by Abbie McAnn
Her keys were supposed to be right there! She knew that was exactly where she had left them. She dropped down to the floor, searching under the bed and inside the table drawer. Then she pushed the bedside table, causing it to topple over.
Her keys weren’t underneath it either.
She turned around, wildly looking around the room. Her eyes landed on the pile of moving boxes she had yet to unpack. Her purse was sitting on top of one of the boxes, though she could have sworn that she had also left it on the bedside table.
She ran over and grabbed her purse, dumping all the contents on the ground.
She stared at her wallet, tampons, old receipts, some granola bars, and various makeup and chapsticks. Her keys weren’t hiding in any of it.
“Goddamn it!” She screamed. She felt a tear slide down her face and considered just staying right there like that. She could just plop there on the ground and have a good cry. But when she closed her eyes in defeat, all she could see was the man in the lake. It was by far the scariest thing that she had ever encountered.
There was no way that she could stay here.
She ran back down the stairs and tried to come up with a new plan. The only thing that she could think of was locking all the doors. The grand foyer was right in front of her, so she took care of those locks first. Then she ran down the hall to lock the garage door.
Oh my god, the garage! Why didn’t I think of that before?
Kate threw the door to the garage open. She had left the light on and all three cars were still there. It only took her a moment to settle on the BMW, since it looked the fastest.
She turned to grab the keys out of the lockbox, but it wasn’t open as it had been before. She tried to pry the door to the box open, but it was locked.
Someone had locked it. Someone had come into the house while she was gone and locked it.
Kate couldn’t stop the sob that came out of her. She was trapped in this house. She could try and outrun the person doing this to her, or she could pray that the ATV had enough of a charge to get her far away from here.
Neither were ideal options.
Think, Kate. You need to stop panicking and think. You still have your cell phone; you can call someone for help. But the nearest town is almost thirty minutes away, it's going to be a while before they can get to you. John must have had some way to protect himself. There is no way that that man lived out here without any guns. You need to go find them.
Right, guns. There was no way that that thing could hurt her if she had a gun. She’d never shot a gun in her life, but she could figure it out. She just had to find them.
She did another quick scan of the garage, but she didn’t see anything that looked like a gun safe. He probably wouldn’t have kept them in here anyway.
In fact, John probably wrote down exactly where the guns were in that binder.
Shit, where did she put that thing?
She shut the door to the garage, taking a second to lock it. Then she ran back over into the kitchen. Her racing heart sunk as she realized it wasn’t on the counter. Of course, it wasn’t. No, Kate had intentionally taken it with her to get wood. She walked over to the glass back wall of the house. It overlooked the back porch and the lake. She could even see the ATV out of the window. Sitting on the back of the ATV was the binder.
Well shit.
Kate had seen enough horror movies to know that going outside was a bad idea.
Kate stood there, deliberating on what she should do. Before she could decide on anything, she needed a weapon. She hurried back over to the counter and pulled the biggest looking knife out of the wooden block. She felt a little better with it cradled against her chest, but the practical side of her knew that it wouldn’t be enough.
She still needed a gun to defend herself. She looked back out the window at the ATV, feeling torn. The binder might not even say where the guns were. Then again, John might have left a treasure map in the binder leading right to them. But this house was so damn big. It could take her forever to find one. And if he kept his guns in a safe, then she would need the binder to know how to open it.
She knew for a fact that that key lockbox had been wide open just a couple hours ago. What if the person who had locked it was still in the house?
Oh god, why hadn’t she just sat down and read the whole damn thing? She felt like screaming.
But she knew why she hadn’t read it. John’s writing about the mysterious Sam had made her uneasy. It made her feel like she wasn’t alone out here.
She should have trusted her gut because it was right.
She froze again, considering a new possibility. The things that John wrote about Sam had made him seem off. Like it wasn’t quite a person he was writing about.
Could that thing be Sam?
Kate stood in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to do with this new revelation. It seemed just as likely that John had imagined Sam as it did that Sam was his pet dog. But if that thing out there was actually Sam, that meant that somehow it was John's companion. And she knew from John’s binder that he completely trusted Sam.
If it was in the house, then it could find her before she found any guns. She hadn’t exactly been quiet.
That only left her with one option.
“Sam?” She tried to get the word out, but her voice shook so much that it was barely a whisper.
She cleared her throat before trying again.
“Sam,” Kate said again, this time a little stronger. “Sam? Is that you?” That time it was loud enough to echo through the house.
She waited a moment but there was no reply.
“Sam,” she called out one more time, already giving up hope of a response. It was probably for the best anyways. Knife or not, she didn’t think she was ready to actually confront anyone.
“Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house?” The deep baritone voice that responded was unquestionably male. The words had a small accent, though she couldn’t make where it was from. If she wasn’t so scared herself, she might have noticed that the man’s voice was also shaking.
The high ceilings made it impossible to tell where the man had spoken from.
