Haunted Escape | ONC 2022

.9.

Chapter 9

"Novy, you need to relax."

My sobs have been harsh, racking through my soul as I sit with my back against the wall of my bedroom. As soon as I saw that... woman... I ran into my bedroom and locked the door, calling my older sister immediately.

I don't know if it was another hallucination or vision or whatever, but it was way too vivid not to freak me out. Maybe Hailey, the doctor, was wrong. I must have some sort of concussion. What if it never goes away? What if I'm stuck with these hallucinations forever?

I'm going fucking insane.

"Tell me what you saw again," my sister says calmly.

I frantically shake my injured head, knowing she can't see me. "I can't," I cry, the tears still streaming down my face.

"I can't help you if I don't know what you saw."

"It told you what I saw!" I snap, wiping at my face. My make-up is no doubt running down my face at this point, but I can't hold it together.

"Okay," Samantha sighs. "You saw a woman hanging herself in one of your bedrooms? That's what you saw?"

"Yes," I say. That's what I saw, and now the image is on repeat rolling through my head at a million miles an hour. She gets up on the stool, she steps off, her body hangs limply from the ceiling, then she disappears.

"Are you drunk?" she asks tiredly.

"No!" I tell her, exasperated. "She was there. I saw it."

"Could it not have been because you hit your head?"

I rest my head back against the wall, struggling to keep myself up. I want to get into bed and hide myself away from the world until I somehow manage to get 'settled in' here, never to see something strange or terrifying again.

"I didn't get a concussion," I say, still crying. I'm an absolute mess, probably over-reacting to what just happened.

Samantha sighs again. "Novy. Could it have anything to do with Mum?"

I muffle another sob into my hand at the reminder of our mother. "I don't know. Maybe?"

"I mean, it happened a long time ago, but it would make sense," my sister continues. "You've moved somewhere by yourself and you're stressed about all sorts. Maybe it's just buried it's way back in?"

"Maybe," I say again, taking in a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry, Novy. That must have been awful."

I nod, squeezing my eyes tight. I haven't told anyone about my past so they wouldn't know why I've reacted in this way to nothing more than a hallucination. But if they knew that my mother committed suicide when I had just turned six, maybe they'd understand.

"I don't know if I can do this," I say eventually.

"You don't really have anywhere else."

I roll my eyes, brushing a finger under them to get rid of the wetness sitting there. "Thanks for the reminder."

"I love you sis," is all she says.

"I love you too."

When I put the phone down, I notice there's a little boy in the room with me. His eyes are large and wide, staring at me, as he sits on the floor with a red ball in his hands.

I stare back at him with my knees up to my chest, realising that I really am going insane.

Until he looks down at the ball, then back at me, and something starts tugging within my chest. I can't explain it, but I feel somewhat of a maternal instinct towards him. He's so young, sitting there so innocently with the ball held between his chubby, starfish hands, and he's wearing a onesie covered in little woodland creatures. Kids have never appealed much to me, but this one is adorable.