The heavy figure grabbed Katherine firmly, pressing her back against the door, his weight suffocating. She couldn't scream; the air was instantly crushed from her lungs. The room was plunged into chaotic darkness after the lantern fell, but her terror was channeled into cold, raging survival.
He dragged her to her room pushing her to the bed, she didn't know how he knew his way in the house even in the dark, and then she remembered what Adrian told her about a gun, 'why would he even hide a gun beneath my bed?' she thought.
Unnoticeably, with a practiced, desperate motion, she slid her hand under the bed stand, and closed her fingers around the grip of the gun Adrian had hidden for her, which she was surprised was really there. The figure didn't notice the subtle shift in the darkness.
