The first story in the series is The Shoes.
It wasn't easy for her to get around, now that people had found her brother. She wasn't sure how that had even happened. Or how she had escaped from the hellish place that she was trapped in. No memory of how she had gotten past the creature that seemed to be everywhere. All she did remember was the knife in her hand and the blood pooled around her feet. Her older brother dead with eyes wide open on the floor.
At first she tried to get a reaction out of him. Shook him a few times and screamed in his face. But after forty-five minutes she realized that he wasn't alive. And he was never coming back.
That somehow, she'd killed him.
Setting the knife on the ground next to her older brother and pressed her face into his chest. Carefully she laid down next to him and began crying quietly into his shirt. And she did this for a few minutes before she got up. Went upstairs to the bathroom, slipped off the bloody clothes. Showered as quick as possible then bandaged up her wounds to the best of her ability. Liuanne barely noticed the white streaks in her hair or how scrawny she'd gotten.
Quickly she went to her room and slipped into more comfortable clothing. Got on her socks and a decent pair of shoes. Shoving more clothes into a backpack she searched her top drawer for her money and put that in too. Anything she could take with her without it weighing her down. After she did this, she phoned the police and reported her brother's murder and after putting on her jacket, left quickly.
Sprinting quickly to a bus stop, she sat on the bench and put her backpack in her lap. The bus came only a few minutes later and she got on swiftly. She paid what she was supposed to and sat in the way back. The bus went far out of town and stopped at a gas station letting out a few people. Liuanne went in after the people, bought only a few bits of food and ate only a small bit of it. She didn't have a lot of money and didn't want to use it up too quickly.
She walked out after a minute and slipped her backpack on quickly. After a long while she was farther than she thought she would had. Out in the middle of nowhere with no real idea where she was going. After a few hours she was tired and didn't know how where the heck she was.
After a moment she considered hitchhiking, but wasn't sure she wanted to. Sometimes creeps would pick up girls and hurt them. A weird feeling of absolute hideous giddiness that made her giggle. Liuanne wasn't sure why. But the idea that some creep would try to hurt her made her laugh. Like it was some joke. Stopping she wondered if sticking out her thumb would really work or if it was just something movies and TV shows did. Carefully she held up a hand and did the motion she'd seen in movies when a car came by. It slowed and parked a little ways ahead of her.
Grinning she ran up to the car and opened the door saying, "Thanks I've been walking for hours."
"No problem. So where you going?" asked the woman driver. She was very tan, had very bright blonde hair and dark sunglasses. Liuanne sat in the passenger seat and shut the door quickly behind her. Buckling up she says, "Just the next town."
"That's a... quite a few miles away. I'm surprised you could walk this far." The driver said as she drove. Instead of saying anything, she merely shrugged and watched the scenery go by.
It wasn't long before they got into town and the lady driver had dropped her off at the nearest bus stop. She didn't wait for the next bus. Honestly she wasn't sure of where she could go from there if she had.
Instead she found the cheapest motel that she could and paid for one night. It wasn't a good room but it was better than just being outside at night. Especially if she wasn't in a familiar place. There was one bed that was barely big enough for her. And the carpet was disgusting green like the wall. Only one TV and it looked pretty ancient. She turned it on expecting it to not work and to her surprise, it worked. The picture wasn't quite as good as the TV back home, but it was alright. Turning it to the news, she saw her house was part of a big story. Police had assumed that it was a dispute that had gone bad between the siblings. That Liuanne had killed him in possible self defense. But the neighbors said that they'd gotten along very well.
Both of them had never had fought loud enough for the police to be called. In fact none of them could recall ever seeing them fight. Police seemed intent that it must've been a fight that gotten out of hand. Now they were looking for Liuanne and told people to call if they'd seen her.
That should've been enough for her to leave. Though the picture that they used for Liuanne was old and she'd changed since then. It was of her when she was five. Her hair was longer, lighter and she had braces. Sure the picture looked like her but she guessed that if the motel clerk or hell anyone had seen it, the police would've been called. And she'd be arrested a long while back.
Assuring herself that she was okay, she changed into her pajamas. Brushed her teeth and went to bed. As she drifted off, she thought she heard the odd sounds of scratching... her dreams were... dark. She dreamt that she was stabbing her brother over and over again with the huge knife. Liuanne tried not to kill him.
Tried to make her arm stop stabbing him and shouted, "I'M SORRY!! I CAN'T STOP!! I'M SORRY!!!"
As he died in the dream, he stared at her. His eyes were sad. Like he was disappointed that she'd killed him. When she woke up a few hours later ago, she felt this need to just leave. She got dressed in one of her other outfits and began packing her things. Quickly she left the motel and ran from the place. Not really knowing where the hell she was going or why she needed to run so desperately.
After a few blocks, she went around people's backyards and hid in a garage. In a small place above the cars with her things and fell asleep behind a few boxes. After a while, her eyes opened again. They were... brighter than they should've been. She smiled and it wasn't the right type of smile. In a soft voice the demon said, "You thought you escaped me... no... no... noooo... I just found a new place to hide."
Reaching into the bag, "she" pulled out a knife that Liuanne hadn't realized she'd put there. With a laugh she got down from the hiding place and peeked out a window in the garage.
She watched as the family began doing their usual morning routine and said quietly, "They look absolutely boring. But I suppose they'll do."
"For now."