Authors: Nicole Smith
Clive and Carlos w
ere leaving today. They had to go back to
Argentina
.
I really did
n’t want them to be so far away.
I
felt like I
need
ed them to stay
, they were leaving too soon
. I held Carlos close to me
as we said our goodbyes. I reached for
his hand and whispered in his ear. Hayden caught a glimpse of this and quickly
turned away. Carlos
seemed confused
as he held my gaze. Just as he began
to say something, Clive wrapped his arms around me and said goodbye.
I held Carlos’s attention as I said good-bye to Clive. I reached for his hand again before he turned away from me
, squeezing it hard
.
“Please
take care of your
-
self Natalie
and if you need us, r
emembe
r we are all here for you,” Clive
said as h
e kissed my cheek the
n
turned and
walked out.
I couldn’t handle this parting. I wished they would stay, I needed them
to stay
. Hayden will need them
too
, which is what I had whispered to Carlos. I told him it wasn’t over
yet
.
The
next night I a
woke at midnight and quietly snuck
out of bed
again. I walked out
to the living r
oom. W
ith
my
arms out
stretched
I began to spin around the room. I wasn’t in the
apartment
anymore
. I began
twirling
in a meadow filled with beautiful yellow, white and purple flowers
, or so I thought
. A
ctually
I twirled
violently
around
the
living
room, knocking books off the shelves,
painting
s
fell off the wall
s
and
the
black vase
Hayden had once put my red roses in
crashed into pieces
on the floor. I danced over it all
in my bare feet
.
I don’t know how long Hayden has
been in the room with me
, watching
in fear
. I could hear someone calling me, but it sounded so far away. As soon as I felt Hayden’s hands on my shoulde
rs, holding me down, I snapped out of
the
trance. The field of flowers vanished. I understood then that I had
never
been in a
field. I moaned
as I went
limp in Hayden’s arms. He picked me up out of the glass
and held me close. I could feel him
trembling
as he stroked my cheek
with his fingers.
“I’m sorry Hayden,” I simply said as he gently released me
, placing me down gently on to
the couch so he could wipe my feet of the glass
.
“Oh, Natalie,
where were you? Do you know?” h
e ask
ed, as he held my hands in his.
“I
n a meadow Ha
yden, i
t seemed so real. I
believed I was
really
there
,
” I
tried to explain as I
looked around
the room
at the m
ess I
made. I could
n’t remember do
ing this.
“Let’s try and get some sleep. We’
ll clean this up in the morning,
” Hayden carried me to bed
after he pulled
out the small pieces of glass from
my feet
. He kissed my neck and held me as I fell into a
nother
dee
p sleep.
The next morning I awoke alone. I
vaguely remembere
d last night and the dream of dancing in a meadow
. I wrapped my robe around me and
went out to find Hayden. He has
cleaned up the glass and put the picture
s
back up on the wall. I began
t
o wonder if maybe it has all just been a dream and none of it
really happened, until I noticed the books still on the floor and
the broom leaning against the counter
. I didn’t see Hayden though
. I went into the kitchen and began to pour myself a g
lass of juice. As I
went to
plac
e
the jug on the table I heard someone
whisper
.
“I’ve missed you Natalie
,” the voice
said
,
barely audible, but I heard
it. I felt the hair on my arms
rise. My throat became tight as I tried to sw
allow. I still held
the jug as I glimpsed
a shape
move from the room. I froze with fear
. I hadn’t heard the door op
en and Hayden enter until he
stood
beside me. I screamed and dropped the j
uice, spilling it on the floor.
“Natalie, it
’
s me, Hayden. Natalie
, you’re okay,” h
e held my arms tightly, gent
ly shaking me out of my fright.
“Oh Hayden, someone is here
.
I don’t know who, all it
said i
s
that
they
missed me. I’m scared Hayden. I thought the
y couldn’t get to me here, but they have,
” I cried.
“Your safe here Natalie
. I will protect you. No one
is going to harm you here
,” he
tried to comfort me but I think he had
to convince himself of this too
. Something i
s wrong with m
e and
I felt
it growing around me
.
