Panic

My foot let up a little on the gas pedal and my hands tightened around the steering wheel to better focus on the road. The person speaking on the radio, sounding like a woman, described how bad of a thunderstorm we were going to get tonight. I guess it was supposed to get pretty serious, especially throughout the night. Nothing like some more rain to flood the dirt roads and create more potholes. I squinted my eyes as if that were going to help me see the road better. I sighed, realizing that it was no use. It was already intensely down-pouring, creating a melody of rapid taps on my windshield. It almost sounded therapeutic. The road was as slick as ice, so I was going slower than the speed limit to avoid getting in a crash. Almost there, I thought. I was eager to get back to my house to curl up next to my fireplace. It was my favorite thing to do during a thunderstorm, and it was pretty much a tradition at this point since it was what I did every time it stormed. Occasionally, I would get up and make a hot cup of coffee. Then I would sit, curled up in a blanket, and stare outside my window and fantasize about the rain. Sometimes I would get the urge to go emerge myself in it, and sometimes I would actually do it. I would go outside and dance in the rain, and it would feel so good in my hair and on my face. I would even lie on the ground and let the rain surround my body and make up several different movie scene scenarios in my head. Sometimes standing in the storm would make me feel inevitable. It was an amazing feeling. But after the long and hard day of work that I had, I was just in the mood to relax. I never actually liked driving in the rain, especially at night in a storm like this. After what happened when I was younger, it always made me extremely anxious and paranoid. My family had gotten in a huge crash when it was raining hard like this, and thankfully no one got seriously hurt, but it was still pretty traumatic for a child to experience. Even my parents were nervous to drive in the rain after that, even though they tried to pretend they weren't. After what seemed like hours, I arrived in my driveway, shutting my car off and sitting for a second to listen to the rain. Even though I didn't like driving in the rain, I absolutely loved listening to storms. I discovered a feeling of peace from them. And though they could get really loud, they would actually make me feel more safe than scared. I took a deep breath and prepared to get soaked by the rain as soon as I stepped out. In a swift motion, I opened the car door and sprinted to the door of my house. I got inside and locked my door behind me. I went to go walk to my kitchen, but I broke out in a sweat as I got the sudden feeling that I wasn't alone. I immediately became more cautious, and I quietly walked into each and every room on the first floor to make sure no one was here. Nothing. I walked up the stairs, trying to keep them from making a noise and revealing my presence. Just as I got to the top, I froze abruptly, hearing a loud bang on the floor, coming from what sounded like my bedroom. I started breathing rapidly. I took a very slow step, my heart racing, and my palms sweating when all of a sudden, the floor let out a high pitch squeak. My heart dropped and I froze, bracing for something, anything to happen. I waited a few moments and I couldn't hear anything else, so I slowly took another step, then another, then another, until I was in front of my bedroom door. I stared fearfully, not wanting to proceed. I reached my hand out, shaking. Hesitantly, I turned the knob and pushed the door open steadily. My eyes widened as I discovered a trail of blood on the floor, leading from one side of my room to the other. I didn't want to follow the trail, in fact, I completely contested the idea, but something in my mind forced me to follow. As I got closer to the end of the trail, I was terrified of what the source might be. I was hoping that it would be an animal, something I could rationalize or something that wouldn't horrify me. As my eyes crept closer to the source, I looked up and was horrified to see a man, short with brown hair, and darker skin. He had a deeply cut throat and a slice clean through his heart, presenting his organs that were spilling out onto the floor below him. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it, I was horrified. I wanted to look away, I really did, but I couldn't look away, my eyes stayed fixated on the body. I was frozen with shock, tears forming in my eyes when I suddenly felt a cold hand grasp my shoulder. I flinched, and a split-second after, the cold blade of a knife pressed slightly against my throat. I gasped as tears rolled down my face. "Shh.." the man behind me whispered into my ear. Panicking, I looked around, looking for any type of help, weapon, or any chance of escape, but it was useless. I knew that if I made the slightest movement or effort to fight, he wouldn't hesitate to easily slice my throat open, just like the man on my floor. Not knowing what else to do, I whimpered, "Please don't hurt me..." The man softly chuckled into my ear, his hand squeezing my shoulder firmly and he pressed down on the blade slightly, making me wince. "Now, I'm only going to ask this one time and one time only. If you don't answer correctly," he whispered, "...I'll kill you." My entire body tensed up and a cold shiver sent down my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut and started breathing rapidly as I felt his warm breath get closer to my ear, his chest pressing against my back. After a moment of deafening silence, he whispered, "...Can you keep a secret?"