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Riley gazed at the clock next to her bed for the tenth time in the past twenty minutes. She was mentally exhausted, yet her mind refused to shut down and let her rest. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

Crreeeak…

She sat up ramrod straight and listened in the darkness. She strained to hear any other sound out of place.

The crickets and frogs chirruped. Off in the distance a red fox cried out—exactly like a woman screaming. Then a scraping sound…so close.

The crickets and frogs abruptly stopped.

She held her breath, one, two, three, heartbeats.

The chirruping returned.

Slipping both legs out from under her covers, she placed her feet on the floor as soundlessly as possible. Slowly shifting her weight, she stood up and tiptoed to the door. She crept out of her room and headed for the stairs where she stopped and listened.

It was a moonless night, and she couldn’t see more than a few feet, but growing up in this house she felt comfortable moving in the near blinding darkness.

She moved onto the first stair and stopped. Making sure of her footing she skipped the next stair knowing it would squeak and gracefully landed on the one below. All the while keeping her hands away from the shaky banister that her dad had promised to fix years ago. She continued down the remining stairs, stepping only on the solid treads. She moved toward the front door. The security system wasn’t active. Had she set it before bed? She couldn’t remember. Cracking the door open she slipped out into the night.

Out of nowhere, a massive hand covered her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist. She tried to scream, but the man yanked her back and knocked the wind from her lungs.