Stay To Die

Chapter 7

It was evening time, sun was already down. Finn was in front of Mary's apartment. He was coming out of his car, and suddenly he heard a laughter, he was sure it is of a kid but at the same time, it was creepy like someone is teasing someone. He saw the area carefully, but no one caught his eyes. And then suddenly he felt someone was behind him, He turned back to see who is there and saw Carol.

She was bleeding from hands and knees, not like someone who fell on a playground, but someone who was punished brutally. Carol was quite different from the morning, in the morning she was strong and had a mischievous smile, but now she was sad, hurt and broken. Carol's eyes were swollen as if she has been crying for hours.

"Uncle Finn, please save me or else... she will kill me."

"Who will?"

Carol passed out in front of Finn. Finn carried her in his arms and rushed to her house, there he saw Mary who was drained out of all the energy she had in her. Seemed like she was running the whole day, but as soon as she saw Carol in Finn's arm, she rushed to her daughter and hugged her as if she might never let her go.

Mary was relaxed once the doctor told her Carol just need rest. Mary and Finn were standing in the balcony sipping wine, Finn was confused about how to tell Mary about the morning incident.

"How did you find Carol? And where was she?"

"She was just downstairs, When I came to the parking lot she was standing there, she was scared of something. Mary, don't take it wrong, but is there someone in the house who scares Carol a lot?"

Mary had an incomplete smile on her face, like she was proud and ashamed at the same time.

"Carol is the bravest one in the family and rebellious too, no one can scare her. Anyway, Why would you ask that?"

"She was scared and told me to save her."

"From whom?"

"She passed out before saying anything else."

"Oh, She must be very scared to say that."

Mary had a sad expression, as if Carol had never said something like that before.

"Mary, I know this is not the time to talk about this, but you should know this."

"What is it?"

"This morning, when Carol came for session, she entered the room and directly went to the balcony and climbed the balustrade. Mary, I called her name, but she didn't even react, as if she couldn't listen to my voice."

"Why didn't you said anything about that before?"

"I called you for that only, but Carol was missing, so, I had to come to help you find her."

"Thank you, Finn, for everything. Now what should I do?"

"See about Chloe she is fine but just lonely. As per Carol, I won't be able to say much more, because I need to talk to her more to understand what is wrong with her."

"Okay. Please help her, with whatever you can. I can't believe she did something like that to herself, thank god you were there."

"Just be careful about her from now, If possible don't leave her alone even for a minute."

After seeing Mary and Joel relaxed, Finn decided to leave, but he wanted to check on Carol for the last time. For Finn, they were closest to the family he had, after the death of his wife, So he wanted to make sure they are okay.

He went to see Carol, thinking she must be scared to be alone, but when he saw Carol, she had an evil smile pestered on her face like she doesn't remember whatever happened today. It gave Finn chills on his neck. The smile was so creepy that Finn was sure there is a problem with Carol.

He drove out of the apartment, but Carol's smiling face was unable to forget. How can a kid's smile can be so creepy. It felt like it wasn't even Carol. Finn was tired for today, so he wanted to go home, see Jeremy and sleep to end this black day.

Mary, on the other hand, is confused and devastated after knowing the morning's incident. She was feeling lost and was sorry to Carol that she was in so much pain and confusion, but Mary didn't know it about any of her sufferings.

She went to see Carol, who was sleeping peacefully in the living room. She sat next to her oh-so-lovely child. Carol was sleeping like a kid who had a very long day. Mary kisses her cheeks. Her calm breathing was reassuring to Mary that everything will be fine, and she will see normalcy in her daughter soon.

As soon as Mary starts to walk to her bedroom, Carol sits up. Mary turn back to see Carol's eyes still close, but her lips are moving as if she is talking to someone. Suddenly something changes in the room, darkness in the room gets eerie. Mary felt creepy, she called Carol, but as if Carol wasn't even listening. A giggling sound spreads across the living room. Carol was giggling facing into darkness, Mary saw a light shadow in the dark, and vanished as soon as Mary reaches to the dark corner. "I must be overthinking it" Mary scold herself.

Mary runs to grab Carol and put her to sleep again. Mary was shaken to core, she wanted to take Carol and run away as far as she can. She couldn't see her daughter in this condition. Why it has to be Carol? Why does she have to suffer from all this? Carol's pain was reflecting on Mary's eyes.

Carol becomes conscious and rubbing her eyes, she said to Mary, "Mom, what are you doing here?"

Mary kissed her cheeks, wiping her tears which trolled down her cheeks unknowingly. "I wanted to check if you're okay or not. Are you hungry? You didn't eat much before." Mary asked.

"I'm feeling famished, can I get soup or maybe noodles?" Carol asked. Her innocence was back, she was just a kid again now.

"Will you help me with the ingredients?" Asked Mary.

"Yes, Mommy. Thank you." Carol had a most heartwarming smile on her face.