Anna sat on her bed, her shoulders
hunched over and the darkness pressing against her. She was tired of
getting up and crossing the room to flip the switch, only to have him
turn it off before she got back to her bed. She'd screamed at
him, and threatened him. And he'd laughed at her. Sometimes he'd hide
under the bed and wait for her to forget; then she'd dangle her legs
off and he'd grab her feet and tug on her just enough to slide her to
the edge of the mattress. She'd kick and holler and curse at him and
he'd let her go. He'd scratch the wall and hiss, keeping her awake
for the rest of the night. And on the worst nights, he'd lay on top
of her, whispering horrible things into her ear; how he would torture
her family forever; didn't she know there was nothing she could do
about it? He'd spent the last three years tormenting her, and he
thought it was just as much fun today as it had been on that very
first night. It was the best entertainment he'd ever had.
Elias Emerson. He'd died in that room
over thirty years ago. He'd been the last of the Emersons; the estate
had been auctioned off, and then the property had been sold to one
young couple after another. They'd all had good intentions; a nice
big country house to raise a family, or the ambitious ones in recent
years with plans to "flip" it. Each of them discovered it
was truly a money pit, as one by one, the improvements fell through.
And then there were the accidents. Bad luck seemed attached to the
house, so it went unoccupied for a long time. Then the Morgan's moved
in, and for about a year, all was quiet. Then Anna, Brett and
Taylor's only child started having nightmares. She was up all hours
of the night, and she became terrified of being alone in the house.
She started getting bad grades and acted out at school. She had
changed. She complained about seeing a man in her room, and they
called the police. Then they had a security system installed and her
father began sitting with her at night until she fell asleep. But no
one ever saw a thing. No one except Anna.
But it would get worse long before it
got better. She would awaken in the middle of the night and throw
things at him; books from her nightstand and the flashlight that
never worked. Nothing made any difference; it was just a loud
clattering against the wall and then her worried parents would come
rushing in to check on her. She always heard his wicked cackle just
before her mom or dad would open the door. But all they'd see was
Anna sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up, rocking back and
forth; and crying.
After the first couple of episodes,
they had hauled her to the pediatrician, (never mind the fact that
she was almost sixteen, she'd been seeing Dr. Mason since she was
born, surely he could fix her). But of course, he found nothing
physically wrong with her. Then had come the medications, the
psychologist and that one psychiatrist. She'd passed all of their
tests, taken the medicine, followed the diets, all of it. But her
nightmares remained. Because he remained. Finally she'd
stopped talking about it; she refused to talk about it. No one
believed her anyway; and no one really cared anymore. It had become
part of their life; a disturbed young girl that had violent outbursts
in the middle of the night, and sometimes even during the day. They
ignored it. They ignored her.
Then as suddenly as they had started,
the fits stopped. Her parents were amazed and promised to lessen her
medication, pending of course, Dr. Mason's approval; and eventually
life returned to a happy and stable flow. No one asked why, it didn't
matter. All that mattered was that life seemed quiet and normal
again. Anna was so very grateful; and she owed it all to Freya. Elias
was afraid of her.
One night as Elias scratched along the
wall making his way toward her bed, hissing and breathing his foul
breath into the air, Anna watched in shock as he was flung across the
room, his ghastly form pinned to the door. Anna blinked her eyes and
sat up as another form appeared above her bed. It was a woman, in a
long flowing white dress, hovering over her, spreading a pale blue
light around them; protecting her.
Freya Emerson, Elias' wife. She
whispered the same words over and over until Anna began repeating
them as well. She could feel Elias struggling, and he began a low
pitched howl; he was in pain. She saw the darkness of his form slide
down the door to a heap on the floor and she could hear him
screaming. Freya knew her stuff. Now Anna had a new friend. And
together, they would torture him, like he had tortured them.
That was the night Anna smiled for the
first time in three years. Life was going to be different; it would
be fun. Freya knew all of Elias' tricks; and Anna was willing to do
anything to punish him. It was going to be the best entertainment
they'd ever had.
©2013
Garden Summerland
