PROLOGUE

Adrenaline fueled Kate’s will to live. She ran as fast as her legs could move. Her desperation to survive his hunt surpassed her fear of tripping. The trail contained sharp twigs, decaying logs, and interlocked blackberry canes that seemed like a natural trap to stop her, or at the very least, to slow her down so she couldn’t escape alive.

Her senses were nearly useless. She could hear only dried leaves crunching beneath her flimsy shoes and her forceful exhales as she searched for a way out of the thicket. The elusive moon hid behind stubborn clouds, making it difficult to see and escape.

Her attempt to flee was instinctive and self-serving. She wanted to live. She loved her life, even though she had once condemned it and wished it to end when her depressed emotions choked the very life she had taken for granted.

And while her visibility was low, she remembered her way down the dirt-worn trail. She had spent countless hours walking the sunny trails with freedom abound, oblivious to autumn around the corner with its fiery show, then its icy fury.

Now the sleet stung her face and hands. Her fingertips felt as numb as her toes as she wiped away a trickle of blood that oozed from a fresh cut above her brow and blurred her vision.

She ran haphazardly and couldn’t see behind her, but she wondered where he was, desperately so.

Is he trailing me close?

Can he stab me with his flailing knife, or did I finally lose him?

She prayed to outrun him but assumed the worst as the hard truth lingered in the chilly wind, surrounding her at every turn, stalking her like a grim reaper who would not give up – not ever.

Running felt useless. Her exhaustion prompted her to hide behind a honeysuckle for a quick rest. She tried to calm her burning lungs, but her thumping heart convinced her he was tracking her by her pulse.

When her breathing calmed, she heard shuffling dry leaves from her left side, then right. She felt confused. Was it the rousing wind or her ruthless killer? Her heart sank when she realized it indeed was him. That she hadn’t lost him like she hoped, and he was trailing her like a magnet to her steel will.

As she tucked her knees in close to hide, a vibrant red light drew her eyes to a familiar tower in the distance, bright and flashy: on, off, on, off. It reminded her of her carefree moments spent walking on the trails. The tower’s light had been a stable friend; guiding her north while helping her not to lose her way.

Her walks were meditative then, often spiritual. She remembered the clean air filtered through summer greens, the melodic confluence of birds in tune, and her cherished state of mental peace that nature provided. The stark contrast between her fond memories and her current crisis stung without mercy. The red light was no longer a friend to her now, but a chilling warning taunting her in the moody night sky. She thought of how quickly her perspective could change and how the mystery and danger of her future could hide so secretly in the shadow of her ignorance.

Kate froze when she heard his advancing footsteps, and while the gusty wind rustled the lingering leaves in the skeletal trees, making it difficult to hear, the clouds broke apart to reveal the deranged man in the streaky moonlight. She was thankful to be hidden behind a large cedar and studied him in the lackluster light.           

He was tall, harrowing by his ravaging nature, emitting a boisterous rage that channeled through every move of his tireless body. And while she could not see his face, she sensed that anger seeped through his every pore; a formidable beast determined to find her at last and kill her as planned.

The monstrous human ran with a stiff limp and was determined and crazed, like a starved animal hunting for its prized prey. She knew he would not stop until she indulged his hunger for blood.

He called to her in vain, as if he had reached the peak of his outlandish anger, so ready to carry out what he was born to do. “You can’t hide from me forever, Kate. I’ll find you. I’ll kill you.”

She shivered when the poison in his threatening voice consumed her last bit of hope. She prayed he wouldn’t find her behind the swaying cedar, but like her worst nightmare coming true before her eyes, he inched closer to her hiding place as if he could sense her fear and track her intuitively.

He was so close to her; only a few yards away. She held her breath and shivered with an unprecedented fear that pierced like a knife through her weary soul. Her heart beat so fiercely, she was sure it would explode into a million pieces.

“I’m coming for you, Kate. You can’t escape me any longer.” His demeaning laughter pierced her confidence. She screeched as he moved closer, then screamed into the useless night, leading him closer still. 

“There you are, darling. You’re making me work for you tonight. At least wrong can be set right. What do you think, dear? Should we make our time together short and sweet or long and torturous?”

She imagined him grinning through his wicked promise. Fortunately for her, her desire to live was equal to his will to destroy. She hid behind another cluster of cedars as the howling wind muffled his singsong taunts. And while she could no longer hear his freakish grunts, she could sense he was close enough to grab her if she stumbled or tripped.        

Not wanting to die that night, she searched for a way out through the tangled vines, but the moonlight faded, darkening the forest like a smothering blanket, transforming her surroundings into aimless void.

A gust of wind swirled the treetops. A dead branch cracked overhead. She fell to her knees and shielded her head with her hands. The next gust snapped the branch, causing it to fall and plunge into her upper body, straight through her shoulder blade. She collapsed hard and cried out in misery, not only because of her severe pain but for soul-crushing defeat.

She rolled to her side to see him standing there, Machiavellian to his core. Contrition was her only hope; a trickle of virtue mixed with saving empathy, but he showed no sign of it as he raised his knife, knowing quite well that nothing stood between his blade and his mission any longer.

She knew it was too late to save herself as time slowed to a near stop. Her struggle was over, and destiny won. Her life had reached its mortal end, and there was nothing she could do but lie there and concede to the nightmare as she watched it unfold.

She saw her young life flash in images like the fading stars through parted leaves. Warm tears turned icy on her cheeks at her sudden loss of life. She couldn’t say goodbye to the ones she loved the most. The thought of it murdered her spiritually before his blade touched her skin, organs, then bone.

She always believed she would live a long and wholesome life. Never would she have imagined such a gruesome fate; to be cheated in the most horrible and degrading way.

She feared the pain that would soon invade her body from his hovering knife, but she looked beyond him somehow, towards the bitter moon and dim stars that all seemed to shine for her sake. It would be her last glimpse of beauty on earth, she felt certain of it.

She could only resign herself to dying. To fade into the phantom night. She closed her eyes and prayed a desperate prayer.

(Search soon for Candle in a Cabin Window to continue reading Kate Sommers’ haunted fate.)