The next several days were spent furnishing and filling the rest of her house, leaving all but one guestroom bare. Zaira even bought a few paintings, books, and decorations to breathe life into her house. It made it seem like a home. And hopefully, this would be a home to her. It had been four hundred years since her last one and she was finally starting to remember what it felt like.
The entity had been quiet, for the most part. Ignoring it had seemed to almost make it lose its hold on the ground floor. Though she could tell it was getting angrier. Upstairs, it would move, truly move, tools and small pieces of hardware, and it was so hard for Zaira to keep ignoring it. Each time she went up the stairs, it ran at her. She had started to suspect that it wanted to push her back down. In any case, Zaira had determined this was not an entity she wanted to live with.
Zaira paused when she heard a knock on the door. Should she go answer? She quickly pulled a shirt out of the dresser and put it on, walking to the balcony as she did so. Forgetting that her balcony was directly above the porch and that, with all her talents, she could not see through solid objects. However, the person below must have heard her footsteps as they backed up and Hannah soon appeared.
“Oh, there you are! Hello dear!” The elder looked happy and had a tray in her hands.
“Hi, Hannah!” Zaira went downstairs to open the door. She had been expecting a visit, though half-hoping it wouldn’t happen. Hannah had come by every day around mid-afternoon. The first two times had brought on bouts of crippling anxiety, but it was more manageable now.
She had thought about her neighbors. She had come to the conclusion that, as long as they didn’t know, there was no harm in enjoying their company. Zaira was, however, curious. Curious as to why they were so nice to her. Curious as to why she hadn’t seen anyone visit such kind people. Were they too hiding? Should she be wary as well?
Zaira opened the door.
“Hi dear,” Hannah repeated, “I just wanted to know how you were settling in. We haven’t seen you about.”
“You saw me yesterday?”
“Two days ago dear.”
“Oh.”
“And we haven’t even seen you leave your house. Have you gotten everything set up?”
Zaira looked behind her, debating on letting Hannah in, the woman had come to visit, but she hadn’t crossed the threshold.
“Oh! It looks nice. Very rustic. With practical storage!” Hannah laughed as she looked over Zaira’s shoulder. “I remember the day I discovered kitchen drawers; I’ve never gone back!”
Zaira smiled politely. She had to admit, it beat having to rummage under the counters.
“Have you started your new work yet?”
Zaira was put off by the question. “Oh, I’ll be working next week or so. I take contracts…Odd jobs.” She hoped Hannah would let the subject go.
Hannah seemed to sense her hesitation; “You are not doing anything illegal now dear?”
Zaira shook her head; “No mam.”
“Good. Now, I brought you some cookies.” Hannah shoved the tray into Zaira’s hands.
Looking down at the tray in her hands, there were about forty cookies on it of various types. “Um…Thank you… I really don’t need this many cookies.”
“Nonsense! Everyone needs cookies once in a while. And you don’t need to eat them all at once, they keep well in the freezer.” The elder leaned in, “They are especially wonderful when that time of the month arrives.” Hannah straightened up. “Well, I’ll leave you with these dear. I need to prep the house. My son, his wife, and the grand-babies are coming over tomorrow night! Tata!”
Zaira almost felt like she had been caught in a whirlwind, Hannah’s happiness swirling around her.
Zaira took the cookies into the kitchen and draped them with a tea towel. She really wouldn’t be able to eat them all before they went bad. Did pastries actually warm up well after being in the icebox?
A cookie found its way to her mouth as she climbed up the stairs. Once more the footsteps ran toward her, and once more she ignored them. They were getting more forceful. Perhaps now the entity was desperate to get attention, using its last energy reserves to get it. It didn’t matter, she would continue to ignore it.
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The day was spent touching things up and finally picking up and reading one of her new books. It was too warm outside for a fire, nonetheless, she sat down in the rocking chair by the fireplace. Zaira soon became engrossed in the book. She started reading around midmorning and only stopped when she noticed it was getting harder to read. She went to look out the window. There was a solid cover of clouds completely blocking the sunset only letting an orange glow through.
Just then her stomach grumbled, she had skipped her daily meal. Looking down at her book she decided it was alright to continue reading at the table. She turned on the chandelier over the dining table. Putting the book on the table she went to get a lump of chicken and an orange. She felt too lazy to make anything. Then read whilst she ate.
