I had met Mike, six months ago, through a friend, such a nice man, tall, good-looking and lots of charm. Am I falling in love, I asked myself, I am finally on my way to meet him, for a week-end at his cabin. We had planned this for weeks. He would be driving up the next day, I was excited about seeing him, he had been away on business for a few days.

It was lightly raining, when I stopped to get some groceries, I went inside, picked up what I needed and went to pay the man at the counter, after I paid and started out the door, he asked me where I was headed, to the cabin on pineville road, I said. He asked me if I had been listening to the radio, "no," I said. "Seems to be a killer on the loose in this area," he replied. I laughed nervously, well It is raining harder, I don't think he will be out tonight. Just be careful miss, he said.

I put my groceries in the car, and started on my way, the rain was coming down hard, as I turned onto the road leading to the cabin, I could hardly see, I glanced out the side window to see two big scary eyes, looking at me, I almost drove off the road, then I saw it was a balloon, what was it doing out here, I wondered.

I could see the cabin, I drove the car up to the door, it was still raining, but I had to take my things inside. The cabin was small, a large living room and bedroom, combined, kitchen and a small bathroom. I put a log in the fireplace, and lit it, I took off my wet clothes, wrapping my long fuzzy white robe around my body. I went to make myself a sandwich, and ate it quickly, the bed looked very inviting, it was a king size bed, with an animal print, comforter, I put another log on the fire, wishing Mike were here, I climbed onto the big bed, I drifted off, watching the shadows from the fireplace, dance over the walls.

I awakened a few hours later, screaming in terror, a man was standing over my bed, wearing a mask, He told me to shut up. He tied my hands together and taped up my mouth, I was more frightened than I had ever been in my life. The man went to the kitchen, rummaging around in the fridge, made himself a sandwich and sat by the fire, the whole time, still wearing the mask. He looked over at me, he said, just so you know, I am going to kill you. Tears ran down my face as he continued, I have killed three people tonight, Then I knew, this was the killer, the man at the store had warned me about. He walked over to the bed, grabbed my robe and lifted me off the bed. He sat me on a chair and pulled a long knife out of his boot, he put it to my throat. A man kicked in the door, he was holding a gun, it was the man from the store, get away from her, he said.

The man in the mask, said no, she is going to die and so are you, the gun went off, the man in the mask slumped over and fell to the floor. The man from the store rushed over and took the tape off my mouth, I could not utter a word, he reached down and took the mask off the man on the floor, no, I screamed, it was Mike, crumpled over dead. I finally spoke, asking the man, why had he come to check on me, I saw a balloon floating by the window of the store, two big scary eyes, it had, the radio was informing people to be on the look-out for this balloon, the killer was releasing them into the air, before he killed.

Copyright © 2004 lois thurman