Protection

Husband?

"Ivory, stand up."

The floor feels very uncomfortable beneath me and there's pain coming from the area of my neck.

"Wake up." Brandon says loudly. I open my eyes, seeing two legs in front of me. I follow them up just to be faced with my lovely husband. He looks angry.

"You never came back. I thought that thing had you." he says, upset. I don't think he's truly worried about me, more about his safety if whatever that was last night had gotten to me. The telephone is still in my hand, I must've fallen asleep while calling.

"So?" Brandon asks while he watches me stand up. "Is that team you found coming?" He wants to seem unbothered, but he's not succeeding. I walk to the kitchen, it's on the right if you come in through the front door. I stop in my tracks as I see all the cupboards open again.

"Did you do this?" I ask carefully.

"I? If I did this?" Brandon asks, already upset. "Why would I open them?"

I sigh while I walk over to close them again. "The team is coming, by the way. The woman I spoke with told me they'll be here as early as they can."

"A woman?" he asks. "You're really out of your mind now."

I decide to not deal with him right now, so I walk towards the stairs. "I'll take a shower." I announced.

"What about breakfast?" he asks.

"I'll make it after." I sigh while I reach the top of the stairs. The house is rather big, it has an extra room we're not really using. We only moved here a few weeks ago, we haven't even unpacked everything. I walk past our bedroom and the spare room and reach the bathroom.

Just after I get dressed, I hear the doorbell ring. I know Brandon won't go, so I stop drying my hair and quickly rush downstairs. Before I open the door I straighten my colorful blouse, I combine it with a pair of high black jeans. As I open the door I'm faced with a beautiful woman, she's so pretty I almost forget why she's here.

She holds her hand out for me to take. "I believe I haven't told you my name yet." she smiles. "Lorraine Warren, it's really nice to meet you." she introduces herself while I shake her incredibly soft hand. Her voice is just as soft as her skin, she sounds gentle and welcoming.

"Ivory Scott." I say even though she already knows my name. "Thank you for coming, Mrs. Warren."

"Oh, please call me Lorraine. This is my husband Ed Warren." she turns around to the man who's walking towards the front door. The smile drops from Lorraine's face as she looks behind me. I turn, but I don't see anything. "Don't worry, I'm still here." I hear a voice, I try not to listen.

"Husband?" I ask and Lorraine smiles at me again. "I'm her husband." Brandon steps in while walking behind me, I can smell him. He doesn't smell bad, but somehow I can always smell his presence. "Ed, get our things." Lorraine says quietly as she turns to her husband. He goes to the car which is standing right in front of Brandon's and comes back with a suitcase in each hand. One is an average size and the other one is a little smaller.

"Come on in, let me get this for you." my husband says while taking one suitcase from Ed Warren. The bigger one, how could he not take that one.

When I turn around to Lorraine she's still looking at me. I offer her a smile which she returns kindly. "You two must be hungry, it's so early, have you eaten yet? You can eat breakfast with us, only if you want to. I was just about to prepare something." I offer.

"That would be lovely, thank you." she says while finally stepping inside the house. I close the door behind her. She has brown hair which matches the blue dress she's wearing perfectly. She's also wearing a lot of jewelry, same as me. I can't help but look at her, she just moves so effortlessly.

Brandon informs the two that they can set up in the living room and he'll carry the suitcases there. I think he says it two times, but I'm not really listening since my attention is on the woman who is still standing right next to me.

"You tell me about what happened last night while I help you prepare breakfast. How does that sound?" Lorraine asks while laying her hand on my shoulder.

"Since when doesn't this clock work anymore?" Ed asks while pointing at the clock which is placed on the wall of the hallway. I look between the two of them. "I don't recall the clock not working." I say. My eyes widen when I remember what time it was last night, when I told my husband I couldn't call that late.

"What is it, hon?" Lorraine asks. She notices the shift of my emotions.

"The clock in the bedroom upstairs stopped at 3:33AM." I say. "Same as this one."

While Lorraine's husband goes into the living room to examine another clock, she walks me in the kitchen. Her hand is on my back and I'm really grateful for the support. "Do you have an idea what this is?" I ask while grabbing some eggs out of the fridge.

"I have an idea, yes. I'll tell you later." she says. "Where are the plates?"

I point to the cabinet on my right while I grab a pan from the one next to it. "They've been opening." I say, "Twice now." I add while turning on the stove. "When I walked downstairs in the morning, they were open. Yesterday and today."

"Did anything happen to you or your husband?"

I nod while cracking the first two eggs. "Yeah, a few days ago I woke up in the living room, oh and by the way, I still need to tell you about last night."

"Let's discuss that with your husband. Has he experienced anything in that direction?" she asks while I hand her four knives and forks.

I sigh. "Not that I know of, he didn't even believe me things were happening until last night. Told me I was crazy."

Lorraine smiles at me as her right hand rests on my shoulder. "Just know you're not." she reassures me.