Once inside, Katie ushered Nick into the bathroom to get a towel to dry his hair. "Umm, Katie?"

"Yeah Nick?"

"I think I need some dry clothes. Can I borrow some of yours?" Nick asked sweetly.

"If you think that for one minutes, I will let you ruin my clothes, then you're dead wrong!" Katie laughed. "Come on. My father's clothes are upstairs. I'll get you his."

Nick smiled, content. "Okay."

He followed Katie into the living room when a form caught his attention. A burly man was sitting on the couch. Since he was hidden by the darkness of the room, Nick couldn't really see his face, but still, Nick shuddered at the sight. He hadn't expected anyone to be here. "Uh, Katie?" he called out to Katie uncertainly.

Katie noticed Nick's attention being focused on her father. "Nick, this is my father," she said calmly. She looked at Nick to see his reaction.

He was extremely uncomfortable. He looked at the man. "Uh, hi," Nick said shyly. The man simply snorted and laid down on the couch. Nick looked to Katie, who didn't seem too worried.

"Come on," Katie grabbed his arm. "Let's get you some dry clothes to change into." Nick thought he saw the man's eyes open wide when he heard that line, but shrugged off the feeling of fear that started to overcome him. He followed Katie up the stairs.

Once upstairs, Katie whispered to Nick. "Why don't you call your parents to let them know that you're here so that they won't be worried."

"Okay," Nick said, easing up a bit. Why should he be worried? Katie was there with him. She pointed him to the phone in her bedroom and went to get him some dry clothes. When he was done talking with his mother, he waited in her room. She came back with some a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

"Listen, Nick," she said as she gave him the clothing, "I forgot a few things at my workplace and I wanna get them before the storm picks up."

Nick immediately shook his head. "No, Katie. Don't leave me here with him."

Katie laughed. "Don't be silly Nick. You'll be all right. Besides, if you're really scared, you can just lock the door and stay in my room." Nick tried to protest but Katie hushed him. "Come on now, you're not frightened of a half-drunk old man, are you?"

Nick was about to say yes when Katie hushed him again. "Don't be silly. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?" Nick could see that nothing he could do would change Katie's mind so he nodded. She smiled and left. As soon as she stepped outside her room, he locked the door. He knew that he acted like a wimp, but he didn't care. That man out in the living room looked intimidating.

He heard the door close as Katie left the house. He ran to the window to see her pull her car out of the drive way. Nick sighed, longing for her to return soon. Suddenly, he felt a chill and decided that he had better change into the dry clothes soon. He threw the jeans and T-shirt onto the bed and started to take off his wet clothing. He sniffled a little. He hoped he wasn't catching a cold. How dumb could he be?

Nick continued removing the rest of his clothing. He dried himself off with the towel Katie had given him when he suddenly heard footsteps heading up the stairs. His heart skipped a beat. Outside, the sky was completely dark. He felt a chill run down his spine. The footsteps were drawing nearer. Nick stopped breathing for a while.

Then the footsteps were right in front of the door to Katie's room. He didn't move an inch, waiting for something to happen. To his relief, the footsteps passed Katie's room and continued down the hallway. When he was sure that Katie's father was gone, Nick quickly put on the T-shirt and jeans.

He started to dry his hair with the towel. So consumed was he that he didn't hear a figure creep up from behind him. Suddenly, Nick felt a hard object being thrashed into his head, sending him reeling onto the bed. His head started to spin as he tried to make out what was happening. Then he got a second blow to his head which made him go limp and wiped out any coherent thoughts in his mind. The next thing he knew, he felt someone sit on top of him.

Nick's mind was clouded with confusion. Yet, he could smell the alcohol from Katie's father's breath. The man chuckled. "Ya see, boy. I'm not that drunk. I guess, Katie forgot to tell you that there's a connecting door between her room . . . and mine." The man was licking Nick's ears while he said that, his face just a few millimeters from Nick's.

Nick groaned from the pain, but he could not utter anything coherent. Before he knew what was going on, he felt the man unzip his jeans. Still, Nick was too weak to defend himself. Quickly, the man yanked the jeans off and started to take his T-shirt off. Nick could feel the bed sheets brush against his bare skin. He moaned from the pain.

