32: Cliff

I screamed out as I lunged forward, catching Cliff off guard. The glass broke in my hand, and he screamed out in pain. This was my chance.

Lightening flashed outside, and I slapped him as hard as I could before running out of the room. He was after me, but the house was pitch black, except for the lightening. I obviously knew my way around better, and made my way into Aunt Tracy’s room. 

“Ida! Come on! Come out! I’m not going to jail, Ida! Come on, just come out, and it’ll all be OK.”

I nearly screamed out a “go f**k yourself,” but managed to hold it in. I bit my knuckle to try and keep from making noises or breathing too heavily. Though, I could hardly hear my breath over the storm anyway.

The lightening flashed, and I saw Cliff standing in the hallway, looking down it, and luckily not in Aunt Tracy’s room where I was sitting on the ground. I thought I saw him turn his head before it got dark again.

I crawled across the floor, and under the bed. It flashed again, and I saw two shoes and pant bottoms at the far end of the room, directly where I was sitting before. My heart nearly stopped when he called out.

“Come on! Ida! I’m not leaving without you! No! Come on! You’re in here! I know you are!” Then his screams died down to a barely audible talking. Though, I still heard him clear enough. “I will find you. Because you’re not running. You can’t. I’ll catch you. Just come out, and we can go back to normal. We can go back. Come on.”

But we couldn’t. And his threats to catch me didn’t make it any more believable. My heart raced in my chest, until it felt like it was about to explode. There was a steam-hammer in my chest. My eyes widened, and I hit the bottom of the bed with my back with every breath. 

The lightening flashed again, and Cliff was down on his hands and knees. His chest was visible, but not yet his head.

“Come out, come out, Ida.”

I inched my way to the left of the bed, and was nearly there. The lightening flashed, and I saw his face staring at me. I screamed louder than I ever thought possible. I heard his footsteps as the ran to my side of the bed, and I inched as fast as I could. My chest had barely escaped from the right side of the bed, when I felt him tighten around my ankle. I began to slide back under the bed. I screamed, and kicked him away.

“You b***h!”

As quickly as I could, I turned over on my back. That way, when he grabbed onto my ankle again, I could hold onto the edge of the bed with all my might. And I did.

“Come on, Ida! Just come here! I don’t want to hurt you. But-”

And he stopped. Suddenly, it was silent. Too silent. I realized that my ankle was released, and so I began to slide out of the right of the bed. Then, the lightening flashed.

I was face to face with Cliff, standing over me, standing ready. He grabbed onto my arms, and drug me from under the bed.

“No! No! I’ve gotta get to Austin!”

“No you don’t! Come on! You’re mine!”

I bit his ankle, and he screamed. In the time of distraction, I flipped myself around, still under his grip, and kicked him in the chest. His grip released as he soared back into a dresser full of porcelain animals. They shattered everywhere, and I ran out of the room.

Down the hallway and into the kitchen I went. Now where? Where was there to hide without being seen as soon as the lightening flashed? I grabbed a pan that hung on a hook on the wall and pressed on. I found my way behind the counter, and sat down. 

“Come on! Where are you? I’ll find you, Ida!”

I screamed a little, and quickly covered my mouth to stop it. Luckily, the lightening flashed, and saved him from hearing me. 

If Cliff found his way to the far side of the kitchen, I would be in plain sight, sitting next to a window, but this was the only place to hide. I held the pan next to my face, and started to crawl across the floor. 

What if the lightening flashed, and suddenly I was being kicked in the stomach repeatedly? What if he came and hit my in the head? What if he still had his glass? What if he picked up a kitchen knife?

There was no telling what Cliff would do. He had already done so much. Taken so much from me. Ruined me. Now, I was trapped in a house with him. I could go outside, but what would be there? My aunt's car. Help. Other houses. Cell phones. Police.

I headed toward the garage. The lightening flashed, and I didn’t see Cliff anywhere, so I got up, and ran. I grabbed onto the door, swung it open, and closed it softly behind me.

