Whipping your head around you had failed to see that the wind had slammed the front door shut.
“Fuck!” running up the porch, you tried the door but the stupid thing was locked from the inside.
You chastised yourself before realizing you’d left the back door unlocked.
The backyard was darker than the front. At least the front yard had one street light.
You walked around the garage and also tried the door that led in there. Locked too.
Using the flashlight you found your way to the backyard.
Of course they had a pool. They also had a huge back deck with a fire pit, outdoor furniture and a hot tub. You sighed dramatically at the objects.
The back door was a screen door no light shone above it.
You remembered leaving it open earlier to get some fresh air, but closed it soon after as the wind picked up. It was definitely picking up even more now.
The howling from it sent a shiver down your spine.
You fiddled with the handle trying hard not to let the creepiness of this situation bother you.
You didn’t dare turn around as it felt like a pair of eyes were boring into the back of your head.
Finally the handle clicked and you swung the door open and quickly stepped in.
Thud! the door shut.
The faint sounds of the tv trailed into the dark kitchen.
Taking in a deep breath, you decided having the house key on you was the best course of action. Lest something like this happen again.
Before moving on you noticed something on the kitchen island.
Two sticky notes were there, it was the same notes the parents gave you with the numbers for the fire department and police.
Weren’t these stuck on the fridge before? Rebecca probably moved them….
You ruminate on your tormentor a little before leaving for the living room.
You grabbed the house key from the dish in the kitchen planning on really locking everything up.
Just for safety and piece of mind. No more scares for the rest of the night.
You locked the back door and went to the front door next.
That's funny.
The front door was locked already.
Didn't you leave it open? Open and unlocked when you went outside?
Your blood went cold when you looked at the living room table.
Sitting there was the pizza box, open and now practically empty
One slice of meatlovers remained, you only had three unless you somehow blacked out and ate the rest. Taking another gulp of air you glanced down only to be met with another grim sight.
Muddy footprints were tracked all along the hallway leading to the stairs.
Okay, so someone broke in, no biggie, happens all the time I-I just need to get to a phone and-
THUD!
Something upstairs hit the ground. Rapid footsteps could be heard making their way throughout the house.
Without thinking you raced for the kitchen. There was a phone in there.
you rushed in sliding on the tiled floor and grabbed the thing as someone came stomping down the stairs. you tried to get out the back door but of course, you’d locked it and dropped the key when you heard the noise!
Fuck this doesn’t make any sense!
Voices reached your ears as the footsteps grew louder.
There was only one option left; hide!
You crawled into the cabinet under the kitchen island and held your breath.
You kept as quiet as possible as the two home invaders entered the kitchen.
“There's nobody here!” one of them yelled. “Might as well case the place as we have it all to ourselves!”
“What about that chick we scared off? ” said another.
“Wish we could have chased her down in the dark, man that would have been fun!”
There were more footsteps around the island.
“Oh she's probably long gone, can’t get in cause you locked all the doors.”
He chuckled, a sound that made my skin crawl.
I tried to peek out the seam from the cabinet door to get a better look.
I could only see one pair of muddy boots casually standing nearby.
“Me? Lock the doors, dude I thought that was supposed to be you?”
There was a nervousness in his voice.
“What are you talking about? Remember what we planned?”
“...That you were gonna lock the doors?” the other responded.
The other intruder sighed angrily then spoke.
“Ah whatever, what are you gonna do? We’ll lock em again ok?”
You kept trying to get a better position, but the huge blender next to you was digging into your side. This really wasn’t a comfortable place to hide.
“And now that we have the house to ourselves, and since the rest of the guys won’t be here for another hour…”
Wait, there's more of them? How many people do you need to rob one house?
“Aw hell yeah! Lets eat all their cereal and cover their walls in blood, and-and go through their pantie drawers.”
“Pantie drawers?” the other guy laughed “what are we, fifteen?”
“Hey, it's an idea!”
You craned my neck to hear better but just ended up pushing the blender over.
You caught it before it could hit the ground, and that's when you noticed how silent it got.
Through the seam in the cabinet drawer the legs stood facing the island.
“You go check upstairs one more time, maybe we can take a few souvenirs” said one of them.
“I’ll check the garage, might as well see if that girl is still here.”
You felt the growing fear in your chest tighten and contract as he said that.
You listened closely as their footsteps left the kitchen and the familiar sound of thuds up the stairs told you they had moved on.
Taking a sigh of relief you carefully opened the door and crawled out from the kitchen island.
Tiptoeing into the living room you went right for the door.
It was a horrifying sight, someone had smashed the handle into a brass lump.
Trying it was useless, the door didn’t budge.
You had to go back to the kitchen.
A voice upstairs caused you to move faster.
“Upstairs is clear!” the familiar sound of heavy footsteps grew louder.
It was the same as the front, the handle was also crumpled.
Dammit now what?
A large hand grabbed the back of your neck.
Flinching instinctively, you realized you were face to face with one of the home invaders.
His face was white as a sheet and black circles surrounded his cloudy eyes which stared back at you with tiny pupils. He towered over you easily.
“Now how did you get back in here?” he said.