There he lay, naked on the bed with Katie's drunken father on top of him. Suddenly, all became quiet as Katie's father admired Nick's body. Nick didn't know exactly what happened after that. He felt Katie's father's skin rub against his own, but everything was a big haze to him.

Then, he felt the sharp pain as Katie's father flipped him over and entered him. It was at that moment that Nick's senses became slightly sharper and he was able to cry out in pain. His shouts were muffled by the man's hands covering his mouth. The pain started to be more concrete, and Nick's vision began to clear. The man was obviously very drunk, but not enough to prevent him from molesting Nick.

Nick tried to shout, but his voice was too weak for the neighbors to hear. He himself did not know what was going on. Just then, he felt the man's body collapse onto his due to the exhaustion. That was when he heard the door knob to Katie's room twist. By then, his headache had subsided somewhat. His vision had cleared a little and he was able to slightly tilt his head to see Katie's father lying on top of him.

He groaned once more from the realization of what Katie's father had just done. Then, he heard the door to Katie's room open. He painfully moved his head, his cheeks brushing against the bed. Finally, he was able to direct his gaze at the door and saw Katie stand there, her eyes calm, her body poised. Instinctively, he reached out his hand to her, pleading for her to help him push her father's body off of him.

When she saw Nick's pleading eyes focused on her, Katie began to walk towards him slowly. She was barely 1 foot from the bed when she stopped. Nick looked at her, confused. His head was throbbing so hard. Just then, he saw her lean down to pick something up. His eyes drifted downwards to her hands, which, he suddenly noticed, were covered with latex gloves.

Finally, he was able to see the object that she was picking up. It was a glass bottle-the one her father had used to knock him out. Nick suddenly felt a knot in his stomach as Katie gripped the bottle in her right hand. Instinctively, he tried to kick Katie's father, to wake him up, but her father was too tired and too drunk to respond.

Katie saw Nick's useless attempts to rouse her father from his unconscious state. She continued walking to the other side of the bed. All the while, she never took her gaze away from Nick. Her eyes were cold, determined. Her face was bluish-green, reflecting the colors of the night.

She raised her right arm up-the one that held the glass bottle. With one firm motion, she aimed for Nick's head. She heard the loud thud as the glass bottle made contact with the back of his head. As soon as the bottle made contact, she saw Nick reel from the pain. She bit her lip, not knowing whether she could go on with it. She had never done anything so violent before.

But she had to! This was her ticket out of here! Memories of how her father had mistreated her began to cloud her mind and any guilt was washed from her soul. Again, she took another swing at Nick's head. This time, she saw the blood starting to ooze out from his scalp. One more time, she raised her hand to take another swing at him. Her arms started to feel heavier and heavier.

The third time she smacked him, the glass bottle broke and the shards of glass flew in every direction, some digging into Nick's and her father's flesh. Luckily for Katie, the glass avoided her and her skin was left untouched. Nick was now unconscious, but Katie wasn't convinced that he was dead yet. She raised her arm once more to land another blow on Nick's head. This time, the moonlight reflected off the sharp, jagged edges of the broken bottle. She swung with murderous aggression and the glass cut through Nick's scalp. Katie thought she heard Nick's skull crack, but that was not the reason that she stopped her assault.

Katie lifted her left hand to her face and felt Nick's warm blood on her skin. She froze in shock at what she had just done. She stepped back, afraid to look at Nick's body. The glass bottle that she had held in her hand slipped off and landed on the ground. Katie stumbled back another few steps and caught herself before she fell onto her desk.

She swallowed a few times and gathered her nerves. She could hear the thunder rumbling furiously outside, as if screaming in protest against Nick's murder, but it was too late. His body was no longer moving. All she could hear was the sound of her heart as it throbbed furiously in her chest. All was deathly still. Nick lay motionless on the bed. His hands dangled by the side of the bed, streaked with his own blood, which was slowly clotting and forming a crust on his skin.

Her father's head rested against the bare skin of Nick's back. She could see her father's chest steadily rising and falling as he snored quietly. Both Nick and him were naked and unconscious.

Katie felt like vomiting. No! Not right there. She couldn't get caught. Everything was happening as she had planned. She cleared her thoughts a little, and quickly ran for the door, careful to avoid stepping on any blood or pieces of broken glass. She made her exit through the back door and disappeared into the night. She ran back to the supermarket where she had left her car.

>>>>>

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