In the garage, it was quieter somehow. At least, it was safer. I pressed the button to open the door. Nothing happened.

Of course nothing happened, the power was out. My aunt had a spare set of keys in a box on the wall. I opened it up and took them out. Then, I made my way to the large metal door that was my best chance at escape.

I was up next to it, pushing upward. There was someway to manually open one of these, wasn’t there? I pulled it up from the bottom, but nothing happened. What was keeping it closed? I knew nothing about garage doors.

From inside the house Cliff’s voice sounded.

“Come on, Ida! I WILL find you!”

He was in the kitchen. I could tell. 

Frantically, I searched around for something to unlock it. I began pulling strings everywhere. I knew that strings were attached to it somewhere. I grabbed onto a metal rope, and clicked on a useless light. In the dark, I felt out another, and pulled. There had to be some release rope. 

I ran back to the door and pulled. It moved. I pulled harder and harder, and suddenly it was up about three feet from the ground. I got down on my knees, and was ready to pull myself under. It wasn’t until the door fell just before I stuck my head through that I realized I would have to lift it all the way up. 

It make a loud crashing noise that sent me running for shelter behind a garbage can. Lightening flashed, and confirmed that Cliff was not in the garage. I made my way back to the door.

I had it up three feet, and I kept going this time. A wild image of Cliff standing on the other side waiting with a gun came into mind. What a stupid thought. It made no sense. I pulled the door up further, and looked out into the blackness ahead. I couldn’t see anything.

Then, I was on the ground, gasping for breath. A loud clanging sound was that of a fold up chair hitting the ground. The same fold out chair that hit my in the back. I screamed in pain, and grabbed my back as it throbbed.

“This is why you don’t leave me! B***h!”

I was surprised that my back was not broken, and I crawled over behind the garbage can in the corner again. I held my hands up, ready to strike, and I realized that I had dropped the pan. Cliff was standing in the center of the room, making sure no one would open the door again. He had the pan in his hands, and was glancing around, looking for me. The pan was raised; ready to strike. One hit would probably kill me. 

I wasn’t about to die. No, I had to get to Austin. I had to find him. I had to escape. I had to survive. 

As soon as the lightening flashed again, I looked around. A screwdriver and a hammer were sitting on a bench and were the closest things to throw. I picked up one of them blindly in the darkness, and waited. 

As soon as the light flashed, I saw Cliff kicking about in an old pile of blankets that Aunt Tracy kept in the garage for some odd reason. I threw the object, and realized it was the screwdriver. I heard it clang as it bounced off the wall and hit the ground below. 

I had missed, and by a lot, too.

When the lightening flashed again, Cliff was walking directly toward me. He saw me, I know he did. I grabbed onto the hammer, and waited. The hammer was raised high above my head. I stood up, and inched around to the other side of the garbage can. 

Flash.

Cliff was sitting exactly where I had been hiding, with his back to me. Just as he turned around, I swung, and hit him in the forearm.

There was a sickening crunch, and I heard him scream. He grabbed my by the hand, but I still had the hammer, and I hit him in the hip, and he dropped to the ground. I grabbed the pan from his hand, and ran in the opposite direction. 

His grip wrapped around my ankle. Suddenly, I was in the air. My feet were no longer below me, but the cold hard ground. 

I made impact with a loud “oof,” and bit through my tongue. Blood spewed from me, and I spit it out. 

Cliff was on top of me, with his hands around my neck. They tightened so it felt like he was going to squeeze my eyeballs out.

The lightening flashed, and I saw a smile plastered across his face.

“This is what you get! This is what you get!”

He repeated this over and over again. Soon, the words all sounded like on jumble. My head ached, and I felt completely crushed. The blood caught in my throat, and only made my chances of surviving slimmer. 

In the pitch blackness, white dots started to form in my vision, and they circled around wildly like electrons around a nucleus. 

I brought my knee up, and he screamed. The lightening flashed, and I caught a glimpse of him on the ground, holding his genitals. I ran far off into the other corner. My foot kicked something cylindrical and metal.

