Thirteen Minutes Only || Horror

Part #4

Their mother violently shook her head, entirely denying what it was saying.

"There's nothing to say- you left nothing for me to say!"

Jules's nails dug deeper into the clutched blanket still in the gist of her hands. She wildly scanned the room and it was no where to be seen. Had it returned into hiding?

"If thats the case, what did you leave of me?"

She fell silent at his comment.

"Hmm..?" There it went again, taunting them like it was some sort of holy creature sent from above which was well acquainted with everything that happened and everything that was to happen. Like whatever bullshit it would spew out of its cursed mouth would be bound true.

It knew nothing about them.

"It wasn't a mistake..." Her mother seemed to have blurted it out but instead of trying to cover up for it, she went on. "...it was deserved."

"Was it now?" it was definitely getting angrier, "You were better than this... so much better- what happened to you?"

"ME??? NO, NO, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? You changed and- then.. everything changed..."

"WHATS EVEN GOING ON HERE???" Jules shrieked, suddenly joining in.

"And of course, they have no idea" its voice flattened.

Silence.

"Do you even know why I was able to come to you tonight?" It was a question directed clearly to Jules and yet her mother interfered, "They don't need don't know-"

"You mother let me"

She- WHAT?  Her head turned to her mother and she could practically feel being stabbed right in the back.

All this time, she knew and yet she did nothing about it- made me think I was mad- made me doubt my own self...

Tears pooled in her eyes as she drowned in the swallowing waters of betrayal and mistrust. If not her mother then who was she to trust? That was a question her mind was at war to answer. Maybe the enemy was not it, but the person she naturally, blindly entrusted herself to.

"She knew I came to visit you, she knew you feared me but she has no motherly love for you because she knew the only way of escaping the dark world I took you to. The watch you always wore, it was what brought you back. It kept track of time and the second the thirteen minutes passed it would snatch you away from me and bring you back to her. Why do you even run from  me, Jules? Am I that scary? Maybe when you'll find out who I am, just maybe then you won't be afraid of me."

Jules was beyond just hurt. The frustration she was feeling was out of the world.

Did it take me there to save me from the monster that lurked in my world?  Right now, nothing made sense, but she was going to make sure it would.

"Why?" she forced through her gritted teeth. Had she not, she would not have been able to suppress the urge of tearing herself to shreds.

It appeared into sight and suddenly Jules wasn't afraid of it anymore. To her it was more of an ally now. It's shapeless mouth tried to smile but failed miserably; it only looked more gruesome.

"LIES! ITS ALL LIES JULES- DONT- You have to believe me" Her mother was pleading at this point but Jules was having none of it.  

"I came to see you all every night. God- I bet you have no idea how much I missed you. Everyday, my heart would ache till it was 3am because that was the only time I could bring you there to meet me. How much it hurt me that you would always run away from me before I would even get to tell you who I am but then again that would have been too easy. I wanted you to remember who I was. I tried to help you remember by playing that game of tag but every time I caught you to spin you around in the air like I used to, you would vanish right from my hands. It was like I was cursed or something. But tonight, I've been set free all thanks to you."

It kept on talking like they were there just to listen to it and as much as Jules wanted to believe her mother, she just couldn't. 

"Why did you take my watch?"

Her mother looked up at her and spoke in a tone so soft it was almost manipulating, "Honey, I had no other choice- I didn't know he came to see you every night. We had made a pact to keep both, you and Max, out of this- out of all of this. I should've known he wasn't keeping any of his promises- why did I even expect that you would keep any. You never did. I had to take it from you, honey, I'm so sorry for this, for everything. I had misplaced mine and needed one to return from there. God- had I known, I would've- I would've just willingly chosen to stay there, forever with him, regardless of how much I hate myself for what I did."

Wait- who, what? Both were presenting completely contradicting stories. Who was lying? Who was she to have faith in when nothing had been left to trust and- it was a 'he' now???? Her mother clearly knew a lot more than she thought she did. How much had she kept from her and for how long, she would probably never get to know but other answers she was sure she was going to dig out no matter what.

"Who are you?" 

Thats it. Jules's one three word question which was going to answer everything.

"I'm so happy you asked" it- he, as it now supposedly was, answered and there was an eerie pinch of eagerness in his voice, "Do you know who Jason Ford is?"

Ford. 

Her heart palpitated. She did.

It was her own last name.