WHISPERS TRILOGY

THE BELLEDAME

The evening was a story filled one. Each of the family members (except Lily of course) was telling the others an experience they had never shared before. It was interesting to note that Sheila once had a cracked toenail... completely cracked that is, heaven knows how, and Kyle had been robbed off his phone; twice!

"How come we never see you without a phone?" asked his mother. "I save, I plan, I wait then I buy. Simple concept," he declared proudly. Since the only television in the house was a vintage 1960 JVC that played everything in black and white with a knob for switching channels, they all settled for story telling sessions at night. Besides, Daniel Cruz never left his laptop home. The only other problem there was Wi-Fi...

Soon, they were all in bed again. The quiet night peaceful and moderately dark. Not a human soul was awake in that house. Well... except one.

Sheila's eyes were wide open and her ears alert to pick up even the slightest sound. She could not sleep. She had tried to undoubtedly, but she could not. All that replayed itself in her head was the sight of the previous night; and that horrid voice kept ringing in her ears. "Come on Sheila, sleep. The voice isn't coming tonight and if it does... ignore it!" she scolded herself quietly. She immediately shut her eyes and mentally began counting sheep jumping over a fence. Cliché, but it worked wonders! She was dozing off and started losing count of every bleating leap in the twenties. The counting seized soon, a heavy sleep replacing it.

A thud in the room jolted her back to full wakefulness. It was a soft, almost inaudible thud, but nothing escaped her ears. She was aware of a presence in the room, one moving about. The door creaked open slowly, carefully, as the thick black presence went past it. Something was not getting INTO the room, something was getting OUT. Something that was already there in the first place.

"Dinah?"

She got out of bed and followed the black presence out of the room, leaving her doll propped on a chair in a very awkward position. Indeed, it was her older sister. She was not heading to the bathroom, but downstairs. Not to the kitchen but out the backdoor. Sneaking out to go meet a boy? Not in her pajamas, so where exactly was she heading to?

Sheila followed a little distance behind. Fifteen year old girls were generally weird, but not THAT weird. The night air was cool. The wind whistled all around them making the trees sway in an enigmatic dance. Dinah hugged herself as she walked on towards the cabin, pulling her jacket closer to her body; not noticing that her little sister was doing the same thing right behind her.

The door to the cabin creaked open welcomingly when she pushed it open. Without wasting time, she went towards the trapdoor. The chinks and holes in the walls allowed a bit of moonlight to penetrate the cabin, showing where the metal door lay. Since that evening, she had the strongest urge to open it; an urge strong enough to pull her out of her sleep... and her bed... just to open it. The urge was by far too strong to ignore.

They keys were in place in no time. She turned the first, anticipating the worst... The second, her breathing becoming heavy... The third-

"Dinah Stop!" yelped Sheila.

Dinah jumped in sheer terror, yanking the key off and releasing an involuntary shriek simultaneously. "Sheila! What the hell are you doing?!" "I was about to ask you the same thing! You can't open that door. Where did it even come from? Why on earth would you wake up in the middle of the night to open it anyway?"

"Let me be Sheila. What are you, my babysitter now?" "No, but please Dinah don't open that trap door." Sheila almost went to her knees. She didn't even know there was trapdoor there. Now that she did, it made things all the more worse. "I know what I'm doing Sheila, relax." "No-!" It was too late though. The key was inside, and turned.

Dinah grabbed the door's handle and lifted it. "Damn, it stinks worse than hell." Her phone's light illuminated the basement below. It was full of water, nothing much else was there. "Looks like an underground reservoir of some kind. See, it's nothing to worry about Sheila. It's all good here." Sheila whined a bit at this but said no more; maybe it really WAS all in her head. "Come on," said her sister, turning to face her, "let's go back." She started towards her when Sheila's eyes suddenly widened, her mouth emitting a squeak, barely audible. That was unlike her. "What?" asked Dinah, honestly confused. A searing cold essence from nowhere answered her.

"Dinah."

Dinah froze in place. The voice didn't sound muffled. It came from a focal point, loud and indubitably clear. From behind her.

She spun quickly on her heel, gasping on seeing the figure right in front of her. Hair dripping wet, skin soaked till it was grey and holey, white tattered night gown of some sorts chewed up at the bottom... or probably torn up due to the sogginess and metal chains on her wrists and ankles. The ghostly figure floated eerily above the opening of the trapdoor, its head tilted to one side.

"Who are you?" Dinah backed up this time, Sheila clinging to her as a child to a mother. The figure suddenly fell awkwardly right in front of them. Its body looked disfigured and its joints were all bent backwards... ALL its joints.

"BELLEDAME."

The voice. It was the voice. It didn't come from the figure directly, rather more of an echo emanating from nowhere and everywhere at the same time; but Sheila knew without a flicker of doubt that it was the voice.

The figure twitched, receiving a gasp from the two frozen girls. An ear piercing shriek erupted from its mouth without warning, its eyes glowing a bright, sick yellow and its surprisingly sharp teeth bared, and then it went crawling tremendously fast towards them.

The girls screamed in horror. Dinah acted quickly, grabbing a crowbar from the wall and slamming it onto the figure's face. The crowbar broke. She was then blasted out the cabin, pulverizing the wooden wall and landing several feet away. Sheila stared at the figure, which was on its feet now and staring right back at her, menacingly. "Hello there little girl," its voice was now that of a frail old woman, "come play with me."

Sheila screamed and ran out of the cabin. The figure flew after her, shrieking like the damned. Something tripped her. The ground greeted her chin roughly and before she knew it, two cold hands... too cold hands... grabbed her forearms and turned her quickly. The creature roared at her face, its face growing longer... and longer... when it suddenly vanished.

Sheila's breathing was heavy. She looked around and saw her sister lying a bit far off, moaning in pain. She rushed to her and grabbed her arm, "Dinah, we have to get back inside." No need telling her twice; she dragged herself into the house as quickly as she could, Sheila following close by. They rushed into their parents' room shouting madly; a bit surprised they had not heard all the screaming and yelling that was going on outside. "Mom! Dad!" In truth, a child will always run to their parent when in need, no matter the age.

Daniel and Anita jolted out of bed, rushing to them. "Hey! Hey! What's the matter with you two?" Lily woke up and cried in distress and protest. No one was allowed to disturb her sleep. THESE two, however, seemed to be above her in terms of priority at the moment as none of the adults attended to her. "It came from the cabin!" Sheila was crying. Dinah was only barely controlling herself. "What are you talking about?"

"THE BELLEDAME! She attacked us! She hurt me and wanted to hurt Sheila too," she was hugging her father, the pain barely dying down. Sheila was hugging her mother, still crying. Daniel and Anita exchanged confused glances. Their children had never acted this way before. "Show me," said Daniel. Dinah shook her head vigorously, "I hit it with a crowbar, now we don't HAVE a crowbar. I can't let you go out there Dad. You can't stop that thing..."

He looked to his wife for help. "Girls, get your mattresses. You'll be sleeping in here tonight. Your father will check out the cabin in the morning, okay?" she instructed. Short, brief and orderly; and Daniel wondered how he fell in love with her. The girls agreed and went for their beddings. Anita took the wailing Lily in her arms and pampered her as much as she could, "What do you make of this Dan?" The man in question stood in silence. A dark presence had descended on the house, he could feel it. "We'll find out at day break."