Two
Ruth eyed the lamp that hummed lazily in the corner. The shadows of the bedside ornaments now stretched into long arms and mouths onto the walls. She cursed herself. “You’re too old for horror stories Ruth come on.” She scolded herself quietly, relinquishing the white knuckles that gripped the bed covers. Since Ruth had heard the stories as a young girl her grandmother told her about the house being haunted, it had always stuck with her. Things that crawl into your bed at night and wait for you to fall asleep before they eat you. She wasn’t terrified of such monsters; she wasn’t that ridiculous. She did however have nightmares when she was on her own when the darkness seemed that little blacker, the wind howled that little louder, and the shapes in the night took on the forms of sinister apparitions. The light hummed quietly still, and her eyelids felt heavy. The Baileys kicking in now, making her gums and face numb. She let out a staggered breath before finally giving herself to the world of dreams.
She was walking. Her feet were bare in the snow. Her nightgown flowing white. The sky was unloving and the morning sun struggled to get through the thick blanket of clouds above. The country road was cased in thick white and the wind was fierce as it cut through her.
“I’ll be right back.” She heard those words again. An echo with no speaker. A sound with no source. Just bouncing, drawing closer then dragging away. Ruth was farther from home now, turning the corner onto the bend where the road got busier on the way to the coast. Ahead, smoke pushed out of a car. A wrecked and crumpled shell with tire tracks of black scarring the snow, like a toddler had drawn thick lines on paper with a black marker. She felt dread strike her heart, and she ran towards the crumpled mesh of metal, howling his name.
Ruth reached the smoldering wreckage. He wasn’t there. Where was he? She called out for help but only the wind heard her, and it answered back lowly, whistling through her clothing as the snow continued to fall. “I’ll be right back.” She heard his voice once more. The sound of heavy breathing behind her. She turned and a bolt of terror tore through her, as he stood there, face bloodied, eyes jellied and jaw hanging low.
Three
Ruth screamed, fighting away the ensnaring covers that wrapped around her, fighting away the monsters, the cold, the wind, the hell that plagued her mind. The vision lingered like the sound of a disappearing train in the distance, still able to feel the tremors of the rampaging wheels on the track rattle her bones. The black of night encased her. Consumed her like a wretched Viper that hadn’t eaten in months. The snaking shadows rushed to her. Apparitions in the dark closing in. Red eyes in the hellish night. Wind rattling the windows and deathly fingers nails rattling and tap tap tapping on the glass.
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Hands took hold of her, took her into his. She pounded, called out, and screamed for help. For release, until the breathing slowed and his voice, the voice she had known for the last forty years brought her back to reality. Her eyes fell onto him, and he was with her. She could smell his aftershave, see the lines on his face in the darkness, his eyes through the light seeping through the bedroom window.
“It’s okay, Ruth, it’s just a nightmare. I’m here.” He soothed her like heat melting through dry ice. She lay back down on the bed, her head sweating and her body dampening the bedsheets. They held each other a moment as she recounted her nightmare. He laughed in that annoying way he did when she was feeling vulnerable, and a little silly herself. “You can’t get rid of me that easy.” He soothed.
“The light is off…” She croaked through her tears. “Why did you turn the light off?” You never turn the light off?” He didn’t answer. He only kissed her and soothed her. She lay there still, her heart erratic. The night closing in. Until she felt the bristle of his stubble on her cheek, and like magic, the monsters lost their teeth. “It was so real,” she cried, touching his face. He ran his fingers through her hair, took handfuls of her body, and pulled her into him. She was soaked through and the smell of terror was strong. The love falling from him enveloped her, and she found the night seemed a little brighter, and the wind not as fierce in those sweet moments he held her.
She lay there awake for a few minutes, maybe longer, while she listened to him sleep. She thanked him silently for it as she got up out of bed, put on her nightgown, and went down to the kitchen for a glass of water. The night was sheer black, and as she turned on the kitchen light and stepped into the cold, she paused. The heating wasn’t on. Simon always put the heating on when it was the winter months. Maybe he had forgotten? Or maybe it was in between cycles? She would ask him in the morning about it.
Ruth poured a glass and watched the snow falling over their back garden, her reflection cast onto the sheet of white ground that looked back at her. She knew they would have to dig the car out tomorrow morning before they set out. Another thing she had to do. The nightmare crept into her mind once more, like an echo from beyond, not quite done with her. She saw her reflection in the glass. Her mouth fell lower. Her eyes sank to the back of her skull. She finished the glass of water quickly.
I shouldn’t go. She thought. I have too much to do. The weather is terrible, and the flights might be cancelled anyway, and that’s even if we can get to the airports if they haven’t cleared the snow from the roads! And what about Scotland? The thought of how the weather was up that far North made her blood run cold. She sighed heavily, her stomach in knots. Resounding to her anxiety and encroaching deadlines, she moved into the hallway next to the front door to use the landline.
Ruth dialed her literary agents’ number to tell her she was going to cancel the trip to Scotland, that it could wait, that she needed to get things moving, that Simon would understand. That was what she wanted to do. But as she lifted the receiver and pressed the numbers and the phone began to ring, her eyes fell onto the front door window, and the figure she saw standing there.