He gripped your neck tightly, “I guess I really did forget to lock the doors, heh. Well it's too late to leave now,” he growled.
Someone came barreling in from the hallway “did’ya catch her? Did’ya catch her?”
It was the other guy, he was shorter skinnier, with the same pale face and dark eyes.
“Hell yeah! Uh… now what? What the fuck do we do with her?”
The other guy shook you like a ragdoll, you were getting sick of this.
You yelled at them to let you go and started kicking and flailing your arms around.
You managed to squeeze out of his grip and bolted for the living room before either of them could grab you.
“Don’t let her get out!” one of them yelled.
You knew you left the keys near the front door, hopefully you could use them to unlock the garage; it was your only hope of escape.
You groaned internally upon seeing them gone from the drawer in the hallway.
“Looking for this?” you turned to see the other invader, the taller guy.
He smiled wickedly at you as he held up the keys.
You froze. There was no way out, what else could you do?
Just then you saw in your peripheral.
Slowly standing up on the couch the shorter guy was preparing to jump at you.
You ran out just barely dodging him.
There was a loud thud as he hit the floor instead.
You went into the dining room tossing some of the chairs to the ground to keep them at bay.
You could hear them stumbling behind you as you ran into the kitchen again.
Dammit! What next?
You grabbed a steak knife from the butcher block.
It wasn’t much but at least you could defend yourself now.
You debated hiding in the pantry, cause upstairs was absolutely off limits in this situation.
Holding up the knife you tried to look as calm as possible as the two guys burst into the room.
Their expressions changed from surprise to amusement.
“Hah! What are you gonna do with that? Stab us?” said the shorter one, they were both panting from that short run around the house.
You frowned, staring at the knife in hand then looking at them.
“Alright I’m gonna call the police, and you're both gonna stay right there,” you still had the landline phone within reach, and hopefully the knife would be enough to keep them from getting to you.
Both of the intruders watched idly as you dialed 9 1 1 one handed on the phone.
“Go ahead,” the tall one said.
“Just don't be surprised when no one answers.”
The shorter guy chuckled at that, and the phone kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing.
The line went dead, “what?” you stuttered.
“I wonder who cut the phone lines? Oh right we did!” he laughed.
You dropped the device bringing the knife up as it clattered on the ground.
“S-Stay back” you said.
“Aww what's wrong? Tired of playing tag?” tutted the taller guy as he slowly moved around the kitchen island.
You felt the growing fear finally overtake you as you realized the gravity of the situation.
They were both much bigger than and there were two of them. Even with the small knife they could still easily overpower you.
Maybe you could convince them to leave you alone if you let them rob the place.
“Just take whatever you want from the stupid house! It's not even my place! I don't live here!”
The shorter guy scratched the back of his neck as he watched his companion carefully inch closer to you. “Yeah we already knew that,” he said.
“-And we’re not here to rob the place, although that's kind of a bonus” his taller friend added.
“W-what do you want from me?” they had started to circle around you till you were backed into the corner of the kitchen, the only exit was the screen door with the busted handle.
“Nothing, yet. We just want you to stay put for us until the others get here” the shorter guy held out his hands like he was trying to calm down a small animal.
Your eyes darted to the window then back at the two maniacs that had you cornered.
“We’re not gonna hurt you if that's what you're thinking, I mean we can't make any promises though.”
You stared at them intently before making up your mind.
It soon dawned on them both what your plan was as their expressions changed to panic as you dropped the knife and threw yourself against the door.
Expecting to be thrown back onto the ground you were surprised to feel the mesh rip away, the frame easily snapping at your weight.
You fell hard onto your side onto the grass.
Finally free you rolled onto your stomach, but a dull ache stopped you from moving any further. The pain permeated throughout your shoulder and legs.
You struggled to get up, the pain grew each time you tried to move.
“Fuck” you growled under your breath.
The sound of the back door falling over you to try and get up again.
“Holy shit that was crazy!” someone yelled.
Two large boots stomped in front of you.
Carefully you gazed up to meet the milky pupils of one of the maniacs.
He stared down at you smiling.
His partner quickly ran up next to him equally excited at what just happened.
“That was so stupid, it came back around to being kinda awesome!”
He tapped the taller guy on the shoulder.
“Alright Madrox you take her.”
The taller guy reached down and gently picked you up.
You tried to put up a fight but the pain and exhaustion was too much at this point.
“Stop squirming around, I will drop you!” he snapped.
They walked to the back patio that was next to the dining room entrance.
Outdoor furniture lined the spot circling around an unlit fire pit.
The larger guy ‘Madrox’ his partner called him laid you down on the outdoor couch.
You lurched away from him as he sat down on the deck chair next to you.
His partner looked between you two nervously.
“Al right I don’t think it's midnight yet” he glanced at the moon which loomed full overhead. “That means we’ve still got time before they get here. So you!”
He pointed at Madrox, “stay here. Make sure she doesn’t run off again, ok?”
The big guy nodded “no problem, she probably broke her legs anyway.”
You stared at him icily.
“Gotta go make sure everything's right, and ready” he muttered then went back inside through the back door.
