Chapter 18
Scrape … claw …
It was beside the laundry basket, in the darkest corner of her room.
Tremors drove through Ashley’s body. “Did you hear it?”
“Hear what?” Jeff asked.
They couldn’t hear it. How was he going to stop it? Ashley scooted with Pixie as far back into Laura as possible. She held onto Laura’s encircling arms.
Maybe the shadow creature wasn’t interested in adults. Maybe it only tortured girls. But why would it choose to pick on the helpless? Why not steal someone with more experience, knowledge, and power? At least then, it could use something from its victim. What good could come from picking on the young? That was too easy. Anyone could do that.
Scrape … claw … thud …
Her heart beat like a hailstorm against her chest. Even with Jeff close, even with Laura holding her, even though nestled in her own bedroom at home, Ashley felt alone. Like when Carlos did stuff to her, despite her mother being one door down the hall, she felt alone.
She was without the protective and nurturing qualities of a parent during her life except for the first five years when her father lived with her. She had loved him so much. Although he had abandoned her, sometimes she still wanted him back. No one knew where he had gone though. Mom didn’t care. She had never liked him.
Scrape … claw … thud …
She asked, “Can’t you hear it?”
“What is it?” asked Laura.
“You can’t hear that?”
“What?”
“I don’t hear anything,” Jeff added.
Ashley began to cry. Where had Tina gone? Poor Pixie could hear the noises. He stood between her legs, hair bristling. She placed one of her arms around him protectively. She wished she hadn’t kept him in the room now. But before, she worried about him wandering the dark house by himself.
The shade crawled closer, its scraping louder.
“Why can’t you hear!” It was so important to be validated. Maybe this was the reason she never told anyone else about Carlos except for Mom. It hurt to not be believed, especially about something so important. It made Ashley feel less real. It made her think she was a little nuts. Just someone there to agree that Carlos was doing wrong and that she had a right to feel hurt would have helped.
It would have been enough.
But her mother hadn’t believed.
And her mother wouldn’t believe her today. Mom would tell her—just as she told her at age eleven—that Ashley shouldn’t make stuff up about Carlos; that she shouldn’t try hurting him because he was taking the place of her father; that she shouldn’t be jealous of Mom finding happiness with another man; that everyone had a right to happiness and that Ashley was acting too selfish. Mom would insist that it was time for Ashley to think of others for once in her life.
Jeff jumped up. “Where do you hear it coming from?”
She pointed to the corner where the laundry basket sat. Even though he couldn’t hear the creature, couldn’t validate her perception, she respected and admired him for believing.
He took a few steps in front of them, placing himself between the creature and her, placing himself in danger. “Just tell me where it is. Tell me where to go.”
She wasn’t sure. “I think it’s in the corner now, crawling this way.”
He took a few more steps towards the dark.
She began to feel afraid for him. He couldn’t see or hear it. How was he going to defend himself? She loved that he cared so much about Tina, but worried that he would be harmed as well.
His role as a therapist ended Friday. He wasn’t required to continue working through the weekend. It was his choice to do so. He was committed, unlike her father. Jeff was a good man. But was this enough? He had no weapons. Maybe the police would be better suited for this. Though they would never believe Ashley.
She wondered whether Jeff had a daughter of his own. She imagined he would be a devoted, compassionate, and kind father, and she didn’t want this world to lose that. There didn’t seem to be enough of them around.
The creature began a slurping, sliding noise that was faster than the scraping.
“It’s moving quickly.”
“Where?”
“I can’t tell.” She let go of Laura’s arms and picked up the flashlight from underneath Pixie.
“Am I in the right place?”
She placed her thumb on the switch. “It’s coming this way.”
He crouched and extended his arms like he was trying to catch a giant ball.
“I’m scared.”
“Keep close to the candle, both of you,” he ordered.
Laura hugged her tighter.
“What about you?” Ashley asked. “Who’s going to keep you safe?”
“Don’t worry.”