It was eight when she headed up to bed, having finished her book. She didn’t want to start another one for fear she would read through the night. Zaira hated sleeping, yet she needed it. Spells got harder to maintain the longer you went without sleep. It became harder to think… And the nightmares were worse if her body forced rest on her. Sometimes she wished she had the courage to end the cycle. She shook her head free of those thoughts. She had promised Rushka she’d try. Things were already better.
Three steps from the top Zaira expected to hear the footsteps of the entity coming toward her. She heard rattling instead. As soon as her foot touched the second floor the decorative vase she had put at the end of the hallway flew toward her. Instinctively the non-human ducked and tried to throw up an energy barrier between the flying object and herself. Her little training insured that her barrier was unsuccessful, but the energy released was enough that the vase only bounced against her form before shattering on the floor. Zaira, curiously, bent to pick up a piece. She turned it in her hand. It was solid. She had expected it to vanish and return to its place.
How does it have this much power?
Zaira sighed and went to get her broom to sweep the shards. She had to take the situation seriously now. Somehow, it had gained strength, and it was going to get dangerous.
Needing answers, she decided to try one more thing before bed. She closed her eyes and stretched out her senses. She growled softly, there was nothing, the entity had vanished. She pushed her senses a little bit further.
Wait… She did feel something… It was very faint.
She followed the feeling onto the balcony. Zaira looked in the direction of her neighbors’ house. It seemed they may have an entity too. She jumped over her railing and glided down to the ground, then quietly made her way to the other house. As she approached the feeling grew stronger. Now crouched under the kitchen window, Zaira could tell the entity was different from the one in her house. At first, she thought it might be one and the same, travelling between the houses would account for the complete lack of energy between hauntings. However, she felt a different…taste, to this one. Still, she was uncertain if either were demonic or just ghosts. Her own seemed a little too sentient to be a poltergeist, she could at least scratch that off her list.
Satisfied, Zaira left their porch, got up, and started to walk home. She only got as far as ten meters from the stone house when she heard Hannah’s voice;
“What are you doing out there?”
Shit.
“Um…Just taking a walk?” She lied.
“Right.” The elder lifted an eyebrow at her. “Why don’t you come in for tea?”
“I thought you had company over tonight?” Zaira tried to weasel out of the situation.
“That’s tomorrow dear. How about that tea, young lady?”
Zaira couldn’t help but smile lightly. She was probably going to be in trouble but honestly, she was starting to like Hannah.
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When Hannah had said tea, she had thought it may be just a way to get her into the house for questioning but was pleased when Hannah actually put the kettle to boil. It would soothe her nerves. Ryan shot her a glance over his book and returned his gaze to his reading book in his hands without a word.
As Hannah prepared the tea and biscuits and Ryan finished his chapter, the new neighbor felt out of place. She had stood by the door a little awkwardly until her eye was caught by the collection of pictures on the mantle of the fireplace. She approached the assemblage. No one stopped her. There were a few in black and white on the left. Zaira assumed the earliest one to be the one in terrible condition. It showed two little girls sitting on the steps of a storefront, both looked like Hannah. Then there was one of a boy, who looked like Ryan, a bit older than the girls in the picture, on a bicycle. Another, better quality picture black and white picture, showed a young Ryan in a Saanichian army uniform. Yet another showed a curious sight. Ryan, in a tattered uniform, with his arm around Hannah in an even worse-off dress. They were standing in the middle of rubble, exhausted, but smiling.
“Our engagement picture.” Zaira turned to face Ryan, who had walked up behind her. “I had met her when training in Pritani in 1942. After victory in Europa, I was sent to help the clean-up in Liverpool and happened to run into her again. I proposed a couple of months later when I had to leave, she followed me to Saanich soon after.”
“You were ready to follow someone you barely knew to another continent?” Zaira asked a little louder.
The movement in the kitchen ceased for a moment, then started back up again. “When you have nothing left, it’s very easy to follow any speck of hope.” Hannah looked at her husband. “I never regretted it.” She pointed to a picture of herself and Ryan in their wedding attire standing outside a church. “We were married in ’47. Arthur finally came in ’57 and Julian in 1960.” She pointed to her two boys in turn.
Sure enough, all other pictures were of their children, in all stages of life. Infancy, childhood, the teenage years, as young adults, and married. There were also pictures of Julian’s two children, Arthur didn’t seem to have any. There were so many pictures, the frames looked like they were about to spill over the side of the fireplace shelf.
“Enough of that. Come, dear. Sit at the table and tell us what you were doing under our window.”
