Prey by Stefan Petrucha Read Free Book Online

the flesh out of your legs. It’ll rip open your chest.
    None of which seemed terribly unreasonable. To keep it from happening, she looked at the staircase heading up from the front hallway and furiously counted the steps to the second floor. She stopped ateight, turned to the door, twisted the handle and pulled. It was locked. The key was missing from the lock. She felt her heart begin to pound.
    Eve came up behind her, a chain of keys dangling from her hand. “Another gift from the shut-in. All the doors work like that. I think she was terrified she might wander outside while sleepwalking or something, so she locked herself in every night. Here.”
    Chelsea took the keys in her hand. They looked worn. The labels on them were old and difficult to read.
    â€œThis will be your set while I’m gone. I was going to have new ones made, but this is the set the former owner gave me. They work. Just don’t force the wrong key into the lock, it might snap when you try to get it out.”
    Chelsea nodded, and in an extreme act of self-control, slowly found the right key, inserted it in the lock and pulled open the door before ever so gently pulling the key back out. The cold air, so much colder than the basement or even the living room, sobered her, but not much.
    â€œSorry if I got a little nervous, there…Eve,” she said as she stepped onto the porch. “I’m working on it.”
    Eve lingered at the door, leaning her head against its edge, regarding her carefully. “I know. I could see how difficult this was for you and I’m sorry if I said anything stupid, but it is terribly important that you come back every other day for the next two weeks. You will do that, won’t you? Bring a friend with you if need be. And if for some reason you absolutely can’t, call me. I’ll have to fly back. It’s my first vacation in ten years, but if that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is. Okay?”
    Chelsea caught her breath, feeling terrible. “I’ll do it,” she said. “I promise. Really. It wasn’t so bad. And he looks kind of like Kermit.”
    Eve smiled, but her eyes still scrutinized Chelsea. “He does, doesn’t he? Good, then. I believe you. I’ll see you in two weeks.”
    She shut the door, but as Chelsea walked down the four steps and mounted her bicycle, she felt eyes on her. Eve’s from the window? Or Koko’s?
    It’ll rip you apart.
    Just a lizard in a cage. Just a lizard in a cage. She repeated it over and over, then counted the number of times she said it. Her throat was so dry. She stopped at the end of the block and entered a small convenience store. There she stood counting the bottles ofCoke in the refrigerator until finally she started to feel a little better.
    â€œYeah?” a gruff voice said. She turned to see a fat fifty-something man behind the counter. He had hair stubs everywhere, not just on his face, but even on his neck. There was so much fat around his face, his eyes were like slits. Normally he would have set off her OCD, but it was already roaring, and he did at least look better than a lizard that could swallow a rat in one gulp. A little better anyway.
    â€œDasani, please,” Chelsea said.
    â€œA dollar twenty-nine,” he said back. He had a watery voice that almost sounded like a gurgle. She pulled a crumpled five from her pocket and handed it over. He gave her the bottle, but before she could open it, he handed her the change, almost all of it in quarters.
    â€œI’m out of singles.”
    She stared at the coins. 11, 12, 13, 14 quarters. 1, 2 dimes. 1 penny.
    The owner watched as she counted them again, and then again.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” he said. “Don’t you trust me?”
    That was the problem. She didn’t. She didn’t trustthe man whose eyes vanished into the folds of his head skin. She didn’t trust the change. She didn’t trust