Darkness Beckons

3

Octavius remembered staring at the chair in disbelief and how Marlana had screamed.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he had an idea why this had happened but he didn't want to make her feel more scared than she already was. His worst fear would be if any more unfathomable traumatic events happened,  it might leave Marlana emotionally unstable and possibly unable to care for the baby properly. He hoped nothing like that ever happened.

Octavius came out to the living room to find Marlana sitting next to the baby. She looked very anxious as if she wanted to take the baby and flee from their house.

" Now do you believe me ? I told you something is wrong with that chair ! " Marlana said, a little bit more loudly than she had intended to.

Baby Abigail stirred slightly and began to whimper and cry.

Marlana looked at his arms.

" There was blood on your arms and your shirt a moment ago. What happened to it ? "

 Octavius looked down at his arms and shirt. How could this be ?  They had both seen how bloody the rocking chair was at the same time. And now, he didn't see it anymore as if it had never happened. He thought quickly and decided to give her a quick exclamation she might believe.

" It couldn't have been blood. The lighting is so poor in that room, that it might have just appeared to be blood. It could have just been paint. You, yourself said that you just noticed that chair being in the room hours ago. It might have been paint that didn't finish drying. "

" You know that can't possibly be true ! If it were paint, then it wouldn't just vanish as soon as you saw it. Things like that just don't happen. Besides, you know we both saw the same thing. I know you did ! "

"I'm not so sure I saw what you saw. As soon as I realized what a mess my shirt was, I cleaned myself in the bathroom sink and rinsed my shirt out with some soap and left it in the dryer while you went to the living room. "

" And that's why you're still wearing that same white shirt you are now ? "

" This isn't the same white shirt. You know I have a half a dozen white shirts for work in case accidents happen. I simply changed into another one. "

" Why pick the same white one if they get dirty so easily ? "

" I honestly was not thinking about that at the time. I just wanted to hurry up and get back here with you and comfort you. It seems you've been through a lot this afternoon. I think being alone in a new house with the baby has got you stressed and you're  not quite used to the house and its environment yet. That's probably why you had such a terrible nightmare. Waking up from a  nightmare can make you think all kinds of horrid things might have happened that never did. "

He was hoping the exclamation was enough to make her think rationally and calm down.

" I know what I saw, what we both saw.  There's no way you can convince me that we didn't and I can't ignore the eerie feelings I got while I was in that room in the rocking chair.Despite what you say, I want the baby to stay in our room from now on. I'll never feel that she's completely safe unless she's in our room and I'll sleep better that way. "

" All right, " he said reluctantly and sighed.  " I'll move the crib in our room tonight. "

After moving the crib into their room, Octavius drew Marlana a nice, soothing Jasmine scented bath with essential oils to soften and pamper her skin. He wanted this  relaxing bathtime to help her forget her dreadful day. He knew how much she loved to be pampered and cared for. It made her feel special and well thought of. He want to her to feel reassured there was no real danger in the house. Although he couldn't really explain everything that happenned, he wasn't about to give into fear of uncertainty.