Shit. Zaira hadn’t thought they had seen that much.
“Ryan saw you,” Hannah stated.
“You’re not mad?”
Ryan sat down at the table, back straight, arms crossed. “As long as you have a good reason.”
Zaida paced a little bit. “I’m afraid you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try us.” Challenged Ryan.
Zaira clicked her claws on the table a couple of times before abruptly stopping when she remembered those sounds could not be made by human nails.
She stared at the couple. The entity. Should she just throw caution to the wind with these people?
“I think there’s an entity in your house.”
Apparently so.
They both looked surprised, yet instead of dismissing her, Hannah nodded. “Yes, we know. We suspect there’s one in yours too.”
“There is.” Zaira sat down and reached for the mug of tea that Hannah had placed on the table, wrapping her hands around the container for warmth. “Do you have any idea what they are?”
“I don’t know,” Hannah said, “but I have a priest coming over to do a blessing.”
Zaira frowned, she wasn’t fond of that idea. Not yet anyway. “I wouldn’t suggest that yet.”
“What do you mean?” Hannah sat down at the table.
“How long has it been here?”
Zaira felt as though Hanna had begun dissecting her with her eyes. She squirmed in her seat. It was likely obvious that she was withholding information.
And so, what? It’s not like she owed these humans anything.
Seeing his wife scrutinizing their neighbor Ryan stopped his own analysis and answered the question. “Only since your home went up.”
Zaira had looked into the earlier use of the land before buying her home and nothing suggested the land had ever been used before, making it unlikely that ‘rattled spirits’ were now the cause of the hauntings. Not that it happened often, once a spirit had crossed over, they rarely came back, and it was usually for a better reason.
“You aren’t concerned?”
Ryan shook his head. “It’s a little annoying, but no, it doesn’t really do anything. Moves things around.” Ryan scoffed. “We thought our old age had caught up to us at first.”
Zaira’s lip quirked up in a small smile before a more serious expression returned to her face. She addressed Hannah. “Yet you told me to be careful?” She hesitated. “Mine’s starting to throw things at me.”
“Oh, dear.” Hannah now looked confused and genuinely worried. “I never said that.”
Bless her. Zaira thought. So, the entity may have spoken through Hannah.
“We have a priest coming to visit our home next week. Maybe we can send him to your place too?” Hannah suggested.
Zaira felt anger start to flow through her. She closed her eyes and took a sip of her tea. She had not had the best relationship with the church and had to remind herself, yet again, that an individual could be very different from the group. When she opened her eyes, both elders were looking at her oddly.
“Sorry…” Zaira wasn’t quite certain what she was about to agree to. “I was waiting for more evidence to identify what is in my house so I can do something about it. But if your preacher can identify it sooner, that would be good.”
“I’m not quite sure I follow.” Ryan frowned. “Why bother identifying it?”
“You should always determine the cause of a haunting.”
“But why dabble in unholy things when you could just have it removed?” The elder man looked aghast. “What? Do you think you should find out its name and cajole it?”
“I’m not saying I want to name the thing, but it’s important to know whether we have a ghost or a demon in the house.”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“A demon?” Hannah gasped.
Zaira nodded. “One tactic can get rid of one type yet anger another.”
“Wouldn’t it be obvious?” Ryan asked.
Zaira ran her hand through her hair, resisting the urge to dig her claws into her scalp. Humans, just, lacked so much knowledge at times. There wasn’t enough time that night to explain the intricacies of entities, nor was she feeling up to explaining. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”
The Rosses looked at each other.
Hannah “Nonsense, dear. You’ve not bothered us at all.”
“Thank you.” What for, she didn’t know but the statement felt appropriate. Zaira took a few more sips of her tea. “Well… I suppose I should get going. It is dark out.”
“Nonsense dear,” Hannah said again. “It’s only 8:30. Stay a while longer.” Hannah got up and went to get more hot water to refill Zaira’s not-yet-empty mug. “Now tell me proper. We’ve seen no one visit, but you did mention a friend. Will they be coming over soon? How long have you known each other? What does your friend do? What do you do? Where’s your family?”
Hannah’s rapid-fire questions threw Zaira off balance, she blinked rapidly and found herself answering the easiest question to answer. “Rushka is a friend I met threeee… and a half years ago. They helped me through some tough times and now periodically give me work.”
Hannah frowned and looked at Zaira. “I’m happy to hear how great your friends have been.”
