Encounter

Chapter Eighteen

Sarah walked into the hallway. The house was warming, she felt the cold screaming away, as her body acclimatized to its new environment. The woman showed Sarah into a cozy looking living room, fabric chairs dotted around a large oak coffee table. To the side of the room, was a massive fireplace with pictures and strange looking ornaments sitting above it. As seen from outside the living room, red velvet curtains were drawn, blocking out any signs of the human world outside. The woman pulled out one of the armchairs for her and Sarah gratefully sat down.

The soft fabric of the armchair was rubbing pleasantly against her bare recovering skin. The lady left without another word through the door and out of sight. Sarah looked more closely at the ornaments above the fire. They all appeared to be on the theme of religion, and guessing from the angel holding a large cross, Sarah guessed it was Christianity or maybe even Catholic. Some paintings adorned the walls; they were also strange. One was a paint of a small boy cowering to the ground, with a large red being with horns coming from its head, preying over him.

"That painting is of the devil's rising," The woman's voice aired the room, causing Sarah to jump.

"My dear, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." The woman was holding a tray of tea and biscuits. She rested the tray down on the coffee table. On the tray was a thick looking wooly jumper, which the woman lifted, handing it to Sarah.

"That should keep you warm my dear; you look like you have been out in the cold for some time. Where have you come from."

"I live just outside of the village, in the house by the bridge," Sarah replied, pulling on the wooly jumper. The wool stroked against her skin, the feeling of comfort filling her body. The sense of it reminding her of the woolen bed throw she would lie on as she read books as a child.

"Thank You-," She paused, not knowing the woman's name.

"Delia, Delia Moonshine," The woman said as if reading Sarah's mind. "You are most welcome, Sarah."

Sarah felt uneasy by this. How does she know my name? She thought to herself. "How do you know my name Mrs. Moonshine."

"Miss Moonshine dear, I have never been married," she said with a soft smile. "And the tattoo on the back of your shoulder. Sarah felt the uneasiness melt away into the air. She had a tattoo on her back at the shoulder which read. Sarah and Nathan together forever. Sarah chuckled as she remembered the day she had got it.

It was at least seven years ago now, and Sarah and Nathan had just got engaged. Sarah knew that Nathan was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. During a short weekend break staying with some friends in Blackpool, she and Nathan were walking along pleasure beach. The strong smell of candy floss and burger stands filled the air, as crowds of money hungry children begging their parents annoyingly for more money to waste on the game machines. Sarah and Nathan passed a small stall with a strange looking teenage girl sat behind a table with leaflets oddly placed across it.

"Looking for a tattoo my love," The girl said, Sarah remembered the girl's purple spiky hair, her black lipstick, and blood red fingernails. She wore black combat styled trousers and a t-shirt with band name Slipknot written in slime green lettering.

"What? Here?" Sarah chuckled at the thought. The girl, noticing that she may have a customer, laughed along with Sarah with a fake chortle.

"Of course not my love, my partner owns a shop on the front, he's the artist-god. I love him. He's just such a good artist. He has done all my artwork." She pulled down the top of t-shirt to reveal a heavily tattooed chest and neck. The colors were amazingly mixed and strangely had the quality to memorize someone.