Down Came the Rain (NOW FREE!)

5

Chapter 5

Blood dripped from a cut above her brow, blurring her vision. With trembling fingers, Hudson wiped at the warm substance. The stickiness smeared along the soft fabric of her nightgown. She tried to focus, but could barely hear her own thoughts above the breaths rushing from her mouth. 

"It's God's plan for you to submit to me. This is your job. The job appointed to you."

She pressed her lips together, fighting back a scream. The man was obviously deranged and not above violence. Trying to reason with him might only get her in more trouble. But what else could she do?

The gun.

It would be a huge risk getting to it, but it might be the only thing able to save her life. Blood pummeled through her head. If she didn't act quick, she may not get the opportunity again. Hudson lunged toward the dresser and thrust her hand inside the top drawer. She fished around until she met the cool touch of steel. Closing her fingers around the barrel, she whipped back to face him, arms outstretched, holding the weapon in front of her. Her hands shook in the dark. She hoped he didn't know.

"Stay away." Her mouth formed the words but there was barely enough air in her lungs to push them out.

From somewhere in front of her, a feral noise escaped from the intruder's throat. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

Another blow slammed into her temple. She crashed to the floor, the top of her head smashing into the nightstand with a clunk. A torrent of pain raced across her skull and down her neck, radiating to her ears. The gun exploded involuntarily, the noise ricocheting around the room with a deafening howl. Stunned, Hudson shook her head, fighting the urge to succumb to the pain.

Without warning, the man straddled her, his hands pinning her arms against the carpet. Her palm snapped opened and the gun slid from her grasp. Hudson thrashed beneath him, but he held her in place.

"What do you want?" Her words came out a whisper.

The man loomed over her, the warmth of his breath flicking the tip of her nose. "Be alert and sober of mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." His quiet words spiraled with venom and spite. "Resist him. Stand firm in the faith. Because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

Hudson swallowed a sob. "Please! I don't understand what you mean! What do you want from me?"

The weight of his body lifted.

Hudson sucked in a jagged breath and pushed herself to her elbows. Her eyes hurried around the room. Nothing but darkness surrounded her. Darkness and silence.

He was gone.

Rolling to her knees, she scrambled across the bedroom floor to the bathroom. Once inside, she locked the door and threw herself against the far wall, hugging her knees to her chest. She closed her eyes and invited a familiar melody from the past to emerge from her lips. She rocked back and forth, trying to escape the fear, just as she'd done so many years before.

"The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout ..."

The stranger's blacker than black shadow shrank from her mind, turning into distant dots.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out ..."

She forced his menacing words from her thoughts. They didn't make sense anyway. She didn't want them to make sense. The stench of blood stung her nostrils but she didn't dare look in the mirror. She didn't dare move.