You held yourself trying to think of anything else but the growing pain and thought that you were most likely going to die tonight.
“Are you like, actually alright?”
You’d forgotten that you weren’t alone.
The ghoulish looking guy leaned over in his chair.
“I mean, we barely did anything. It was you that decided to jump out a window.”
He did have a point you thought.
Your shoulder definitely wasn’t broken, and neither were your legs but it did hurt a lot.
“I’m fine” you groaned.
“Ok” he answered quickly. “Oh I didn’t introduce myself!”
You looked at him weirdly.
Introduce yourself? You just broke into someone's house.
“I’m Jamie and the skinny kid is Paul, or you might know us better as Madrox and Monoxide.”
He smiled at you expectantly, but all you could do was avoid eye contact with this psychopath.
“You're going to kill me right?” you muttered. “I mean if you're not here to rob them, then you're just here to kill somebody?”
Jamie frowned at you, “you assume because of how we look that we’re just here to kill you?”
He sounded offended. “Well I mean, I don't blame ya” his smile had returned.
“We have to kill someone by the end of tonight, we just didn’t expect you to be here.”
That got your attention, these guys were here for the rich family not you.
“What are you supposed to be anyway? You got a name?”
You hesitantly gave Jamie your name which in hindsight wasn’t a good idea.
“Nice! So you must be the… what? Their maid?”
You scowled at him, and Jamie's grin grew wider.
“Don’t tell me I wanna guess!”
You grimaced and continued to listen to his questions before you shut him down by saying;
‘House sitter.’
“That was my fifth guess.”
“Sure” you said.
Since he seemed so eager to talk to you, you decided to get some more answers out of him.
“So, if you're just here for the family that lives here. What are you guys going to do to me?”
Jamie tilted his head at you and smirked, “you don’t care what we do to this happy family then?”
“No, No! I-I care I just…” you didn’t want a crazed maniac thinking you were the heartless one.
“...Don’t know them that well” was the best answer you could think of.
“If you ask me, they were waiting to be robbed.”
The guy leaned back in his chair giving you a quizzical look.
“We can’t do anything to you until Jay and the guys get here.”
“...Who are they?” you asked.
Jamie was about to say something but stopped when his eyes caught something else.
You quickly turned around and followed his gaze.
“This fucking house is insane!”
Paul peered out from the second story window.
“I nearly got lost in the closet, ha! That could be its own bedroom, everything’s so fucking huge.”
“Jesus, I wanna see that” Jamie remarked. He glanced at you, “uhh, we don't have to keep them here for very long right?”
Paul was about to pull his head back into the house but stopped.
His ghoulish face scrunched in thought like he just realized you were still there.
“Yeah, well they should be here soon. Just keep your chubby ass parked there and watch em.”
He shut the window, you heard Jamie grumble.
Maybe you could make this work for you.
“You know you could just take me with you?”
Jamie lazily looked in your direction, “yeah?”
“I’m not gonna run, besides, where would I go?”
If you could convince him you’d be one step closer to escaping.
“Heh, do you think I’m an idiot?” His words caught you off guard.
Jamie sat up in his chair “you were so eager to get away from us earlier, and Stockholm syndrome doesn’t work that fast.”
You clutched the couch cushion tightly.
“If I were in your situation I’d just do what we say so I wouldn’t get gutted instead.”
He narrowed his eyes “alright?”
Your slow nodding simmered down his annoyance, and he was back to his talkative self.
After a few minutes of a one sided conversation with him, you decided to try something else.
“I-I need to use the bathroom.”
He raised his eyebrows “now?”
“Yes! Please? Come on, we've been sitting here for almost 20 minutes!”
“Alright alright, you’ve got a point. Wanna stretch my legs anyway.”
The ghoul got up before you and gestured for you to follow.
“Walk in front of me ok?”
You nodded and stepped in front.
You could hear his heavy footsteps behind you as the backdoor got closer.
Stopping abruptly you said; “Owch!” you staggered and pretended you were more badly hurt.
“Jeez, what's wrong with you?”
Clutching your leg crumpled to the ground “fuck! I-I think its my leg, I think I really did break it.”
“Oh come on” Jamie grumbled. He padded back and forth nervously.
“Alright look, if you really are hurt I guess I could carry you again? If-if you want me to-”
From the corner of your eye you could see him lean down, you could also make out something else on the ground.
With one quick motion you grabbed it, and swung with all your might.
It took Jamie a second to even react as the thick log of wood collided with his head.
A loud thump sounded out followed by a crack as his neck twisted to the side.
He staggered for a moment.
You stared at him, primed to run, expecting the big guy to topple over.
That hit would have definitely knocked someone out… but it didn’t.
Blood gushed from his head and Jamie looked at you surprised, yet continued to stay standing.
With both hands he carefully gripped his skull and twisted back into place with a sickening crack.
“Ouch” he muttered. “You really know how to treat a guy.”
You bolted down the side of the house.
Making your way to the front yard you looked frantically for any sign of a car, a person, anything.
Jamie’s yells followed behind you as you ran down the sidewalk.
There was no other choice; all you could do was run.