Autumn lays face down on the pavement grasping for consciousness.
Rob, her friend, was lying next to her with a stab wound in his side. He did not make it. Autumn pushed back any tears that would keep her from pressing on to find her other friend, Marcy. They had only arrived at the homestead for vacation just an hour ago and the groundskeeper already had his fun with Rob.
The moment Autumn found Rob she knew the groundskeeper was responsible for this and he was after Marcy and Autumn now. The angry brooding, the creepy stalking and the way the Groundskeeper looked at them while they were checking in, sent ominous shivers down each one of their spines.
Autumn came back to the present moment and realized she had no time to grieve, so with all her might she trudges through the forest with a huge stick ready to face anything or anyone.
Autumn pushed through the pain and went deeper into the forest holding her phone like it was her life support.
She still had no signal.
The cracked screen was not the only problem; the phone now was flashing a low battery.
Great, Autumn thought in pure panic.
“Marcy!” Autumn yelled, voice raspy. “Marcy, where are you?”
No answer, just the flowing wind and the ominous sighs of the trees.
The air felt so tight out here, and the chill settled in around Autumn.
She felt like the forest, right then and there, claimed another soul.
What if Marcy was already lying dead somewhere?
Autumn quickly pushed that out of her memory and kept running, looking for any sign of Marcy and the crazed groundskeeper.
She stumbled down a hill and got caught on a tree limb.
Autumn fell over and her glasses fell off, she could not see straight, and she began to panic
Then she heard it — a scream.
Autumn found her glasses and could finally see.
“Marcy!!” Autumn yelled.
Autumn saw a dark figure in the clearing and ran toward it without hesitation.
Her eyes adjusted, and she could see Marcy now — tied to a tree, mouth covered with duct tape and hands tied.
The groundskeeper stood over her with a twisted smile and a knife in his hand.
Autumn muffled her own scream as not to be noticed.
Marcy tried to scream again, but the groundskeeper stepped toward her with the knife, and that shut her up.
Autumn made noise with the leaves, and the groundskeeper turned in surprise.
“Oh,” his voice rasped — “another one. I thought I killed you along with that nasty boy you had with you.”
Autumn spat on the ground near the groundskeeper
“Do not talk about that boy, you nasty man.”
The groundskeeper lunged forward towards Autumn.
Autumn did not hesitate to make a scene.
She screamed at the top of her lungs and grabbed whatever was nearby.
She found a long stick with a sharp end.
Autumn ran towards the groundskeeper with all her might, with the stick pointed straight at his chest.
He fell to the ground; a stab wound in the middle of his chest, groaning and carrying on.
Autumn ran to where Marcy was tied up.
Marcy looked relived
“Autumn! You found me!” Marcy cried in relief through her pain.
The groundskeeper stirred.
He picked up his knife and started to get up, and at that second Autumn lunged at him, grabbed his knife, turned him around and plunged the knife directly into his back. The groundskeeper lay still, silenced and stopped from making a horrible mistake.
Blood gushed from his wounds.
The groundskeeper took his last breath, and the girls escaped within an inch of their lives.