I spun around and ran for the front door hoping the opener wouldn't catch me. My hand found the doorknob and I turned to check but saw only the empty slit in the paneling where it had been. Standing still with my back against the door, I frantically searched the room with my eyes. Concentrate. I turned the handle and cracked the door open. The sounds of an engine racing and tires squealing came from the driveway.

"Don't go out there," Mother said sternly.

"It's okay Mom, I'll be right back," I said as I threw the door open and walked down the three steps to the driveway. It was a beautiful sunny Georgia day outside.

The source of the revving and tire screeching was a small, red four-door sedan racing counter-clockwise around our circular driveway. It raced so fast that it almost tipped over at several points along each circuit. The driver and passenger in the front seat were too busy laughing to notice me, but there was someone in the back seat who did. I watched the car make several laps. Each time they passed, the young man in the back seat looked at me with excited, familiar, pale brown eyes. Each lap they made was faster than the one before it, and each time by, the man in the back seat became more threatening until he thrashed wildly, screaming and clawing at the glass in a violent attempt to get at me. The hair on the back of my neck stood up the last time he went by, and I turned away, unable to look at his grimacing face again.

I ran back into the house to check on my mother. She wasn't in her seat, but I could hear her rumbling with something behind the first door on the right side of the hallway. I took cautious steps toward the sounds but they stopped at the same time I heard the tire screeching, glass shattering crash of the car outside. She appeared from behind the door and closed it behind her. She looked startled at my presence back in the house and began talking nervously.

"I was just locking up the shotguns. You know it's not safe to have weapons lying around at a time like this." She made her way over to the couch and sat down. There was a slight difference about the gate of her walk but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I turned around to look for the letter opener and noticed the half-opened letter at my feet. Picking it up, I ripped open the seal and removed the tri-folded sheet inside. The white page was completely blank on both sides. I looked up from the letter in time to see Judith walk into the hallway again from the first door on the right where the rumbling had been. She looked at me with a menacing confidence.