Darkness Beckons

4

Marlana tried in vain to open the door. She kept trying to turn the door knob in vain but the door would not open. She pounded on the door and kicked at it. Abigail's cries became longer and frantic. Marlana became desperate to get out of the bathroom. She was merely motivated by fear and the pain she felt in her foot. The bathroom started to reek of sulfer. She felt panic rise in her. She had to get to Abigail ! Abigail was her only, precious daughter. She needed to get to her as soon as possible and fight her way out of the bathroom. The smell of sulfer was getting stronger and making her feel nauseated. She banged on the door once more. She felt an ominous presence behind her. Fear overtook her as she felt cold hands clutch her throat. Bony, icy cold fingers began squeezing tightly on her throat, leaving her gasping for breath. She slowly felt like she might lose consciousness at any moment. She began to feel faint and weak and everything was started to fade and went black for Marlana. The last thing she remembered were Abigail's cries. She slowly sank to the floor, falling on the remaining shards of broken bits of lightbulbs on the floor. A few moments later, the bathroom door slowly opened. The ghost walked over to Abigail and began to comfort and soothe her and soon quieted her down.

Octavius arrived thirty minutes later. He found Abigail soundly asleep in their room and Marlana passed out on the floor, bleeding from behind her neck and her foot. He looked around the bathroom and noticed the broken mirror, shards of broken pieces of lightbulbs on the floor, water all over the floor and indentations on the door as if someone had been banging on it. And Marlana was passed out on the floor and bleeding in the darkness. He quickly carried her out of the bathroom and out to the sofa. He went to the bathroom to get a wash cloth to wipe away the blood from her foot and the back of her neck. Then he bandaged her foot gently and her neck. Then he rinsed the wash cloth in the bathroom sink and hung it up to dry. Then he swept up the broken shards of light bulb remnants and mopped up the floor of excess water. Tommorow he would have the mirror replaced. Then he went back to tend to Marlana. He stayed by her site till she woke up.

Marlana seemed to wake up in a panic.

" Where is Abigail ? "

" She's safely asleep in our room. Where else would she be ? "

Marlana ignored his question.

" Did you see the bathroom ? "

" Yes, I did. What the hell happenned in there ? "

" I nearly drowned in the bathtub and accidentally stepped on remains of the lightbulb. You should have cleaned up that mess before you left. I slipped and fell on some of it as well. "

" Why didn't you just mop the floor so you would'nt slip ? "

" I was busy trying to get the hell out of there ! "

" Did something happen ? "

" I told you ! I nearly drowned. I felt someone deliberately hold me under water ! I could'nt breathe very well and was afraid and felt I was going to go under. I fought against it to get back to Abigail. She was my reason for fighting so long against that unnatural force. "

" You make it sound as if your experience was supernatural. "

" It may have been as soon as I was able to get out of the tub that something confronted me face to face in the mirror. She had green eyes. I know it was not my reflection but some other woman's ! She screamed the most deafening scream and that's what broke the glass. When I tried to leave the bathroom, the whole room smelled of sulfer and I could not open that damn door. I kept hearing Abigail crying and was determined to get out but something held me back. "

" Are you sure you did'nt see your own reflection in the mirror and just imagined seeing someone else because of your frightened state ? Isn't that what caused you to panic and slip on the floor ?Isn't it possible you screamed at your own reflection ? "

" No, it's not possible ! I know what I saw and felt in that room. The fact that I am cut up from the shards from the bathroom and the mirror is shattered should prove what I went through. The broken mirror did not break itself. It was impossible to leave that room. Right before I got out of that room, I felt someone try to choke me from behind. Something did not want me to leave the bathroom alive ! "

" That's impossible ! "

" Why would I lie to you about something like that ? "

" If there was someone in that bathroom, I would have known. "

" You were'nt there ! You don't know what it felt like to be alone in that bathroom and go through what I went through ! And why the hell did you take so long at the store ? "

" You told me to take my time. I tried to do something nice for you. Why are you verbally attacking me ? "

" I'm not ! I'm trying to get you to take everything that's happened to me seriously. "

" I do, but you have to admit, it all sounds so unreal. You could have imagined everything due to stress. "

" How can you downplay everything I've been through ? I suppose you think I broke the mirror on purpose to get attention from you since you work so many hours at the restaurant. You probably think I splashed water all over the floor and injured myself as well. And I suppose I hallucinated being nearly drowned and being chocked to death ! "

Octavius briefly looked at her neck and throat. There were clear and visible signs that appeared as if she had been chocked. It was hard for him to deny what he saw and even harder to accept that what she desribed happened to her was real. He wanted to believed what his wife told hom but internally he felt torn. He did not want to think the worst of her. He did not want to think of the possibility that ever since they entered this house that something about this house was slowly causing her to become insane. Everything she was describing since they moved in was impossible ! He could not think of any rational explamations for all the things that had happened to her so far. He had seen and feelt eerie, incredulous things in this house as well but all the horrid events seemed to be mainly aimed at his wife.

Marlena felt so let down by Octavius who was supposed to be  her support. He was supposed to believe what she said and help her through this but instead all she got was his attempts at logical explanations for situations that didn't seem logical at all. Nothing that she had went through recently could be easily explained. Not in the way he tried to simplify everything to the point she felt so let down. He was supposed to help her figure out what was really going on but instead he just downplayed everything. She really felt alone.

She tried everything she could to get out of that bathroom and do what she could to protect Abigail and get to her because she really believed that Abigail could have been in danger and not just herself. She would die before she'd let anything happen to her.  She was a dedicated, loving mother and she would not let anything happen to Abigail.

" That seems to be the only exclamation. There was no one home but you, here in this bathroom. If there was someone else here, don't you think they would have went after Abigail ? And why are you the only one being attacked ? "

" I don't know the anwser to that ! I was hoping you could help me figure that out but I was mistaken. "

She turned away from him and went to the kitchen. She took some milk from the fridge and poured some into a pan to heat up the milk to pour into a mug.

" Why don't you let me take care of that ? You've been through enough today. " Octavius offered.

" No thank you, you seem incapable of taking care of my needs when I need you the most." Marlana said coldly.

Octavius felt hurt by her comment and tried not to show it so he walked to the bathroom and took a late-night shower in the darkness and retired to his bedroom. By the time he slipped into bed next to Marlana later, she was already asleep. He reached for her and she did not respond in her usual warm affectionate manner. He withdrew into a lonely sleep. It would remain silent between the two of them for weeks. Their lives became like a silent mode between them. Neither one spoke of the latest incident and didn't bother to have any type of conversation for weeks. It remained so until the horrendous nightmares started that seemed to go on endlessly. Things took a turn for the worst.