Playing The Mind

Chapter Two

- Dedicated to 3mmal33 because she helped me in so many ways :). Thank you. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, thanks

Chapter Two

Joe frantically fumbled through his briefcase in urgent search for his house keys. He had a grasp of the keys a few times already but it continued to slip through his fingers as sweat consumed the surface of his hands. Through frustration he grabbed for his keys and held it tight, carefully placing it into the keyhole. His gaze penetrated the door as he forced himself to keep from glancing behind him. Finally, he pushed the door open and slammed it behind him once he walked in.  He dropped his briefcase and keys on the floor before leaning back against the front door, pausing for his heart rate to calm down.

He had always dreaded the long walk from the front door down to the main gates, in order to make it to the main road, as he had to walk through the cemetery which was their front garden. Through his peripheral he always thought he saw a short, dark figure resembling the features of a young boy. He’d seen a photo of this boy on a newspaper that he and his wife found in the attic on the day they settled into the house. He would also feel light taps on his shoulder as he walked along the path to the gates.

Joe shrugged all frightening thoughts out of his mind before gently picking his keys and briefcase off the floor and strolled into the kitchen, plastering a smile onto his face first. As he went to place his keys and briefcase on the table he spotted a few long, smudges of red liquid.

“Why is Bianca so messy? She was never like this before,” Joe growled to himself, placing his keys by the sink on the counter and his briefcase on the floor.  He grabbed for a glass and filled it with the tap water before taking quick gulps of the water, the cold liquid soothing the inside of his throat.

 He turned away from the sink in time to watch his wife strut into the kitchen; only what he perceived was not his wife at all: Her brown hair was replaced with that of a silver colour and her eyes were completely black with no trace of the honey orbs he fell in love with a few years back. The maroon dress that, he was so sure of, Bianca had was torn in the most peculiar places: the right sleeve was completely torn off, there was a jagged tear just above the hem of the dress which ended just below her knees and right in the middle of the dress was a circular cut revealing bright red knickers. This woman’s neck was smeared with a line of fresh blood.

Joe trembled at the sight, allowing the glass to slip out of his hand and break into smithereens on the floor. He backed away and briefly glanced at the shattered glass, then peeked at the creature advancing before him only to see that the blonde highlighted brown hair returned, the eyes were back to their original honey colour and her dress was pristine. The only thing that caused him to frown was the worry portrayed on her face.

“Babe, are you alright?” Bianca’s sweet, soft voice filled the air and calmed down the rate of Joe’s heart beats. She had flinched and stopped by the door when he had dropped the glass on the floor. She waited for his signal before carefully overstepping the broken glass and engulfed him into a comforting embrace, although she felt he engulfed her as he towered over her. This hug was not only for him but for her too. Throughout the day while her husband was at work Bianca always heard little whispers and the continuous ‘tinging’ of bells. The words uttered in her ears were very clear yet discrete, however she could never tell whether it was just in her head or just people visiting the cemetery, not that many people did. She usually ignored these whispers, busying herself around the house or getting herself lost in one of her books.

“I’m fine,” Joe lied. “Just thought I saw something.”

“I missed you,” she whispered to him as it suited the atmosphere. They loosened their grip, although remained to hold on as they gazed into each other’s eyes, searching for the trust. They always had these silent agreements. Joe gently placed his lips on hers, allowing it to linger for a few seconds before they parted. “Charlotte and Chris are here with baby Anya in the living room.”

“Oh great, let me just clean up this mess and I’ll go greet them.” He directed to the broken glass, carefully picking up the larger ones and chucking it in the bin. “By the way Bianca, why is that table such a mess? You’re usually extremely clean.”

Bianca frowned and then skimmed the table. “Oh, it was probably Anya. She was crying and I gave her my lipstick to play with while she was sat on the table,” Bianca explained, failing to realise the red smudges distributed amongst the table with a larger area than the lipstick could do.

Bianca grabbed a damp dishcloth and scrubbed at the table. At that moment, Charlotte tiptoed into the room while carrying Anya in her arms to prevent her heels from making that distinct horrible noise upon the contact with the floor. Confusion filled her naturally pale face, her chocolate coloured eyebrows joining together in a frown.

“What’s going on in here?” She questioned, struggling to voice her thoughts as Anya grabbed at her gold chain and vigorously yanked at it. Charlotte glowered at her only daughter but this only caused Anya to give out a sweet laugh.

“Oh my, Charlotte, you look well,” Joe turned after using the dustpan and brush to sweep up the remaining glass. He intentionally avoided her question. “And you, always the cutie,” he stated, directing this to Anya. He played with the ends of Anya’s hair as she giggled with satisfaction while Bianca continued to scrub at the table.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you had to look after this little one all day. Ever the troublemaker,” Charlotte humoured earning a small chuckle from Joe and a wide grin of pride from Anya. “Who would have thought a nine month old baby would be this much work?”

“We’ll soon find out though, wouldn’t we? I mean, you’re going off for a month and we’re keeping little Anya for the while,” Bianca stated. She huffed as the red stains on the table refused to wash away.

Charlotte handed Anya over to Joe in relief and made her way over to Bianca. “Bianca, what are you scrubbing at? There’s nothing there,” she asked nervously, thinking her best friend must be insane.

Bianca just stared at Charlotte with a blank expression, almost shocked by her statement although when she looked back at the table, sure enough Charlotte was right. Strange. “Oh there was something there, it’s gone now.”

“Where’s Chris then?” Joe changed the subject.

“Right here.” Chris appeared at the kitchen door with two suitcases in tow, both of which were Charlotte’s. “Good to see you Joe but we better head off or we’ll miss our flight. Take good care of our Anya.”

Joe and Bianca stood by their front door with Anya still on Joe’s arm, watching as Chris and Charlotte strolled hand in hand towards the main gates. Anya waved at her parents, jumping with excitement in Joe’s arms while both Joe’s and Bianca’s hearts strummed with nerves. They shut the door soon after only to hear the sound of those familiar bells in their heads. The happiness that Anya’s joyful face expressed changed to one of the sour sort where she began to wail, tears streaming down her face and snot making its way into her mouth from her nose. Now, even Anya will need to learn to come accustom to the sound.