Later that day I f
ell asleep on the couch. I could
n’t
understand
why I
felt
so exhausted but I just couldn’t
stay awake. There were
so many things I felt like I should
do like go and see Beth at
school. I had to ask her
why she
left me. I wanted to help Clive
and go to work for h
im. I just wasn’t sure if I could
mentally
handle it
right now
.
A loud bang startled me awake. I sat up quickly and looked around the room. A number of books had fallen from the shelf
and lay scattered on the floor.
“Hayden,
” I whispered.
“Hahaha,” a
sarcastic laugh filled the room. I tried to stand but felt hands on my shoulders holding me down. I tried to shout but felt hands covering my mouth. I began to squirm, tryi
ng to break free
.
As I struggled to get free
the room around me began to change
. The ceiling opened up and the floor belo
w me disappeared. I dangled
by these hands
that I couldn’t match a body t
o
o
.
“Please don’t drop me,
” I begged
through the f
ingers still covering my mouth.
“Natalie, if I dropped you it wouldn’t matter. Don’t you realize what you are? Don’t you know
that
you
’
r
e
dead?” t
his
s
hadowy
voice whispered back.
I screamed as
loud as I could.
I felt the hand come away
from my mouth and I managed to
reach for a ledge of the apartment
building
and pull myself up. I placed my ba
ck against the bricks
and gasped
. I flattened my palms against
the wall
and
slowly shuffled
towards the open window with white curtains blowing through it.
I
felt as though I dreamt everything around me
. I reached the window and crawled in
side
. As soon as I felt
my feet
land
back
on
a solid surface
I crouched
as I
looked up.
My gaze landed on Hayden,
standing over me. He reached his hand down for m
e. I placed my hand in his and
without a word he pulled me
up
to him.
All I can do is
to
try and get through the night
, I thought
. Hayden loc
ked the bedroom door once I settled myself in
bed
. It seemed stran
ge to have to do this but he
believed i
t
necessary for my own safety. I secretly
worried
more
about his
though
.
I actually couldn’t fall
asleep
after my nightmare. I
t seemed too real
this time
.
I stayed up reading for a few hours
, hoping to take my mind off
of
it
.
I glanced over at
Hayden
and watched him
sleep
ing
,
noticing
his arms
have
dropped from around me. I reached for the lamp,
about to turn it off when
I heard the voice return. It’s
in t
he room
with us
. How did it get in here?
I looked
over
at the
bedroom
door and saw that it’s
wide open
now
.
“I’ve missed you Natalie
,” i
t w
hispered again,
barely audible, but I heard it.
I shivered as the air in the room went cold.
I reached for Hayden. I tried to wake him. I shook him
vigorously.
“Hayden!”
I shouted
his name
but he woul
dn’t move. I began to cry as I reached for his hands. I
leaned over and kissed them
as
I
desperately
tried to hold o
n
to him
but
he disappeared in front of me.
Everything disappeared, the bedroom, the apartment, everything except
the owner of the voice that haunted
me.
A woman stood
in front of me with a little girl
by her side
. She loo
ked strong and beautiful in a
long
dress with lace
around her neck
and silk
hugging her body. The dress
looked old but she didn’t. The lit
tle girl standing beside her reached her
thin
arm up to hold the woman’s han
d. She seemed ill but I believe
she must have been pretty when
she lived. I usually didn
’t see sick looking ghosts, this
little
girl
surprised me. As I sta
red at them a vision of
the
thre
e girls in my closet flashed before my eyes
.
This
little girl used to be
one of them. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
“Natalie, I have missed you,” she
squealed as she released the woman’s hand and came running towards
me. She placed her little
hands around my waist and
rested her head against me.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. You haven’t changed
a bit,” I told her
.
She let go and looked up at me.
“This is my new Mommy,
her name is Abigail. She wants
to meet you. I’m afraid I told her about you, that when you were little you would talk to me and my sis
ters in the closet. She is
interested in our time together, however brief,” she whispered. I looked over at Abigai
l. S
he still stood
there, in front of me, looking me over. I didn’t feel comfortable with her here. I knew she planned to hurt me somehow.