She clutched the knife in front of her with both hands. Her grip on it was so tight that her knuckles were white. She slowly backed up into the fridge, needing to have something behind her. She knew that she needed to call 911 now. There was a strange man in the house. If he killed her, no one would ever know. As much as her common sense was screaming at her, she was unable to let go of the knife to get her cellphone out of her pocket, even with one hand.
She thought for a moment about how to respond, trying to choose her words carefully. “I’m the new property manager. Are you Sam?” Her voice was still shaky, but it was loud enough to be heard.
“You’re not Michael! Michael is supposed to be the one here. You can’t be the new property manager. And you’re not his woman either. Michael brought her here one time years ago, so I’ve seen her. And you’re not her. So don’t try to lie to me and say that you are! Michael knows that John wouldn’t let any strangers on the property, so don’t try to tell me that he sent you here either,” the man replied. His voice didn’t sound like it was getting any closer and she was grateful that he was staying put.
The man knew Michael and he had seen Jessica too. Why had Michael sworn that no one else lived out here? He promised her that there was no Sam. Even though the man didn’t confirm it, it was obvious that that was who he was.
“You’re right, Sam. I’m not Michael or his wife. Her name is Jessica, by the way, and I’m her sister, okay? They couldn’t move out here after John passed. Michael has a very successful law firm back in Reno and he just couldn’t move right now. They sent me here to take care of the property instead.”
“That’s not possible! John swore that it would be Michael coming. He promised it would be Michael so that I would be safe and I wouldn’t have to be all alone. He left Michael enough money so that he wouldn’t have t
o worry about his job or anything else. And it was supposed to be enough to convince him to live here with me. But it’s been months and he still hasn’t come,” Sam sounded frustrated now, or maybe angry. It was hard to tell because his voice was noticeably shaking.
“Michael contested John’s will so that they could send another family member instead. I’m the only family that Michael and Jessica have left. They’re paying me to stay here and take care of the property,” Kate said, trying to stay calm. She couldn’t believe that John’s writings had been true; that he wasn’t crazy. Was she the crazy one?
“I’ve been watching you since you got here. You don’t know what you’re doing here. I’ve seen humans like you on TV, humans who’ve never done hard work before.”
Oh god, why did he say humans like that? As if he wasn’t one too.
Kate sobbed.
“Was it you in the water? Were you watching me from the lake?”
The man said nothing.
“Why did you take my keys, Sam? Will you please let me leave?”
“I-I don’t think that I can let you leave now. You weren’t supposed to see me. John said that it wasn’t safe for anyone to see me. I don’t know what to do.”
Kate cried harder. The sobs were shaking her body and the knife along with it. There was no way that she could defend herself now.
“Wait-please stop crying. Please. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. You weren’t supposed to see me. Normally I’m better at hiding, I’ve just only ever seen humans like you on TV. I just didn’t know what to do when you showed up a few days ago. And John’s not around anymore to tell me what to do. Look, I-I’m not gonna hurt you, okay? Just please stop crying,” the man sounded like he was the one panicking now. As he spoke, his words were getting louder, like he was coming closer to the kitchen. But there were no accompanying footsteps.
“What are you?” she cried harder. She didn’t want to make the man do anything rash, but she just couldn’t stop. “I saw you. I saw you in the lake. You...you’re not human.”
He didn’t respond immediately and that terrified her as much as everything else. When he finally spoke, his voice was much closer. He sounded like he was right behind the wall that separated the kitchen and living room. She looked at the large window that continued into the living room, but she couldn’t find his reflection.
“John made me swear that I would never let anyone besides him and Michael see me. He said that your people would take me away and hurt me. John was like my father, he meant everything to me. But now that he’s gone…,” his voice trailed off.
“What did you mean by humans like me?” Kate asked, trying to slow her sobs.
“Michael’s woman is the only human woman I’ve ever seen up close. But John made me stay in the lake while they were here. The other ones I’ve just seen on TV. But you are much more...appealing to me than Michael’s woman and the other women.”
Kate was at a loss for words. Was Sam saying that he found her attractive? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She still didn’t even know what Sam was, though there was a damn good reason that John kept him hidden. But then she remembered the intense cerulean eyes staring at her from the water. She suddenly didn’t feel much like crying anymore. Instead, she felt...well she didn’t know what she felt.
“Are you going to hurt me, Sam? John told you what that means, right? That there can be other...physical things that can hurt a person too,” Kate said, still searching the window trying to find his reflection.
She had been holding the knife up for long enough that her arms were starting to shake from the weight of it.
“No. NO. I’m not going to hurt you. And I would never do that,” Sam replied, sounding angry. Or maybe offended. Kate couldn’t tell.
“Do you swear?” Kate whispered.
“Yes, I swear,” Sam said immediately. And then matching Kate’s whisper, Sam said tentatively, “Do you swear not to tell anyone about me?”
Kate thought for a moment, unsure of what to say. She could always just lie and say what he wanted to hear. But who could she tell anyways? Who would believe her? And if he really wasn’t human like he said, then John was right. If anyone listened to what she had to say, then they would undoubtedly take Sam away and do horrible tests on him. That’s what always happened in the movies.
