The dark shape passed in front of the bottom of the stairs to go back into the kitchen.  I waited until I heard the person rifling through the drawers and cabinets again. Tiptoeing down the stairs, I stayed down low to creep into the living room. I saw the outline of my phone on the table in the dark.  I needed to get to it to call for help.

Immediate relief washed over me when my hand touched the cold glass screen.  I grabbed the phone from the table and went to turn to get somewhere safe. 

I watched in slow motion as the phone fell from my hand and crashed to the ground.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity, Fuck.

The shadow was standing in the doorway, watching me as I tried to pick it up. The person was wearing an oversized black hooded sweatshirt and face mask. Dark, cold eyes were staring at me with absolute hatred. The shadow stood still, half crouched down to the ground, ready to pounce.  I saw the silver tip of a knife poking out from underneath the hoodie sleeve.

Shit. This was bad.

I snatched the phone up off the ground as the silent shadow lunged towards me.  I dove out of the way just in time to miss the tip of the blade slicing through the air. 

I screamed as loud as I could in case someone could hear me and then tore off up the stairs. The shadow was inches from me, rushing up the stairs right behind me.  The hooded figure grabbed my ankle and started trying to pull me back down the stairs. I hit my knee with a hard thud and groaned from the shooting pain that ran up and down the whole length of my leg.

I turned my back to the stairs in time to dodge the knife slicing through the air again.  It missed cutting into my cheek by mere millimeters. The intruder was trying to kill me.  I kicked my leg out with every ounce of strength I had and connected with the person's stomach. They fell back and hit the floor at the bottom.  I didn't even wait to see if they were moving.  I spun around and took off limping up the stairs and went straight into my room. I locked the door behind me and closed my eyes trying to regain my thoughts.

There was a heavy pounding on the door from the other side, trying to break it down.

"Phone. Call for help now!" Good Jessa reminded me.

I fumbled, trying to unlock my phone.  It didn't recognize my terror-filled face. I had to resort to entering the passcode, which was Cam's birthday.  I typed it in wrong so many times that I got a prompt that my phone was locked because of too many failed attempts.

"Dumbass. Use the emergency button!" Good Jessa screamed.

I hit the word 'emergency' at the bottom of the screen and dialed 911 before pressing it to my ear.

"911, what's you emergency?" A nasally voice said at the other end of the line.

"Hello, there's someone in my house!" I screamed.

"Are they trying to hurt you? Are you somewhere safe? Can you describe them?"

"I'm in my room.  They... they... have a knife. They are trying to get in the room to kill me."  

"What is your name?"

"Jessa...Jessa Miller."

"Ok, Jessa, we have dispatched the police.  Stay in the room and don't open the door until I tell you it is safe to. Stay on the line with me until the police arrive."

I heard sirens off in the distance after what felt like hours as the person on the other side continued to try to break my door down.  The pounding was swirling in my head, deafening me. I hit the speaker button and dropped the phone on the floor so I could cover my ears.  The battering on the door stopped and the house grew eerily quiet again.  Seconds later, I heard heavy footsteps walking down the hall.

"Miss Miller.  It's the police.  You can open the door." A deep voice cut through the silence.

"No." I cried.  I was petrified. I didn't trust the voice on the other side of the door.  It could still be the person with the knife. 

"Miss Miller, the police are at the house.  It is safe for you to open the door."  The voice on the phone called out to me.

"No, it's not safe.  He is still here. He wants to hurt me. Where's Cameron? I need Cameron."  I cried.

"Miss Miller, we are coming in." A large booming voice sounded from the other side.

There was a loud noise followed by a cracking sound as the wooden door frame started to split.  Another crash on the other side made the whole room around me shake.  The person on the other side hit the door with such force, the door flew open, hitting the wall. 

I was sitting on the floor with my hands over my ears, rocking back and forth, when dark boots stepped into my line of sight. My chest was tight and I couldn't breathe.  The intruder was about to kill me.  I didn't want to die; I wasn't ready.

