'Till Death Do Us Part. [Kellic]

Chapter Four

Dusty old boxes, creepy dolls and lots and lots of garbage. The attic was overflowing with it. ‘Gosh did those people ever threw anything away?’ I asked myself. I found lots of old paintings of the house, some children, and a portrait of some lady whom I guessed was the old owner of this house. I moved to the next stack of paintings hoping there would be anything good or even something with some value. The stacks were leaning against the wooden wall of the attic. I searched for them. Just more paintings of the house and the lady. The last painting was of the lake beside the house. It was painted at night and the moon shone over the lake. Finally a good painting! I thought to myself. I put it beside me and gave it one last look, this time, I noticed there was something in the lake. I looked closer it was not something it was someone! The little boy who I saw in my dream a couple of days ago was standing at the exact same spot he had been in my dream! This was impossible. Panic came flooding through my body I threw the painting away as far as I could immediately turn my head the other way. On the spot against the wall from where I had taken that painting was now a teddy bear. Its black eyes pierced through me.

“You shouldn’t be here.” A small voice said from behind.

I recognized the voice. I had heard it before. It was the boy from the lake. Slowly I turned my head to look in the direction from where the voice came from but there was nothing. I was alone in the old attic. I slowly got myself to my feet. I was trembling from fear ‘what am I going to do now?’ I asked myself. I shakily started moving towards the stairway. I just wanted to get the hell out of this attic.
Standing at the top of the stairs I heard footsteps downstairs.

“Vic?” I said with a shaking voice.

I waited for an answer that never came. Fear was coming back to my body again it made me feel like a whiny kid. I tried speaking some confidence into myself ‘come on Kell you’re just imagining things again.’

It was hopeless, though. I was still trembling on my feet and slowly started climbing downstairs of the attic ladder. I found myself too afraid to look. Scared the little boy would appear again and finish what he started last time. ‘There’s no last time Kellin! That was a dream’ told myself hoping that I would believe it too. Once I opened my eyes, I was standing in the hallway but it wasn’t the hallway of my house, was it? It looked the same but there were holes in the walls. A cold wind blew through them. The wallpaper was hanging off the walls and was mostly burned. I turned with the floor squeaking with every movement I made. As soon I stopped moving it was dead silent. I scanned the hallway carefully to see if I was really alone. It seemed to be. At the end of the hallway hanging above the stairwell hung a painting of a lady. The same lady who had been on all of those painting I found in the attic. Something didn’t feel right about that lady. Unlike the rest of the house, the painting was fully intact not even a single scratch.

‘It’s a dream!’  I exclaimed. Mainly to myself because I wanted it to be yet everything about this feels so real. I couldn’t be real, how could this ever be real! It's just not possible! I wanted to cry but somehow I couldn’t ‘it’s just a dream. It's just a dream’ I kept saying to myself as I slowly walked to the stairs. The floor squeaked every time my foot touched the floor. As I stepped on the first step of the stairs it made a loud squeak and gave in to my weight, I tripped and fell down the stairs. I lay on the floor of the downstairs hallway the front door of the house in front of me. I wanted to run to the door and get the hell out of this place but as soon as I started the get up an unbearable and agonizing pain shot through my left leg it. The splintered wood from the stairs cut me in several places on my body.

I heard foots steps coming closer from the kitchen. The fear I had felt before now amplified. I was scared to death. This wasn’t a dream! It can’t be! The emotions were too, real too high. I tried getting up, leaning on my right leg since my left is useless. It was useless though I couldn’t get a hold of the rail of the stairs I was shaking too much and had absolutely no power in my arms.

The footsteps were so close now. I heard them coming to the hallway. I tried crawling away to hide somewhere but I couldn’t. A dark shadow stood in front of me at the end of the hall. Facing me. A cold wind blew through the house. I shivered and tried to get away from here but my arms were useless I’m just too heavy for my own arms to drag me away from this horrible moment. I could only scream out for help to know there is absolutely no one to hear me. I am alone.

The shadow came closer and closer. The light of the moon that shone through the holes in the house gave me a glimpse of its face. The pale face of a woman with wounds all over her face. The wounds seemed fresh as there they were still bleeding. As she came closer, she became more visible. She was wearing and old dress which seemed burned like the house, like the boy I had seen in my dream. We’re they related? In her hand, she held a teddy bear the same one as I had found upstairs, but this one was, like her, burned with holes on several places and black from the ashes. From the living room I heard more footsteps, small ones, they too were coming to the hallway. As their footsteps became louder, they came closer. From my right I saw multiple children standing in the doorway, all were burned to the bone. All had pale skin like the woman who was now standing nothing more than just a few inches away from me.

“He does not belong here," they chanted “He…”

They suddenly stopped talking which wasn’t reassuring. I was crying. Terrified to death and felt helpless there was absolutely nothing that I could possibly do. I thought back to all the good memories I had from my youth, my friend, but mostly the moments with Vic, who was one of the most important people in my life. He helped me overcome so much. I thought of the moment where I just had come out of the closet to my school and people started laughing at me, started calling me names and made fun of me. Vic was the one who stood up for me when I couldn’t. I had just exposed my darkest secret I felt vulnerable I wasn’t able to say anything when they started laughing.

I guess this is the moment where you see your life flashing in front of your eyes just before you die. The woman in front of me raised its hand, holding a sharp knife in it. Before she could hit me, I fainted.

(…)

I heard a heavy breathing next to my ear which didn’t really sound human-like. I carefully opened my eyes. I was still in too much of a shock to function entirely normal. I felt something licking my face. It was a dog. The dog I saw outside staring at my earlier. Its front paws were on my chest and its face hanging above mine which was covered with the dog’s saliva. As soon as I fully realized that everything had just been an awful dream I reached for my leg. It was just fine. I was just fine. I looked at the painting of the lake and the boy who stood in it was gone and there was no teddy bear either. I went downstairs to get myself a glass of water with the dog walking along with me. ‘How did you get in’ I thought to myself. As far as I know I didn’t leave any doors or windows open, did I? In the downstairs hallway, a shiver ran down my spine. This is where I died in my dream. I noticed that the front door was wide open. That explains how the dog got in. It was pitch black outside. I closed the door and went to the kitchen for my phone. I had 7 missed calls and 3 text messages from Vic. He had to stay the night at his parents place in the city due to some storm. Great! Now I get to spend the night alone here.

“Dog!” I called “you’re staying with me.”

I somehow felt a lot safer with the dog around as I went to bed.