Living a Nightmare

UNCOVERING THE TRUTH

The room begins to change, to become old and crumpled again, just as I bought it a few months ago. But it does not stop there, it keeps changing and changing, faster and faster. Now there is a different sofa next to me, a dark green one. The kind of sofa that was very popular in the 20th century. I remember old pictures from Mum and Dad sitting on an identical sofa, smiling at the camera.

"What's going on?" I whisper to Jay, confused.

"It is some kind of memory relapse. Jane is going back into in time by showing us, the exact time and place where she disappeared. To explain it better, she is more or less taking us into her memory and visually telling us the story of her disappearance from her perspective," he replies, also in a whisper.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All of a sudden, the room comes to a standstill. The sky is dark outside. It must be night. Seconds later, the sound of a clock can be heard throughout the house. It rings three times. That must mean it is three o'clock in the morning. Explains the darkness outside.

"I remember that clock. It was Jane's favourite. We got it from her parents for our wedding and she used to count every chime," Markus' voice breaks the silence.

Jane has disappeared from where she was standing moments before and is nowhere to be seen.

Nothing seems to happen. Not a sound is heard, as if the house itself is fast asleep.

But then, in the distance, faint footsteps can be heard. They were getting louder and louder, as if they were coming towards us. Then we see one foot, then the other, on the top step of the stairs. Someone is coming down the stairs. They are wearing slippers. The figure keeps moving. The only light in the room is a small lamp on a table at the bottom of the stairs. But it gives enough light for us to be able to identify the figure immediately.

"That's me", Markus says in shock. "Well, at least a younger version of me. How can that be?"

Slowly and quietly, the younger version of Markus makes his way down the stairs and then heads towards the kitchen.

As he passes us, we see something strange, something out of the ordinary. Then he disappears into the kitchen.

"Did everyone just see that too? Markus, is your younger self sleepwalking?" Jay turns to Markus, who is staring at the kitchen door through which his younger self had disappeared seconds earlier.

"I'm not sure. I did sleepwalk when I was a little boy, but my parents told me that it stopped when I turned thirteen. And Jane never mentioned it to me either," the confusion in Markus' voice is clearly audible.

"Maybe it was just that one time," Cedric suggests.

"But I don't understand what this has to do with what happened to Jane," Markus seems a bit annoyed and upset by the situation.

"I'm sure that's not it, just wait...," but Jay is interrupted in mid-sentence as another pair of footsteps can be heard from upstairs. They too are approaching the stairs.

"Markus? Markus dear, is that you?" Jane calls from the top of the stairs.

There is silence. Then, suddenly there is a clatter from the kitchen, as if something had fallen to the floor. But whatever it was, it did not break into a million pieces, so it could not have been a plate or a cup or anything like that.

"Markus?" Jane's voice sounds worried.

There is still no answer. The silence is almost unbearable. I feel like I am stuck in a horror film and someone or something is going to jump out at me from somewhere and scare me to death. But nothing happens.

Jane slowly makes her way down the stairs. She pauses from time to time to listen for any sound coming from the kitchen. But the kitchen is dead quiet.

Finally, Jane reaches the last step. Immediately, the kitchen door swings open. Markus' younger self is standing in the doorway and is now making his way towards Jane.

"Sweetheart. Why did you not answer, when I called you? You just scared me to death," Jane cries, throwing her arms up in the air, looking a little annoyed and maybe even a little angry at Markus for not answering.

Markus just continues to move slowly towards her, still not saying a word.

"Markus? Markus talk to me, please," Jane's voice is now fuming. "What is wrong with you!"

Before either of us knows what is going on, Markus' younger self raises his right hand. A sharp butcher's knife, the kind used to prepare and cut meat, gleams in the light of the small lamp.

Jane's eyes widen. "Markus, what are you doing with that?" her voice is shaky and you can hear the fear building up inside her.

Markus does not answer and has almost reached the step where Jane is still standing on.

"This cannot be real...," the real Markus cries. "I didn't do it! Please tell me I didn't!"

Now, Jane seems to realise that her Markus has not got his eyes open, because she desperately starts calling for him to wake up. But he does not. Jane turns on her heels and tries to run up the stairs, but Markus grabs her dressing gown and she loses her footing. She slips and falls. Markus is now standing over her, his right hand still clutching the knife. Jane is screaming, facing him, trying to get up, but Markus has a good grip on her left shoulder. She tries to struggle. Then, in one swift motion, the knife plunges into her chest, piercing her heart. Jane screams out in pain, but Markus keeps a firm grip. Seconds later, blood pours down the stairs, forming a puddle at the bottom of the stairs. The screaming has stopped.

Everyone is shocked at the sight of what has just happened and none of us speak.

Markus' younger self pulls the knife back out of his now dead wife's chest and grabs her left leg. He begins to drag her lifeless body down the stairs and out the front door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The scenery changes and we are standing outside on the front porch. Markus' younger self is still dragging his wife behind him. He stops at a spot in the yard and grabs a shovel that is lying there. He begins to dig a hole.

Watching him, I think about how someone could do all this in their sleep and not notice anything. But then again, I have heard of sleepwalkers being able to drive a car, and I remember when I was about seven years old there was a news report on the television about a sleepwalker who had killed himself by driving a car into a ditch. I cannot remember how they found out that the person was a sleepwalker, but that is what they said on the news.

A few moments later, Markus' younger self has finished digging the hole and is burying his wife in it.

Then, he goes back into the house, grabs a mop and bucket from the kitchen and starts cleaning the stains on the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs until there is not a speck of blood left.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then the images before us fade away and Jane's ghost stands before us again.

'Now you know the truth, my love,' Jane's voice can be heard in Markus' head again. He cries, unable to believe what he has just seen.

"This can't be real! Please tell me this isn't real," Markus pleads.

I slowly walk over to him and carefully put my hand on his shoulder. "I am so sorry, Markus..." I whisper, not knowing what else to say about what we have all just witnessed.

'Don't cry, my love. It is not your fault,' Jane tells him in his mind.

"How is it not my fault? I was holding the knife and I... I..." Markus trails off, still sobbing.

'You weren't in your right mind. You were probably dreaming about someone trying to hurt you, and you were just defending yourself. Please don't blame yourself. You came back to find out the truth and now you know. Knowing has finally set me free. Now it is time for you to let go too.' Jane's figure begins to fade.

"What do you mean?" Markus looks at the fading Jane in confusion.

'Let go, my love. Be free!'

Then Jane disappears.