'Murderer' He Whispered

11

Sipping on hot chocolate laced with hot whiskey that Megan had hidden behind a large pile of empty bottles of cleaning detergent from under the kitchen sink, the woman finally felt herself letting go. She sank back into her chair at the kitchen table, feeling her fingers and cheeks tingle with delight as the liquid mixed into her insides. It made her giggle slightly as the chocolate soothed past her chewed on lips and aching gums while the whiskey burned pleasantly down her throat.

Watching her, Christie laughed. "It's so good to see you like this again, even if it is with a little bit of help" she winked, eyeing Megan's drink that was disappearing fast with a smirk.

"You've got that right" Megan replied, feeling her smile loose on her lips that only made her giggle more.

"You're still the biggest light weight I've ever known!" the other woman chuckled before continuing to clean the kitchen counter-tops that had been stained heavily with thick coffee rings and splashes of gravy and grease, which Christie has to scrub heavily on in order to make the stains fade even just a little.

Watching her, Megan felt a sting of guilt fill into her stomach again. "You don't have to do that, Christie. I can do it later"

"Nonsense! You sit right there and enjoy your drink!" the slim brunette shot back almost instantly before Megan could argue any more. "You deserve a break"

From how thick the various stains were embedded into each surface, it took the woman almost twenty minutes to clean each counter-top, before spraying and wiping them once more for good measure.

Soon, the tiny kitchen was filled with the fragrance of lemon and bleach that stung at Megan's nostrils. However, it was a far better smell than the faint aroma of stale food that Megan shamefully admitted that she'd gotten used to after a while. She began to wonder how on earth the girls had dealt with all this. Had they grown used to it like she had, or had they been secretly hating their mother all this time? Megan shivered, unsure of whether she wanted to know the answer or not.

Placing her mug down onto the cup coaster next to her on the table, Megan frowned as she fell deep into confusion.

Where are the girls, anyway?

Megan scratched her head as she thought back to the last time she remembered seeing them both. It was that morning, when Bethany screamed bloody murder through the walls of the house, thinking the mould on the carpet next to her bed were spiders. Then, she remembered seeing Olivia, before the teenage girl sauntered down the stairs. But since she came home, she hadn't seen them since. In fact, she couldn't remember telling them where she was going before she left for the supermarket.

"Hey, Megs"

The woman was startled out of her thoughts as Christie set the shopping bag of carpet products onto the table, creating a loud thud that vibrated across the wooden table that shook through the bones in Megan's fingers before traveling into her ear drums, making her cringe.

"Ah, sorry! I was going to ask you what you needed all this for? Did you or the girls spill something on the carpet? If you did, I can clean it for you, it's no problem!" Christie spoke at the speed of lightening that Megan had to take a second to register what the woman even said.

"Oh, I actually forgot about that. The girls noticed a patch of mould beside each of their beds this morning. I asked them if they spilled anything but they said they didn't. I thought it was pretty weird that the patches were both right next to their beds, but-"

Megan suddenly halted in her explanation after she realised how quiet Christie had become. She glanced back up at the woman, only to see the woman's green eyes fixed onto her, wide with worry and what looked to be fear.

"Christie, is something wrong?" Megan asked, but she didn't receive an answer from the woman. After a moment, Megan realised with a pang that Christie was as still as a statue with her body tensing, as though she was suddenly too afraid to move. Within seconds, not a single muscle in her body moved, not even to indicate that she was breathing, and her unmoving eyelids made her fearful stare cold and terrifying to Megan.

As the seconds dragged by as though time had suddenly slowed, the woman noticed the odd, uncomfortable feeling of someone - or something, watching her from behind as the back of her head began to burn from an intense glare. Perhaps that was what Christie was starting at. Perhaps whatever - or whoever it was, was scaring her.

Then suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed her mind as she gazed up at Christie worriedly.

CAN SHE SEE CHARLIE?! IS HE BEHIND ME RIGHT NOW?!

Although the thought of seeing a blood-covered Charlie with that same sinister grin smothering his once gentle lips felt paralysing, Megan felt a surge of happiness.

If Christie can see Charlie, then that means I'm not going crazy!

With that sudden thought blazing within her mind, Megan began to twist her neck slowly towards her shoulder to look behind her, but just as her eyes were about to adjust towards kitchen window and out into the neglected back garden, a sudden bolt of pain shot through Megan's head in quick waves as though she was being electrocuted before that all too familiar droning sound filtered into Megan's ear drums, making her head pulsate painfully and forcing her to pull her gaze away from the window behind her as she dug her elbows onto the table, grasping at her head with her trembling fingers.

Clutching at her temples, Megan lifted her gaze back up towards Christie, but even through her blurring vision, Megan could see that the woman still hadn't moved an inch. She didn't even think Christie had blinked once.

"Christie, why aren't you answering me? What's wrong? What do you see? Do you see him?! Chris-" Megan screamed above the droning noise towards the  woman who looked as though she was frozen in time, right before everything fell into darkness.