Chapter 6

October 30th

6:00 PM

I stood outside the building with a blanket inexplicably wrapped around my quaking shoulders as a bustle of police officers and paramedics rushed around. The blare of the sirens mixed with the flashing red and blue lights that reflected against the small windows on the exterior of the building. Night had begun to fall and the lights cast dancing shadows on the tired, grey building.

A police officer stood in front of me speaking but I couldn't focus on her words, the anxiety broiling like a simmering pot deep in my stomach.

"..Anything else to add to your record, Ms. Hill?"

"W-what?" I stammered out.

"Your statement for the record, is there anything else you would like to add?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Ok then, just sit tight over here and I'll see if I can get the OK from the paramedic for you to go home. I don't have any more questions for you tonight but you'll probably be needed to come into the station first thing tomorrow. I'll give you a call first thing and let you know."

"OK," I said as she turned towards the group of bustling paramedics.

I saw a shining black car pull into the parking lot and my already anxious stomach clenched even tighter still as Dr. Brenner exited his car, his normally tanned skin pale and sallow. He began speaking to a police officer and the man turned and pointed towards me. Dr. Brenner's eyes followed the officer's hand and his eyes locked with mine. I quickly looked away but stood up, brushing off the blanket deciding to face the inevitable and to go walk towards them.

"Lucy, I am so glad to see you are OK," He said, putting his hand on my shoulder with a light clap.

"D-Dr. Brenner, I don't know what to tell you-"

"Stop, stop right there Lucy. I heard the basics earlier and you don't have to say anything."

"I'm so sorry," I said, eyes threatening to spill over with more tears, but I managed to blink them away before they could overwhelm me again.

"Stop apologizing, this isn't something we train interns for."

"I know but-"

"But nothing, you were lucky to escape, and I am so glad that you did," he said as his hand came down patting my shoulder in a very firm and real way. The touch seemed to help break me from my looping thoughts of the long hallways, the screams, the blood.

"He's escaped, Michael Myers has escaped again," I said looking around the parking lot. The flashing lights illuminated with reds, blues, and white strobing gyrations, but glancing to the edges of the parking lot showed the tall trees and dense bushed still shrouded in darkness, the lights casting long, moving shadows. "He is out there somewhere," I said with a strange sense of finality.

"They'll catch him soon enough, the police I mean," Dr. Brenner said looking back at his busting facility. "The investigation will be headed by the Department of Internal Affairs, but regardless there was nothing you could have done. If anything I am just impressed that you escaped unharmed because three others were not quite so lucky" He said as he took a quick look around and quickly light up a cigarette he had spirited from his coat pocket.

"I didn't know you smoked," I said aloud, not quite meaning to.

He looked at me, his lips drawn thin.

"I don't."

I felt my cheeks reddening and I tightened the blanket around my shoulders, feeling the cool of the night for the first time.

"You live alone, correct Ms. Hill?" He asked, more of a statement than a question.

"Yes," I replied.

"Do you have anywhere you can stay tonight? A friend's house?"

"No, but I'll be alright."

He pursed his mouth, his small lips disappearing into themselves as he let out a grunt.

"I'll see if one of the officers can escort you home, no sense in you driving yourself off the road in this state."

"No, that's alright, I can definitely drive," I said, forcing the corners of my mouth to upturn in what hopefully passed as a smile." Besides, I'll need my car to drive to the police station in the morning."

His tired face surveyed me and he sighed, a deep rumble that seemed to shake his body.

"OK, well you best go talk to the officers before you go," he said as he started to walk towards the officers in front of the entry door.

I stood there as the doors were opened and two paramedics exited the doors pushing a gurney with a starched white shroud over the unmistakable corpse of someone who had been dead not even an hour earlier. I wondered who was under it.

After getting approval to leave I gratefully slid into the driver's seat, checking behind me to ensure nothing was in my backseat. I caught myself as I did it and shuddered. It was a habit long ingrained from my mother who insisted everyone check the backseat before driving anywhere. If someone or something actually was there, what truly could I do? I shuddered and fidgeted with my mirrors as I stretched out my hands nervously letting the joints crack and pop from the pressure.

I thought bitterly to myself how pleased my mother would be had she known that even in dire circumstances I was still taking her safety precautions seriously. I almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought and tried to force the events of the day back to the recesses of my mind but I kept seeing the blood and that horrible footstep, booming closer and closer until-

"Stop," I said to myself aloud, interrupting my train of thoughts before they sent me into another round of chest shaking sobs.

Starting the car I backed out of the spot and drove slowly past the police and paramedics working with bleak, drawn faces. There were no sign of gurneys with white shrouds and I flicked my high beams on as soon as I passed them, illuminating the dark trees and foliage that lined the road into town. Shadows danced and I had blasted my radio playing mindless pop music as I drove. I looked down momentarily and noticed my hands were clenching the steering wheel so tightly that they had gone white and I loosened my grip, feeling the tingling numbness return to my hands. I looked back up and the trees had subsided as I passed houses and the streetlights grew closer together. I tried to keep my attention onto the road and as I checked my mirror I noticed the dark car driving a ways back behind me. My thoughts went to the police files I had spent months pouring over.

"Michael Myers can drive a car," I thought to myself as an icy pang hit my gut as I shakily tried to get another look at the car.

It was too far away to see anything but it was a perfectly normal car. The straight road didn't leave much for turning or passing and there was no way I was going onto the shoulder so I pushed down on my pedal to speed up. I looked up and the car had not accelerated behind me and I felt a loosening of the overwhelming anxiety I had clenched in my stomach. I drove for what felt like ages but was probably only a minute or so until I came to a crossroads and I drove through and breathed a sigh of relief as the car behind me made a right turn, going into a subdivision.

"You should have let the police escort you, you're losing your fucking mind," I thought to myself again, letting out a choked nervous laugh. The anxiety had lessened but the pit in my stomach remained. That person was just a random car but this killer, Michael Myers had escaped yet again and was on the loose yet again.

"The police will catch him" I tried to convince myself but the sinking feeling in my gut and my shaking hands told me otherwise.