She woke suddenly and bolted upright, heart pounding.
Grabbing her phone, she checked the time. She had been asleep for two hours. What had wakened her? Sliding her legs over the side of her bed, she stood up and glanced around the room for some clue. Thunder rumbled and shook the house. The storm was directly overhead. That must have been what had startled her from sleep.
While she was relieved to have an explanation, she still felt anxious and unsettled. Rushing to the door, she opened it and peered out. Darkness enveloped everything. She knew the shadow in front of her was Seth, but dread filled her. She needed to see his face, to make sure he was safe.
“Seth?” she whispered. Her hand reached out and touched his face.
His phone light flashed on. He brought it closer to his face, probably so she could see his lips better. Standing, he stepped just inside her doorway.
“What’s wrong?” he said, signing at the same time.
“I don’t know. I just suddenly felt something was wrong.”
He started to answer her, then abruptly stopped. His head swung around to the left, and he used his phone to peer into the darkness.
“What?”
He made a shushing motion. Bringing the phone close enough so she could see his hands again he signed, “I think someone might have just walked out of my room.”
“Why didn’t you notice them going into it?” she signed back.
“I fell asleep. The storm just woke me.”
He stood up, every movement careful, and motioned that he was going to check his room. She grabbed his arm. Was he crazy, going after some maniac by himself? Using his phone for light again, he signed. “We are trapped. We’ll be safer once we know. Wait for me in your room.”
She wasn’t so confident that confronting her attacker would make them any safer, but it did make sense to figure out who they were dealing with. But as for waiting for him in her room... She looked back into the dark cavern beyond her doorway. Uh-uh.
Decision made, she stepped out into the hallway and started to follow him. A frown crossed his face. But he didn’t argue.
They crept to his room, but didn’t enter. He pointed toward the stairs and signed. She nodded to show she understood. Someone was arguing downstairs. Possibly whoever had left his room. She needed to keep close. He began to creep down the stairs, his steps exaggerated. For a second, she hesitated. She could make out the sounds of muffled voices below. The voices were too low and garbled for her to decipher much more than that. There were at least two voices, but she couldn’t even tell what gender they were.
Seth was getting ahead of her. She watched his shadow creep down another step. She went after him, using her hands to guide her along the wall. Fortunately, there was enough light coming in from the windows on the outside wall that she could make out the outline of the steps. She took care to step as gently as she could, fighting panic, knowing she wouldn’t hear it if the stairs creaked. But whoever was at the bottom of the stairs would.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Without knowing why, Jess knew something was wrong.
A hand grabbed her shoulder. Jess jumped, starting to turn. For a brief instant, she was aware of a slight aroma that she could not quite place. A second hand touched her back. A single hard shove propelled her toward the edge of the stairs. A scream ripped from her throat as she crashed downward into the darkness.
Air whooshed past her ears as she fell, tumbling into the darkness. She pitched forward, flailing her arms, desperate to catch the railing, or anything that might break her fall. Her fist clipped something.
Seth’s chin.
He must have turned toward her. She landed against him.
Unfortunately, instead of stopping her fall, he was knocked off balance, as well. His arms closed around her, and even in her terror she realized he was trying to shield her as they continued crashing down the stairs.
But the crashing thankfully only lasted for another second.
Their downward spiral came to an abrupt halt. Seth’s whole body shuddered as his back slammed against the wall on the landing. Inertia had her thudding hard against his chest.
“Oof!” Seth’s breath puffed against her ear. His arms tightened around her. Lying so close to him, she could feel both their hearts racing. Briefly, she dipped her head and pressed her forehead to his chest.
They were alive. Someone had deliberately pushed her down the stairs, but they had survived. But for how long? It wasn’t likely that whoever had pushed her was going to give up. On the contrary, the attacks were escalating.
Why had the person chosen to show their hand, here? Did they think the hostile environment would leave her so vulnerable that no one would notice, would assist her?
Gratitude welled in her heart. Because she wasn’t alone. God had sent her Seth. An unlikely hero, given their past, but who was she to question the ways of the Almighty?
Carefully, she pushed away from Seth. He stood, then gave her a hand to help her up. The arguing they had heard moments before was gone. She could hear doors around them slamming, felt the vibrations on the landing of someone moving up the stairs toward them. She tensed. Seth’s arms moved again, this time to shove her behind him.
A wide beam of light cut through the dark, moving in a back and forth pattern as someone approached. It came to land on them and Jess could see that it came from a heavy-duty LED flashlight.
“Seth? Jess? What’s going on?” Ted exclaimed, his loud voice echoing in the stairway. “I thought I heard someone screaming.”
“It’s okay, Ted. Jess—”
“I just tripped on the stairs,” she interrupted Seth. He had no clue that she had been pushed, and she didn’t want to get into it now, not when everyone else was closing in. For now, she just wanted to hurry and move to a new location. Already the top of the staircase and the landing below were filling with other guests, their flashlights aimed straight at them. And although she couldn’t see their faces clearly, she imagined many of them were filled with anger at being awakened. Or maybe even malicious joy that she had suffered a mishap.
“Probably stumbling under the weight of all that guilt,” a familiar voice called out. Bob Harvey. Jess kept herself from reacting, although she could do nothing about the anxiety crawling like ants over her skin.
Seth put a hand on her shoulder, then leaned over and whispered something in his uncle’s ear. Ted started. She literally saw the beam of light from his flashlight jump.
“It’s okay, folks,” their host called back in an overly jovial voice. Was she the only one who could tell how forced his tone was? “Go on back to bed. I’m sure all will be set to rights in the morning.”
Meaning the electricity would be back on and the flood waters would recede, she supposed. One could only hope.
Seth, keeping her at his back, moved slightly away from her. She shivered. It had gotten colder. Or at least that’s how it felt without his warmth nearby.
She kept her eyes focused on Ted and Seth as the other guests meandered back to their rooms, taking their flashlights with them. Amazing how long it took people to walk a few feet. After the last door had closed, Ted nodded and jerked his head, indicating they were to follow him.
Jess was startled when a hand closed over hers. Seth had reached back to take her hand. Tears stung the back of her eyes at his silent care. Rapidly, she blinked them away, chastising herself for giving in to irrational emotions. Of course he took her hand. He was just being a gentleman, making sure she didn’t fall again.
Whatever.