Careful What You Dash For by Isaac Sweeney
Release date: June 1, 2020
Subgenre: Suspense, Crime Thriller
About Careful What You Dash For:
A serial killer uses Door Dash to lure his prey. He’s got the local
police fooled and his property booby trapped. But Sarah is his next
target, and she may turn into his greatest challenge.
Excerpt:
OPEN
Sarah awoke, and startled herself to a
sitting position. She didn’t intend on sleeping, but she was so tired from the
events that she must have fallen asleep anyway. It didn’t take Sarah long to
notice the door was cracked open.
“What?” she whispered.
She approached the door carefully and
pulled it open just a little wider. She expected it to creak, like old doors do
in scary movies, but it didn’t make a sound. She peered outside the doorway,
afraid of which part of the game she was playing now.
It was dark out there. To the right was
a wall. To the left was what seemed like a hallway, but it was too dark to see
how long the hallway was or where it led. Sarah carefully inched her foot out.
Beneath her foot was a plush carpet, softer than she anticipated. It
contradicted the cold, faux-wood floor in her prisoner room. The floor in her
room was uncomfortable in all regards; this hall carpet was warm and gentle -
almost welcoming. Maybe too welcoming.
Of
course he wants me to leave the room, she said to
herself. That’s why he left the door
open. Why should I play his game his way?
As warm and welcoming as the carpet was,
Sarah went into her room and plopped on the mattress.
“Nope,” she said. Nothing more but the
sound of her breathing in the barren space.
Footsteps approached, faint at first,
then louder. Not clanky footsteps like boots on hardwood, but softer footsteps,
like the cranky stomps of men’s loafers on carpet. When they reached the door,
Sarah looked up. She saw khaki pants and a collared blue shirt. She knew it was
the man when his hairy arm reached in, clutched the door handle, and slammed it
shut.
A grin found its way to Sarah’s face.
She followed with a whispery chuckle. She knew she had one-upped her captor,
and he seemed none-too-pleased about it. She had also glimpsed the man. She
didn’t see his face, but she could tell he was short, probably less than
five-foot-ten, with a muscled arm. He carried his weight in his protruding
belly.
“You are unique,” the man said, his
nasally voice muffled by the closed door. “You are the first to go back into
the room.”
Sarah wanted to tell him that she wasn’t
going to play his game; that she was going to realize what he wanted, but do
the opposite. She wanted to call him names, like porky or shrimp -- anything to
get under his skin. She wanted to push him, just a little, to see what he would
do.
But, she thought, he’s expecting me
to say or do something now. I’ll show him.
Not a word.
“More silence,” he said. “I like this.”
Right, she thought. Sure you do.
“Just know that I am going to kill you.
You are playing the game, even when you don’t want to. Even when I don’t think
you are. It’s all a game. And I always win ... in the end.”
Amazon
About Isaac Sweeney:
Isaac Sweeney is a father, husband, writer, and educator ... in
that order. He lives with his family on a small farm in
Mechanicsville, Virginia. He writes at WriteAlready.com.
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