Living a Nightmare

A SHIVER

By the time Jay and Cedric arrive, Jane has made Markus chase her all the way into his bedroom, where she then disappeared through a wall, leaving Markus calling out to her to come back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am so relieved to see Jay that I cannot help but find my arms wrapped around his neck.

"Thank you so much for getting here so quickly...," I start, but quickly trail off as I feel Jay's strong arms wrapping around my waist, followed by a gentle squeeze.

"I'm just relieved that you're okay," he whispers, before he pulling away from me again.

"Are you okay, though? And you, Markus?" he turns to Markus, who is sitting on the bed with his head in his arms.

"Not sure I can call seeing my dead wife me being okay," he states, not even looking back.

Unsure how to respond, I quickly decide to change the subject. "I will go and make you some tea, Markus," I say calmly, turning on my heels and heading for the door.

"Good idea, I will go and help with that. Cedric, you go and check the rest of the house and see, if you can find our ghost... sorry Markus, Jane, I mean, anywhere," Jay instructs.

"And as for you Markus. You just stay here and call if you need anything, got it."

Markus nods slightly, but still does not look up at any of us.

So we leave the room, Cedric goes up to the attic to start the search there and me and Jay go into the kitchen to make some tea.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I put the kettle on while Jay gets a mug from one of the cupboards above the sink. I get a tea bag from the drawer under the kitchen counter and drop it into the mug that Jay has placed on the counter next to me.

He leans carefully towards me. I can hear my breath quickening and my heart pounding in my chest. I try to ignore it, but it only intensifies as he gets closer. His lips are now just inches from my left ear and I can feel his warm breath tickling the area he is close to, sending a shiver down my spine.

"I am glad that you are okay, Ri. I shouldn't have left," he whispers, his voice soft and comforting, but also a little guilty.

"I'm fine. Don't worry," the words manage to escape my lips, although they sound a little nervous.

The kettle starts to screech, ripping us out of this moment and back to reality. Jay quickly takes a step back.

I immediately grab the kettle and pour the water over the teabag.

"Oh my God, Ri. What happened?" Jay sounds worried and has now taken a step back towards me.

I am confused, not sure what exactly has him so worried. "What do you mean what happened? I said I was fine," I reply, completely confused.

"Your neck. Have you not seen it yet? It is completely bruised on the right side. How could I not have seen it before," Jay seems to trail off as he walks over to the freezer.

Still completely clueless, I walk over to the small mirror that hangs in the living room, next to the door that leads to the kitchen. What I see there leaves me rooted to the spot. On the right side of my neck is a huge bruise, the size of an apple. It looks terribly painful and is a dark purple.

'How come I did not notice it before? Does it even hurt?'

Before I know what, I am doing, my hand carefully touches the side of my neck. My whole body flinches at the pain that rips through me seconds later.

"Hey, careful. What are you doing?" Jay comes out of the kitchen, carrying a frozen bag of peas and carrots. "Here, sit down." He motions for me to sit on the sofa. Then he sits down next to me and very carefully places the frozen bag of vegetable on top of the bruise.

The pain rushes through my body again. "Ow," I cry.

"Sorry, Ri," Jay says apologetically.

"It's okay," I reassure him, knowing that he did not hurt me on purpose.

"Keep that on the bruise okay," Jay exclaims, getting up from the sofa and heading for the kitchen door.

"Where are you going?" I ask in a slightly shaky voice, not too happy to be left alone at the moment.

"I will be right back, I promise. I am just going to quickly go upstairs and bring Markus his tea and check that he is alright and then I will be right back down," Jay reassures me before disappearing into the kitchen and reappearing seconds later with the tea in one hand. He quickly heads upstairs, leaving me and my thoughts alone.

'What the hell's got into you, Riley? You have never had any trouble talking to a guy before. I mean, look at Cedric, you have no problem talking to him. Okay, he can be annoying at times, but otherwise you have no problem talking to him. So, what is it with Jay? Why are you so strange around him? What makes him so different?'

The thoughts flow until I suddenly feel something move next to me. I immediately look up and see Jay sitting next to me again, giving me a warm smile.

"Hi Ri. You back from your daydream?" he says with a laugh.

I blush, not sure what to say. 'How long was I gone for? How long has he been sitting there watching me?' But before more thoughts can circle my brain, I feel a warm hand touch mine, the one that is pressed to my neck.

"Here, let me help you," Jay says carefully, taking my hand off the bag.

Just then, Cedric comes flying down the stairs. "The coast is clear," he exclaims, but stops dead in his tracks, when he sees Jay's hand on the side of my neck.

"What happened to you?" he looks at Jay first, then turns to me.

"I'm not sure. All I remember is that Jane attacked me in bed and tried to strangle me. But does strangling leave a bruise like that?" I look at each of them, waiting for an answer.

"It probably can," Jay replies, sounding kind of sad.

"Can I have a look?" Cedric has made his way to us and is hovering behind the sofa I am sitting on. I nod and Jay carefully removes the now defrosted bag from my neck and takes it back to the kitchen.

"Oh wow, that looks really painful. I didn't know ghosts could hurt a person like that."

"No, neither did I," Jay says as he comes back out of the kitchen.

"Since the ghost isn't here anymore right now, I think it's best if we try to get some sleep, don't you?" Jay turns to me.

I smile. I had not even noticed how tired I was until Jay pointed it out to me.

"Okay, I will take the sofa," Cedric replies, relieved that this means he does not have to sleep on the floor.

"Could you come and sleep in my room?" I whisper, loud enough for Jay to hear, but not for Cedric, who is now standing at the foot of the stairs, apparently listening to something upstairs.

'Maybe Cedric hears something. Or maybe he is just trying to check on Markus.' But as soon as I have started my thought process, Cedric turns back to us, his body language signalling that nothing unusual is going on upstairs.

Jay smiles and gives me a quick nod.

"I'm going to sleep on the floor in Riley's room. Just in case Jane comes back and tries to strangle her again," Jay says and before Cedric can answer we both head for the stairs.

"Yeah right, that's the only reason you want to sleep in Riley's room, isn't it," I hear Cedric muttering under his breath, obviously a little annoyed.