Dream Child

Chapter Eleven

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Amanda forced herself to walk confidently across the porch, wary of having the darkness at her back as she twisted the doorknob.

Shutting the door quickly, she bolted the door and leaned her back against it, struggling to ease the trembling with adrenaline. 

The room was lit brightly and the ambiance of the room gave her comfort as she worked on trying to stabilize her rapid heartbeat and even out her breathing.

After a few moments, she walked to upstairs to her room and lay across the bed wishing that Eric would be home soon. Since they had moved, he was getting home after dark and this was the first time that she had experienced anything like this in the new house.

She was afraid to tell him what happened, chalking it up to stress. But she knew that it wasn't stress induced, she knew that what just happened on the porch was more than just a dream. It was too real, she could still feel the hands on her back and the panic of falling forward.

She could feel her body relaxing as the flight or fight adrenaline that had kicked in began to drain her energy. Her eyelids became heavier and harder to keep open.

She suddenly heard footsteps that seemed far away, and she sat up and looked out the bedroom doorway waiting for to see Eric round the top of the stairway.

As she waited, she realized the footsteps weren't coming from the hallway, but from above her.

One...two...three...pause. One...two...three... pause.

"I can't take this anymore," she whispered to herself.

"Please go away!" she yelled into the hallway. "You are not welcomed here!"

The footsteps increased their pattern, changing from walking to running.

"Please Lord help me." she chanted over and over.

The footsteps abruptly ceased and she held her breath, waiting for the worst.

Like outside, the silence was deafening, a dull roar ringing in her ears. Sliding upwards on the bed, she put her back against the headboard so that she could see all around her.

Her eyes fell upon the bathroom door that stood ajar, about 3/4 opened, and someone was standing behind it.

Her heart beat violently against her chest, and she began to pray out loud as she watched the door slowly creek open, inch by antagonizing inch.

"Please," she whispered.

The door quickly slammed open and the shadow became a form and instantly shot across the room the edge of the bed.

Amanda lost her breath as the form became more solid; she tried to scream as it began to assemble into a more concentrated silhouette. She began to make out the wet hair plastered against the face, and the shadowed eyes became clear and undoubtedly her daughters. The mouth twisted into an open chasm, cold air blasting out and hitting her like a frigid, biting winter wind.

There were no words like last time, there was nothing but a terrifyingly numb coldness that seeped into every pore, freezing her like nothing else ever had.

Amanda huddled into herself, hands slipping down to protect her stomach as the form began to grow taller and extend over the bed. Her breath was coming out in visible puff, the glacial cold chilling her blood and settling into her limbs like a wet blanket.

The form that was her daughter came within inches of her face, and Amanda saw the vast emptiness of those eyes. The colors and the light that once lit them were gone, and she screwed her eyes shut against the diabolical and uninhibited sockets.

Suddenly a shriek rent the air and Amanda literally felt it rip into her mind like glass. Her heart palpitated and then slammed against her chest, her pulse jack hammering against her neck.

Coldness caressed her face, and she found her voice and began to recite the Lord's prayer as the coldness was now a physical. Her voice was shaking as she began the prayer, but slowly she got louder and louder until she was screaming it.

"AMANDA!"

She opened her eyes to see Eric looming over her.

"Why are you screaming the Lord's prayer?" he demanded, gripping her shoulders.

He stared at her, frightened as he was when he found her Jenny's room. Her face is ashen, her lips almost blue and trembling violently. Her skin was cold and clammy, a sheen of sweat coating her. Her eyes were wide and watery, unfocused and narrowed as she looked into him.

She tried to speak, to warn him that she was about to kill her, when she realized that the shadow was gone and the frigid coldness that had enveloped her was gone.

She strained to tell him, but her vocal cords let out nothing but grunts of panic. Adrenaline once again exited her body, leaving her trembling worse than ever and she slumped over as darkness took her.