I brought it up and rolled it in my hands. It was heavy for its size. It was a lead pipe. I grabbed onto it with all my might, and ran off into another part of the garage. I had no idea where I was now. All I hoped was that I didn’t run into Cliff.

The lightening flashed, and he was two feet in front of me. He lunged, but I screamed and jumped out of the way, landing on my hip.

I screamed in pain, and he was dragging my across the garage by my leg. I kicked as much as I could, but nothing worked. He flipped me over forcefully onto my back, and sat on my chest. I swung the pipe in the darkness. He was expecting it, and grabbed onto the other end.

“No!” I screamed as we struggled. 

He had a stronger grip on the pipe, but I had a mouthful of blood. I spit it all into his face, and took him by surprise. My foot was free, and I kicked him back. A loud thud told me that I had kicked him far enough that he had hit the door. 

I ran up, and was on top of him for a change. For a minute, I was sick with power with rage. With hate.

“How do you like the bottom, b***h?! Huh? Huh?! Answer me!”

He tried to grab my arms, but I beat his away, and he screamed in pain as the pole hit them. He kicked me back, and I fell onto the ground. The pole dropped, and skidded across the floor. I felt around the ground for it, not even caring if he found me. My hands wrapped around it, and suddenly the lightening flashed. I flew back when he kicked my in the gut. 

Crawling back up onto my hands and knees, the light flashed again, and he kicked me in the chin. I flew back into the garbage can.

I wasn’t about to die. I gathered all my strength and ran across the room. As soon as the lightening flashed, I saw Cliff searching around the trash. I advanced.

Flash.

He was still looking.

Flash. 

I was right behind him

Flash.

He was staring directly into my eyes. I swung as hard as I could, and felt it connect with bone. He screamed, and crashed to the floor. Then, all was silent.

I dropped the pipe, and ran to the door. Just before I closed it behind me, the lightening flashed, and I looked back.

It was horrible. It was disgusting.

It was not what I expected to see.

I expected to see him getting to his feet and coming after me. Maybe he’d be at least on the ground crying.

No. 

What I saw was much, much worse. So much worse. It was something that I couldn’t un-see. Something that would be stuck in my mind as long as I lived. And I had only seen it for a split second. 

I had only caught a glimpse. 

A sickening, deformed glimpse at something so evil, so horrible. And yet something so peaceful. So empty. So... blank. Lost in nothingness. 

Forever gone. 

For a split second, I saw his body. His brains were spattered on the floor, and a large indent was in his forehead. Blood ran in a stream toward the drain. Cliff was dead.

I rushed back to the garage door, because I knew it was safe now. I pulled it up with surprising strength, and made my way blindly outside.

S**t.

Aunt Tracy was just pulling into the driveway.

She was pulling into the driveway?! How stupid was I? I had gone the whole time in the garage forgetting she was gone. What would have happened if I had made it through the door without being hit with the chair? How stupid would I have felt then?

At least then I could have possibly made it to a neighbors house, but still. But then I guess there were two sides to this coin.

That was good. Because I had forgotten she was gone, and I would have been standing out here with her key for nothing if she hadn’t come home just now. 

That was bad. There was a dead body in the garage.

“Aunt! Aunt! I need your car!”

“What dear?! What’s happened to you?!”

“Nothing ! Need to go! Shoreville! Please! Please! Let me!”

She looked at me blankly, and stepped out of the car. 

“No.”

Her voice was firm, but I pushed past her, and stepped into the car.

“Get out of there this instant!” She screamed.

“Goodbye, Aunt Tracy. I’ll be back soon. Just go to bed.” I said calmly.

I pulled out of the driveway, and made my way down the street. Down to Austin. Down to say sorry. Down to tell him how I had murdered Cliff. 

Then it struck me. I had committed murder. And I should have been worried about going to jail, or the fact that I had actually taken a life. But I wasn’t. I was worried about not seeing Austin again.