The Schizophrenic

Chapter 8: Smothering Night

Jade had a terrible sleep that night. She was haunted by another nightmare, which had come after a long time.

“Hello, sister,” Cornelia hissed.

Jade felt her body shudder. The unusual warmth, Connie's familiar snake-like voice and the fire in her red eyes, it was all there. She tried to speak but Cornelia lifted her fingers and wisps of dark smoke shot out to Jade’s lips and sealed them. She walked around Jade and seemed lost in deep thought.

“Don’t interfere with me just yet, Jade, I have to plan a lot. The course of events in your life has to change. It’s long since I paid you a visit. Plus, I haven’t even talked to you much, have I?” she whispered, though it was so loud it echoed. She nodded to herself.

The wind whipped suddenly at Jade’s hair and made her locks lash her face till Jade could feel the blood sliding down her cheeks. Her lips refused to pull apart; Jade found herself fighting against her body. Her hands were frozen in place and her eyes watered with the sting in her cheeks. Surely the mar of Connie's nail must have split again. Her body writhed in pain within her but remained motionless on the outside. Her screams couldn’t find their way out of her mouth, so they internally burst into her and her body shook vigorously and her lungs squeezed and throbbed, aching to be heard.

“Ah, sweet pain, isn’t it? I’ll be generous to you, sister dear,” Cornelia’s voice rasped.

A fire lit up strong right beside Connie. Jade jerked to move, to pull Connie away from the flames. But the fire seemed playful in her hands. It burned for a few moments, and then a figure formed. The smoke transformed into the body of a girl. Then an aura of golden appeared, which was instantly dominated by ruddy crimson. The chrome yellow seemed to be rioting against the red. The aura turned into long curls of blonde hair and the face began to light up. First the striking blue eyes: they almost glowed against the clear, cream skin. Then the aspects came into clearer view, but Jade didn’t need that. She knew who it was.

“Alana!” she tried to say, but her lips remained sewn together with hot lava.

Alana seemed to have heard her, though. Because she came forward, only to be stopped by a quick swing of Cornelia’s arm and sparks of fire flew out, stopping Alana in her tracks. Then Jade noticed the wide, gaping scar on Alana’s forehead. She wanted to gasp, but managed only a suck of breath through her nose.

“Want to talk?” Connie said with a sly smile curved on her lips.

Jade could only barely nod.

“Price to pay, sister.” She snarled. She couldn’t have sounded more malevolent. “I’m a little thirsty…”

Cornelia inched forward, pretending to be debating in her mind. She stopped in front of Jade and said, “Ah, now that the sacrifice shall be made, I must have your voice to seal the deal.”

Jade felt her lips loosen, but before she could make a sound, Connie swished her fingers near Jade’s waist and it burst open, and a scream exploded from Jade’s throat. The pain caught control of her body; from the inside, she was writhing, but her body remained stiff. In the distance, she could see Alana materialize, and come closer to her, worry painting her perfect face.

“Jade!” Alana squealed.

“Uh-oh, Alana Sister, you shouldn’t have done that,” Cornelia tutted.

Smoke shot out from her index finger and wrapped around Alana. Jade pleaded to Cornelia to not put Alana in pain, but Connie enjoyed it. Wherever the smoke touched Alana, her skin slit and bled like a volcano. Tears streamed down Jade’s face, burning at the scar on her cheek.

“Please spare her, Cornelia. She’s a haemophiliac. Please…” Jade begged.

“It’s late now. I must leave. ‘Night, Sister. Oh, I mean, Sisters,” she corrected herself.

Just like before, Cornelia disappeared in a burst of flames and so did Alana, leaving Jade motionless on the ground, screaming.

She shot up from her bed and inhaled deeply. Her head throbbed and she could still feel the pain in her waist. Was this another of Cornelia's physical revenges?

She gingerly lifted the bottom of her sweater and saw a dark crimson line scratch across her stomach. Jade fell back onto her bed as fatigue overwhelmed her. Her wound was tender, and Jade couldn’t risk hurting it, whether it stung her or not. She had to take special care now, so as to not even prod it. She began moaning loud as pain grew within her wound into a terrible, all-consuming monster. Eileen appeared shortly.

“What’s wrong, love?” she asked.

Jade lifted her sweater gingerly, and Momma gasped. “Oh good Lord! Why don’t these prophecies spare you of all this afflictions?” Then she called, “Martin! Please, come up here. This is getting worse…!”

A sharp, razor-like pain ripped through Jade and she screamed till her lungs could no longer force voice out. Dad barged into the room and was instantly inspecting her stomach.

“We need to get a doctor, Eileen. I think its best we go to a hospital.”

They were in the car, with Eileen and Jade at the back seat. While Martin bought pain-relief capsules, Jade whispered, because she couldn’t speak much.

“I saw Alana, Momma. She was there, worried about me.”

On reaching the hospital, Jade was immediately admitted. But Cornelia hadn’t had enough. Jade passed out on the operation bed, where the doctors tried to find out how serious the wound was.

When she did wake up, all she heard was whispers, when there was nobody around her.

You think she’ll survive?

I doubt it, though she’s a little conscious now.

Connie might as well give her one more wound to scar her life forever…

Hmm… But isn’t it amazing that Connie managed to keep Jade unconscious for four hours! My good Lord, she’s so much better than that Becca who was taken from the Darrens’. That girl was plain stupid, even after Master had insinuated his ideas in her. She had just stood there shivering and crying.

Yeah, Cornelia's really something. She must have a great motive behind this…

The talks continued. Jade tried shifting on the bed to see if there were people under her bed. There was nobody, and her head was spinning.

Oh, she’s awake now. How do you think she’ll deal with this?

I don’t know. Let’s watch…

That’s when Jade’s eyesight blurred and she could faintly distinguish shadows of two figures. She blinked to wipe away the water that was filling up in her eyes. It helped and she saw one creature with its face sucked in as if the flesh had been sewn tightly over the bones. The eyes were a ghastly ruddy and the fingers were like strings of spider’s web. It stood tall and thin as a stick of frail wood, yet emanating power and superiority. The hair was scrunched upon the scalp like a mop of mud brown. The nose arched inwards, creating an unnatural curve and the tip was sharp and the nostrils were covered with a thin layer of flesh that was translucent.

“Who… What are you?” Jade stammered.

The creature smiled, and in doing so, the thin lips stretched out of their limit up the shallow cheeks and the teeth were black tar blocks. A cackle erupted from its throat, sending vibrations in its neck.

Jade shivered, knowing her nightmares were never going to end, and she was cursed.