As She Stares

&nbsp She stared at me with her bright red eyes. I looked into them. Blood dripped from them and onto my broken hand. Her name was Eliza. Not Elizabeth or Lizzy, Eliza.

"Where did your mommy say she was going again?" I asked her.

"She said daddy was making a big mistake with Auntie. That's what she told me. Then she made me sit in my room while she called you."

I rubbed the blood from her eyes and sat with her in my lap on the steps in her front yard. She mumbled things I couldn't comprehend as she struggled to get comfortable. Her breathing got faster and faster. I began to cry.

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

I ignored her and continued to cry. Luckily my tears weren't all bloody as hers were. We waited patiently for the ambulance to get here, Eliza bleeding all over the concrete steps. She kept staring at me. That poor girl, she's seen so much. Let me start from the beginning.

It was morning and I woke up to the delightful smell of buttered pancakes. My cell phone was still off from the night before. I picked at the eggs and sausage on my plate while watching some television. The grease from my sausage rested on my tastebuds, giving them the most delicious, warming sensation a girl could ever wish for in the morning. They were left on the table with a note from my mother saying "Have fun today, it's supposed to be sunny!" I always seem to miss my mom when she's at work. When my dad died, she didn't freeze up or stop talking. She was perfectly fine. She set me up with a therapist while she went to hers and we never had any problems talking to them. My therapist has a large scar under his eye. I ask him where it came from every time I visit him and I always get the same answer. "Too many chores" he says. That can't be from chores, I know it. He's hiding something but it's not my business. Suddenly, my plate falls to the ground as I jolt up from the sofa. The door rattles as someone knocks. The knocking is so loud, aren't normal people asleep at this time? I get up and dart to the door, worried something horrid has happened.

"Surprise!" Shouts my boyfriend.

"Why are you up so early? It's 5 o'clock in the morning on a saturday."

"I know, I know. I just wanted to surprise you with these." He holds up a handfull of flowers that he had ripped from my garden.

"Thanks."

"But that's not the real reason I came, Jessy." He gives me a large basket full of cookies and breads and other delicious assortments. "I heard you were leaving for Virginia tomorrow and I just wanted to say goodbye. I won't see you for three months!"

I reach my arms out to hug him and he just walks inside.

"I texted you a million times this morning, where's your phone?"

I just remembered! My phone is off! I grab my phone and hold the power button until it turns on. It says I have two missed calls and seventeen unread texts. The texts are from my boyfriend, Jason, but the calls are from my old neighbor from before we moved.

"Make yourself at home, Jason. I need to call her back."

She answers immediately and starts talking so fast I can't understand a word she's saying.

"Calm down, Lily. I can't understand you." She takes a deep breath and begins talking.

"I need you to watch my daughter for a while. Can you do that for me? It's an emergency."

"Sure! How long will I be babysitting?"

"I don't know, just hurry!" She hangs up the phone and I get my boots on. I run out the door with my basket of food and tell Jason to go home.

I arive at her beautiful house and climb up the stone steps. Before I can even ring the doorbell, the door flies open. I'm greeted by Lily as she darts out the door. She doesn't say one word to me, not one. I walk inside and try to find her daughter. The door slams behind me but I don't think too much of it.

"Eliza!" I call. "Eliza?!" I call again. Still no response. I turn the TV on to Popeye and sit down, waiting for the little girl to hear her favorite show.

"Jessica! It's you!" She runs toward me with her arms spread like a bird and jumps on my lap.

"Haha, it sure is. What should we do first?"

Eliza runs to her room and grabs the biggest bag. Almost as big as her! She opens it on the floor in front of me and makeup, nail polish, and hair ties fall out.

"Oh, I see. You want a makeover." She then smiles her big smile and nods in excitement. She chooses the color red for her nails because her mother doesn't let her wear it, but she knows I do. I tell her we will take it off when her mom gets home and she agrees. She starts painting my nails the color of the rainbow but she only makes it to yellow when there's a large crash in the kitchen. I stand up immediately and tell Eliza to stay put. Walking toward the kitchen, I stumble on toys and I hear the russtling in the kitchen stop. I walk slower and peek around the corner only to meet face to face with what looks like a large rat or a small bear, but without the fur. It's tail knocks everything over as it scrambles to get out of the window. I scream and run to the living room to grab Eliza but she's gone. All that's left is the yellow nailpolish, smeared all over the carpet. I shout her name but there's no response. Only loud giggling and the sound of ripping flesh. I quickly run, following the sounds but it gets quieter and quieter every direction I go. I look up and say to myself softly "the attic..."

I climb the ladder as fast as I can and find myself in the middle of a dusty, dark room. I look over and find that creature with Eliza. He's licking her... Licking her! She's laughing and giggling, fighting him off but he keeps licking her!

"Hey! This is Tricker. He's my new friend! Isn't he cute, Jessie?"