“I swear,” she replied. And she meant it. She knew that she could never tell another soul about Sam. Unless, of course, he decided to go back on his word too.
“Can I see you, Sam?” She asked quietly. “It only seems fair since you’ve already seen me.”
“I guess,” Sam replied, sounding nervous. It suddenly dawned on Kate that Sam must be as unsure of himself as she was. If he had been living out here all this time with John, then he was extremely isolated. And maybe he looked terrifying, like some kind of monster. Her instinct had told her that he was a terrible predator and all she had seen was the top half of his head. “I don’t want to scare you again. You barely even saw me and you were already scared. Maybe it’s not a good idea. Maybe-”
“I’m not scared anymore, Sam. Well not as much anyway. You must understand how scary it was to see someone in the water. I thought I was out here all by myself. But I promise I won’t scream or run or whatever. And I already swore that I wouldn’t tell anyone about you. So if you don’t hurt me then we’ll get along. Okay, Sam? But if we’re going to live here together then I’m going to have to see you at some point.”
“Right, yeah. Okay, I guess. It’s just that my kind and humans have some big physical differences. I was, well, I was more built for the water than the land. In fact, maybe it would be better if I just stayed in the water for a few more days. We could talk like this and get to know each other before you see me. That way, maybe, it won’t be so startling.”
Sam continued to ramble on, spouting off more excuses. Kate tip-toed forward as Sam talked, and he didn’t seem to notice. She still had the knife in her hand, but it was down by her side now. Her common sense told her to hold it just in case, but she had a feeling that she wouldn’t have to use it. For whatever reason, she felt like she could trust Sam.
She slowly peeked around the corner to the living room and froze. She stood there, with her jaw hanging open, staring at the spot that Sam spoke from. She could hear exactly where he was talking from, knew that he was standing right on the other side of the wall, but there was no one standing there!
She stared at the wall, then at the spot where she thought he should be. Something seemed wrong about that spot, like the area that Sam should be standing in was a little blurry.
“That’s impossible,” Kate whispered as she stared at the invisible man.
Chapter 6
She could tell she startled him because his whole body flashed a bright red. She had promised Sam that she wouldn’t scream, but she couldn’t suppress the surprised squeak that came out of her as she finally saw him.
His body was only red for a moment. When she blinked, he was invisible again.
“I-I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see me like that. You startled me. I’ll go back out to the lake...I didn’t mean to scare you,” Sam said, sounding resigned.
She stared at the spot where he was standing, trying to find the outline of his body. It was there if she focused hard enough. Which meant that he wasn’t invisible, he was just able to camouflage himself to match his surroundings. That explained why his whole body was able to turn red.
Was he able to turn any color?
Kate focused on his camouflage and not on what she thought she had seen. She wasn’t ready to process that yet. Because what she thought she had seen was equally terrifying and fascinating. What she knew for sure was that he was not a child, as John’s letter had insinuated. He was very much a man, even if he wasn’t a human one.
His camouflage made it impossible to make out more than the outline of his body. She was pretty sure that she knew where Sam’s head and torso were. But as she followed that li
ne further south, it became impossible to tell where his lower body was.
She followed the outline back up again until she was staring at what must be his head. Kate didn’t know why she didn’t see them before, but his eyes were suddenly staring into hers. It was the only feature of his that she could make out, just two floating eyes.
They were the same eyes that had been staring at her from the lake. At that moment, the amount of depth and emotion in his eyes conveyed to Kate the years of isolation and loneliness he had been through. She could see the deep sorrow Sam held at losing his only companion.
And even though her common sense was screaming at her to let him go, Kate found herself asking, “Would you mind helping me move the wood? It took me forever to get it in the trailer and I still need to move it into the woodshed. It’d go a lot faster with an extra set of hands.”
Sam blinked. Kate was close enough now to see that she really had seen a second pair of eyelids before. The clear membranes closed sideways across his eyes, just like a reptile. Then his regular set of eyelids closed over his eyes, completely camouflaging them.
In less than a fraction of a second, he was staring at her again.
“I’ll help you,” Sam said quietly. He sounded hesitant, but he hadn’t made a break for the lake yet.
Kate wasn’t sure why that felt like a good thing.
She turned to go out the backdoor and then remembered the knife in her hand. She put it back in the kitchen before heading outside.
She didn’t look to see if Sam was following since she assumed that he was still camouflaged. She could hear him moving behind her, but the noises he was making didn’t sound quite right.
There were no footsteps; there hadn’t been any earlier either. Instead, it sounded like something was being dragged across the hardwood floor. She was glad that Sam couldn’t see her expression right now because the noise was more than a little unsettling. But she shouldn’t be surprised, because it perfectly matched what she had seen at that moment when Sam flashed bright red.
Kate walked to the ATV. The sound of Sam moving was even louder on the back porch, but thankfully the grassy yard muffled it. She didn’t look back at Sam until she was at the trailer.