Just Out of Reach (Norminah)

"Death."

Normani awoke in the middle of the might with a groan as she felt a sharp pain in her side. She slowly sat up and released a deep breath to relax herself and avoid being in even more pain. No matter how many times she adjusted her back against the pillow she propped herself up with, the pain just wouldn't go away so she slowly climbed out of bed and held on to the nightstand to keep herself upright.

When she tried to stand on her own, her legs were in a tremendous amount of pain and she was reaching for the nightstand once more to avoid falling and hurting herself or the baby.

"Lauren." She called weakly as it hurt for her to even breathe at the moment.

There was no response and her breath was getting shorter.

"Lauren." She called again and soon after, the entire room was covered in darkness and a cold gust of wind surrounded her, followed by a foul smell.

"Well hello." The eerie voice spoke and Normani groaned in irritation and pain.

"Tsk, tsk, now that's no way to greet your guest."

Normani couldn't see but she knew that it was the dreaded entity in Dinah's form.

"Leave." She muttered.

"Oh, I think that I'll stay for just a moment. I mean you could use the company." The entity chuckled darkly.

"I said leave me alone!" Normani yelled.

Suddenly the foul stench was overpowering her and the lights flickered on and off and before she knew it, the entity was standing directly in front of her. She looked even scarier now. Her hair was soaked in blood and her eyes glowed dark red as a low growl came from her throat. Her usually white dress was now black, ripped, and covered in blood as well. Blood soon started to leak from her eyes and a wide toothless smile spread across the entity's face.

"I'd watch that tone young lady. Don't tempt me." Her voice sounded as if it were many evil souls speaking at once and Normani found herself unable to form a sentence.

"Oh, sounds like your friends are coming." The entity spoke and in the blink of an eye....she was gone.

"Mani, you okay?" Lauren asked with a worried expression on her face.

"Help me walk to the bathroom." Normani mumbled weakly. She didn't think she should tell Lauren what was going on.

"You don't look too good."

"I can't stand on my own. My legs hurt really bad and so does my side. It even hurts to breath." Normani bit her lip to keep herself from crying as she lifted her arm to rest on Lauren's shoulder so she could lean on her and walk to the bathroom easily.

"Here, lean on me and only put the slightest amount of pressure on your legs." Lauren placed her hand on her lower back to help take some of the pressure off of Normani's spine.

They walked slowly and steadily until Normani was able to hold onto Lauren's arms as she lowered herself down to take a seat on the toilet.

"It hurts so bad." She reached up to wipe a tear as the pain became unbearable. She started to pull at her nightgown to swiftly get it off but each movement made the pain worse.

"I'll help you. Just slowly raise your arms up so I can pull it over your head." Lauren calmly instructed her to do and Normani obliged.

Lauren carefully lifted the gown up and over Normani's head and placed it on the counter. The sight before her had her complete in shock.

"Mani did you fall or something?" Lauren asked.

"Mm, no. I stayed in bed most of the day and I just woke up a moment ago because of the pain in my side."