He's Watching Me by Wesley Thomas

safari and constantly trying to avoid the attention of tigers or lions, anything life threatening and this psycho definitely made that list. Bewilderment came when the door began to shut by itself. Remotely? Why would Officer Thompson do that? He just told me to leave? Was there a mechanism in the door? Was Officer Thompson closing it remotely or was it the wind? But then a long recurrence of clicks and ticks droned, followed by heaps of blinding light. Laura was momentarily stunned by whiteness disorientating her vision, as every light switched on. Her arms became a shield as she turned away from the sudden burst of light. Until it began to dilute and settle, as she inched her eyes open. Her sight adjusted steadily and aimed forwards. But they did not lead out, only exploited what was still inside the room: the clown.
     
    Laura was only a few steps from the door when it moved as the lights came on; the clown had been hiding behind it. He edged forwards, with an insidious smile swept across his face, chuckling disturbingly. It was the laugh of a hyena, high pitched cackles. His eyes were so intense and full of rage, taught and heinous. An anime sketch with disproportionately large eyes. The laugh contrasting greatly with this look of loathing. Two opposites working in harmony to instil cowardice. She was truly stuck, lacking any idea of what to do next, other than stand and die.
     
    Which she soon concluded was the most probable occurrence when the clown revealed he was holding half a candlestick. One end was the wide, circular base, gleaming silver, and the other end sharp and coated in blood. Wait, was that from Toby's shoulder? Did he bring that from the panic room? Laura had just established how phenomenally insane this individual was. He killed an innocent young boy with it, now he was going to kill her. No doubt it would be displayed like a trophy in the lunatic's home. A souvenir of sickness. 
     
    With the phone still held to her ear, Officer Thompson's voice was blurring into her delicate consciousness.
    “Run, run now, get away from him,” his voice ordered. But her body refused to cooperate, too overcome by abhorrence. Stuck in a statue-like state, until something the police officer said struck a nerve.
    “Think of your parents, your family, survive for them! You can do this Laura!” he yelled.
     
    This thrashed motivation through her entire body. An unquenchable yearning aligned, daring to risk her life, in order to see family again, and laugh with friends.
     
    Laura dove forwards, swivelling around the clown, dodging and weaving his candlestick-wielding arm. He slashed desperately in an attempt to hack Laura to pieces, halting her bid for escape. The jagged tip nicked her neck and sliced through hair a couple of times. Her blonde locks swished as she vaulted out the bedroom. It soon came to her attention that the lighting in the hallway had not turned on, just Toby's room. Which was baffling. In the midst of sprinting she assumed all lights had been switched off then on by a main circuit board. So when it came back on, all the lights in the castle would come back. So how was it possible for one bedroom light to come on and leave other parts of the castle in the gloom? The clown knew what he was doing, and that terrified Laura. This seemed premeditated, not just a random kill, but a plotted, well thought out scheme. The narrow, dark corridor seemed to last forever as she barrelled for the stairs. Heavy, clumsy footsteps pounding the floor, almost tripping. Moonlight grew near as the stairs were getting closer. Laura used the walls to lead her to the stairs, leaning on them for support, hands spidering along them quickly. Paintings and other wall mounted artwork clattered and crumbled to the floor, leaving a line of destruction at her feet. With any luck that will slow the bastard down! More expensive portraits and landscapes thumped onto the carpet, their frames splintering. Sculptures cracked and smashed