Flesh (completed)

Chapter Eighteen

~Now~

Elizabeth was startled to see her mother's car parked in the driveway. She ran up the steps and threw the door open. "Mom?"

No one answered, but music was blaring from the kitchen.

Curiously, she made her way through the hall and pushed open the kitchen door.

Her mother was staggering around the kitchen, singing along to the radio. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was sticking out in random directions. She clutched a glass in her left hand, bringing it to her lips and gulping the rest of the red liquid. On the table, the bottle of wine was empty. When she saw her daughter, she dropped the glass, which shattered and grabbed her chest.

Lizzie walked to the counter and switched the radio off. "Why aren't you at work?"

Her mother's reaction was late. "Lizzie! You scared me!" She slurred.

Her daughter's brows furrowed together. "Mom, are you..are you drunk?"

Amelia chuckled. "Very."

She stumbled over the broken glass and made her way to the living room, where she plopped onto the couch.

Lizzie followed her and sat at the foot of the couch. "Why aren't you at work?" She repeated.

Amelia grinned. "I quit."

"You what!"

Mrs. Lester put a finger to her lips. "I said I quit."

"Why would you do that? How are you going to earn money now?"

Amelia's smile vanished. "Why?" She asked, sitting up. "Because I need to stay home to take care of you."

"Take care of me? Mom, I'm sixteen. I don't need to be taken care of-"

"But you do!" Her mother shouted. The lazy smile returned. She placed her head on Lizzie's shoulder. "Last night proved that."

"What are you talking about? What happened last night?"

"Don't you remember, Silly? The basement."

Lizzie's eyes widened and she forced her mother to look at her. "What do you mean the basement?" Images of the mangled corpse and the blood filled her mind. Her heart sank. "You told me that was a dream."

Amelia's head fell against the back of the couch. "It was," she said. "Everything is all just one big bad dream."

"What do you mean?"

"Just a bad dream," she repeated. "Marcus and I are asleep in our nice warm bed. The fire never happened. Our baby never died and everything will be," she paused and sighed. "Perfect." After the word was released, she was fast asleep.

Amelia stood up and laid her mother out on the couch, then covered her with a blanket before turning and climbing the stairs to her room.

She closed her bedroom door behind her and collapsed on her bed.

Surely what Mom said can't be true- how could she and Dad just sit around while there's something so horrific down there? But...if it wasn't real, why do I have to stay away from the basement? And what of the fire? It's the second time I've heard about it- Is it just drunken babble? Did I mishear her?

Her thoughts drifted to Alice.

Alice can see them too. Is she like me? What does that even mean?

She was so caught up in her troubled thoughts that she didn't even realise that she was drifting off to sleep.