*Image of the masked character attached*

9. Cornered

_______________

This couldn't be happening. It made no sense, why go after Travis?

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, trying to calm myself and figure out what my next step should be and I needed to decide fast.

Was calling the police the only option at this point? Another life was now at stake and he had nothing to do with anything.

I had to at least make sure Travis was okay before blowing everything up.

I pulled some money out of my pocket, more than enough to pay our bill, but I couldn't care less. I threw it on the table, stood up from my seat and headed for the door.

"Ricardo?" I heard Sayora's voice from behind me.

Shit. What was I supposed to tell her? I hated that I had to leave. Everything was going so great, and now I was about to abandon her. What possible lie could I come up with?

She was making her way over to me with a look of confusion on her face. "Where are you going?"

My brain couldn't process fast enough. I had too much on the line at the moment and I was feeling overwhelmed.

"I just need to go," I told her. "It's a family emergency."

"What happened?"

"Look, I can't talk now, Say. I have to go. I'm sorry," I said without giving her another chance to respond. I left the restaurant and rushed to my car.

___

I drove to the address that was sent to me on my phone and I pulled up to the house that I saw in the picture. The lights were off now and it made me uneasy.

After getting out my car, I ran up to the front door.

"Travis?!" I called as I knocked frantically. "Travis, you there?!'

I waited a few moments, but there was silence. I immediately began to fear the worst. Was I too late?

"TRAVIS?!" I yelled louder and knocked even harder.

Suddenly I could see from a window that the light turned on in the living room and soon after the front door swung open.

Travis looked disheveled and confused. His hair was a bit messy and I could tell I'd just woken him up.

"Ricardo?" He said. "What are you doing here?"

I actually had no idea what to say. He didn't look hurt or frightened. Maybe a little bit annoyed that some guy from his school that he barely knew had just interrupted his slumber, but otherwise he seemed okay.

I looked around, making sure the masked person wasn't around. I didn't see him. But he'd been here.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

He looked so confused, but nodded.

He stepped aside so that I could come in and closed the door behind me, locking it.

"What's going on?" He asked, turning to face me.

"Where are your parents?" I asked.

"They're out of town. Business trip. Now you gonna answer my question?"

I shook my head. "Not sure how to explain this to you."

He eyed me for a moment, and I guess he could tell by my body language and facial expression that something was wrong and I was anxious.

"You're starting to scare me, man," he said.

"I know this looks crazy right now, but I came here to make sure you were okay."

Travis scoffed. "Well that's sweet, but as you can see I'm perfectly fine."

"Yeah, but-"

"And why did you feel the need to check on me in the first place?"

"I thought... I thought someone would be after you."

"After me? Who?"

"Forget it," I said. Clearly I'd been sent on a goose chase. "Just have your phone near you tonight, okay? And every door locked."

"Well the doors are locked, but I don't have my phone."

"What?"

"It's gone. Missing."

"Missing? For how long?"

"Since the night I saw you and Kevin. It must've fallen out of my pocket or something when I was running. I went back looking for it later, but it was gone."

The realization hit me like a sack of bricks.

The killer wouldn't use an unblocked number to contact me. That would be an amateur move.

But he did.

I went to the number that the messages were sent to me from and clicked on it. I put my phone to my ear and listened. I didn't really expect anyone to pick up. I didn't really know what I was expecting.

But as my phone was calling, there was suddenly a muffled sound of a ringtone.

It was coming from just outside the door.

"Oh, God," I muttered.

I went to a window and angled myself so that I could see what was outside. There, I saw it laying on the ground. And it hadn't been there just a minute ago.

"Ricardo?" Travis said, visibly uneasy himself. 

I went over to the door, unlocked it and swung it open. I reached down for the object right below me, closed the door and locked it again. It was still ringing as it didn't go to voicemail yet.

I turned around and showed Travis the phone that I'd just picked up. "This yours?"

His eyes widened as he took it from me. "What the hell?"

The killer was still here.

"Do you have anything to use as weapons here?" I asked.

"Weapons? Besides knives in the kitchen, not really. I've got a bat in my room. Why do we need-?"

"Travis, listen to me," I said. "You need to make sure every entrance of this house is locked down here. You have a patio?"

He nodded.

"Go double-check the patio doors. Grab yourself a knife then come upstairs."

"Tell me what's happening!" Travis demanded.

