I opened my heavy eyes. I stared up at the blank ceiling wondering where I was. I winced as I attempted to move my body. The taste of blood on my dried lips sickened me further.
“Elizabeth?” a voice echoed in the distance. Someone grabbed my arm and pushed a needle in my vein. I furiously hit and punched at them.
“Elizabeth, calm down. It’s okay. We need help in room 241,” they yelled. I continued to fight the person.
“STOP! Don’t touch ME! Let go!” I screamed. Soon more people rushed in the room and held me down.
“I’m going to restrain her to the bed; hold her still.” I felt calm as they drugged me. I soon slipped unconscious. I greeted the darkness with open arms. I remember seeing a beautiful meadow. I must have been dreaming. I was laying in the sun gazing at the blue sky. Finally! I’m having a good dream. I felt the green grass beneath me. The cool blades ran through my fingers. I sighed with content. Screaming cut through the air like a sharp knife.
“HELP ME!!!” someone shouted in terror. I jumped up in distress.
“Where are you?” I asked frantically.
“PLEASE HELP!!” the young voice called. I ran in the direction of the voice and came across a pond. The screaming stopped.
“Where are you!?” I asked once again. Only silence met my response. I peered down at the tranquil water and the mirror of my reflection.
“Well after all this is just a dream,” my reflection’s mouth didn’t move as I said those words. Instead it smirked and replied back.
“You wish,” the water that was crystal clear turned red. My reflection distorted into a corpse looking version of myself. I watched as the cool water turned to hot blood. The stench was unbearable. I gagged in disgust. I tried to run. But I was frozen there. Not able to move. A hand came out of the pond. There was no flesh or muscle. Only bone. It grabbed my ankle and yanked me in the blood. Its grip on me was firm and excruciating; crushing my ankle and ripping flesh. I tried to swim but it pulled me under. I couldn’t breathe. I sputtered as blood filled my lungs. A burning sensation filled my body. I woke up and coughed hoarsely as I gasped for breath.
“You’re awake,” the doctor said as he scribbled on a paper.
“Why am I here?”
“We found you at your house unconscious. You hurt yourself badly. Knocked yourself hard on the head.”
“No I didn’t! They hurt me! They attacked me! They said they won’t stop!”
“Who?” the doctor questioned gently.
“Never mind… I was just having a bad dream after I fell… And hit my head,” I replied quickly. Hopefully he bought that. I don’t want him to think I’m insane. They would never believe me.
“Hmm… Would you tell me more about the voices in your head?”
“What do you mean? I don’t hear voices in my head. The thing I was talking about was a nightmare I just had. I guess I watch too many horror movies. Sorry I just panicked.”
“Are you back on your medication Elizabeth?”
“Yes, I’ve been on them ever since Claire was born,” I lied sweetly.
“We are going to run a psych evaluation on you. Just to make sure…” he muttered looking me up and down.
“Alright. Thank you so much for taking care of me,” I smiled at him. As he walked out of the room I rolled my eyes. Yeah like he actually did anything to “help me”. I looked at the IV in my arm and waited for the next doctor to evaluate me. The needle in my arm looked baneful. Dry blood stained my skin. The sight of the IV was familiar to me.
A new doctor strolled in through the metal door. She wore pointed toe shoes; a shiny white that matched everything else in the hospital room. Her hair was bright red and twisted together in tight long curls. The doctor wore a long beige pencil skirt and a white long sleeved shirt.
“Hello,” she cheered. Her voice sounded like jingling bells. A smile from her face beamed down on me. I could tell that the joy she showed was artificial, instead of the real sun rays it was like a blinding light bulb.
The test went by smoothly. I answered them the way a normal and sane person would. So much lying I might as well have been an actress at that point.
“You seem to be perfectly normal. Maybe some bumps and scrapes but nothing harmed you majorly,” the female doctor looked at me with pure innocence as I grinned at her nicely.
“When will I be able to go home?”
“As soon as you sign these papers,” I signed them and left hurriedly. I called Thomas on my phone as sat in the car. It rang but no one picked up. I called the home phone.
“Hello?”
“Are you and Claire at the house?”
“Yes… We are waiting for you at home,” Thomas calmly countered.
“Meet me at hotel Rovana,” I added desperately.
“No. We are staying here,” I stared out the windshield in distress. How could he say these things?
“Whatever you think you saw was just a hallucination. You were drunk. Come home please,” he pleaded softly.
“I know what really happened Thomas!” I spat in a venomous tone.
“Don’t do this. Liz. I… I love you,” Thomas choked out in anguish.
“I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t relax. I can’t even hold my child without shuddering. I can’t stop thinking about those th-things. I just can’t! So don’t make me,” I sobbed in dread. I rested my head on the leather steering wheel as hot tears streamed down my grief stricken face.
“We can be a family. If you get back on the pills the doctors gave you’ll be okay again. Haven’t you noticed that ever since you stopped taking them you’ve been seeing things?” he rationalized.
“What about the first night? When YOU saw something. What about the radio!?”
