The Grey's Curse

Chapter Nine - The Calm Before the Storm

Nothing felt normal, scratch that, nothing was normal, not anymore. After the attack, I was plagued with horrifying nightmares that felt too real to be coincidental and the paranoia was starting to get to me, I couldn't even look at my closet without trembling anymore.

Sometimes I thought I could hear growling emit from the closet every now and then.

'It's been a few days since then but still, how do you get over that?' I had no clue on if the monster was even still here which was both a blessing and a curse.

It could be gone for good or it could be waiting for the right time to attack.

I stared up at the celling blankly, having just woken up from yet another nightmare with sweat covering my entire body, even my poor bed sheets and blankets were soaked in it.

The pain in my arm and leg was thankfully gone but my head was still achy, ever since coming home I've been researching the monster, well trying to at least 'All signs lead to it being a demon but I still don't know how to get rid of it' everywhere link I found about demons either lead me to lore or ouija boards.

'There's no way I'm touching a ouija board, knowing my luck I would just invite it's buddies here' I felt a twinge of hopelessness hit me along with feeling helpless and unmotivated to do anything 'I don't know how my body is still functioning with how little sleep I've been getting' slowly my eyes drifted off to my window, something that would usually calm me down now made me feel worse and that in itself felt like I had died that day.

Right now if the attack hadn't happened I would be sound asleep but instead, here I am, wide awake, depressed and covered in sweat 'I hate nightmares' I take in a deep breath and get up from my sweat soaked bed and walked to the bathroom to clean my face from the sweat build up.

I groaned when I saw my reflection in the mirror; my skin was sickly pale which made the appearance of my prominent eye bags and puffy face worse but what got most of my attention was the nasty bruise still on my jawline.

'I look dead'

I decided to not even acknowledge my reflection and instead turned the cold water on and focused on washing my sweat covered face off.

The cold water felt refreshing on my heated skin making me sigh in relief 'Why won't this thing leave me alone?' I couldn't even get a good nights sleep because of the monster.

It plagued me with nightmares 'I know it was real' it still hurt that anytime I brought it up to Mom she would brush it off and say "You took a hard hit on the head, I'm sure you were just hallucinating" it was hard not to question my sanity from time to time as my own mother didn't believe me, it made me feel crazy.

'Why does she just shrug it off? With no other worry or concern?' And I sadly doubted that I could go back to sleep no matter how much I wanted to or tried.

I dried my face off then walked back into my room and stared at my bed longingly 'Maybe I could still try to get some more sleep?' I lazily fixed some of the covers and got in bed and cocooned myself in the warm fuzzy blankets.

It almost felt comforting, being wrapped up in the blankets.

But no matter how much I tossed and turned, I just couldn't fall back asleep, It didn't matter if I tried to clear my mind, my body refused to give in and rest.

'I should just accept my loss'

I groaned, mourning over my lost sleep and opened my slightly bleary eyes and glanced out my window, shivering at the memory of having to jump out of it.

I could still remember the feeling of free falling, watching each and every individual snowflake gently fall along with me.

'I hope I never have to do that again'

I felt my arm and leg pulse with pain at the mere thought of it and with a clenched jaw, I whipped my head away from the window and got up from bed, tiptoeing to the kitchen with my stomach demanding food.

If I couldn't sleep might as well eat.

'Mom should be asleep by now and hopefully won't notice that I'm awake to send me back to bed' I tried to be quiet when opening the fridge, cringing when it whined and creaked.

'I should've just swung it open if it's going to be like that'

I sighed in disappointment when I didn't see any milk 'A sandwich it is then' I quietly got out all the ingredients for my plain sandwich, not wanting to get too much out and risk making more noise.

'And plus I'm feeling too lazy to make a proper sandwich'

I also grabbed a little water bottle to go with it 'The little ones just hit different' I took my sandwich and water to the living room and plopped down on the couch, sighing in relief when my aching leg got a break and turned the tv on and began channel surfing.

'Noting, nothing, nothing, why is there nothing on but infomercials and the news?' I gave up and decided to just put it on a popular news channel purely just for a little light and noise.

'I hate when it's too quiet'

After finishing my sandwich and drink, I soon grew bored 'Well what now?' I turned the tv off and quietly headed back up to my room and quietly closed the door, naturally my eyes immediately went to my window 'Come on Maria, it's just a window' I held my breath and slowly walked towards the window, wanting to prove that it won't hurt me.

I felt sick when I looked out and saw the distance of how high I had jumped 'It's a miracle that I didn't break anything' I placed my hands on the cool glass and finally released the breath I was holding; making the window fog.

"Don't be afraid" I whispered to myself; staring out at the snow covered ground where I had landed and I closed my eyes and rested my head on the class 'I should go visit Dad' I opened my eyes and look at the time 'Mom's probably getting ready for work' I backed away from the window and waited till I heard two doors open and close, signifying that she left before I changed clothes.

'Luckily Mom always assumes I'm asleep by this time so she never checks on me or says goodbye at this time'

I walked out of the house feeling like I was forgetting something, I looked back at the door for a moment, trying to think of what I could have forgotten but in the end, I just shrugged it off and began my walk to the graveyard.

Little did I know that in doing that, I had made a grave mistake that I would soon regret.