The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

1

Mrs Hughes watched the man lower the little girl onto the edge of the bed. Tamicka shivered as she sat there; her large blue eyes glistening with the tears that she had cried on the way up to the bedroom.

"Poor little thing, why don't you let me take care of her?"

"No, it's okay!" Jack Moon's voice carried the same flat, matter-of-fact tone it had when Mrs. Hughes had first met him.

The old woman watched as his fingers fumbled with the buttons of his daughter's dress. The little girl just stared blankly out at nothing, resigned to her undressing. "Mr. Moon, please let me hel..."

"Mrs. Hughes, if you don't mind I am more than capable of looking after my own child!" His voice stayed even but the old woman detected the underlying note of anger it held.

Knowing how worried he must have been her kind smile never faltered. "I just thought that you might like to go and run her a nice hot bath." She watched him look up at her. He opened his mouth to speak but she was ready to stand firm on the subject. "Lots of bubbles mind, I'm sure she'd like that."

Mr. Moon looked back at his daughter before returning to Mrs Hughes. His eyes told her that he knew he had lost. Without saying another word he rose to his feet and walked over to the open door only looking back once he had crossed the threshold and was standing out in the passage. Mrs. Hughes could see that he wanted to say something more but the words never left his mouth. When he had left the doorway the old woman looked down at the still trembling Tamicka. Her hair, made lank by the rain, clung to her face as her large eyes still stared out towards nowhere.

"Come on then sweet pea; let's get you out of those wet things."

2

Tamicka had become accustomed to the darkness through which she floated. Now it felt as though she had always been there and everything that had gone before had never really existed. The urge to remember something – anything – flickered in her for a fraction of a second before she allowed it to drift away.

"That's it, just relax and give yourself up to the darkness." Tamicka recognized the girl's comforting voice straight away and did as she was told. "It won't be long now."

3

A thick layer of rose scented bubbles covered the water in the deep bathtub. Mrs. Hughes untied the belt around the little girl's slim waist, removed her bathrobe then helped her into the bath. Tamicka just sat there in the tub of hot water looking directly ahead at the taps.

"You poor little thing, what on earth happened to you?" said the old woman, more to herself than to her young charge, as she sponged away the dirt smears on the girl's face.

Tamicka did not answer. She just kept her unfocused eyes on the taps at the other end of the bath.

Mrs. Hughes rubbed the soapy sponge over the girl's back careful not to hurt her as she moved it across the little cuts and grazes.

"Not to worry, we'll soon have you all cleaned up and sparkling just like a new penny."

Mrs. Hughes noticed Tamicka's whole body tense at the mention of the word 'penny'. The old woman remembered the girl's frightened expression when she had seen Penny down in the main hall and a thought crossed her mind; if Tamicka could not provide her with the answers as to what had happened to her maybe the other girl could.

After a few minutes the little girl relaxed again. Mrs. Hughes tilted the child's head up and looked into her eyes. For a split second, she had noticed some flicker of recognition deep within them.

The old woman smiled and stroked Tamicka's damp hair. "You just stay here and relax while I go and make you something to eat, all right?"

Little wet hands reached out and grabbed a hold of the housekeeper's arm as she turned and rose to leave.

"No, please don't go!"

Mrs. Hughes turned back and watched the wild-eyed child jump to her feet. In a second her arms were wrapped around the old woman in an unyielding embrace. "Oh my, don't fret so little one. It won't take me more than a minute and I'll be back, all right?

"Please don't leave me granny!"

The old woman held the girl close to her; the water from the child's skin soaking through the material of her dress. Poor thing, she thought as she stroked the Tamicka's damp hair, she's all confused bless her.

"Tell me that you won't leave me."

Mrs. Hughes gently pulled the girl away from her and looked into her frightened eyes. "Don't you go worrying yourself little one. If you want me to stay then I'll stay."

"Promise me that you won't go," wept the girl.

"I'll stay with you all night if that's what you want."

"Do you promise?"

"Cross my heart," replied the old woman. "Now just sit back in the bath and I'll wash your hair, would you like that?"

For a while the little girl did not move. She kept her eyes fastened to Mrs. Hughes' gaze as if to fathom whether or not to believe her. After what seemed like an age she nodded an acknowledgment that was only just readable to the housekeeper and sat down; her body disappearing under the thick layer of bubbles for the second time.

4

The dim and distant noises sounded strange to Tamicka as she drifted on and she found herself being drawn towards them. In the time she had been trapped in the nothingness she had forgotten what it was like to have the senses which, at one time, she had taken for granted. She couldn't remember the last time she had been frightened; she wasn't even sure whether it was fear that she felt at that moment but there was most defiantly a spark of some sort of emotion as the sounds became louder and less blurred.

Voices, the sounds were voices, but whose?

5

It was so good to be alive again; even the sting of the shampoo lather as it ran into her eyes felt wonderful. The firm yet gentle touch of the old woman's fingers as they massaged her scalp and the warm water against her skin felt better than she had remembered. She had never expected to feel those simple things again and now that she had, she never wanted to be without them. She could not go back to the dark place, not after being given a second chance. She would not go back, at least not while there was work still to be done.

Author's Note

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