Something in Hannah’s tone did not sit well with Zaira. It wasn’t rude but Zaira couldn’t imagine what had thrown her off.
Ryan, who was mostly directing his gaze at the table, periodically glancing at his book in the living room, elaborated; “You used ‘they’”.
“Oh…” That’s right, humans weren’t as comfortable with genders as most species were. “Well, Rushka is neither a boy nor a girl. We address them with they/them pronouns.”
“I see, so Rushka is intersex?” Ryan asked.
“Well, I haven’t asked them about their genitals. So maybe, maybe not?”
Ryan’s eyebrows raised. Zaira got the impression he did not approve of the lack of explanation, but she was glad he kept quiet. Humans were after all notorious for wanting to put things in a box no matter how rude or damaging it was. Hannah on the other hand seemed even more confused.
“What do you do for a living?” Ryan had the direct tone of a parent interviewing a child’s new partner. She felt his wariness of her, he had a good reason she supposed.
“Odd jobs. I’m strong and agile. Rushka gives me contracts, working in fields, gorges, building.”
As Zaira got more and more uncomfortable under their scrutinizing eyes – she yawned. A perfect escape opportunity. “I’m so sorry, in the summer I normally go to bed at sundown and rise with the sun. Could we continue this conversation later?”
“Of course, dear.” Hannah’s tone was still kind, but much more cautious, “We will see you again soon.”
Zaira stood and put her mug next to the sink. “Thank you for the tea.”
Ryan gave her a curt nod as Hannah walked her to the door.
“Goodbye, dear.”
“Goodbye.
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A short time later Zaira was snuggling into bed. Some towels now covered her pillows and upper bed in an attempt to lessen the number of times she had to change the sheets. She let out a heavy sigh as she relaxed for sleep.
Perhaps it would be best to stop communicating with the neighbors? Their short conversation reminded her how hard it was to tell convincing lies ‒and remember them. Ryan didn’t seem to like her, not that she blamed him. She probably looked like some crazy lady who made her money through shady dealings.
A sharp pain started in her upper arm. She looked down to see that her claws had dug into her left arm. Zaira let out a short growl and got up. Once in the bathroom, she removed the half-inch that was buried. She growled and watched the dark red blood wash off her disgusting slightly lighter red skin. She was dispirited that she was unable to keep her glamour spells up all the time – that she needed to see her humiliation every day. She quickly finished patching the new wound.
Zaira crawled back into bed. The world spun a little as she closed her eyes. It was way past her bedtime. As sleep invaded her, she could have sworn she felt something crawl into bed with her.
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Zaira had spent the morning and early afternoon putting the finishing touches on her house. Now every room was furnished and had the essentials. She was currently standing in the front yard looking at what could be potential flowerbeds and debating which plants she would like when she spotted Hannah coming towards her.
“Hello dear.”
Zaira turned to face her visitor and noticed that Hannah’s tone was low, tired.
“Hello.” She answered hesitantly.
“I wanted to apologize for last night.” Hannah started.
Zaira’s eyebrow raised. “Apologize? What for? I was the one sneaking around last night.”
“Yes but you… Ryan… You…” Hannah trailed off, probably knowing that Zaira really was at fault. The elder sighed.
Zaira presumed the woman wanted to continue the conversation but didn’t know what to say as she simply stood close by.
“Is everything alright?” She hadn’t been planning on saying anything, but she felt compelled to. She hoped she wouldn’t regret biting the bullet.
Hannah looked at who she believed to be a younger Caucasian human woman with nearly black hair and eyes; “My son’s late.”
Zaira nodded, not knowing what to say. People were sometimes late but, judging by Hannah’s demeanor, there was something more to it.
“Right then. I’m sorry. This is none of your concern.” Hannah turned around and started to walk back to her home.
“You don’t really have anyone to talk to, do you?” Zaira asked before Hannah had time to get very far. She instantly regretted asking the question. What was wrong with her? She should cut ties and move on.
Hannah turned around. “There’s really only Ryan.”
“Why don’t you have anyone else?”
“Oh child, when you get older, people just…leave.”
Zaira stood straighter at being called a child, she suppressed the urge to bare her teeth at the elder human. After all, she was supposed to be younger. No, instead she focused on the rest of Hannah’s sentence. Weren’t humans a social species? I thought they took care of their elderly.
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A couple of hours later, about an hour from sundown, Zaira was lying on her new leather couch, reading, when she heard a knock on the door. She dragged her feet as she went to answer it.
