Stone Serpent

A Favour From Mischief

~Several months later~

Carmen sat at the dining table, stirring her tea slowly. She kept her eyes fixed on her mother who stumbled about in the kitchen, grumbling about nonsense. Ever since she was brought back from death, she was different. She was more irritable and psychotic. 

Carmen shivered, remembering back to when her mother chased her around the house with a knife before she locked herself in her bedroom with her bookshelf against the door. That entire night, she could hear her mother laughing on the other side and the knife scraping against the wall. The next morning when Carmen dared to leave her room with a lamp as a weapon, she found her mother in the rocking chair holding a doll. The knife was gone and she was humming to the doll as they both rocked back and forth.

Carmen took a deep breath and froze as her mother turned towards her with a wicked smile, "hello dear. Do you want to play a game?"

Carmen shivered, watching her mother walk slowly towards the table, stopping short of the other side. Her mothers' eyes glazed over with no emotions. Her smile held evil as she reached a hand over the table to take the cup away from Carmen.

"What type of game?" Carmen asked slowly, eyeing the cup of hot tea as her mother took it back into the kitchen.

Her mother appeared around the corner of the wall that separated the kitchen and dining room. Her face held mischief as she ran her long fingernails over the side wall, scraping away some of the old paint, "it's a very fun game. You hide and I seek. Hide and seek with a fun little twist," she laughed, running a hand through her matted hair.

Carmen cringed, wondering when the last time her mother showered or took care of herself. She couldn't remember the last time she saw any light in her mother's eyes and sighed sadly. Ever since her mother was brought back, Carmen never saw her act like the caring mother she once was. As Carmen thought about it a bit more, she never saw her mother sleep.

Her mother was always awake. 

Doing something.

"Dearie?" her mother questioned, her voice low.

Carmen shook away her thoughts and nodded, "sure, what's the little twist though?"

A troublesome smile crossed her mother's face as she turned her back to the kitchen. Her mother swayed slowly in a circle, watching Carmen as she disappeared into the kitchen once more. Carmen heard a drawer open and her heart dropped.

"If I find and catch you, I get to see how much this knife hurts against your skin. Won't it be fun to see you bleed?" she asked, reappearing at the corner with a long knife in hand.

Carmen watched, feeling her hands go clammy. She watched as her mother ran the blade against her thumb and licked away the blood.

"So much fun," her mother cooed, smacking her lips together as she licked her thumb again, "go hide. I'll count to ten and I'll come find you."

Carmen tilted her head, watching her hair fall into her face. Through her hair, she silently observed her mothers' actions. Her mother disappear back around the corner and she got up quickly. 

Carmen watched her mother sway down their dark hallway to her bedroom. There was destroyed frames on the floor with random dolls littered throughout the hallway. The hallway was covered in glass and Carmen worried about her mother as she walked over the glass. 

It should hurt, it should cause her to stop and watch where she steps, but she doesn't even notice, Carmen thought. 

Her mother turned to look over her shoulder, giving her a small toothy grin.