The Fallen Silk

forgiveness

The inky darkness behind her eyelids was no longer comforting. She wanted to see the sun, see the light streaming through the trees and sparkling on the morning dew; the stench of antiseptic cleaning supplies gagged her and strangled her as she struggled to remember the scent of the damp earth and the dust in her cabin, the feel of her feline companion on her lap – she was surrounded by unfamiliar things and it made her thoughts swim.

'Effie, are you awake?'

Soft, sweet words in a voice that brought her great comfort. She opened her eyes to see Vincent standing at the foot of her bed, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Behind him bloomed an entire garden of flowers and balloons and stuffed animals with cards scattered amongst them. How long had she been there?

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out; she tried to cough but pain shot through her neck.

'Don't try and speak. You've been through a lot and you need rest.' Vincent choked on his words and she could clearly see his eyes were wet with tears. 'I'll put these over here.' He placed the flowers on the table beside the bed and put his hand on her arm. 'I'll be back after work.'

Effie tried to beg him to stay, but she couldn't force a sound out of her mouth and her arms were still strapped to the bed. She watched him leave the room, and once more she was alone with her thoughts. What had she done? Why had she tried to kill herself? Her mother's face, a dim memory, took over her thoughts and she remembered seeing her mother on the floor, her body bent and curled in unnaturally, the look in her eyes painful – she had been afraid, there was no doubt, but what had frightened her so much for it to remain on her face even in death?

The man from the night before, from the doorway and the window reflection, came back. The man that Kay had seen. She had to tell Vincent about the man, about the shadows – but, as she contemplated how to tell her closest friend what she was experiencing, she realised that she would sound just as insane as Kay, and her mother, had sounded. There was no way around it, she though as she struggled to move her arms. She had to tell him.

***

'Effie, I'm back.' Vincent called. Effie pulled herself out of her drug induced sleep and look at him from her place on the bed. He looked a bit brighter, a bit more like himself. 'I brought you some pie. My mum made it this morning.' He sat beside her and began picking at the pie with a plastic spoon. No forks in psyche ward, too much of a hazard. She tried to smile, but the muscles in her face were stiff as if she hadn't used them for days.

'How long have I been here.' Her voice was a whisper, and she barely heard herself speak. Vincent's shoulders dropped and he looked away from.

'You've been here a week. You almost died.'

'I... know. I remember. Vincent,' he looked at her, 'I need to tell you about what happened.' Vincent closed the box and placed it on the tray beside the bed. He leaned forward, giving her his attention. 'I've been seeing things.

'What things?'

'Shadows... And that man who tried to break in.' Effie tried to move, to face him, but her neck was still bandaged and her arms still restrained. 'The night this happened... I thought all of my apples had rotted. I saw them, Vincent, they were dead. And the man was behind me. Everything else is hazy, like I was drunk. He did something to me, Vincent.'

'Your tests came back negative for all drugs, including alcohol. Effie, you were sober when you did this.' She knew he wouldn't understand, that he wouldn't believe her. 'Why, Effie?'

'I can't tell you why, not if you won't believe me.' Her voice broke and she took a deep breath. 'Look, a lot of strange things are happening in this town. You cannot deny that. I believe that whatever has gone after the other women has turned its eyes to me since Carol-Mae's death. Whatever it is, it wants me.' As the words came out of her mouth, she knew they were the wrong choice. She couldn't pinpoint what it was about her that drew him in, but it could have been anyone. It should have been Carol-Mae, just as it had been Lettie and Kay and all of the other girls that had died. 'Vulnerable.'