The Offering

Chapter 20

Somebody is dragging my body and I am unable to stop them. My head is ringing, it feels as though it has been hit with a hammer. Everything around me is spinning. I try to scream for help but all I hear is hoarse cry escape from my lips.

We reach the bathroom and I am released, my head thuds hard against the floor. My vision blurs even further than it already was. I can hear water running and I am terrified. I know where I am going and that there is no way to stop it. I have been expecting this, I deserve this but I am still afraid.

My mouth is forcefully opened, I try to bite down on the fingers between my teeth but I am overpowered. So I try to see who is above me but my vision is shielded by their gloved palm. In the next moment I am choking as a foul tasting liquid is poured into my mouth.

It is sour tasting and it burns my throat. It knocks me instantly sick, I splutter and gargle as the entire contents of the bottle is poured into my mouth. I recognise the smell, it is liquor.

My eyes roll back into my head, I can barely see at all now. I am verging on losing consciousness, flitting in and out of light and dark. In a split second I am forcefully pulled upwards once again, the side of my body hits something before it tumbles over and is submerged beneath the lukewarm water.

My legs are tossed into the tub to join my torso, I am face down and I have forgotten how to breathe. I can feel a heavy weight on the top of my back pushing me down. Pushing so hard. I want to fight back but I'm too disorientated. I can't find the strength, a part of me doesn't want to.

I'm engulfing water, every time I try to take a breath. It's flooding my lungs, it's killing me. I know I should stop taking it in but my instincts are too strong. I just need to breathe.

I try to twist myself around, when I realise there is no use I attempt to raise my head above the surface of the water. It is useless, I cannot fight any harder. My body begins to convulse as I use up my remaining oxygen. I have no control over it anymore. I thrash once, twice and a final time before I eventually lay still in the water. I am dying now as I knew I would.

I feel hands turn me over and fingers wrap themselves into my hair. My head is pulled forwards and then thuds against the bathtub. I see a final air bubble escape my lips and float towards the lit surface. There is a dark shadow above me, it belongs to my killer. Then the figure slinks away leaving my lifeless body alone in the water. I am dead.

***

I woke up choking, I wrapped my hands around my throat and tried to take in a breath. It was no use. My panic soared as I realised what was happening, I and threw myself off my bed onto the hard floor where I began to heave. After a flush of water and bile escaped my lips and I was able to breathe again. I sucked in oxygen gratefully, wiping the remaining vomit from my lips.

Angela rushed into my bedroom, her face filled with worry. She looked bewildered to discover me on the floor and helped me to my feet. I felt dizzy, unable to shake my terrible dream. It felt so real, I felt like I had just died and by some miracle had come back to life.

"Are you okay Clara, did you see?" She quizzed me.

I looked at her in confusion and she realised I had no idea what she was talking about. She unintentionally looked to my bedroom window, I ran towards it before she had chance to stop me.

Tearing the drapes aside I saw two police cars and an ambulance outside of Clara's home, I clapped a hand across my mouth in horror as I saw two uniformed men wheel a trolley out of the front door. A white sheet covered the body strapped to it.

My knees buckled and I fell towards the floor, Angela somehow caught me and broke my fall. I felt overwhelming emotion and began to hysterically cry. Angela held my head against her chest, stroking my hair in an attempt to ease my hysteria.

"Wh...what hap...happened?" I managed to stutter between my sobs.

"I'm so sorry Alice," Angela soothed in her comforting motherly voice, "the police think it was a horrible accident. She just drank too much and must have fallen asleep. Kim drowned in the bath tub last night."