Beckoned Through The Dark

09 // Lesego // The Angel of Death

By the time I got home, I was exhausted. I went straight to my room and took a long shower, and then I skipped dinner. I closed my window and double-checked before I drew my curtain. I dried my hair and changed into my pyjamas.

I took my school bag, took out some books, and tried to study but to no avail. My exams are going to start in about two weeks, but I just don't think I am ready to face them. I groaned in frustration and closed my book. I picked up my phone and just stared at it. It had been ringing and beeping for the past few hours. Most of those calls and messages were from my friends, especially Helena and Daniella.

I sighed and put my phone away and then I went to bed. A few minutes later, a knock resounded at my door. "Come in," I said. I changed my position and faced the door as I waited for the person to open. The door slowly opened to reveal Dineo who held a plate on one hand, and a pillow on the other. She entered and closed the door with her back. I laughed as she let out a relieved breath. "You missed supper, so I brought it to you." She said as she placed the place filled with goodies on my bedside table.

"Cookies, ice cream, and sweets; are you for real?" I chuckled and sat up straight. I picked the Oreo cookie, and put it in my mouth, and I closed my eyes and moaned as I devoured the delicious cookie. "Now, that's what I call supper," I smiled at Dineo, and she laughed.  "Wanna join me?" I asked, and she nodded. She threw her pillow on the floor and climbed up the bed. We just sat there and ate the junk as Dineo recited on the events of today's episode of 'Santa Diabla.'

Once we finished eating, Dineo wanted to watch a movie, but I refused, "no, young lady, it is bedtime, school tomorrow." Dineo sat up and whined, "Lesego!" The argument went on and on for a while longer.

"No." I said sternly.

"Fine, but can you at least read me a bedtime story?" She asked, her eyes glimmering with excitement. Dineo knew how much I hated bedtime stories; there was nothing appealing about them to me. "Please."

"Fine." I groaned, and climbed down the bed, "let's get you to bed." Dineo didn't make any attempt to leave, she just gave me her puppy eyes, and said, "But I want to sleep with you."

"Dineo, no."

"Just this once, I promise." I sighed but agreed anyway. I picked up her pillow from the floor, and placed it on the bed, and then I tucked Dineo under the duvets. I switched off the light, and got into bed, and just as I was about to start with the bedtime story, my door opened, and Duncan peaked his head in. "Come in." I said sarcastically. My brother had a great deal of a problem with knocking. He just smiled at my remark and came in, closing the door behind him. "Can I also join?" He asked, but Dineo replied immediately, "no," the same time I said, "Sure."

I shifted on the bed and pulled Dineo to me so that we could accommodate Duncan on my small bed. He got under the covers, and shared Dineo's pillow, the later unimpressed. "You are sleeping on my pillow."

"I know."

"Dineo, behave." I warned her as she opened her mouth to give a snarky remark. "Good. Duncan, I was about to read Dineo a bedtime story."

"Sure."

I told them a story but considering that it didn't even take those two five minutes to fall asleep, you can just tell how boring it was. I covered them with the blanket before I switched off the lamp and succumbed to the world of nightmares.

I was having a sweet dream about Clay and me at the park, having a picnic, when suddenly I was woken up by a sound coming from downstairs. I sat up and switched on my side lamp. Duncan and Dineo were no longer in my room, and my door was half opened, the light in the passage on. I climbed out of bed and left my room. The sound was coming from the sitting room, so I walked down the stairs, the sound getting louder with each step I take. I stepped into the sitting room and everything went silent. The silence was so cold that you could hear a pin drop, and creatures of the night moving inside the walls.

I don't know why I came down; perhaps it was because I thought Dineo and Duncan were playing tricks on me so late, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I was about to go back when the sound started again. I used the light on the stairs to aid me in the sitting room, but it was not enough, so I switched on the light in the sitting room since the switch was at the end of the staircase. I moved to the centre of the room and looked around, my eyes landing on a swing chair, facing the door.

There was a woman sitting there, swinging the chair back and forth. I thought maybe it was my mother, but my mother did not have white hair. They say curiosity killed the cat, but nothing can prevent it when it comes, there's no fighting it. If I was myself, I wouldn't be walking towards that woman right now, but here I was, taking slow and soundless steps as if planning an attack, which I was, considering the fact that this woman crept me out. She reminded me a lot of that woman I saw at school.

Before I could reach out and touch the woman, a male voice coming from the stairs startled me. "Honey!" I whirled around only to be met with intense blue eyes and dark black hair. It was a coloured looking man with an image of a forty-year-old. He was wearing a hospital gown, strangely, but it didn't seem to be a bother to the woman as she stood up and embraced him in a bear hug. I couldn't see the woman's face; they broke apart and the man squatted and kissed the woman's stomach; that's when I noticed that she was pregnant. Her belly was big, it looked like she was going to give birth soon. The man stood up and kissed the woman's head before he suddenly disappeared.

In a split second, the woman was back on the chair, but on the clear now, still, I couldn't see her face, and it was as though she didn't even feel my presence. I was like a bystander, watching everything happen before my eyes.

Another woman with blonde hair walked down the stairs, her stomach protruding as well, a life in her womb, but she was very much unhappy. Her face was just as unclear as the other woman’s was, but I could tell that she was somehow jealous of the white-haired woman.

The white-haired lady could see it too but chose to ignore it. Everything happened so fast, and before I knew it, the blonde woman stabbed the other woman on the stomach and killing her along with her unborn child. I screamed out loud, and the blonde woman saw me; as unclear as her face was, I didn't miss her piercing blue eyes.

I sat up straight, my eyes wide open, and sweat dripping on my nightwear. My breaths were laboured, and even worse when I noticed that my window was opened, and Duncan and Dineo were nowhere to be found. When I slept, they were right here, lying on the left side of the bed with Dineo in the middle and Duncan on the other bed; but right now, none of them was here. It was just me and myself. I quickly jumped off my bed and hurried to close the window and curtain before I ran for the door. I had to check on the kids.

I opened the door wide and was about to step out when a cold wind blew in my room, and witnessed the curtain moved from my peripheral vision– the window had opened again. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, I was terrified! After the dream I had, this was the last thing I expected to happen.

My first instinct was to run, but I stepped back into the room and took slow, cautious steps towards my window, but I spun around when the door slammed behind me. I immediately bolted for the door, and tried to open it, but it wouldn't barge! I should have ran when I had the chance. I could literally feel the hairs on my skin stand up, and as if on cue, the temperature in the room dropped.

I turned around, slowly, not missing the figure standing in my room. I stood with my back against the door, unable to believe the image in front of me; long, white hair and piercing blue eyes like those of the White Walkers from Game of Thrones. They were the two things that stood out in the dark.

This couldn't be happening! Have you ever been in a dream where you had lost your voice, or someone was suffocating you? That was me now, I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't speak. I succumbed to my knees as I held my throat, trying to stop the constrictions. The figure stood in one place, as if waiting for my last breath to escape.

I had to get to the other side of the bed, to get my Asthma spray from my drawer. I crawled on my stomach, but I hadn't even made it halfway when my vision started to blur, and the last thing I saw was a white gown walking past me, towards the door.