The low rumble of thunder was consuming the east side of the
city, as small drops of rain started to come down upon the buildings and the
unsuspecting citizens that happened to be walking below. It was a dreary day to
say the least, and Anna was feeling every bit of it as she drudged up the steps
to her studio apartment above. She waltzed through the door in a haze, as she
seemed to mostly be in these days. She set her phone and keys down on a stack
of overdue bills, the top letter being an eviction notice printed in big red
letters. She paid no attention as she flopped down on her beat up old couch,
and breathed a sigh of exasperation. Life seemed to not be going her way as of
late, as she got back up and retrieved her phone. She had plenty of unread text
messages, but she was too careless to read them these days. She also noticed
she has a few missed calls, she quickly scrolled to find out who they were, but
was disappointed to see it was her mother, she was expecting someone else. She
saw she had a voicemail from her, and opened it to listen. “Anna!” her mom
started the message out seemingly in a bad mood, “Where are you!? You know it’s
your sister’s graduation ceremony, and she thinks the world of you, answer your
phone! Why are you like this now a days? Ever since your accident…” her mom paused
sounding as if she was starting to cry, “Just please call me back dear”. Then the
message ended on that abrupt note. Anna teared up a little, and sank to a
nearby wall space between her couch and her refrigerator, holding her phone to
her nose, and started crying a little. She pulled her sleeves of her gray shirt
over her hands halfway, for some sort of comfort. But nothing could really help
her pain. She just couldn’t be happy these days, and she knew exactly why. But
she couldn’t come to terms with it. She wouldn’t bear it any longer, she was
going to stop this now, and be a better daughter, be a better sister, she thought
to herself, wiping away some tears.
But as she was getting lost in her thoughts, she started to
hear them coming to her, calling to her. She flashed her head to the right,
then to the left, in a desperate attempt to look for them. Their cries were so convulsive,
and in and out they went. She trembled at the thought of them coming back, but
yet for some reason she craved them, she heard them coming, she closed her eyes
in an attempt to shield herself from them. But she knew she had to look, she
needed to. The bad things were back for her again, and she peered open her eyes
to see them. In the beginning, she would only see just one, it visited her
daily, and at first when it appeared it seemed so nice…so innocent. But as time
progressed, so did they. She would see more and more, and they didn’t look so
nice after quite some time. They also went from being friends, to becoming her
enemy, they twisted her inside and out, messed with her mind, and made her do
things she didn’t want to do but she always felt compelled.
But now she slowly opened her eyes, at first, she saw a blur
of black shadowy figures. But she wiped away her tears, and there were more now
than ever. The bad things were something you’d see in a nightmare, which is
what Anna considered her life. They swarmed all around her small apartment, all
staring directly at her. They sort of floated slightly above ground, they had
human skull like faces, and darkness is what they were made of. The one she
knew from the very beginning was right in front of her, peering down at her.
She cocked her head to one side and tried to separate herself form them as much
as possible. “Go away!” She screamed as tears ran down her face. She was
sweating now with anxiety, and her hands started to shake. “It’s okay dear” the
shadowy demon like thing in front said, “You know we never want to hurt you”.
Anna knew it was a lie, but then again, she thought. Was it? They never DID
technically hurt her. In fact, they actually helped her in a way, she thought.
The shadowy figure reached out its hand, and she grabbed it reluctantly as the
darkness jolted through her body. She suddenly felt a rush for a moment, and
breathed deep, as her trembling stopped. “Anna, why do you always fear us? We’re
your friends, aren’t we?” said another figure to the side. Anna gulped and
nodded slowly, “I suppose…but because of you…I…” Anna was cut off by the shadow
up front, who put a black finger like gesture up to her lips to silence her. “Anna”
the voice sounded so genuine, “Anna, we are here to help you, you need us, and
we need you”. Anna took a step back, even though as she was near them, she felt
so…alive. She looked out the window behind her, at the stormy clouds, and the
drizzling rain, she wondered if others out there had these…these things looking
after them as well. “Anna come back to us” said another one from the back,
there was probably at least 25 filling her apartment right now.
Anna turned
back to face them, “I think…I think I want…” but again, she was cut off by the
leader so to speak. “We’ve been thinking too, and we want you Anna” their voices
seemed to have an eerie echo like noise when they spoke, it was the scariest
yet most soothing sound one could hear. “We want you to come with us this time”.
Anna looked puzzled and almost scared, taken aback by these words. “Go where
exactly?” she questioned them taking a step back. But the shadows moved closer
to make up for lost space. “To a place with no pain…no misery. A place where
you don’t have to hurt anymore”. “But what about my family?” she said looking
down, remembering what she was thinking about before they showed up. “They’ll be
fine without you…maybe even better off without you hurting them all the time” said
a shadow from beside her, in her ear. Anna teared up a little, believing they
were probably right. She couldn’t stand how she hurt them all the time anymore,
but she didn’t know how to stop it. “I just…” she said and now really started
to sob, falling to her knees. “…want them to be happy, but I want to feel
happiness again too”. “Oh Anna, we know you do dear, we will always be here to
make you happy”. The lead shadow came forward and said, and it came down eye
level with her. She looked through many tears into the face of darkness, but it
seemed so inviting somehow, she wanted to believe with all her heart they were
her answer, they were there for her like no one else. She got up off her knees
and stayed in eye contact with it. Her crying ceasing for the time being, but
her face red and wet all the same. She peered into the face, but something inside
her was pulling her back. She kept seeing flashes of her family, she turned
away and held her head. The shadow pulled her back in, “No Anna you must keep
coming closer, let us take you” it said in a whisper. Anna walked in further,
as they all surrounded her now. She felt so alive, as the darkness soared
through her veins. She stretched out her arms and let them swarm all around
her, as she fell to her knees, faster and faster they flew around, and the more
she felt them. The more she felt that happiness she longed for.
But again, she saw flashes of her family. She saw her mom
and dad standing there, looking disappointed at her, but more than that,
genuinely sad to see her go. As if they would be sad forever. The darkness
crept a little farther away. “Let us in Anna!” they screamed at her. She stood
up and held her head in extreme pain. She started seeing her sister now, crying
and calling for her. She turned now in extreme fashion almost falling over. “Anna,
don’t you want happiness!?” one screamed in her face. As Anna now screamed in
extreme agony. “Yes!” she cried out to the ceiling. “More than anything!”, she continued
as the shadows kept spinning around her faster and faster grabbing for her. She
kept feeling that pulse of adrenaline from them, that feeling she craved. But
she knew she couldn’t let them take her, she knew she had more to fight for.
She screamed so loudly you would of thought the windows would break, as they
screamed back. “I DON’T NEED YOU ANYMORE!” She screamed, then suddenly
everything stopped.
She closed her eyelids in and out, everything was blurry,
she saw flashes of her apartment, her mom’s worried face, her dad’s look of
horror. She saw other people she didn’t recognize in blue jackets. As darkness
faded in and out. She opened her eyes to see her sister mouthing the words “I love
you”, and even though she wasn’t sure if she was, Anna thought she herslef was
smiling. “Well mam” said an EMT next to Anna’s stretcher that she was currently
on, speaking to her mother. “I think she’s going to be fine, judging from all
of the pills we saw thrown up” I think she saved herself. “Somehow…she saved
herself”.
