Excerpt: Halloween

“Abby, I know you can hear me.”

I ignored him, even though his face was only inches from mine. His face was hot; I felt the heat from his breath on my neck. I couldn’t quite decide whether I was ignoring him because I was supposed to be a mannequin, or if I was just using that as an excuse to get away from the strangeness of the day.

“Listen to me,” he continued. Amazingly, my mind focused on only Sam, the commotion around me, all the screams and horror music fading away. “Abby, we need to talk. If you will not do it willingly, then I am going to have to make you. And you know I will.”

When I didn’t even blink, he quickly grabbed me around the middle and pulled me off the table. He pulled me into his arms in one smooth motion and quickly proceeded towards the exit, carrying me.

“SAM!!!” I finally yelled, grabbing onto his shoulders for balance. “What are you doing? Let me down!”

“Shh.”

“Sam, I'm WORKING! You can’t just pull me out!”

“Stop causing a scene, Abby. I will let you down in a second.”

Immediately, my desire to fight back vanished. It was as if some wave of power came over me. A wave of power… apparently coming from Sam.

Sam?

Yes. From Sam. It was such a strange feeling, being overwhelmed by his power. If he could command me to shut up, and listen to him, and freeze, what else could he do? “How did you…?”

“Quiet.”

I closed my mouth and stared at him with wide eyes, afraid. Not knowing HOW afraid I should be. What the heck was going on? Sam shifted my weight in his arms as he pushed open the side door of the theatre and proceeded into the parking lot.

It was as if I was nothing more than dried leaf, that it took absolutely no effort for him to carry me. I was thin, but I wasn’t that thin. He made his way to his truck, and then gently let me down.

I took a few steps back as he unlocked the cab and opened the passenger’s side. “Come on,” he said, waiting impatiently for me to climb inside.

I continued to stare at him. All of the strangeness of the day flooded back into my mind. “Sam,” I whispered after a few moments of tension-filled silence, “what’s going on?”

He dramatically motioned to the front seat, and I finally gave in and got inside. He shut the door behind me, making me jump, then hopped into the driver’s side. He jammed the keys into the ignition, threw it in gear, and sped out of the parking lot. “Whoa,” I muttered as I grabbed the seat to steady myself. Sam took notice, and slowed down a bit. But only a bit.

“Sam?” I asked finally as we sped through the dark.. He glanced over at me in response. “Where are we going?”

“To my house.”

“But I thought you said—”

“Things have changed now.”

We remained silent for the rest of the drive.