I kept looking at the unlocked door and at her serene face; she was no older than my own mother.

“You didn’t lock the door, he is going to come in and get me,” I said in a small voice, my heart beating radically in my chest. “Didn’t you hear me, that man wants to kill me!”

“Who? Charles?” The woman said, laughing, handing me a towel to dry the mud off my clothes before pouring me some tea. “He is a harmless boy, he likes playing his stupid games.”

I looked at her and wondered what she was talking about. As she sat down opposite me on the wooden chair, my stomach crumbled as I noticed the resemblance. On the wall opposite her was a picture with two identical little twin boys, and before I could wonder who they were, the front door opened and my heart went to my throat when Chuck appeared in doorway.

He held two dead rabbits. His hands where bloody; I couldn’t see where I had stabbed him. He stared at me and I looked at him in horror and fear. Then he burst out laughing.

“Ran straight to my home,” he said, grinning like a crazy person, putting his rabbits in the sink. He came over to the table, leaned into me and whispered, “Welcome home, love.”

I squeaked, shrinking back. “What is going on?”

“Mom, meet Felicia, the woman I told you about,” Chuck said, stepping back to face his mother with warm smile. “I told you she could play well, but she burned my cabin down in one corner, this one is feisty.”

His mother clicked her tongue, standing up to go back to her cooking pot. “Charles, I told you to stop doing that, you are not Chuck. You need to let him go, Chuck has been gone many years now.”

Chuck’s facial expression changed from light to moody and then he nodded. “Yeah, I guess you are right.”

“Go take a bath, child, then Charles will take you home,” the woman said.

I stared at her.

“Charles, take her to the guest bedroom to clean up and then take the poor girl home.”

Chuck looked like he wanted to refuse and so did I – I didn’t want to go anywhere with the crazy Charles or Chuck or whoever he was.

Then the woman decided, “You look after my pots, I will take her.”

“No, it’s fine, Mom, I will take her back.” Chuck stood up, extending his hand, but I shook my head. “Come, I promise I will not harm you.”

I shook my head. “It’s fine. Could you call me a taxi please? I will pay when I get to my place.”

Mother and son looked at me quietly. My heart never stopped racing, wondering if they would allow me to go home after all. It felt like time stood still as they both stared at me and I stared at them, trying not to shake visibly.

“I will call you a taxi. Charles, go see to the animals,” his mother said finally, her voice not brooking any argument.

Chuck wanted to argue. His eyes changed from calm to dark anger, but then changed again to acceptance, and he nodded.

After he was gone, his mother called a taxi and took me to the closest bathroom to quickly clean up and change into old boys’ clothes. Thankfully, it didn’t take long and she made sure she got me in before Chuck could come back.

As the taxi was drove away from the farmhouse and the forest, I saw a shadow by the forest’s edge. It was a familiar wiry figure. He was staring and I felt my body going cold at the thought of him chasing after the taxi and trying to catch it to finish the job. But the figure never moved away from the forest. I breathed a sigh of relief driving towards the familiar roads. I had finally escaped the crazy madman and I felt grateful that his mother wasn’t as crazy as he was.

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