“I saw a family of bats. I got them exterminated the next day. The radio was just static. You were screaming about the voices. It was scaring Claire. I broke it so you would stop,” Thomas explained softly. I continued to whimper as he told me everything. Of course he had to be right. How else could it be explained? I thought back to everything that happened.
“I’m sick?”
“I can help you. Just come home. Please.”
“Ok,” I drove to the house slowly. The dread in my stomach and ache in my head made the drive unpleasant. I sat in the driveway for a few minutes trying to muster up the courage to walk in. Eventually I stumbled in. Thomas greeted me and encouraged me to sit down. I looked around and everything was completely clean. The house was warm and cozy. The scent of food tickled my nose. Thomas smiled and wrapped me in an embrace. His body felt chilled.
“Were you outside?” I questioned.
“No I’ve been making dinner. Why?”
“You’re freezing,” I whispered.
“Am I? I didn’t notice,” he laughed amused.
“Where is Claire?” I asked suspiciously.
“Sleeping in the nursery, darling. She feels most at ease in there.”
“Thomas we can’t stay here,” I whimpered.
“Why not? I made you dinner,” he smirked. Why is he acting like this?
“Because this place… There are evil things here. I’m not crazy. You saw them too!” I yelled in anguish.
“Lower your voice,” he stared at me blankly and walked into the kitchen. I followed on his heels. Returning to his cooking, he hums a tune.
“What are you cooking?” I wonder out loud.
“Pasta and marinara sauce.”
“Where did you get the ingredients?”
“The store,” he simply answered. I turned on the radio and looked at Thomas.
“This was the song that played when I walked down the aisle, on our wedding day. It was sunny that day. Clear and blue skies. Do you remember?” I pondered.
“Of course! How could I forget? Skies bluer than the ocean.”
“Where is MY daughter?!” I wailed.
“Our daughter dear. And please stop yelling,” I picked up a kitchen knife and pointed it at his back.
“I can’t eat marinara sauce! I’m allergic to tomatoes. On our wedding day it poured rain. The skies were gray! And this was not the song I walked down the aisle to.” I exclaimed.
“Put down the knife.”
“What did you do to them!” he turned around slowly. His cheeks pulled into a smile that was wide. Inhuman. He knocked the knife out of my hand and on the linoleum floor. It hit the ground with a silencing clatter. He yanked me close to him. I tear slid down my face as I struggled.
“Don’t cry, daring,” his voice was raspy. His fingers brushed my cheek. I spun around to face him.
“We can be happy. You told me that. Fight it. Thomas, I love you.”
“Thomas isn’t home right now,” he put me in a choke hold. I elbowed him in the stomach. He let out a gasp of surprise.
“Oh… You’re going to have to do better than that,” he threw me on the ground. The whites of his eyes were completely black. An empty void. He gripped my neck relentlessly.
“What does it feel like? To be strangled by the person you love?” he laughed. I felt something at my side. The knife. My vision started to blur.
“You a-aren’t THOMAS!” I choked. I slammed the knife in his shoulder. I scurried out from under him. He wailed in agony. His eyes went back to normal.
“Oh my god! Elizabeth. It is gone.”
“I know,” I replied. Blood ran like a river. I grabbed a towel and held it on the would.
“The pain… It… hurts,” he gasped.
“It’s gonna be okay. Don’t go to sleep,” I whimpered, as I called 911. I gave them the information. “Please hurry!” I begged. The river of blood turned into a lake.
“Lizzy.”
“I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.
“I’m so t-tired,” he whispered.
“No. No. No. Stay with me. Please,” I held his shoulder tight. Trying to keep the pressure. Trying to keep the blood inside. But it didn’t work. It was like a dam had broken. The red slipped through my fingers. He stared at my face. And let go of his shoulder.
“No, Thomas you have to help me keep pressure on it!” he just kept staring at me. Blinking slowly. Calmly.
“It’s okay. I-it’s okay, Lizzy. L-let go.”
“It’s not too late. The ambulance will be here any moment. Just hold on,” I cried. He smiled at me. A look of serenity washed across his face.
“I love you,” he mumbled. Then he closed his eyes. He was still after that. I checked for a pulse. Nothing. I opened his eyes. They were empty. Gone. The lights in his eyes were extinguished.
“I love you too,” I laid on his chest. I felt hollow. At that moment I couldn’t tell if it was blood or tears running down my face. I didn’t care. I just wanted him back. I just wanted him to wake up and wrap his arms around me. But I knew he couldn’t. The police arrived. They were asking me questions. Yelling. Threatening. I didn’t care. They put me in handcuffs. I ended in the back of the police car. I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
It was like my body was there, but I wasn’t. Just a shell, without a soul. So here I am. In a white room, where I’m being watched every second of the rest of my life. Claire is with my mother. And I’m writing this to you. Do not sell that house. Even if you don’t believe me. If you sell it, more will die.
-Elizabeth
*3 months later*
*Newspaper house listing*
3 bedrooms. 2 bathrooms. Old, but beautiful. Extremely low price. Perfect for a family! Even includes a nursery; with cheery yellow walls!
Author’s note: I hope you enjoyed this! This was the last part to the story. Feel free to tell me how you felt about this “series” in the comments!