BILLIE'S NIGHTMARE

Chapter 14

The door swung open and horrid memories of my childhood flashed through my mind. The cries for help, the darkness, the creepy sounds, the fear of what was around me that I was unable to see.

The reason why I despise the darkness. The reason why I sleep with my side lamp on. My heart pounded against my chest the same way I would pound against the door. But just like I was, I ignored it and diligently entered the room. The second I did, I knew that I would regret it. But when I turned around, the door was already swinging to close.

"Wait-"

Bang!

The door shut and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't welcome the pitch black darkness in. Adapt. To not let it bother me and know that there was nothing there. I'm not a child anymore. I'm not scared anymore.

But I am.

And no matter how hard I try, I can't shake the fear away. I can't shake the panic away. Without sparing a second, I rush to the door and start pounding as hard as I could. I know it's locked. I know that because of the thickness of the hardwood door, nobody hears me. And even if they did, they wouldn't open. I was trapped here until my mother forbade it. And that was a long time. So, helplessly, I pound on the door with a small blur of hope.

"Let me out! Please!" I scream as loud as I could, banging louder, kicking, pounding, pushing and hoping, begging, praying, pleading. But the more I did, the more that hope faded.

"Please! Let me out!" My knuckles felt broken, my legs were giving up on me, my body aching, but I wanted to get out, needed to get out.

"Please!" I squealed, my hands still pounding, legs still kicking.

It felt like forever and still nobody heard me. I had stopped kicking and beating the door, but I never stopped screaming. I couldn't. I needed something above the silence. Silence meant they could hear me. They could track me. The imaginary creatures from my childhood that were after me. They knew that I was back. And I needed to get out before they came for me.

I promised, I swore, pledged to never do it again. Whatever it was and whether or not I saw the wrong in what I did, I swore never to do it again. Never see Josh again, never have fun again, never be happy again, go back to the way things were. Anything for her to let me out.

My throat became dry and sore and my voice was too husky and hoarse for them to hear me.

I stopped. I slid to the floor and rested my head to my knees as I always had as a kid. I closed my eyes and tried to think of the things that made me happy. I thought of Josh, of my childhood before adoption, of the Castillas...

No, not them. The second I think of them, anger washes through me, disappointment, pain, sadness, numbness. Not for them, but for one of them that crashed everything I had built with them. Tonight, it's over. Whatever was once there faded with his faith to continue with the exorcism. He wanted it to take me, now he lost me.

My eyes soon shut and the tears stopped flowing. Just as drowsiness started to creep in, something else did, too. And this time, it felt and sounded too real to be my childish imagination. I felt another presence in the room where I had always felt abandoned and alone, heard one where there was always silence. It moved above me from the ceiling across the small room to the one right above me, and it made its way to me painfully slow. Its breath was a choking panting, as if breathing beyond its nature. Trying not to move, my fingers tingled on my knees, looking for a way to get out.

But there was no way out. Nowhere to go. I was locked in the closet and it was here with me.

I heard it climb off the wall and rest itself right next to me, carrying a hideous stench and cold atmosphere with it.