Inside Evil

Chapter 9 - Part 1

*Inside Evil and its sequels are available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks*    

"What the hell?" Sam stood open mouthed as Roberta tripped through the door.

Roberta was not only covered head to toe in dirt and fir droppings, but was bleeding heavily from a deep gash on the side of her face in addition to the scratches that covered her hands and forehead. Her previously neat hair was caught up with bits of twigs and bark, and the band holding her hair in place had snapped, resulting in blood not only dripping from her chin but a matt of bloodied hair whipping in and out of the flowing cut.

Roberta closed her eyes and tried to regain her breath. After she had fled the hideous figure, she had run at full pelt and it was only by sheer chance that she'd actually managed to navigate her way through the woods, across a couple of well brambled fields and back into the relative safety of Ridgewood. Her initial strength in the wood had quickly been replaced with fear when her idiocy was realised. Though the evening was early, the temperature had dropped dramatically, and she'd had no idea whether she was running in the right direction. The fear that she would end up dying in a ditch had been very real in Roberta's mind. She was still terrified of what she'd seen, and as Sam rushed towards her with a cloth from the kitchen, she slumped sideways onto the couch narrowly missing her black cat. He, obviously as terrified as she was but from the sight of her more than anything else, promptly ran off and cowered under the table at the far end of the room.

"Here...let me try to stop that," Sam comforted as he gently wiped away the blood from Roberta's chin, whipped back the hair from the gash and started to apply pressure. Roberta winced as the throbbing set in further, but felt too weak to even make a knee jerk reaction.

"What the hell's going on?" Sam questioned. "You disappear out of the house for hours, and you come back looking like this! Did someone attack you? Should I call the police? Roberta, talk to me, what happened? Was it that thing that attacked Martha?"

Roberta groaned and shut her eyes. "Sam, I'm fine. I got startled in the woods and lost my way."

"The woods? Why were you in there at this time of night?"

"They lured me," Roberta replied numbly.

"Now you really sound crazy," Sam said with an uncomforting tone.

Roberta opened her eyes and looked at her friend "Have I really been that crazy?!"

"I should say so," he replied. "Sleepless nights, hitting your pupil, taking walks in the woods on a dark winter's evening. That's serious stuff Roo, something really isn't right."

"I saw a woman," Roberta said slowly before pointing towards the hallway, "in the mirror over there."

Sam raised his eyebrows and bit his lip. He didn't say anything but continued to apply pressure to the wound on Roberta's face whilst dabbing away at the drying flecks of red which were splattered across her cheek.

"It wasn't me," Roberta said, "in the mirror, it wasn't me. I know we'd had a smoke, but Sam, I swear, this was no trip or hallucination. This was real."

"You know I came here to research craziness, not star in my own show, right?" Sam quipped with a smile.

Irritation rose through Roberta like a hot fire and she went to push Sam's hand away from her face. "I can do that, why don't you just get back to your books then."

"Whoa," Sam said, holding his hand firmly in place. "Leave it out Roberta. Look, of all the crazy things you've been saying, I believe you. Let's not pretend Ridgewood is the centre of normality. You believe me over those candles and I'll believe you over this."

Roberta nodded glumly, her irritation quickly subsiding to the fire that was burning in her head and the throbbing in her cheek.

"What startled you in the woods?"

"I don't know," Roberta said, shuddering at the thought of the dark eyes. "I think it was the same thing that attacked Martha Wittle."

Sam looked up with concern, "and, what about this woman in the mirror?"

"I don't know," Roberta said feeling like a complete failure. "I don't know who she is, I've only seen her once before and that was in my dreams."

"So, you're dreaming about people and then they're appearing in real life, well, in mirrors?"

Roberta nodded. Hearing it said aloud it all seemed less than convincing.

"And what happened? Did she say anything?" Sam continued, managing to ignore the dubious look which was spreading across Roberta's face.

"She knew you, by name." Sam's eyes grew wide. "And she kept saying that I had to find her, that I was running out of time and that," Roberta hesitated before she continued, "and that I have to stay away from Susan Lingly."

"Well, on that I think we all agree, Roberta. I know you weren't yourself, but the last thing we all need is you scrapping with Susan again."

"But what does it all mean?"

Sam took a tentative look underneath the blood soaked cloth. Roberta's face was starting to congeal, the blood having stopped trickling and the ooze of platelets starting to form. "You know, you could do with paper stitches on this."

"Sam," Roberta pressed, "What does it mean?"

"What it means, Roo, is that we seem to be utterly screwed unless we find this woman and get some answers."    

*I will be posting one or two scenes a week as the story builds. However, if you can't wait that long, Inside Evil is available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks.

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