"No. He's not. Get away from him, okay Eliza?" Her eyes start to water.

"You don't like him?" Right as she says that, the Tricker looks at me with his dark black eyes. He growls and crawls- drags himself -toward me. I slowly back away, careful not to startle him.

"Eliza, go downstairs and call your mom."

"No!" She shouts. This causes the Tricker to growl more. He then pounces on me and breathes in my face. His slobber drips from is lower lip and into my mouth. I begin to cry with fear.

"Eliza, please.." I say, still crying.

"No! I said no! I love Tricker. He's my friend. If you don't like him, that's your fault." I start crying even more now. I'm pleading for Eliza to please get him off of me...

His claws dig deep into my sides. I moan in pain. When I moan, the Tricker looks puzzled. He does it harder, I moan louder. I think he likes the sound of my moans but I don't want to encourage him to hurt me, I just can't help myself. He claws off my shirt and licks at my chest. I continue moaning, but with pleasure this time. Why do I find this exciting? It doesn't make any sense. He's hurting me and Eliza is watching him do it. I grow wet and I guess he can smell it because the next thing he does is simply revolting. I gag at the scene of this creature inside of me, poor Eliza being forced to watch.

"Tricker, stop! That's a bad place to touch!" Shouts Eliza.

"Listen here, Elizabeth. I'm tying you to this wall and you're going to watch. Watch me fondle this young woman. I'll be doing the same to you, soon."

"Don't call me Elizabeth... I will never watch. I'm closing my eyes and never opening them." The Tricker ties her limbs to the pipes surrounding the room and when she's all tied down, he claws her eyelids off.

I grab my phone and text Jason. I tell him where I am and only hope he can save me.

"What are you doing!" Shouts the Tricker. I hide my phone in my open wounds, it's the only hole in my body that I'm willing to hide it in. After the Tricker ripped off my clothes, there's no where else to hide it. I refuse to put it in the holes that Tricker is abusing.

I stare at him, my eyes wide. So is Eliza, she has no choice. Her eyelids are gone. She's muttering and holding back her cries. If the Tricker calls attention to her, she will be abused as well. She stares at me, my face, my helpless body as the dark creature rapes every part of me. My eyes water and my private parts bleed. She stares in disgust, trying to look away but can't. She's too interested. The Tricker looks at her in pity and approaches her slowly.

"How about you, Lizzy? Do you want some attention?" She doesn't bother stating that her name is Eliza. She doesn't want to anger the beast. Just as the Tricker begins to un button her dress, a loud car door slams outside.

This house is secluded in the middle of a forest so the Tricker doesn't expect any company.

"Jason..." I say, releived. The Tricker stares at me with anger and mistrust. He darts out the window after taping our mouths shut, careful not to let Jason hear us up here.

"Hello? Jess? You here? I got that text, what's the emergency?" Jason has no clue the pain we've suffered. I hear him climbing the ladder and give a loud sigh of releif through my nose. He comes into the attic only to find my bloddy, broken, abused body and Eliza's missing eyelids and un buttoned dress. He gasps and covers him mouth. We both stare it him, waiting for him to save us.

"Don't worry, I'm here. I'll help you."

Before he can do a thing, the Tricker darts through the window and attacks Jason. He holds out his knife as the beast pounces on him. Everything goes quiet as the beast lies motionless on top of Jason. Blood seeps through his clothes and soils the brand new tux he was wearing when he greeted me this morning. He throws the lifeless body off of him and walks- limps -over to help me off the ground. He removes my phone from my side, un-tapes my mouth, and wraps his jacket around my naked body. After sitting me up against a wall, he goes and fixes Eliza up. Jason carries me down the ladder and on the front porch while Eliza follows us. He comes back up to pull the knife out of the beast, but it's gone. The beast, I mean. The knife is right there on the floor, as clean as when he first got it. Jason calls the police and leaves for the fancy dinner he was supposed to attend before I texted him. Eliza and I sit in the front yard.

She stares at me with her bright red eyes. I look into them. Blood dripped from them and onto my broken hand. Her name was Eliza. Not Elizabeth or Lizzy, Eliza.

"Where did your mommy say she was going again?" I asked her.

"She said daddy was making a big mistake with Auntie. That's what she told me. Then she made me sit in my room while she called you."

I rubbed the blood from her eyes and sat with her in my lap on the steps in her front yard. She mumbled things I couldn't comprehend as she struggled to get comfortable. Her breathing got faster and faster. I began to cry.

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

I ignored her and continued to cry. Luckily, my tears weren't bloody as hers were. We waited patiently for the ambulance to get here, Eliza bleeding all over the concrete steps. She kept staring at me. That poor girl, she's seen so much. As she stares, her eyes grow wide and a deeper red. As she stares, her eyes move away from mine. As she stares, a reflection of a large rat or small bear appears. As she stares, we both die.