A hand reached down and grabbed my arm to pull me up.  I shrieked and started flailing my arms around, trying to defend myself.  He was going to hurt me.  My hand connected with a face as another set of cold hands grabbed me from behind to subdue me.

"Shit. Not her again." A commanding woman's voice complained. 

When I came to my senses, I looked up to see Buzzy, the guy from the pool, rubbing his cheek. Behind me restraining my arms, was a scary looking woman who had her hair in a too-tight bun.

Fucking Kelly.  Of course, my two favorite people in the whole world were the people here to save me. It figured these two were partners.

"Jessa, are you hurt?"  Buzzy asked me.

"I need Cameron. Call Cameron."  I cried, trying to break out of Kelly's death grip. She was using this as the perfect opportunity to be a little rough with me. 

"Should I call him?" Buzzy asked Kelly.  It was clear who wore the pants in this partnership. He had his hand on his radio about to press the button.

"No, we can handle this." She said through gritted teeth.

I started hyperventilating and went limp, falling to the floor.  A gray haze went over my vision and I started to go blind.  I could hear someone screaming Cameron's name. The voice sounded a lot like my own.  It couldn't be me, though. I couldn't move.

"Fuck this. I'm radioing him." Buzzy boomed back. 

"Jessa," Kelly knelt down as she tried to talk calmly to me.  I could still hear the malice in her controlled voice.  "I am going to take you to sit in the car while Ortiz search's the house." She said, grabbing my arm to pull me to my feet.

"Please, I need Cameron." I cried into the hard plate over her boobs. 

She placed her arm around me and helped limp me down the stairs. The door was wide open, letting the cool night air in.  There was a police cruiser in the driveway with its lights flashing.

I almost panicked again when she opened the back for me to sit in. She could sense my hesitation and gave me a not so polite little push to help me in.  She leaned against the door picking at her nails as she waited for word from her partner. 

Ortiz walked out of the house a few minutes later, shaking his head and motioned for her to come over to him. She huffed and stood up to walk in his direction.

While they were talking, Kelly turned to look at me.  She almost looked amused as he continued to explain something to her. She nodded at him before they both walked back over to me.

"Jessa, there appears to be a lot of prescription drugs in your room.  Have you taken anything this evening?" Kelly asked me smugly.

"Yeah, I took my medication,"  I said, wondering why that was even being asked.  "What does that have to do with someone breaking into my house?" 

Just as I was being interrogated, another cruiser pulled up behind us.  I was immediately relieved when I saw Cam and Ron climbing out of the car.  Cam walked over to Buzzy and I could see him nodding his head at him while they talked. He looked over at me and turned back, saying something to him.  Cam patted his shoulder and walked over to me. 

He knelt down in front of me and took my hand in his. He raised his other hand to my cheek and ran his thumb up and down behind my ear in a soft, soothing way. I closed my eyes and pushed my head into his hand. 

I was safe now.  He was here with me.

"Hey darling, can you tell me what's going on?" He asked in a sweet voice.

"Someone broke into my house."  I opened my eyes and looked into his.  He was staring at me with a slight frown. 

"She's on something."  Kelly came over looking pretty pleased with herself.

"I promise, those are my medications.  I am not on anything!"  I defended myself, pleading with Cameron.

"Give us a second." He snapped at her in an authoritative voice. She rolled her eyes and went back to go talk with Ron and Buzzy.

"Jess, darling."  He rubbed his thumb over my hand.

"Cam, there was someone in my house!  They chased me up the stairs and tried to stab me with a knife."  I was desperate for him to believe me.  I was telling the truth and I know I didn't imagine it.

"Jess, they didn't find any signs of a break-in." He rubbed his thumb over my temple.  "You have to be honest with me Jess, I promise I won't get upset. I just have to know what is really going on so I can help you. Have you been taking anything tonight that you shouldn't?"

"Why would you even ask me that?" I looked down at him.  "You know I have been doing a lot better." 

"Jess, they found some pills in your room." 

"That's not that unusual Cami, you know I'm taking medication for my disorder. I always have pills in my room."

"Darling, none of the bottles had your name on them."