Lurking in the Shadows

Ch. 6: The Staircase

     After a week of rotating the incense every day, they were finally ready. I'd already done everything else Robert instructed with the basil and the sage. I was prepared to get it over with, especially after the past few nights. I hadn't had any more "pranks" but I think I would have prefered those rather than what actually happened.

     I fell into bed after stripping off my shirt, exhausted from helping Robert around the yard. He and I had bonded in a way, probably due to Gloria giving him the stink eye whenever he was rude. I was lying on my stomach, on the verge of sleep, when something sharp scratched across my back. I gasped and rolled over. An awful decision. Looming over me was the black shadow. I held my breath, feeling my heart beat thunderously in my chest. It slowly disappeared and I turned on my lamp.

Looking over my shoulder in the mirror, I swore. Three long lines of bright red stretched horizontally across the bottom of my back. They were raised and I hissed when I poked them. I gingerly crawled back into bed and fell asleep on my stomach, the lamp still on.
The next morning, I skipped breakfast and went to the shack to see if Gloria had any home remedies to heal my back. I couldn't very well show my mother. At her request, I stripped off my shirt and winced as she applied something cold and stinging to my back. After helping Gloria pick herbs for her cooking, I walked back to the house to take a shower.

I walked towards the bathroom and when I crossed the threshold, something slammed into my face. I tripped backwards and landed on my butt. Holding my eye, I slowly crawled to my feet. When I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, I found a large welt around my eye. Sarah walked passed the bathroom door before stopping and looking in.
"Woah, what happened to your eye?" She stared at me and I remembered her earlier words. 'You look kinda crazy' I probably did at this point.
"I got hit in the face while helping Robert outside. No big deal." I gave a fake smile and she shrugged.

     I knew Miss Ida was coming for me. She was always watching from the shadows, waiting for me to turn my back. The black eye and the scratched back weren't the worst, however.

     Hearing mom call me for dinner, I began descending the stairs. I didn't have to worry about Sarah pushing past me, mom insisted on teaching her to cook. I was halfway down when I felt goosebumps raise on my arms. The staircase grew colder and I shivered, my skin prickling at the feeling of eyes. Suddenly, my feet were swept out from under me and I fell back, my spine colliding with the edge of the wooden step.
     Pain bloomed in my back and I slid down the staircase, groaning in pain. Mom and Sarah rushed out from the kitchen and collectively gasped.
     "Nicky?" Mom helped me to my feet. "What happened?"
     "I don't know," I hissed in pain. "I slipped." Sarah lifted up the back of my shirt and I looked at it in the mirror on the wall; In the middle of my back, starting from the vertebrae in my spine and creeping outwards, a bruise was already forming. The pain throbbed, matching my heart which raced with adrenaline. Mom disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a bag of peas. She gently pressed it against my back and I yelped.
     "Sorry sorry!"

     My body was littered with wounds, evidence at her attempts to stop me. She wouldn't stop me though. I wasn't going to sit around and let some dead hag push me around and scare me.