Page 1 of Fallen Creed

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Monday, October 4

Central Nebraska

“You need to get out of the house!”

“Who is this?” Libby Homes didn’t recognize the high-pitched voice. It was a woman, possibly a girl. No caller ID registered. She pulled the phone away for a quick recheck. UNKNOWN CALLER.

“You need to leave. Now!”

The panic and urgency were contagious. Libby shivered before realizing her hands were shaking, too.

“How did you get this number?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Who are you?” She tried again.

“There’s no time for that. You might have only an hour. Go. Now!”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m trying to help you.” Before Libby could ask anything else, the woman added, in almost a whisper, “He knows where you are.”

The caller didn’t need to explain who “he” was. An ice-water chill slid down Libby’s back.

“I know because I’m running away from him, too.”

Then the line went dead.

Libby spun around, eyes darting everywhere, almost as if she expected him to be standing behind her. Panic surged through her veins. She paced the living room, staying back from the windows, all the while straining to see out of them. Instinctively, she rushed from room to room, craning her neck, crouching and stealing glimpses without moving a curtain. Without getting too close.

How could she be so stupid to let her guard down? Deep down, she knew it was only a matter of time before he came for her.

She needed to see as many views as possible. The driveway stretched forever. The tool shed and barn created long shadows. Behind the house, the woods were usually too thick to reveal anything except the leaves had been falling, and if she used her binoculars, she knew she could see all the way across the river.

To the west, the sinking sun lit up the vast expanse of the cornfields, setting it ablaze in an orange glow. The stalks stood too tall and too close to see over or between, yellowish brown row after row. They could easily conceal a person.

Suddenly, Libby realized she was racing through the house on tiptoes as if someone might hear her. She tried to catch her breath, only to find that she was holding it.

Breathe! Think! Settle down.

She gulped air, hiccupped and stopped in her tracks. She could not afford to hyperventilate. Couldn’t allow the panic to consume her.

She checked the time. Out of habit, she wondered if she should call Kristin to cover her shift. Except Kristin had covered for her last Thursday, and Libby hadn’t heard from her since. Libby believed in repaying her favors before asking for another.

What was she thinking? There wasn’t any time for texting.

You need to leave. Now! The urgency in the woman’s voice had been genuine. The fear was palpable.

Just then, something in the woods caught her eye. There was a streak of red that didn’t belong. As quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.

She needed to get out. The panic triggered so many emotions, many of them she thought she had carefully locked away. And here they were, driving her, propelling her all over again. All her hard work and nothing had changed. She still wasn’t prepared. She was still vulnerable, a sitting duck in the middle of a wide-open expanse where no one would even hear her scream.

“Guess you’re not so smart after all, Libby,” she admonished herself. Yet another old habit seeped to the surface. It wouldn’t take long for the other destructive tendencies to rear their ugly heads.

She sneaked down the hallway to her bedroom. Staying away from the windows, she slid along the wall then flung open her closet door. She dove to her knees, pushing and shoving shoes and boxes. She had forgotten how deep the space was. Her stomach flipped with a fresh surge of panic.