Zaira opened the door to an unhappy Ryan. He rolled his eyes and spoke; “Our son didn’t show, again. Seeing as my wife seems to like you, I was wondering if you could come over for supper to distract her.” His eyes narrowed. “This does not mean that I trust you.”
Zaira opened her mouth and closed it. Then she nodded.
“Good.” He curtly nodded. Then turned around to go back home.
“Wait, when would this be?”
“Now.”
Zaira stood in place for a moment before following him. Ryan made it to the house before she did. He didn’t wait for her, opening the door and going inside. She heard him move to the living room rather loudly. Zaira suspected Hannah was not the only one upset about the missed family supper. When she got to the door, she heard soft crying coming from the kitchen area. Zaira knocked lightly on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer.
Hannah, who was sitting at the dinner table, looked up from the spot she had been staring at, eyebrows first shooting up then wrinkling in confusion.
“Zaira? What are you doing here?”
“Ryan invited me.” She looked over to said man, he had settled himself into what seemed to be his chair.
“He didn’t show.” She heard Hannah say sadly.
“Ryan told me. I’m sorry.” Zaira approached Hannah, patting her lightly on the shoulder in a weak attempt to comfort her.
Hannah looked back down and nodded her head slowly.
Neither elder tried to further interact with the guest. Zaira was out of practice socializing, so she looked around. She spotted the food Hannah, she assumed, had prepared on the counter. She moved to the kitchen and turned the elements back on, moving the cooled food back to the stove. No one stopped her. Whilst the food warmed, she rummaged through the cabinets, finding the plates and utensils. Once everything was ready, she portioned out three plates. Zaira set a plate in front of Hannah, one across from her where Ryan had sat the previous night, then one for herself where she had sat.
“Ryan!” Zaira called. The man turned to look at her from the spot he had been staring at. “Supper is on the table.”
“Oh, I’m sorry dear.” She heard Hannah say behind her, the sound of Zaira’s voice having pulled her out of her trance. “You shouldn’t have had to do that.”
“It’s alright.” Zaira seated herself, followed by Ryan. “I’ll help you clean up too.”
“Thank you,” Hannah said before starting on her food.
The meal was quiet. The elders were clearly hurt, but Zaira had no idea what to say. All the questions that came to mind were too personal considering the amount of time they had known each other.
“I was thinking about buying a car.” Zaira blurted out towards the end of the meal. She hadn’t truly been considering it. They had been fleeting thoughts when trying to intermix with the humans in the city. The thought had spilled out now as her brain had stumbled on the idea that a car may help the couple close the gap between them and others of their species. She had never seen a car in front of their home, and it was a long walk to the city.
“You don’t have a car? How do you get to Nanowin?” Hannah asked.
“I was wondering the same about you?”
“We get our supplies delivered,” Ryan stated.
“Mmm.” She could see Ryan doing that, but Hannah seemed like the type to go crazy without outside contact. “I walk.” It wasn’t a complete lie. She walked into town and had actually made the full journey there once, wanting to clear her head, it had taken two and a half hours. Mostly she just flew.
“What?” Hannah’s voice rose. Ryan, understandably, looked skeptical.
“I walk,” Zaira repeated. “Hence getting a car would be helpful for me… and maybe it could be for you too? I was thinking, we could split the cost of a car. It wouldn’t be such a financial burden on either of us and you wouldn’t need to rely on your friends and family coming here. You could go to them…” Zaira realized she was rambling. She stopped speaking.
Ryan was frowning. “I can’t tell if you are trying to get us to pay for half a car or…”
“You really need to get out.” Zaira interrupted. Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Hell, I can pay for the car fully and let you use it. I just think… I think…”
“You think we need to leave the house more often? Why?” Ryan questioned.
Zaira looked to Hannah, who had been quiet, and without thinking said; “You seem so sad.”
Hannah fiddled with her fork and spoke; “This was the house we bought after getting married. Nanowin had plans to expand in our direction, but it never did. When Arthur was born, we decided to move to the city to give him more opportunities, we ended up in Selkirk. We have lots of friends there. Julian. He wanted to move to a smaller city and chose Nanowin. As he had children, we figured we’d move back with him to help with the grandkids. It would be easier for Arthur to travel between cities. We thought we’d gotten lucky, being able to buy our house back.” Hannah let out a shaky sigh. “But now we haven’t seen either of them for two years. They don’t even show up for Christmas.”
