Fiction.

“He’s taking her. He’s taking her through a back door.” Kaiser’s voice
caught in his throat and his breath quickened. He charged into Diana’s
room and ripped the covers off of Dan.

“Where did he take her??!?!!”

Nothing.

Kaiser grabbed Dan’s shoulders and flipped him over on his back. Dan’s
mouth hung open but his eyes were squeezed shut.

“Dan! What the fuck is wrong with you?!?!? She’s gone! Wake up,
asshole!” Kaiser slammed Dan back down on the bed. He tried to peel
his eyes open, but they wouldn’t budge. Kaiser placed to fingers on
Dan’s neck, although I’m not sure why. We’d all had considerable
experience with dead bodies by now, you’d think Kaiser would know one
when he saw it.

“We have to go. We have to get her. I can’t let him…I can’t let him
do what I saw him do.” Kaiser scrambled for his shoes and made his way
to the door.

“Wait, hold on, Kaiser, ” said James, in a voice kinder than I ever
thought him capable of. “Just stop for a minute.”

“Stop?!? I can’t stop! He’s going to kill her!”

“James is right,” said Amelia. “We’re not going to be able to help her
at all if we don’t know where we’re going.”

Kaiser stopped in his tracks and turned to her.

“You said you saw him taking her through a back door. Look harder, do
you know where they might be? What does it look like”

Kaiser bent at the knees and shoved his fingers through his hair.

“He was walking her through a parking deck. At least I think it was a
parking deck. They looked like they were outside but there was a
ceiling, a low ceiling. He was dragging her. Her eyes are closed, but
I don’t know if she’s asleep or - whoa wait..wait a second.”

He was looking at me, but not looking at me at the same time. It was
more like he was looking through me, using my face as a physical focal
point so his mind could go somewhere else. He jumped.

“He’s pulling her up an aisle. It looks really old. There are all
these chairs and a huge chandalier,” Kaiser mumbled. Then recognition
flashed across his face. “Wait a second, I would know that carpet
anywhere. I’ve done like 10 chicks in that spot.”

“Where?” I asked, trying to ignore the 10 chicks comment. “What spot?”

“They’re at the Byrd. I know it. We need to get there, now. I now he
hasn’t hurt her yet, but I can’t tell when he’s going to.”

“He took her to a fucking landmark. Well, I’d say that makes a
statement,” said James. “Ok, Tits, Lite Brite. Shall we?” as he
followed a sprinting Kaiser out the door. Amelia and I looked at each
other.

“What do we do about Dan? I mean, should we just leave him here?” I asked.

“Not a hell of a whole lot we can do for him now,” she answered. “If
we hurry, we might be able to keep tonight’s death toll down to just
one.” She took me by the arm and lead me after the guys.

We made good time over to the theater, even though we were all
struggling to keep up with Kaiser the whole way there. Who knew a
drunk frat boy could run so fast?

He quickly found the door that he’d seen Diana dragged through. We
exchanged worried glances before we walked in. There hadn’t really
been time to discuss a plan. But, there was no going back at
that point.

Kaiser walked in first, followed by James, Amelia, then me. I think he
was still seeing several steps of what was happening in real time, but
his quickening pace showed me that he was getting more anxious. We
made our way to the entrance to the lower level of the theater. Kaiser
opened the door and we were greeted by a flood of complete darkness.

“Amelia!” James whispered. “Do your stuff!”

I heard her feet shuffle along the carpet. Slowly, the room was filled
with a gentle glow. I quickly noticed it was coming from the
chandelier suspended from the ceiling.

Peeking over Kaiser’s shoulder, I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the
growing light. We saw it at the same time. Diana was sprawled out at
the top of the aisle, her face relaxed and her breathing rhythmic as
if she were stretched out on her own sofa taking a Sunday nap. He
stood over her, brandishing his saw blade.

Kaiser turned to me, “Do something! Now!” he pleaded desperately.

I felt my breath stop in my throat. I looked back at the saw and felt
my body fill with a certain prickly feeling I’d become accustomed to
over the last day. The blade started to warp slightly when the room
was filled with a deafening pop.

Sparks showered down from the ceiling with a downpour of shattered, gleaming crystals.