Hers

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I woke with a pounding headache.  The sun had set and left the air with a sticky heat.  I climbed out of bed and walked into the kitchen, my bare feet padding lightly on the linoleum.  I glanced over to see my living room slightly rearranged.  The clock above the mantle read 3:15.  A cool breeze brushed against the exposed flesh on my legs and created an eruption of chills across my skin.

Suddenly remembering to lock the door, I walked into the living room.  My eyes floated out the window and onto the driveway.  My hand found the door knob without thinking.  I turned it and opened the door just a crack.  The light from the moon cast eerie shadows into my living room that I could see shuffling and floating behind me.  I stepped onto the porch and it was as if instantly the world froze.  The crickets and frogs became silent even the wind was stilled.  My bare feet found the rough and splintered wood of my porch.  The next moment I was standing in my driveway looking out into the woods that surrounded my house.

"Lilly."  The familiar hiss found it's way to me.  Now the feeling it gave me wasn't frightening, it was warm and inviting.  My eyes searched for the source, only to see the familiar surroundings.

Get back in the house.  Something within me warned.

My feet seemed to move without my mind commanding them.  Before I knew it I was inside with my back pressed against the door.  Suddenly my heart started pounding louder in my ears and my blood seemed to boil underneath my skin.  I moved quickly into my bedroom, shutting the door and locking it behind me.  I crawled back into my bed- wondering why I had bothered to get up in the first place- and buried myself under the covers.  The outside light beside my shed cast a bluish purple glow on my back yard, illuminating the small worn down barn that my father had used to store his tools, and now stored everything my parents owned.  I closed my eyes and tried to find refuge in sleep, but it alluded me.

How did I get home?  I wondered suddenly.  I could remember walking from the diner and into the wooded path that I took to get to and from work.  I remembered the sun beating down on me and becoming extremely uncomfortable.  Maybe, I had gotten exhausted from the walk in nearly boiling degree weather and just passed out when I got home.

Why is my living room rearranged?  I asked myself mentally.  Suddenly, an image of Ace standing by my mantle came into my mind.  Then, everything came flooding back to me.  The car ride, the images, the make out session, and then...the other man.  I could remember clips of his light brown hair and dark green eyes.  My dreams were always vivid, but not usually like this.  It was like I could feel Ace's skin against mine, and see the rage on the strangers face.  Most of the time, I would have forgotten my dream after I had climbed out of bed not suddenly remembered after a little while.

I groaned in frustration and opened my eyes.  My heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second while my breath became caught in my throat.  Out of my window I could see a dark figure standing under the security light by the shed.  It seemed to tilt it's head and stare at me.  I couldn't move.  I was too terrified to breathe let alone get out of bed, and even if I could where would I go?  Outside to my nonexistent car so I could get away?  Or perhaps to my cell phone that had been shut off for months?  I sure as hell wasn't going to try and fight this person off, even from the other side of the yard I could tell whoever it was would double my size easily and have a knife to my throat before I could blink.

I lied there frozen and beginning to tremble as the figure seemed to get closer to the house but something wouldn't let me look away.  The way it moved was beautiful.  It was like it wasn't walking, but rather, floating towards me.

I tried to convince myself that it wasn't real, that the door was locked and even if it was real there was no way anyone could get inside.  That theory offered little comfort as I knew it was shit, this house was older than dirt and a small breeze could probably knock it over, let alone a determined serial killer.

In the blink of an eye the dark figure was half way across the yard to gone.  In a matter of seconds it had vanished into thin air.  I let out a sigh of relief.  I could feel my muscles release all at once.  I felt drained, exhausted, and confused.  My eyelids grew heavy and I could feel myself slipping into sleep.  Suddenly I felt a cold breeze on the back of my neck.  I rolled over to be met with the dark figure huddled in a corner in my room.  I fought a scream and blinked, making sure I wasn't dreaming.  When the figure didn't move I sat up slowly and leaned over to flick the lamp on that was located on my bedside table.  My heart was racing and my hand was shaking.  I refused to take my eyes off the folded figure on the ground.

"Please god."  I whispered under my breath as my fingers found the chain on the lamp.

I took a deep breath and pulled the chain.  Light flooded the room and the figure had disappeared.  I glanced around the room  and ran into the bathroom.  I searched under my bed, in my closet, and scanned the backyard through my window before I closed the blinds and crawled back into bed.  My heart was still racing as I lied my head down on my pillow.

What was wrong with me lately?  I had been hearing voices, having strange dreams, and seeing shadows.  Maybe it was stress.  The anniversary of my dad's death was coming up, I was single, twenty-one, and working in a diner.  I had given up all my dreams and ambitions to be there for my dad, but when was it time for me to stop holding onto them and live my own life?  I wouldn't go to college because that would mean leaving this town.  I couldn't get rid of any of their things so I packed them all up in boxes and stored them in the shed.  I even put up with this crappy house because it was theirs once upon a time.

What if the shadow was my dad?  I wondered but quickly dismissed the idea.  My dad wouldn't have scared me like that.  What was I thinking?  Shadows being my father?

I was never a religious person.  I didn't even really know what I believed.  My mother was religious though.  She used to have a picture of Jesus up in the living room.  I remember thinking it was so creepy the way his eyes seemed to follow you.  I blamed it as the source of the awful nightmares I used to have.  I would dream of a man, screaming at me.  Then I would be running and the only thing that could stop me was a large body of water.  The rest of the dream would be like pictures flashing by.  I would see snakes, and children screaming, men staring into my eyes like I was something terrifying, then I would see those eyes.  Eventually, I was able to convince her to take the picture down and the dreams stopped.

Honestly, the entire topic of religion made me uncomfortable.  How could someone create the entire world and why would they?  How could a virgin give birth and how could someone walk on water?  I viewed it as a method people used to justify things they couldn't understand, to provide comfort and the idea that someone does care.  People would talk about feeling their god with them, but I never felt anything.  The whole notion of any god was too much for me to wrap my head around.  I never said anything though, and it was a good thing too, living in the bible belt that was the south, having any doubt about God was a green light for wild rumors.

 I pushed the thoughts away and focused on trying to get myself to sleep.  I groaned in frustration.  If I didn't get to sleep soon I would be late for work again and who knows if I would be able to convince Harold to not fire me again.  Not that it would take much, perverted bastard.  My thoughts drifted to Ace and I found myself hoping that he would be there.