𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

XXII-MEMORIES AND MEMORIES

-AESARA [ee-zura]
I shivered in my bed, wanting nothing but for her screams to stop. Teresa sat next to me, her arms wrapped around my shoulders, hands on both my ears. I wondered who would cover her ears.

Sure I could still hear as she screeched, complaining about the things in her head, the voices that only she heard, but I took comfort in the fact that they were muffled by Teresa's little hands.

Most times the screaming would go on for hours, alternating between screaming nonsense and then her clearly saying they were eating her brain. We never knew who they were. Just that they were in her brain, consuming it, making her more insane by the hour.

It continued, until one day, it stopped. And it wasn't a scream that trailed off into silence. No, it was one that ended so abruptly it was almost as if someone-or something-ended the screaming.

I jumped up, Teresa holding me back. "You wait here. I'm gonna check on mom."

"I want to go with you. I don't want you to go alone."

"I know." She crouched down, becoming almost at eye level. She wasn't that much older than me, but she was tall for her age. "I just need you to stay here okay? I'll come back when I figure out what's wrong." She waited for me to nod. "Good, just sit back on the bed and I'll be back okay?" This time she didn't wait for my nod.

I waited ten seconds, counted it out until I didn't hear her footsteps anymore. I slid out of bed and slowly walked out of the room. The house was dark save for some sparsely lit candles. They cast orange shadows against the wall opposite of them. It stretched my silhouette against the wall and it reached mom's open door before I did.

Teresa stood in the doorway, never actually stepping into the room. She stood frozen, her back to me, but I saw how tense she was. Slowly she began to shake.

Our mom's voice drifted out from the room, a funny note to it. "Look at it, baby. I got rid of them. I'm better now."

Got rid of what? I didn't try to hide my footsteps now as I joined Teresa at the door. The room was dark, but there was enough light in the hallway for me to tell what was going on.

The walls were covered in red, longhand smears dragging from higher than midway to the washboards at the bottom. Mom was sitting in the center of the room, legs crossed under her and hands in her lap. She was holding something in her fist, they were bloody too. My eyes trailed up her arms to her smiling face. And then they met her eyes.

Or well, where her eyes used to be. Now they were empty sockets the color of her blood. It dripped down her cheeks like red tears, falling to the floor beneath her. There was a small tapping sound from when they hit the wood.

A nasty feeling settled in my stomach and I felt like throwing up. Teresa moved quickly and slammed the door shut, locking it from the outside. She grabbed my hand and pulled me back upstairs, falling to the floor and grabbing a bag from under the bed. They were our emergency bags. She pulled out another. "I told you to stay up here." Her voice shook, scared and angry from what we just saw and me not obeying her.

"I was curious-"

"No! I told you to stay up here! We have to go now."

"But, I don't want to."

"It doesn't matter. Mom got worse, we can't stay here." There was thumping coming from downstairs. Mom was screaming this time, but now she wanted to be let out. I closed my eyes against them, not even fighting the tears that fell.