Masked (#Wattys 2016)

Chapter 3

"Nina, get out of here"
"But mom.."

"Nina, i said leave!"
"Mom!"

Nina found herself coming out of her trance, she was close to home. She was scared to go home now, she was scared to see her mom.

Arrgghh! Nina, you're watching way too many negative stuff on TV. Why don't you realize it's making you crazy?
She thought she was only imagining things, but somewhere she felt this was something more than just her mind playing tricks on her.

There was an air of negativity surrounding her as she inserted the key in the key hole, the door opened with a creak and inside right before her very eyes, she saw her nightmares take shape.

She had her eyes wide opened, there in the hallway she saw her mother pinned down, gasping for breadth. A tall muscular man choking her throat. 

"MOM!"

The man who was choking her mother, now didn't seem unknown to her anymore. It was her father. This was all too much for her to take in. She had the feeling of deja vu, as her mother screamed at her those same lines she imagined on her walk back home.

"Nina, get out of here"
"But mom.."

"Nina, i said leave!"
"Mom!"

As she was about to leave out the door she saw the man get up and make a run through the back door of their house. 
Nina was standing outside on the porch of their house on a chilly December night, she saw her hands and they were shaking like crazy. She was confused, she wanted to get back inside, to her mother, but a part of her was too shaken to go back inside.  She sat on the porch, her eyes started pooling with tears as she realized what just happened.

This is just a nightmare, this is just a nightmare, this is just a nightmare. NO! NO! NO! this can't be happening to me NO! Everything is fine, i was just dreaming. This is not real, this is just a nightmare. Wake up, nina! Wake up! 

"Wake up, Nina!, Nina wake up"

Nina hears faint shouts of a familiar voice, she felt the cold concrete on her face. She opened her eyes to find herself in the same porch, confused. She sees Matt  looking at her with equal confusion. 

"Tell me honestly, are you drunk?"

"What? NO!"

"Then what other reason do you have for not picking up my calls and lying here on the porch?"

Nina gets up from the porch, and rushes towards the main door of her house. Matt follows her steps.

She opens the door and darts straight into the hallway only to find everything in order, as if nothing happened. As if her father wasn't choking her mother. 

She couldn't distinguish between reality and imagination anymore. 

"MOM! MOM! where are you?"
"In the kitchen, Nina"

She slowly walks into the kitchen and finds her mother, washing the dishes. 

"Ma, why did you sound so weird on the phone?"

Her mother didn't pay heed to Nina, she kept scrubbing the grease out of the plates. She had her back towards Matt and Nina. 

"Ma, are you even listening to me?"

"Yes darling, i am. It's winter and it was getting late, i was just worried about you"

Ma, what are you hiding?  Why don't you tell me the truth? I know i saw dad try to strangle you, i know i was not hallucinating. I know ma.