VISIONS
It's been two nights since the voice called out. It's been two sleepless nights. I'm beginning to think that it was a dream, that I never heard the voice. Maybe I was going crazy?
I haven't been in the basement since that night and I'm dreading going down the stairs to fetch my clean clothing. I've been avoiding the basement for as long as I could, but my mom yelled at me to get my laundry out of the dryer so she could do hers. So following mother's orders, I'm now standing at the top of the staircase. As much as I was terrified to go down there, something tugged in my gut, telling me to go down the stairs. I was trembling as my foot stepped down onto the first step.
"Hurry up! I need to leave soon!" My mom called from the living room.
I took a shaky breath and rushed down the stairs as fast as I could. I held my breath, hoping for some reason that it would help keep me quiet. But once I heard the quiet whisper, my breath let out a scream.
"Help.." It called louder, only causing me to scream again.
"Please.. H.. Help" It kept calling out to me, but I froze.
The double doors in front of me started to shake. I was never allowed into the room behind the double doors, except once.
"Mumma?" I called out. I was trembling in fear. I laid down for a nap but when I woke up, my mom was gone. I didn't know where she went or if she'd be coming back. I rushed around the house looking for any sign of my mother but was left with nothing. I looked everywhere for her, but I couldn't find her. The only place left was the basement, but that was off limits. But I just had to look, what if she was down there?
I carefully opened the door and carried my four year old self down the stairs, barely reaching the railing above me.
"Mumma?" I whispered out at the top of the stairs, but I got no reply. So I went down a few more stairs and tried again, but I still didn't hear anything.
I tried once more, calling out for my mother, when I heard a scream. My mother's scream.
I rushed down the rest of the stairs, going as fast as my little, stubby legs would let me go when I tripped in front of a door. I coward back as screams and yells echoed from behind the door. I mustered up all of the courage I had in my little body and opened up the door.
"Why are you here! What tribe brought you here!?"
"I was just passing through! Please, let me go!"
My mother was questioning a young man who was tied up by his wrists and ankles, the ropes were so tight his skin was turning purple. As she questioned him, he'd give the same answer and get the same punishment, a silver knife stabbed into his body.
"Mumma?"
"What are you doing down here! I thought you were taking a nap, sweetie. Go back upstairs."
"What are you doing, Mumma?"
"Make her leave. Don't make her see me like this." The man begged.
"You.. You monster! You couldn't have!"
"I didn't, but someone will sometime in her life and you won't be able to stop it."
"Come on, sweetie, let's go back upstairs."
That was the last time I saw the man; the last time I ever opened those doors. But this time, something was nagging at me to open the forbidden doors and my foot took an involuntary step towards to doors. I tried my best to tell my feet to turn back around, go back to my room and be a good girl, but no matter how hard I tried, curiosity always won.
When I opened the doors I froze once again, but not out of fear this time, no I was getting a vision.
His laugh filled the room, and I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would ever let him go. He pulled me into his arms and held me to his chest, so close I could feel his heartbeat. The steady rhythm seemed to beat in time with my own, and when I looked up, I could see it in his brown eyes that he cared about me deeply, so much more than I had ever anticipated. There was just something about the way that he looked at me, the way he talked about me, the way butterflies seemed to dance in my stomach every time he was around that made me certain that he was the person who was meant for me, and me alone.
I took breath as the vision ended and looked around the room. There, head hanging, was the young man from my second vision. He had sweat glistening off his bloody body, and in the moonlight, he looked breathtaking. I rushed over to him, and lifted his head up gently, afraid I might cause him more pain.
"Please, no more." His breath was just a whisper, but it held so much pain and stress I couldn't help my heart from breaking.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," I was going to keep that promise no matter what happens, "I'll never hurt you.."
His breathing slowed and I knew he fell unconscious again. I let his head fall slowly and started to take off the chains that held him up, but before he could fall to the ground, I caught him. I laid his head in my lap as I wiped the blood off his face with a washcloth.
"How could anyone hurt you? Who did this?" But as soon as the question left my mouth I knew the answer.
