He’s not giving up, and eventually, something will break, and he’ll get in. I look around in a panic, my eyes combing the darkness for something, anything I can use to fight him off. I can’t let him hurt me. I can’t, I won’t. A bookend on one of the shelves catches my eye, and I tumble out of bed, running forward and clutching it to me. Prepared to use it, and use it again, and keep using it until he’s dead. I would rather kill him than let him touch me.

The silence is even more terrifying, maybe because of how suddenly it comes on. All at once, he seems to give up the fight. I don’t even hear him walk away. Naturally, that means it’s impossible for me to relax. I tiptoe to the door, holding my breath, listening hard. Is he out there, still? Trying to come up with a plan, maybe? There has to be another key around here somewhere. Or maybe he’ll attack the hinges next. My heart pounds wildly at the thought, and a cold, sickening certainty settles into my bones. He’s not going to stop. He’s never going to stop until he gets what he wants.

I don’t know how much time passes, but it isn’t enough to keep me from gasping when the lock clicks. No, this is it. He found a key. Oh, my god, what am I going to do? I have to protect myself. I have to, no matter what it means.

Yet instead of James appearing, it’s Nix. He slips into the room and closes the door quietly, then inserts what looks like nothing more than a small metal pick into a tiny hole on the knob. He tests it, trying to turn it, but it’s locked again. Son of a bitch. How did he do that?

Then he turns to me, looks me up and down, and seems to understand the situation all at once. “It’s all right. Everything is fine now. Go to bed.”

As if my life could get any more absurd. He stands there as if he is the hero, saving me from the bad guy. It’s so comical, I almost laugh. Then I realize something even more ludicrous is the fact that I am relieved Nix is here. But that's only because Nix is still the lesser evil.

“With you here?” All he does is stare at me. I can’t see him very well in the dark, but I get the feeling he doesn’t appreciate the question. And now I’m afraid of what will happen if I challenge him. Just because he’s not his father doesn’t mean I’m with a friend right now.