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day 7: leslie's house

sam continued down the street towards leslie's house. her friend didn't live too far away, and it would only take a moment to check on her.

she reached her friend's house. the garbage cans at the end of the driveway were overturned, and there was trash everywhere. compared to some of the other houses, though, it looked fine.

sam walked up to the door and knocked. she strained to listen, but she didn't hear any noises coming from inside. she knocked again.

she suddenly heard loud movement from within the house. footsteps came down the stairs, and slowly the front door was opened. leslie's mom peered out at her.

"oh, hi sam," leslie's mom said, opening the door wider.

"hi mrs. finch," sam replied, trying to look around the woman and into the house. "is leslie home today?"

"yes, she's upstairs in her room."

... "may i see her?" sam asked.

"no, i don't think so, not today," mrs. finch said uncertainly.

sam noticed that the woman looked slightly disheveled. her hair was messy, her dress was wrinkled and torn in spots, and there appeared to be blood on her fingertips.

"i was really hoping to see her today..." sam said.

"it's okay, hon, let sam come in," mr. finch said, coming down the stairs. "leslie's feeling much better. i think she'd like a visitor."

"oh, really?" mrs. finch asked, looking confused. but she quickly went from confused to relieved, looking at sam with a smile. "it's okay, sam. leslie can have a visitor."

"has she been sick?" sam asked, slowly stepping inside.

"oh, no, she hasn't been sick," mr. finch answered. "she's been surprisingly healthy."

leslie's parents were acting strange. sam walked around them, avoiding getting too close. then she hurried upstairs to her friend's room. she opened the door and saw leslie lying in bed.

she looked at sam, eyes wide. she was gagged, strapped down to the bed, the sheets spotted with blood. a makeshift iv drip was hooked up to her arm.

before sam could rush over to the bed, leslie's parents stepped into the room.

"we don't know how she managed to not get sick, but we're very grateful," mr. finch said.

"why... why is she strapped down?" sam asked, struggling to find her voice.

"she keeps us healthy," mrs. finch said, walking over to her daughter. leslie struggled but couldn't avoid her mother's hand as she delicately stroked her daughter's face. blood trickled from mrs. finch's nose and ears.

"it's something in the blood," mr. finch said. "it's bad blood, and the body rejects it. but her blood is clean."

sam felt dizzy. she rushed past leslie's father and over to the bed. she couldn't think straight; all she knew was that she had to untie her friend.

"oh, no," mrs. finch said lifting up the sheets. "you can be with leslie here, but she can't go anywhere."

sam looked and stumbled back, tripping and ending up on the ground.

leslie's legs were gone.

the dizziness overcame sam, and she nearly threw up. she scrambled away from the bed and ran out of the room.

"take care of your parents, sam," mrs. finch called after her dreamily. "i'm sure they love you, too, just like we love our daughter."

sam was out the door before she fell on her hands and knees, vomiting on the finch's front yard. she stayed there a moment, dizzy. finally, she stood up and began slowly walking down the street. she wanted to run, but her feet felt heavy and everything was spinning.

an ambulance flew past her, its siren roaring by. it went off the road and into someone's yard, falling over on its side. she walked past it, looking at it without processing what it was. the white paint of the vehicle was smeared with red handprints. she heard a loud crash from down the street and saw a man breaking into a neighbor's house. soon a woman was dragged out by the intruder, and he began to bring a baseball bat down on top of her, over and over again, as she screamed.

sam reached her house and went inside, just coherent enough to lock the door behind her.

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