The Shedding Skin

Chapter Seven

Writing an essay was extremely boring. All she really wanted to do was theorize what the fairy wanted. Raven wasn't too sure if she was one or not. But it seemed a lot more plausible than some martian that Morticia thought it was. Aliens couldn't possibly exist. There wasn't any positive proof of that. 

Setting down her pencil, she gently touched her face for a moment. That sort of thinking was hypocritical. It wasn't like there wasn't any evidence that this couldn't be an alien. Even if it sounded absolutely batshit crazy. She wasn't sure if it really was plausible to her. Pennywise had killed a kid during the beginning of his book. He didn't just scare people. In the book and movie, he got his hands dirty. First by killing little Georgie by ripping out his arm. Then other people. Sometimes by his own hands or by other people's hands. But this 'little girl' wasn't doing any of that. All she did was show up and scare them along with one other person.

Fairies were only a problem when they got bored. And this almost fit most of the behaviors for one in her mind. She figured once it got its fill of attention it would go home. Until then all they had to do was ignore the thing. Maybe even invest in ways to keep the creature out of their home.

As she got back to writing, she tried to think of what would keep a fairy away. Aside from some stuff she saw in TV shows. Which probably weren't true enough. She was finishing her paper when she heard giggling. A very soft voice. One that she had been hearing for the past few days straight. And it sounded like it was right behind her. Setting her pencil back down, she quickly turned around to see the 'little girl'.

She wasn't directly behind her but standing in the doorway of her room. Her little blackened eyes glaring at her as she laughed. Raven hurriedly stood up as she stared at the child. How did she even know where she lived? When the 'little girl' took a step closer, she picked up the chair and held it out like a weapon. In a firm voice, she demanded,"Get out of my house or I'm going to call the cops."

Her smile grew more sinister as she took another step forward. It wasn't particularly threatening but Raven didn't want to take a chance. She threw the chair at the girl as hard as she could and ran into her bathroom. Locking the door after she pulled it shut. Searching her pockets, she found her phone and debated dialling 9-1-1. If this was just a fairy, it would disappear before the cops arrived. Then she'd be the one in legal hot water. They'd probably take her calling them as some sort of prank and arrest her.

As she pressed her back against the door, she heard someone say,"Let me in...I just wanna play with you, Raven..."

A cold wave of fear washed over her as she heard it beg. The voice still sounded like a little girl but there was something wrong with it. Her tone was off somehow. But she wasn't entirely sure why. Raven was also taken aback by how it knew her name. She hadn't said it and she doubted the Snow White wannabe had read her papers. So how did she know her name? 

As she sat there, she heard the little voice plead some more. Trying her best to coax Raven out of the locked bathroom. Her voice was starting to warble like a bad VHS did sometimes from overuse. Then the pleading stopped entirely until everything went quiet. And all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. As she tried to calm herself down, she wondered if that meant the thing was gone. That is until she felt a jolt. Followed by rapid thumps against the door along with a high pitched screaming noise. Her hands covered her ears as she tried to block out the noise. It was like being in a nightmare. Several thuds came along with scratching noises like there was a beast on the other side of the door. Raven tried dialing her phone and almost dropped it when she heard a cracking noise. Like wood breaking. Turning slightly, she saw that her bathroom door was indeed breaking. 

Light from the other room was peeking in through it. A little face was also peeking through the crack. All she could make out was a dark eye that was fixed on her. It seemed like it was bulging out of the socket. Raven checked for anything she could use as a weapon. Her eyes fell upon her towel rack. It wasn't an ideal weapon to use but it was better than nothing. She shoved her phone into the pocket quickly then rushed over to it.

Yanking it off the wall, she held it like a baseball bat and waited. A hand pushed itself into the gap and reached the doorknob. She quickly smashed the metal bar on the wrist and winced at the animalistic scream she heard. The pale arm pulling itself quickly back as it came through. And she felt a bit triumphant to have hurt the thing like that. Her triumph was soon replaced with terror as she heard a low growl. Before another thud came, she heard sirens outside along with knocks on her apartment door. Raven realized that one of her neighbors obviously heard the screams and banging. One of them was probably at the door trying to get in. But she couldn't hear who it was over the little girl's hisses. And suddenly she heard a loud crash in her living room. 

The growling stopped but she didn't dare check the hole in her bathroom door. She didn't even try to open it. Not until she saw a tall young woman dressed in a nurse's uniform did she come out. It was her downstairs neighbor, Paulina Hettercheck. Who had come home from work only a few minutes before the screaming started. The police came in a few minutes later and checked everything out. Paulina invited her into her place and served her some tea as she asked,"What the cockadoodie happened up there?"

"Paulie, you won't believe me when I tell you this...",Raven trailed off. Her hands gripping the mug of tea tight. There wasn't any way to describe this without sounding crazy. And she said,"And I'll tell you when the police are gone, okay?"

She bit her lip as Paulina examined her face and said,"Fine. But I better get a good explanation on why I had to kick your door down."

"You will, you will.",she said. Getting her phone out of her pocket, she texted Morticia what happened. Her hands shaking as she realized that this might not be what she thought it was. And they needed to get rid of it, fast. Or it wouldn't be just her door that was broken up.