The bell sound echoed in her spacious home. A fidgety Hailey Martell left the freezer door open. Her little toe collided with the sharpened cabriole legs of an antique table.
"Shit," she muttered and limped a little to the door.
"Oh my God, Jak-"
She never finished that sentence. A powerful kick propelled her on the first step of the marble staircase. Hailey groaned, clutching her stomach. Her mouth trembled due to the cut on her lower lip. Tears stung her eyes as she turned to look at the attacker.
Adelaide Martell, her mother, except way older - the police requested to stay vigilant as she is too dangerous.
Cropped hair, a cheap green shirt and khaki pants, she stood on the threshold, placing her sunglasses on her head. Her ugly smirk revealed crooked and yellow teeth. Adelaide admired the furniture and rooms that could be perceived. She paused at the raindrop crystal chandelier for a few seconds and returned her gaze to Hailey.
"You live like a Queen compared to your brother's shitty dump."
The first words came out of her mouth after twenty-six years of absence.
Hailey drew in a shaky breath, the taste of salt reaching her lips. Hand clutching the bruise she is yet to examine, she sat on the first step.
"What did you do to him?"
"I came to meet you first, my beautiful daughter."
How did she know where Jake lives then? Hailey's blood ran cold. A throbbing pain overtook her head.
"The police are searching for you and will find you."
"Not before I murder your brother. It's an ancient debt that needs to be paid. He came to visit me last week. He didn't tell you?"
Her pupils dilated. The pang in her heart hurt more because the last thing she'll ever guess is her little brother paying a visit to their criminal mother. Jake had crashed at her place about a week ago. His scruffy hair looked oily, sweat forming the map of a country on the back of his T-shirt while he paced the balcony overlooking the pool. He smoked cigarette after cigarette. She did not bother about him. Maybe Camille had decided to go home. It shattered him. It's the conclusion Hailey came up with before drowning in work.
"Your pale face revealed it all," Adelaide said, lunging at her.
Hailey screamed when the old hag grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her up. It was the time of the month. The kick in her stomach made it worse. Digging her disgusting fingernails into her arm, she dragged her to the open kitchen.
"I wish I had been more present in your adolescence years. I would have taught you that when a guest visits your home, you," she ordered, muscle tensing in her jaw and whispered, "offer them a drink."
Hailey's head banged hard against the countertop. She screamed. Weak and enclosed in severe pain, she stumbled on the floor. Blood splashed in a vertical haphazard line on one white cabinet. She lay on the floor half-conscious, and more blood dripped from her nose.
"Coffee, more coffee," Adelaide shouted, throwing the jar on the countertop.
It rolled and landed not far from Hailey's head, thankfully unbroken. She flinched, hiccupping. Tears mixed with her blood.
Earlier, fingers massaging the back of her neck, she had thrown her mobile phone on the bed upstairs after sending a voicemail to Jake. Otherwise, her phone stays close to her.
YOU ARE READING
Three Knocks | ✔️
Horror"I realised the problem was never in the place I stayed. The problem was in me. Wherever I go, I hear the three knocks." Camille Martin hears it day and night. Therapy and medicines no longer work on her. She has hit rock bottom, losing everything a...