Zaira saw Hannah’s eyes tear up. Unsure what to do Zaira reached out and patted the woman’s hand slightly. Zaira was not expecting Hannah to grab hold of her hand, and she instantly regretted the touch and wanted to pull away. But she forced her tense body to sit still and waited for Hannah to let go. Which she finally did after she was done crying. When freed, Zaira quickly tucked her hand into her lap.
“I’m sorry. Thank you, child.”
Zaira curtly nodded.
Ryan’s voice broke through the moment. “And what about you?” His voice cracked; he cleared his throat. “Why are you here? Alone?”
Zaira shrugged. “I have no family. I find it hard to make friends. Rushka is the only person I’ve got.”
“No family at all?” Prompted Hannah.
“I’m an orphan.” Zaira paused. Though there was one friendly lap she could always turn to. An older demon who would sit at the corner by the inn and beg for coin. Zaira loved sitting there and watching the mesmerizing old hands spin their silver ring. The only possession the lady had never parted with, and Zaira hadn’t since. “And the elder lady who took care of me has long since passed away.” Now she hesitated. Torn between her desire to share and her desire to run away, her chest tightened. “I am also a widow.” She interrupted Hannah’s condolences before they started. “I couldn’t care less about him; he was a bastard. I just wish… I wish…” Stop, stop… She took in a deep breath; it would be best not to continue. “I wish he hadn’t taken my son with him.”
Anguish rose inside her chest. She tried to push it back down, as she had since his passing. Her hand rose to claw at her face, finding the tears she had not felt escape her eyes. A sob escaped her, she unwillingly hit her face with the palms of her hands and pressed them down. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she hurt herself in front of these strangers.
In all her years only Rushka had ever tried to comfort her, so even though it made sense for Hannah to comfort her it still shocked her when the elder came and wrapped her arms around her. Zaira tensed, but her initial unease at being held was pushed aside by a wave of emotion. She had not let herself cry in years.
“What happened sweetheart?” She heard Hannah ask.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Zaira said roughly, pulling out of the embrace.
Hannah looked a little hurt but nodded in understanding. The elder woman returned to her seat.
“I’m sorry.” Zaira apologized. “I didn’t mean to be rude… or to bring my problems into your home.”
“Nonsense dear. You answered a question.” Hannah waved her off.
The rest of the meal was spent in silence. Zaira did have a few more questions for them and she was sure they had some for her. She almost snorted, her dumbest question being how they get their house to smell so nicely of wildflowers. But continuing tonight’s conversation required more effort than any of them was willing to give.
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Zaira felt heavy when she returned from the Rosses. She wasn’t used to being around people for that long. Let alone humans, where she couldn’t speak freely. Except she had, hadn’t she? That revelation was uncalled for. Those humans had no right to know what she had gone through. Curse Hannah’s friendly features.
Zaira headed upstairs. Expecting the footsteps, she was surprised to hear growling instead. She automatically growled back, not in the mood. She paused at the top of the staircase to visually scan for a source. Suddenly lighter footsteps came quickly toward her. Heavy footsteps followed close behind. Small arms wrapped around her hip. Zaira was surprised enough to forget to brace herself as the entity came crashing over her.
The woman was glad for the bend in her staircase as she hit the wall behind her but didn’t fall down the stairs. She let out an angry snarl and bared her teeth. She felt the energy vanish. Zaira angrily walked to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Obviously, that couldn’t stop the entity, but it felt good in a childish sort of way.
How had it managed to push her? Was there a second entity? Had the first started playing tricks on her? Had she simply imagined it? What if she wasn’t so lucky next time?
The questions played in her mind as her earlier anger amplified with this new development. She was angry with herself. Admittedly, she was getting a little scared, she had been careless too. Tomorrow, she would try another tactic. She got herself ready for the night, throwing her clothes in the hamper, cleaning her face, then burying herself in her bedding.
After a few deep breaths, her anger was replaced by a weight on her chest. A few more difficult breaths. Then some easier ones. And she felt empty. She closed her eyes and let the feeling of the blankets comfort her. This was by far her favorite part of being alive, the only time her mind wasn’t racing with all the bad. Simply lying there and relaxing. Zaira let her thoughts leave her mind, the moments between consciousness and dreams were bliss.
She lifted herself up abruptly as she felt her bed shift down with something’s weight. Zaira looked in the direction of the movement but there was nothing there. Not even an energy signature. She huffed and laid back down.