Renting Ginny

I hoisted myself up onto the counter beside the sink, careful not to bump into anything on the countertops. Then I swung my feet up alongside me and slowly turned my body so that I was facing the window. I was just about to reach for the open window when I saw the faint glimmer of light now shining from the hallway. She had heard me! I froze in terror, expecting her to burst into the room and flood the room in bright light any second. But instead, all I heard was movement in what I assumed to be the bathroom. I was still terrified just the same. I strained to hear what she might be doing, but it was hard to hear over the sound of my pounding heart. I was so afraid to even breathe that I felt like my lungs would surely burst at any moment. I stood rooted to my position, not sure if I should hurry to scramble to push through the flimsy screen that stood between me and freedom, or if I should wait and see if she might be heading into the kitchen. I decided to wait and hope that she would not come into the kitchen for a drink or anything. My body trembled as I stood atop the counter on all fours. Something was looking out for me that night because after a few minutes, the light disappeared, and the place was once again submerged in darkness. After a few more minutes of waiting to allow her enough time to fall back asleep, I turned to the window. Since the backyard wasn’t on a corner lot and since there were no streets running in back of it, it was poorly lit. So much so that I really couldn’t see a thing. I knew there was a block wall surrounding the yard, and I feared that finding a gate in the darkness would be tricky. But the last thing I wanted to do was stick around long enough for the madwoman whose home I was trapped in to kill me. I slowly pushed at the screen. My biggest fear was it falling with a loud enough clatter to wake Anina up. As dark as it was, she would get to me before I could get away if she heard the screen fall. I contemplated looking for something to tear it with instead, but didn’t want to waste any more time than was necessary. Inhaling a deep breath, all I could do was push the screen outward and hope for the best. The telltale sound I expected the frame of the screen to make once it fell never came, as I realized it slipped into a bush of some kind that was below the window instead of hitting the side of the house or any concrete below. Sure hope I’m not diving into a rosebush or any bougainvillea’s!I thought to myself as I slowly and quietly began to pull myself through the small window. A thud below my leg. Damn! I forgot about the bottle of dishwashing soap! I had knocked it into the sink. I hurried the rest of the way through the window in case she had heard the bottle fall into the sink. I began to panic as I realized there was no way I could turn around, which meant I was going out the window headfirst. I closed my eyes as branches poked and scraped at my tumbling body. At first, I had been afraid of hitting the house, but the rustling of branches and leaves made by me crashing into them seemed more than loud enough to possibly alert the lunatic inside. I scrambled to my feet, determined to move quickly enough in case she had heard me, but carefully enough so as not to make any more racket in case she hadn’t heard anything. I pushed through the shrubbery, ignoring my cuts and scrapes. Left? Right? Straight ahead? I had no idea as the yard was shrouded in blackness. Of all the nights to be moonless, why did it have to be this one? I knew the backyards had block walls surrounding them to give the residents some privacy. Not wanting to stand there wasting time, I guessed there would be a gate in the back of the yard and so that’s where I headed. I slowly stepped forward one step at a time, fearful of walking into any lawn furniture or grills. Instead, I slipped on the wet grass, which had been watered recently and crashed into a birdbath. It toppled over and the water splashed out onto me. I shivered, chilled by the night air, as I pulled myself onto my feet as fast as I could without slipping again. With dirt and grass clinging to my wet clothes, I was suddenly aware of the brightness. One that seemed to move. My heart started doing double time once again. But then I realized it wasn’t coming from the house but from what must have been an alley behind the house. Clearly, I could hear a car pass through it, headlights sweeping along. In the brief second it passed by, it illuminated the gate for me. Issuing a silent thanks, I hobbled over to it. Surely there couldn’t be any more obstacles between where I stood and the gate just ten feet away. I felt around for the latch but couldn’t find it. My frustration was beginning to turn into a state of panic as my fingers desperately fluttered about the gate. Finally, I found the latch, heard a soft click and then pulled the gate open. Its hinges groaned audibly in protest as I made my way through it and toward where I thought the street would be. I exhaled in relief as I crept out of the darkness and onto the well-lit street. It was lit up well enough for the bitch to see me if she decided to give chase either on foot or by car, so now I didn’t need to worry about making any noise. Now I just needed to hurry and get as far away from the house as possible. But to where? Think, think, think!!! I had no idea where the hell I was. I hadn’t paid any attention. I didn’t know the name of the street or anything that was around it. I had no money to make a call from a payphone if I could find one, and I didn’t know if there were any stores or restaurants nearby that might be open and that would allow me to use their phone. That meant that I had to knock on doors and hope that someone would answer, even though it had to be around midnight. I headed further down the street. I didn’t want to knock on any doors close to Anina’s in case they were friends of hers and the madwoman herself appeared and convinced the neighbor that she had broken in or was just drunk or something. I ran down the block and took note of the street sign. I had been on Woodsy Boulevard, which I’d never heard of before. I walked around the corner hoping to find an open business of some kind, but instead, I just found more houses and condominiums. I heard a vehicle behind me. Fear began to course through my veins once again as I realized it could be her. I dared a quick glance behind me but was too blinded by the headlights to see what type of vehicle it was. I dove for cover behind a tree, hoping I hadn’t been spotted by whoever it was. I didn’t want to flag down a car. I wanted to get someone at home to call the cops for me. No, not the cops. They couldn’t be trusted and as far as they were concerned, I was a supposed criminal anyway, so no cops. The car passed by me without stopping. I stepped back out of the shadows and headed to the closest house that was the most brightly lit, figuring that if the place was lit up, someone would be more likely to be home and also awake. I hopped up the steps to a small house and pressed the button to ring the doorbell. I heard the soft ding-dong inside and then the sound of someone shuffling to the door a moment later. Next, I heard the click of a deadbolt being turned. A second later, the door was pulled open until a chain-lock caught it and prevented it from opening all the way. An elderly Asian man peered through the few inches of space between the door and the jam. “Yes?” “Hi,” I said as calmly as I could. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but I’m lost. Is there any way I could get someone to call my parents for me and give them directions on how to get here so they could pick me up and—” The door was slammed in my face. Disheartened, I was about to turn around and proceed to try again at someone else’s door when the door behind me was thrown open all the way. I spun back around. “Come on in, dear,” said the old man. “Oh, thank you. Thank you!” I said graciously as I was allowed into the comforting living room of the old man and what I assumed was his wife. “I’m Ginny, by the way.” The old lady sat knitting in a rocking chair, steely gray hair up in a bun. She wore a long, bulky housecoat and thickly framed glasses. “Thank you very much,” I said again, hoping they wouldn’t notice that I was filthy from hitting the wet ground. She never looked at me. Instead, she just sat knitting away and slowly rocking back and forth. I caught sight of the clock on the wall nearby. It was actually close to two in the morning! Where had all the time gone? Turning back to the gentleman who didn’t seem concerned at all by his wife’s strange behavior, I asked that he call my mother and be sure to tell her I was okay, since she would freak out if she got a call about me this late at night. “The phone’s in the other room,” he said in a scratchy voice. “What’s the number? Give it to me and I’ll make the call.” I recited the number for him as he wrote it down on a pad of paper. “Hang on,” he said and slowly sauntered out of the room. My eyes swung back to the old lady. Her eyes never met mine and her mechanical movements never ceased for a second. I tried to tell myself that the intense feeling that suddenly clawed at my gut, saying that something was very wrong, was totally silly and unfounded.