I frown and step back . . . what?

I wait for him to open it back up. He doesn’t. Okay . . . what just happened?

“Harry.” I hear Claire’s voice. “Don’t be rude.” She opens the door in a rush, and her eyes widen as she sees me. “Tristan,” she whispers as she steps out onto the porch and quietly closes the door behind her. “This is a really bad time. You need to go,” she whispers.

I can sense something is wrong with her. “What? Why?” I whisper back.

The front door opens up in a rush. “Is this him?” a big teenage kid yells.

Claire’s face falls, and I frown as I look between them. “Huh?”

“That means yes,” he growls. He turns his attention to me. “You!” the huge kid screams. The veins are sticking out of his neck in anger. What the hell? He looks like the Hulk.

“You!” he yells again at the top of his voice. “I’m going to kill you with my bare hands.”

My eyes widen in horror, and I step back and stand on something—a skateboard. It rolls out from underneath me, and my ankle turns, and I step back as I fall. Then I tumble down the six stairs. “Ahh!” I cry as I hit the ground with a thud.

Claire runs down the stairs. “Oh my God, Tristan.”

Ouch . . . a searing pain rips through my ankle.

The huge kid comes running down the stairs and starts whipping me with something across the head. “Stay the hell away from her.” He continues to hit me. “Stay. The. Hell. Away.” He whips me again and again.

“What are you doing?” I cry as I try to shield myself from his onslaught.

“Fletcher!” Claire screams. “Go inside the house. Now.”

He holds something up to my face. “Are these your underpants?” he sneers.

My eyes widen . . . oh, hell on a cracker. This is the fucking twilight zone.

“Are they?” he cries. He holds them up to my face, and when I don’t answer him, he gets infuriated and begins to suffocate me with them as he tries to stick them in my mouth.

I thrash on the ground as I fight for survival. “Claire!” I scream. “What the actual fuck?”

“Fletcher. Get into the house!” she screams as she pushes him off me.

The crazed lunatic is panting, gasping for air as he glares at me. “Don’t push me . . . pretty boy.” He pegs the underpants as I cover my head with my forearms to shield myself from another attack, and he storms inside. The screen door bangs hard.

The second-oldest boy disappears into the house as well, and Claire and the little one kneel down beside me.

“Tristan, I am so sorry,” she whispers. “He’s in so much trouble you won’t even believe it.”

I stare at her as I pant . . . what the actual fuck just happened right now?

I go to stand up, and my ankle gives way, and I nearly fall.

“Oh my God, you’re hurt,” she whispers.

I stare at her deadpan. “I wonder why.”

“Because Fletcher tried to put underpants in your mouth so you would choke,” the little kid says. “Choke to death,” he adds.

“Enough, Patrick,” Claire says to him.

They help me up, and I can’t put any weight on my ankle.

“Come inside, and let me get some ice,” Claire says.

“You have to be kidding,” I snap as I pull my arm from her grip. “I am not going in that house. That kid is deranged. He almost killed me.”

“He has anger-management issues,” the little kid says.

“Tris, come on. You can’t drive anywhere like this,” Claire urges. Eventually I hop up the stairs, and they both help me in and lead me, and I fall onto the couch.

Claire moves the ottoman over to me and puts my foot up and takes my shoe and sock off.

“What is he doing in my house?” the Hulk kid says as he comes storming into the room.

“He is my guest. Go to your room,” Claire growls.

“But—”

“So help me, Fletcher, I have never been so angry with you. Go to your room now!” she screams.

He gives me one last death stare and stomps up the stairs.

“I’ll get some ice,” Claire says. “I have to go out to the garage freezer. Back in a moment.” She disappears, and the youngest kid comes and sits beside me. So close that he’s nearly sitting on top of me. I edge myself away from him.

I look around the house in horror. The furniture is all moved to the side, and there are huge-ass fans going, facing down to the floor. The carpet has huge wet patches . . . what happened there? Are they washing out a bloodstain?

The television is blaring a really loud game show, and there is some kind of art project sprawled over the coffee table. It’s messy and chaotic . . . not what I expected at all. Pain sears through my ankle, and I wince.

A cat jumps up on the couch. It’s big and ugly, and it comes over and tries to sit on me. Eww. I lean away from it.

“Muff. Get down,” the kid says.

I look at him. “Your cat is called Muff?”

He smiles and nods proudly. “He’s naughty. He pees on things.” The cat jumps onto the ottoman and begins to lick my foot. I jerk it away. Ugh.

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

Good grief.

The middle kid comes out and stands in front of us. “I’m watching you,” he whispers. He slices his finger across his neck as he narrows his eyes.

Huh?

Fuck’s sake . . . she’s breeding serial killers here.

I begin to feel faint.

“My name is Patrick,” the little kid says.

“Hi, Patrick,” I reply as I keep my eye on the serial-killer kid, and I gesture to him. “What’s your name?” I ask.

“Your worst nightmare,” he whispers darkly in a monster voice.

I frown . . . what the hell is up with this kid? “What a stupid name,” I whisper back.

“His name is Harry,” Patrick says.

“Yeah, well, Harry is psychotic,” I reply with my eyes locked on Harry. I tap my temple. “Weirdo,” I mouth.

Harry makes crazy eyes and puts his hands around his own throat and begins to choke himself as I watch. He makes choking noises and falls to the floor and then plays dead.

What the . . . ?

I stare at his lifeless body on the floor.

I’m not even joking; this kid is fucking deranged.

Claire comes rushing in from a room at the back. “Oh my God, Tris. I didn’t have any ice, so we will have to use a bag of peas.”

She places them on my foot. My ankle is now the size of a football and throbbing like a bitch.

“Get up, Harry,” Claire says as she tends to me. He gets up and runs out of the room, and I stare after him. I don’t trust that kid. Something is seriously off here.

I need to keep my wits about me in this house . . . the end is near.

The corner of the bag of peas is open, and they spill all over the floor. A dog comes running through the house with a bucket tied to its head and begins to eat the frozen peas off the floor. “Woofy,” Claire calls. “No, boy.”

I frown as I watch in horror.

What is this godforsaken place?

Savages . . .

The middle child—what’s his name, Harry?—comes back into the room with what looks like a dressing gown cord and a teddy bear. He sits opposite me, and I frown as I watch him. What the hell is he doing now?

“I’ll drive you home, Tris,” Claire says.

My eyes are locked on the evil kid. He ties the cord around the teddy bear’s neck.

“You’ll have to leave your car here,” Claire continues.

The kid stands on the couch across from me and lets the bear drop. It hangs by the noose. “Broken neck . . . he’s dead,” he whispers.

Get out . . . get out . . . get out of the fucking house.

I stand in a rush and trip over the dog, who is eating the peas. “Fuck,” I cry in pain.

“Tristan, you can’t drive,” Claire gasps.

“Well, I’m not fucking staying here,” I stammer. I hop out the front door and take one last look around.

I never knew what hell looked like.

Now I do.

“Tristan, come back.”

I hop out onto the porch. “Goodbye, Claire,” I call. It was nice knowing you.