Renting Ginny

Barbara’s car pulled to a stop in front of my house. She cut the engine and looked at me. “I had a wonderful time,” she said. “As did I,” I said, but she could sense my tension. “Are you okay?” I could barely make out her lovely features in the darkness of the car. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.” Barbara smiled. “It’s okay, my sweet Ginny. It turned out to be nothing after all. I checked around, and you insisted on checking with me since you didn’t want me to go outside alone, even if I may be nearly a foot taller than you.” I laughed. “That’s true.” “So, are we on for tomorrow?” “We sure are. Unless I happen to find a job and they want me to start that day on second shift or something.” “Okay, then unless I hear from you, I’ll pick you up on the way back from the university if you don’t think it’s – well – too much too fast.” I laughed again. “Nothing that’s as much fun as you are can be too much too fast.” She pulled me to her for a soft, sweet kiss, and just seconds later, I was watching her taillights fade into the distance. Then I turned to the house. It was oddly dark for a Sunday evening. I trembled despite the leftover warmth of the day’s sun and hurried to the door. I unlocked it and stepped inside. “Hello? Anybody home?” I locked the door behind me and reached in the darkness for the light switch. Where the hell was everyone? Alexa had probably gone back to her boyfriend’s place since they made up as fast as they could break up, but where were Mom and Dad? I headed into the kitchen, hating the apprehension I felt inside. Every time I rounded a corner, I was afraid Anina would suddenly materialize and… “Don’t go there,” I chided myself. I took a deep breath and checked to see if a note had been left for me. “Oh, good,” I said aloud after I read the note in my mother’s familiar handwriting. “Anina didn’t break in and hack them up into tiny little pieces; they just had to go help a neighbor out, is all.” Then why did the place have such a sinister feel to it? I felt so alone, helpless, and almost as if I’d walked into a trap. But I refused to turn around and run out of my own house like a sissy. I couldn’t live in fear of Anina forever. Besides, she must have been seriously hurt because she hadn’t chased me down the street. Maybe she was even dead. Maybe I’d punctured her carotid artery and maybe she was lying in some morgue somewhere, written off as another one of the city’s unsolved mysteries, unless they believed she’d killed herself. I hurried to the stairs. My mind told my body to slow down, that there was nothing to be afraid of, but my body wouldn’t listen. I raced up the stairs and into the bedroom, not that I’d be any safer there if Anina was really in the house somewhere. But she isn’t! I promised myself. She isn’t in the house at all! I still half expected to see the evil woman with the icy hazel-gray eyes grinning wildly at me when I flicked on the bedroom light. To my relief, however, the room looked as it should. Nothing out of the ordinary that I could see. I sat huddled on my bed and prayed for my parents to return. Every sound the house made as it settled, and every time the wind rustled the trees outside, my skin crawled with fear. Finally, I heard sounds from below, though they only made my heart race faster until I knew for sure that it was my parents. I flew down the stairs and into their arms. “So, Barbara’s a lot different in a much better way than the other lady, huh?” my mother asked a short time later. I nodded. “She’s the language teacher. She’s going to be picking me up tomorrow after her last class, so long as I’m not yet working anywhere.” “Well,” my Dad said hesitantly, “it’s nice that she came to your rescue, but take it slow, okay, Ginny?” “I will,” I told him, even though Barbara and I had been taking things anything but slow. For us, it had been like being so overly thirsty that we couldn’t get enough water to quench our thirst. It had been less than two hours since I’d seen her and I already missed her. Already, it seemed like forever since she’d dropped me off, while tomorrow seemed like an eternity away many times over. I checked online for what jobs were available. It didn’t seem like much since the economy was so bad and I didn’t exactly have the greatest work history to help make things any easier for me. I couldn’t tell people I had worked for an escort service. But then what else could I tell them? That I’d been at the beach? After filling out and submitting a few applications for menial jobs, I took a shower and prepared for bed. I yawned and slipped down under the covers as I wondered what my next job would be, and I thought of Barbara. The tall and beautiful woman’s image helped ease my mind. I thought of the time we spent together and hoped to spend more time with her in the future. Who knew just what possibilities may be ahead? Maybe it would turn into a full-fledged relationship. Yet it wasn’t long before Barbara’s boyish yet sexy shape and beautiful smile soon turned into the intimidating-looking Anina in my mind’s eye. But Anina was no longer just intimidating. She was evil. She was terrifying. I wondered how long I would live in fear of the sadistic woman and just how many people she may have victimized prior to victimizing me. How many would there be in the future before she was stopped and thrown in jail, where she belonged? Forcing Anina from my mind, I thought of Barbara again. I felt her touch, I heard her laughter, and I saw the warmth within her eyes. But Anina was determined to get my undivided attention as she tormented me in my dreams that night with the very same cat-and-mouse games she loved to play in real life. She would chase me and then chain me to the pole in her dark, damp basement while she teased and taunted me with my freedom and my life. I moaned in my sleep until a creaking sound woke me up. I sat upright with a start and glanced at the digital clock glowing in the darkness. It was well past midnight and no light shone beneath my closed door. I knew my parents were sound asleep by now. It seemed to take me forever to return to sleep. But when I did, it continued to be a place of torment. I seemed to be running or trying to escape from some kind of restraint in every single dream I had. I called out to my parents and sometimes to Barbara for help, but no one ever came to my rescue as the crazy woman called Anina closed in on me, evil grin affixed to her otherwise lovely face. When I finally awoke in the morning, I was still tired. Not a good thing for one who wanted to find a job and enjoy the afternoon and maybe even the evening with a possible new love interest. But I was determined to make the best of my day and maybe I’d get to steal a quick nap around lunchtime if I needed to. I spent most of the morning doing some light housekeeping downstairs in my PJs, hoping someone would call me in for an afternoon interview of some kind. When no one did, I decided I’d been cooped up indoors long enough. A stroll around the neighborhood would be the perfect cure for my oncoming sense of cabin fever. I ran up the stairs two at a time and then froze once I got to the top. I spun around to look back down the stairwell and at the door directly in front of it. Someone was breaking in! My heart hammered against my ribcage as icy tendrils of fear coursed through my veins. My feet were literally rooted to the spot they stood in. A second later, the door pushed open, and in stepped my Mom. I let out an audible sound of relief. My Mom’s gaze flashed to the top of the stairs. “Oh, Ginny,” she said. “I’m sorry to scare you like that.” “Yeah, me too, Mom.” “I only came home early because the doctor had a family emergency. Any luck with the job hunting?” “No, not yet. I filled in whatever applications I could, but no calls yet.” “Well, don’t expect anything too fast. The economy is horrible right now. The only reason your Dad is still an eye doctor and I’m still a nurse is because people’s eyes still go bad and they still get sick, no matter what’s going on in the world.” I smiled. “Yeah, I know, Mom. But I can’t sit inside by the phone every second of the day either, so I’m going to get dressed and head out for a walk. I’ll still take my cell phone and not go very far, just in case I do get a call. Need me to pick anything up at the store for you?” “No, thanks, darling.” I headed up to my room and proceeded to get dressed. I threw on a pair of my favorite jeans and went to open the drawer containing my T-shirts. When I did, I let out a bloodcurdling scream.