Cremated

First question

I couldn't believe my eyes. There was blood all over my sheets and the bear was eyeing me down like I was its next victim. I tried to speak, but stuttered beyond comprehension.

"A-a-are you r-r-real?"

"As real as you are,"

"W-w-what are you?"

"The family member you've always wanted,"

"No, no, no. This isn't what I wanted,"

         I didn't want to look at it anymore so I slowly inched my way across to the door and made my way out, the tiny dots for eyes following me the entire time.

          I made my way outside the bedroom and locked the door. I still couldn't believe what I just saw. I pinched myself, slapped myself, closed my eyes, and did whatever I could to make myself wake up from this nightmare. But every time I opened my eyes, the same sound graced my ears, the scratching of Arabella's plastic nails against the other side of the door, trying to let itself out.

           I was thinking of leaving but, as a college student who'd already paid for her return ticket two weeks later, the cost was unrealistic. Otherwise I could've called the police, but what should I say? That a stuffed bear ate my mother's insides? It was either rely on the mercy of my neighbours or rely on the lock that was securing the door to the frame.

          I chose to test the latter for tonight. I know you may think it was a bad decision but, being an extremely socially awkward person, it was the better option at the time.

          I made sure that the door was locked then proceeded to sit in the living room, thinking to myself how I was supposed to reverse this all and how to hide the body of my now lifeless mother. I still couldn't believe this was happening. I pinched myself again, unable to face the fact that this was reality now.

                             *************************************************

   

           I decided not to call 911, or anyone for that matter, for fear that they might suspect that I murdered her. I mean, who was going to believe that a stuffed bear killed her? Yeah, no one.

           I locked my door, just in case, and got ready for bed. I changed into my PJ's, washed my face, let my hair loose and switched off the lights before heading to bed.

          I let myself drift off into a different world and basked in the warmth of the blanket that was hugging my entire body. My heart rate decreased and relaxed, matching the rate of my breathing. My eyelids were half closed and I was staring at the bedside shelf next to the window, the books of my early childhood slumped against a picture of my old friend and me from middle school, a diary that sat idle on top of a jewellery box and a teddy bear that laid directly across from me with red eyes and a blood stained smile. These were the last images that graced my eyes before I fell into the worst nightmare of my life, images that would be engrained into my memory for the rest of my life.

           My body started to relax but my mind was only starting to tense. The grotesque image of the abortion clinic started to flash in front of me. Little pieces of flesh dripping with blood being dropped into a bin next to the tray of instruments was the most prominent. I tried to run forward and stop them but I couldn't.

            The woman on the operation table stood up non chalantly and smiled when she looked into the bin, the abortionist doing the same thing. A little teddy bear crawled out of the trash and stared directly into my eyes. I wanted to puke, to cry, to scream, to do all these things but I was restricted by the echoing voices that came out of the stuffed bear.

"Three questions only, no more, no less. If you dare ask one too many, there will be no rest,"

              The sound was muffled greatly but still intelligible. I felt little hands of babies start to caress and cling onto me, the limbs slowly crawling up to my face eventually blocking out my sight. The sound of laughter, scratching, crying and screaming still rang in my ears when I woke up. The sun emitting a gentle orange tint on everything in the room, the curtains preventing its unforgiving stare to blind me.

               I struggled to pull myself up so I rolled out of bed, using my clammy hands to grab the phone to call my roommate about what happened.

"You finally called," Carter started

"Yeah, and I just went through something crazy,"

"Let me guess, it was the wind. Oh wait, maybe it was the microwave,"

"No, I mean, dead body-possessed bear type crazy,"

"Wait, dead body?"

"My mother's," I whispered

"Sera, explain,"

"One of my bears is possessed,"

"Are you pranking me again?" He asked, forcing a nervous laugh afterwards.

"No, I'm dead serious, I can send you a picture if you want,"

"No thanks," He paused "It's just hard to believe, you sure you didn't drink last night?"

"I would never, and I'm sure I'm not going insane, I remember waking up and seeing it-"

                I glanced up to make sure that the stuffed object was still sitting there, but it wasn't. I stood up immediately and started to rummage through the room, almost certain that it was the worst case scenario. I ended the call without explanation and closed my eyes in thought.

                Black engulfed my vision, accompanied by the two red dots and an outline of rounded ears. My ears started straining and I heard the deep , raspy voice once again, much clearer this time.

"You shouldn't have fallen asleep," There was a brief pause "Do you have anything you wish to seek?"

"Wh- Where did you go?"

"You'll find out soon, just wait five days and you'll see droplets by the spoons,"

                I opened my eyes before I could get any visions from the dream last night and struggled to adjust to the sudden exposure of light. I gulped dryly and pried my bolted legs off the ground to the bathroom, where I stared back at myself in the mirror.

               I washed my face and put on light makeup before getting dressed. I hadn't the appetite for  breakfast, so I skipped that and instead went to the nearest shop, where I could get a small pack of gum to soothe my addiction to the flavoured piece of rubber.

               The town seemed so empty, too empty for comfort. It was usually busy during this hour, but not a single sound came from any of the buildings along the road which I was walking down on. There was only one store a couple blocks down and, surprisingly, it seemed untouched and unscathed.             

              I bought my gum and left for the lake, the best place to think deep, sentimental thoughts to yourself while looking out onto the hills and coastal holiday homes accompanied by a few fishing boats here and there on the other side.

              I didn't dare close my eyes though, seeing the bear in the house was more than enough, I didn't want it to ruin my safe haven. Instead, I just watched the gentle ripples of the water play with the light waves, repeatedly coming back again and again to hug and caress the jetty.

             A peaceful six minutes was all I needed to clear out any impure thoughts stored in the back of my mind, but was interrupted quite suddenly by the ringing and vibrating of my phone in the back pocket of my jeans.

"Carter, now's not a good time,"

"Sera, I'm free to go,"

"Where?"

"There. I have no assignments, projects, or anything due, so I can come over,"

"Wait, Car-"

"Five days, I'll be there,"