"It's Kevin's attacker," I told him. "He's here, he's after you, and I assume he's gonna come for me too."

"Are you serious?"

"Just do what I said! Which room is yours?!"

"Second one on the left," he said.

Suddenly the light in the living room went out.

I looked around the living room for the light switch and went over to it, switching between on and off.

"He got the lights," I said. "We need to move. I'll call the police, go!"

He nodded and then disappeared into another part of the house on the lower level. I raced upstairs to the room he said was his. Spotting the bat was easy enough. After grabbing it I called 9-1-1.

The operator came on almost immediately, asking my emergency.

"There's someone stalking my friend's house," I said. "They're outside and we think they might get in soon. The lights are taken out."

"Okay, sir can I please get your name?" The female operator asked.

"Yes, it's-"

I was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering downstairs followed by a cry from Travis.

I hung up the phone and raced back downstairs. The operators would be able to trace my location. I went to where I assumed the kitchen was, past the dining room and was immediately greeted with the sight of Travis' body sunk against the island in the middle of the kitchen.

He was clutching his left arm as a crimson colored liquid seeped from it.

The glass patio doors behind the island had been shattered, leaving a way of entry.

I rushed over and kneeled in front of Travis, placing the bat next to me. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, he sliced my arm up good though," Travis responded.

"Did he leave?!" I asked.

"I don't think so."

"Okay, we need to go, I'll help you up."

I grabbed his good arm and started to pull him up when I noticed his face contort into fear as he stared behind me. "BEHIND YOU!"

I snapped my head back and barely had time to register the masked attacker coming for me from the conjoined dining room before he grabbed me by my shoulders and tossed me to the floor, away from Travis.

I scrambled to my feet quickly, but he was unrelenting. He was on me again in no time, punching me in the face, making me stumble into the counter.

He grabbed me by my hair and slammed my head on the counter's surface, before tossing me to the floor once more.

My head was pounding with an ache and he wasted no time mounting me and wrapping a hand around my throat. This guy was stronger than me and my struggles were proving to be for naught. My chest began to burn as it seemed he was applying as much pressure as he could to my throat. No air was getting through and my eyes began to water.

He dug into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a large switchblade.

My eyes widened as he flicked the blade out and raised it over his head, readying it to plunge into my chest.

Just as I thought it was over for me, Travis appeared from around the island and slammed the bat against the side of the attacker's head.

He toppled off of me and Travis reached down to help me up.

"Let's go!" He said.

I got to my feet and we were making our way out of the kitchen when the attacker grabbed hold of my ankle. I managed to shake him off but he was up again and was chasing us as we ran through the dining room, living room and up the stairs.

Travis and I ran into his room and slammed the door shut in the nick of time just as the attacker would've caught us. Travis locked the door and the attacker was banging against it on the other side.

We backed away, cornered now, as the attacker barged himself against the wooden door trying to get in.

I took the bat from Travis. I'd be able to handle it better than him in his current state.

"What do we do now?!" Travis asked frantically, holding his wounded arm with the other again.

"I don't know," I whispered.

If he got through that door, we would either be done for or manage to fight our way back downstairs so we could leave. I was prepared for the latter.

"We're gonna have to fight him," I said.

Travis looked at me. He was scared, but he was ready. And so was I. I wasn't going to die without a fight, no matter how utterly terrified I was.

The barging against the door suddenly stopped though.

Travis and I exchanged glances, confused. Had the attacker given up? I'd hoped that was the case, even though there was no way we were leaving the room to find out.

Then there abruptly came a stab through the door from the other side. The knife was all the way through to the hilt.

Travis and I flinched as we watched.

Our pursuer continued to stab at the door with that blade, leaving puncture after puncture. It was happening so rapidly. It was like a bloodthirsty predator infuriated that he couldn't get to his prey. But I feared at this rate, he would get to us. The stabs just kept coming and coming.

Our saving grace came when we heard police sirens. They were faint, but they progressively got louder.

The attacker must've heard too, because he stopped and we heard his footsteps as he quickly made his way back downstairs and presumably out of the house.

I let out a breath of relief and looked over at Travis who looked relieved too. I couldn't believe we'd just managed to survive that.

Both of us took moments to get ourselves together, breathing and calming ourselves. After a few moments when the sirens were even closer and the coast seemed clear, we were preparing to leave the room.

"So," Travis said to me, "you wanna rethink not wanting me to help?"

_______________