Haunting

Chapter Two

“I’m coming.” Harrison groaned. The floorboards creaked as he reluctantly headed his daughters call.

“It’s over here.” She told her father when he opened her door and stuck his head inside.

Her dad threw open the door and the hinges creaked so loudly that Shannon swore she saw the windows rattle in their frames. Harrison walked to the corner next to her bed and leaned over the round stain. “It’s just a spill that wasn’t cleaned up.” He decided after scuffing the stain with his shoe.

“Are you sure?” Shannon asked, wrinkling her nose and the dark brown discolouration. “You’re sure it’s not mould or anything? Because I really don’t want to die from inhaling poisonous mould.”

“Yes Shannon, I am sure that it’s not mould, poisonous or otherwise.” He reassured his daughter and huffed, rolling his eyes. The exasperation was clear in his voice. Not long ago Harrison would have been rolling his arms and laughing at his daughter, not finding dealing with his daughter a chore. “Someone just spilled something, a long time ago. Probably booze.” He decided after a short pause, examining the large darkened patch of floor board.    

Shannon laughed out loud. “Okay Dad, I’m going to shower and then go to bed, I have school in the morning.” She told Harrison before shooing him out of the room. Tomorrow was the first day after winter break and Shannon was not looking forward to it.

“Do the showers even work?” She asked her father, pausing in front of her bathroom door.

“Yes they work,” Harrison said in exasperation. “Not well, mind you, but you will get clean.”

His half-assed assurances didn’t help Shannon’s trepidation in the slightest. If anything it made it worse.

When Shannon finally settled into bed she felt a cold breeze travel across her face. It was probably the window, I’m gonna have to do something about that, she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

The soft lips on mine disappeared; the gentle hands were torn from my waist. I knew I shouldn’t be doing it; it was a sin, no doubt one of the worst. He was my husband and I should love only him, physically and emotionally, but I couldn’t control myself. How could something so wrong feel so right?

When my husband lay upon me it hurt and I had to bite down on the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from crying out in pain. I now knew that it didn’t have to feel like that, so intrusive and wrong, but I was never going to experience that pleasure that had been hinted at this night.

From the look in my husband’s eyes as he stood over me, I knew I wasn’t going to see the sun rise from the ocean in the morning. Never again would I wake to the blinding morning sunlight streaming in through the window, or the screaming of gulls outside. I was never going to wake up again. This time when I went to sleep it would be my last.

Shannon woke with a start and a massive pounding inside her skull. It felt as though someone bashed her over the head with a lamp while she slept.

Opening her eyes Shannon was pleased to see the beginning of the sun rising from the ocean. She sat up in bed and watched the sky change from a deep blue to a pale crystal blue.

Any thoughts of her mysterious dream were forgotten as Shannon sat enthralled by the rising sun. It was a sight she never planned on forgetting.

When the sun rose above the horizon Shannon rolled out of bed and walked over to her bag full of clothes. She rooted around in the black trash bags until she found her new school uniform. It consisted of a green and black plaid skirt, a white dress shirt, green blazer and an optional tie. It was terrible; no one looks good in that shade of green.