The Spirit of Ravenshom House

Chapter 5: An Adrenaline Induced Bravery

Jerry stared at her with bleary eyes when she came awake. Daphne's hand stormed up before her brain could send it signals, clapping at his left cheek. The shock, more than the slap dealt him down, him clutching at his bewildered face.

"Dear God, Daphne," he bellowed. "What was that?"

Daphne was still in bed. She didn't know how long it had been since she had fainted. She jolted up, her head scanning the room with fervour. The woman, the spirit, it could still be here.

She jumped off the bed and stampeded about the room, her legs wobbly and uncertain. Her breath was hitching, her hands weak and scrambling about and her heart was somewhere in her throat.

"Daphne," Jerry called out to her. His voice did not hold anger, but tinged with unsettled concern, "What's going on sweetheart?"

Daphne kept looking, her eyes searching frantically. She had a tenacity now, strong and resolute. And with it had appeared an adrenaline induced bravery. She had to show him what she had seen. Jerry had to see the woman in white.

But look as she might she did not find any spirits or women in that room. Under the four-poster bed, behind the old, heavy curtains, by the bookshelves, she searched and failed, finding her nowhere.

"She is here. I saw her right here," Daphne didn't realise she was muttering. Not when Jerry took hold of her by her shoulders, not when he carried her back to the bed, not even when he splashed water over her face to snap her back to reality.

When she stopped the whispered mumbling, the thought crashed down on her, hard and fast, like a tornado. Jerry would never believe her. He would think she was going mad. The tantrum she broke into then could put a three-year old kindergartener's to shame. She shrieked, her lungs burning.

She was sobbing, her throat breaking up the words that refused to surface. "I saw her again," she gulped. "She was right over me. Right here on the bed." She was stuttering, helpless and broken. "She won't go away," from my head she almost added but didn't.

Jerry, his right side of the face still stinging from the slap held her in his arms rocking her to and fro. Words couldn't compose her; phrases had no value. So he conversed without letters. He held on to her, like he wouldn't be able to breathe without her. He kissed her forehead like no one would ever care for her more than he would. He rubbed her quivering back as if there was nothing in this world that could take her away from him.

She quieted down, trickling into a state between sleep and mindlessness. Her nerves dulled, her strength pouring out of her and she fell into him as he caressed her, like a scared fragile pup. He had her. It was all the assurance she cared about.

They skipped breakfast as both cuddled in bed in grateful oblivion. As afternoon approached Jerry whipped up some macaroni and cheese which at first Daphne had thought wouldn't sit well in her stomach, but a moment later she had gobbled it up like a street vagrant. The pills had taken all the energy out of her and she had been famished.

After lunch, ensconced in rocking chairs, as close together as they could physically be in separate seats, they sat idle. Nestled in the crook of his neck she told her how the spirit in white haunted her mind after its first appearance that fateful night. She told him how she couldn't forget the horrible figure and how she couldn't sleep. She told him how she met up with Dr. Leeway in secret. It was a confession and she didn't look him in the eye when she relayed about her conversation with the psychologist, her prognosis about her and her stint with the medications which had kept her from seeing the spirit in the house for all of one night.

Jerry listened patiently, nodding at every pause. He sighed fondling her mousy brown hair. "I don't appreciate you not coming to me with this," he started. His tone was grave, chastising a kitten he cared for wandering away from him into the street. "Why didn't you talk to me about this? Why didn't you tell me it was bothering you that much?"