The Tea Party

Thunder boomed and lightning clapped. All of a sudden, the electricity went out, plunging the room into absolute darkness. Shivering, Lavender made a fire in the fireplace, and it's soft glow filled the room. She picked her phone up to see when the storm would stop, but it was dead. It seemed peculiar to her that there had been so many storms this past week. This one was particularly bad. The thunder was deafening and the lightning would make her lose her eyesight if she stared at it, it was as bright as the sun. She settled down with a book and listened to the avalanche of rain pouring down. Despite the layers of fluffy blankets she was curled up in and the warmth of the flames dancing in front of her eyes, shivers kept running down her spine. Slowly, silently, she dozed off.

She woke up half an hour later, her teeth chattering, noticing the fire had died down, and the ashes were fluttering down onto the carpet. Sighing, she stood to make it again when she stopped in her tracks, listening. She realized that she was right, footsteps were coming up the little path leading to her front door. She didn't exactly know why but panic was slowly taking control of her body and she dove back into the plush armchair as quietly as she could. Calm down, she told herself, you're overreacting, it's probably just the neighbours coming to ask for some matchsticks. Lavender was a tiny bit reassured by this thought, but her instincts told her to stay concealed. Only the tip of her her head was in sight and she stared at the only window in the room.

She stayed this way for a while, for how much time, she could not tell, for a second seemed a minute. By then, the footsteps had stopped, and her heart was a drum, exploding beneath her chest. Blood pulsed through her veins and beads of sweat were rolling down her face. Suddenly, as lightning appeared, a dark silhouette could be seen against the blinding flash, and Lavender only got a tiny glimpse of a pale face. She quickly hid her face behind the armchair, but the figure had disappeared with the lightning. She dare not move and stayed curled up tight until sleep won over her body. Her dreams were filled with faceless people, reaching out to her. She only woke up once, and, not very far away, a scream tore through the heavy silence of the night like a blade tearing it's enemy's flesh. Never in her 38 years on earth had she experienced such a night.

The next morning, the sun was shining and birds chirped merrily outside. Last night's events seemed from another reality, and Lavender decided they were all part of a terrible nightmare. She went to get ready and eventually went outside to collect the mail. As she came out, a pleasant breeze caressed her face, filling her with joy. An eerie sensation came over her as she saw that, underneath last night's window, in the mud, were footprints. There also were those same footprints on the little path in front of her house, but the curious thing was that they were too small to be a human's. A shiver ran down her back, and she whipped around to see nothing but her neighbour's garden. In the garden, she noticed a little table with on it a small tea set. Sitting at that table was a doll. Lavender's gaze dropped to the doll's shoes, covered in mud.