The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Fifty-One (Part Two)

6

Wendy hid in the cluster of bushes at the far end of the garden and watched the light come closer towards her, hugging her knees into her chest for comfort. All she needed to do was wait for the girl to be far enough away and then make a dash for the house. Her mother seemed to be under some kind of spell but her father would know what to do. All she had to do was wait it out.

The faint smell of death was getting stronger as the danger headed her way but all she had to do was stay calm, wait for it to pass and get to the house.

7

It was impossible to see anything through the thrashing rain that beat down on the windscreen. Jack Moon drove more by instinct than anything else.

"Slow down for god's sake!" shouted Mrs. Hughes from the backseat.

Moon ignored the old woman and swerved on the command of the strange voice which came from Cass' mouth.

"Right!" she shouted above Mrs. Hughes' protests.

He jerked the steering wheel to the right and felt the nearside front tyre scuff the pavement. The back of the car jumped as rear wheel on the same side mounted the curb then met the tarmac again.

He looked in the mirror at the young woman. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Go to the end of this road and turn left," was her answer.

"I can't even see the end of my goddamn nose let alone the end of the road!"

"Now," screamed the girl. "Turn left now!"

He did not question her, he just did as he was told.

"Don't worry, we're nearly there now," said the girl/woman.

"Christ, we'd better be!" said Moon as he pushed down hard on the accelerator once again.

8

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Tamicka could feel the smile on her lips but it was not her smile. Annie was on the hunt again and she would not stop until she had found and killed the girl. The only good thing was that while she was busy with her chase she had left Tamicka alone.

Somewhere behind her Tamicka heard a noise. What had started out sounding like static gradually became a voice.

"Tamicka, can you hear me?"

Tamicka recognised the voice as that of the woman who had tried to help her earlier. She wanted to answer but she was too frightened to even think the words in case Annie found out.

Please help me! The words formed before she could stop them.

"Don't worry, we're not far from you now," replied the voice.

"Who's there?"

Tamicka cursed herself for allowing the words to escape into her mind but there had been nothing she could do to stop them.

"Not now... not now... I'm so close... GET OUT!" The first words were said in the impatient voice of young Annie but the last two were shouted by someone... something else.

Fear filled the small part of Tamicka that still belonged to her as she sensed her help drift away into the background, but then something strange happened, instead of vanishing completely the woman stayed there on the very fringes of her mind.

"I SAID GET OUT!"

The other presence held its ground and Tamicka sensed a new found strength in her. This time she wouldn't be so easily moved out and Tamicka would not be left alone with Annie.