When Brian was out of sight, she turned back to face Nick. The blood had coagulated by now, leaving a streak of blood on his face. Katie reached out to wipe the blood away and massage his tender cheeks. Nick remained quiet.
"You okay?" Katie whispered to him. He didn't reply. Rather, he placed his head on Katie's shoulder and whimpered weakly. Soon enough, the tears flowed freely from his eyes. Katie brushed his hair back and tried to dry his tears, but they came too quickly.
When Nick had regained some of his composure, he finally asked Katie, "What's going on? I don't have a single clue. I feel so lost."
"Wait till we get back home, Nick," she whispered in his ear so that the cab driver would not hear. She leaned down to plant little kisses on his forehead to give him some reassurance. "It's gonna be okay."
When the cab arrived at Katie's home, she nudged Nick to get out of the car. He did so reluctantly, still shocked from the events of that evening. The cab driver thought it strange to see a young, upset teenager being aided by a young woman but decided that it was none of his business to intervene so he drove off.
Katie never let her eyes leave Nick's body the whole time, for fear that he might pass out. Gingerly, she guided him to the door and helped him into the house. She brought him to the den and told him to lie on the couch for a while. "Get some rest, okay? I'll make you some hot chocolate. It'll make you feel better." She had to calm him down.
Nick smiled. "I'm ok, just a little shocked. That's all. You don't have to make me some hot chocolate."
"No," Katie replied. "You need to relax a little. We have a long night ahead of us."
Nick nodded his head and lay down on the couch. Quickly, Katie went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for him. When done, she came back to the den to see Nick sleeping peacefully on her couch. "Nick," she whispered in his ear. "Wake up. Your chocolate is done." She nudged his chin.
He stirred a little before opening his eyes. Then he sat up and drank his hot chocolate. "Thanks," he said shyly. When done, he placed the cup down. "So what did you want to talk about?"
Katie stood up and started pacing. She knew she had to tell him the truth now, but she didn't know where to start. "Nick, I believe that we're in danger-both of us . . . " Katie started, but Nick suddenly looked elsewhere around the den.
"Did you hear that, Katie?" Nick's face seemed pale all of a sudden, frightened.
"What?" Katie became alarmed. "What is it?"
"Something . . . like footsteps" Nick didn't know how to describe it.
"Nick, don't scare me," Katie began as she jumped into the couch next to Nick, grabbing onto his arm while furiously scanning the room.
"No, Katie, it's coming from outside!" Nick wavered. "Turn off the lights!" he commanded Katie. She did as he said and he ran over to her and together, they ran upstairs to her room. Katie never felt so frightened in her life. "Quick, dial 911," Nick whispered to Katie. Katie reached for the phone, but the line was dead.
"It's dead, Nick!" she stifled her fear.
Nick began cursing under his breath. He left his cell phone at home.
Then both were silent as they tried to calm themselves, but their restlessness only amplified their fear. 30 minutes seemed to have past and they heard lots of strange noises around the house. Suddenly, they heard footsteps becomeing louder and louder until it stopped in front of Katie's room. Both held their breaths. Nick didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew that their lives were endangered. He never felt so sick from fear. One thing he was confident of-this stalker has to do with his past. And for once, he was grateful for the amnesia. If he was this scared now, what exactly happened 6 years ago must have been ten times worse.
He looked over to Katie who was frozen. She clutched Nick's arm so hard that her fingers were cold from the lack of circulation. She cursed herself for not getting a lock to her door. By now, she and Nick were sprawled on the floor next to the door.
Slowly, the door was opened. Both Katie and Nick held their breaths. The man stepped in cautiously, and before he had a chance to react, Nick jumped at him, knocking him to the floor. However, the intruder was undaunted. He quickly attacked Nick, pinning him to the floor. Immediately, Katie turned on the lights to her room to get a better view of this stalker.
When she finally reached for the light switch, she saw the stalker straddling Nick and punching him furiously. He was clad in black and had a ski mask on his face. His form was lean, but muscular. Nick was losing the fight. Quickly, Katie looked for the nearest lamp and grabbed it. She ran towards the intruder and aimed for his head, but before she could strike at him, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. All became black.
Meanwhile, Nick was losing the struggle. He frantically grabbed the intruder's mask and managed to rip it off the intruder's face just seconds before he too was knocked unconscious. Quickly, the two stalkers grabbed Katie's and Nick's unconscious bodies and wrapped them with bed sheets. Then they made sure that they left no clue of a struggle ever occurring in Katie's bedroom.
When they were satisfied that the evidence was cleaned up, they carried Nick's and Katie's bodies out the backdoor. Behind Katie's house was a small park in which they had parked their car. They both smiled gleefully. Their master would be proud of them. Quickly, they strode to the car and threw Nick's and Katie's unconscious forms into the back seat. Then they started the car and headed off to a nice secluded place where their boss was waiting for them to bring the boy and young woman.
.