She couldn’t help it. Tears began to flow out, blurring her already poor vision in the dark. “I don’t want it to get anyone else. It’s bad. It wants to hurt people.”
“It’s okay,” Laura whispered in her ear. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this.” Ashley didn’t like that Laura emphasized the word, through. How could she know with such certainty that they were going to make it? What if they didn’t? What if Jeff disappeared like Tina? Ashley would be responsible for his disappearance.
He repeated, “Stay close to the candle.”
She brought the candle onto her folded calves, so close that Pixie began blinking from its intensity. His ears rolled back, and he sank between her legs.
Poor Tina, she thought. What was happening to her? Ashley would have never let Jeff go this far if Tina wasn’t in trouble.
The slithering moved to the right. It was trying to move around Jeff. Ashley yelled, “To the right.”
He moved, but not far enough.
“More to the right.”
He took three additional steps and began to disappear into the shadows.
But the thing had crept even further. It was hard to tell for sure, but she began to believe the creature was climbing. “On the wall.”
From the dark, he asked, “Am I there?”
The thing stopped moving. It made an eerie cry, “Aaaassshhhhhhh,” then slithered-sucked along the ceiling, heading straight for her. It could talk! It knew her name. HOW?
Her heart raced. Laura’s arms weren’t wrapped as tightly around Ashley as she would have liked. But because this woman couldn’t hear it, she couldn’t comprehend the extent of danger.
Ashley looked up, but all she could see were shadows creeping along the edges of the lighted area on the ceiling. Pixie hissed and became rigid. She urged Laura, “Hold onto me.”
Laura squeezed so tight that Ashley’s spaghetti dinner almost heaved out her stomach.
Several creatures were in the room with them now, like the thing had split apart and spread. Their slithers and scrapes filled the air, seeming to be on all sides, making it impossible to locate any of their positions. They were smart. She hadn’t counted on them being intelligent.
One creature to the left called, “Aasshh.”
What else did it know besides her name? She felt violated, like the thing had access to personal information it shouldn’t.
“Where is it?” Jeff cried.
“I think there’re four of them.”
“Four?” he said, alarmed.
Then, with a wail from the ceiling to the right, the candle blew out.
Her heart froze. She gained the awareness to flick the switch on the flashlight, but it didn’t work.
Slither, scraping, thudding from all sides of the room, closer, louder, the one to her left repeating, “Aasshhh.”
She banged the flashlight on the ground and tried turning it on again, feeling like she was coming out of her skin. “Turn on the lights!” She couldn’t hear anyone reply through all the noise. “The lights!” She was so afraid and cold, alone, despite Laura’s grasp.
But then Laura’s arms left. They just vanished.
Darkness enveloped her….
Time lost it’s meaning, and she couldn’t tell how many moments passed before a dim light grew in front of her. She realized her eyes were closed and tried opening them. It was hard. They were crusted shut with eye boogers. When she got them open a sliver, she saw a florescent ceiling light, bright. Her body ached all over, and her eyes burned. She rubbed them.
She turned her head left.
She was in a hospital bed. There was an IV needle in her arm with clear liquid dripping into the line from a plastic bag overhead. A white linen sheet and blanket were neatly folded over her body. She felt drowsy, but forced her eyes to stay open. She was not going back into the dark. No way. Not even to sleep.
To her right was another bed. Someone lay in it, but she couldn’t identify this person. Her vision was still blurry. It was a large figure, an adult male bigger than Jeff. She blinked.
Next to her IV drip, a computer was set up, making blip noises with red and green lights flashing and moving.
Where was she?
Had she been wounded by the shadow creatures, to the point that she required hospitalization? She didn’t remember being taken by ambulance to a hospital. Did she lose consciousness? Were Jeff and Laura attacked as well?
She tried moving her legs, but they were weak and she could only move her toes.
What had happened in the dark? Why couldn’t she remember? She hoped Jeff, Laura, and Pixie were okay.