Gone in the Morning

Chapter 9: The Creases

Cleaning the crow's blood out of the floor was difficult. Washing the inside of my bag was worse-there was blood everywhere. I ended up throwing the book bag away because the stains would not come out. Thinking about school and Lilith, I'd say that I wasn't truly afraid until now. I wanted to believe that some dumb kids was doing all this. But I know it wasn't.

I left my room door open just in case anything would happen, or I had to make a run. The darkness flooded my room like dark ocean waves while I looked at the night sky from behind my window. "Is this happening?" I asked whoever was above listening to me.

I focused more on the moon light that lit up the sky, instead of looking at the darkness of my room. I realized fiction horror is way different than experiencing paranormal horror. Each second as I laid in my bed, I felt the presence around this house and possibly even inside the house. I thought about my sister, Anna. That quickly faded.

"Find me," I whispered to myself. "What does that mean?"

"Dante."

My head jolted up when I heard someone speak from the darkness inside of my room. You know that feeling when you want to turn on the light, but you're afraid someone might wrap their arms around your ankle from inside of the darkness? That's exactly how I felt, and I didn't plan on moving until I saw some light.

"Dante."

The voice was a mixture of an old woman and a young girl. The best way I could describe that is as an old woman and young girl calling my name at the same time. I sat up slowly and peered into the darkness. The eeriness of it all was too much for me, so I threw the covers over my head.

"Who's there?" I asked.

"Dante?" The lights came on, and my mom stood in the doorway. "Good, you're in here." She walked over and sat down on my bed.

"Yeah, I am," I said while feeling relieved. I looked around to make sure it was just us inside of the room.

"I can't sleep," she said. "I keep hearing a noise outside. I thought it might be you since your dad-"

I raised an eyebrow. "You thought it was me?"

She looked at me, half smiling. "It wasn't, and I see that now. I don't like it, those sounds. Those...screams. I hate this place."

I took a deep breath before asking the obvious question. "Then why are we here? Is there no place better than this? I can't even attend school."

"Your father," she sighed. "He passed by this place when we were looking for houses. It was strange because he didn't even look at the other houses like the way he looked at this one. One look and here it was. Our new home."

"But it sucks here!"

"Oh and," she went on. "I talked to the people at the school. They're letting you come back on one condition."

"What?" I asked.

"I told them you gave them the wrong address," she said. "Just provide them with some random address next time to ask."

In my head, I thought that was horrible news. On the bright side, I wouldn't have to stay in the creepy house all day. I was about to ask her when would I start, but something bulged underneath the arm part of my mom's robe. She patted her arm as if something bit her.

"Ouch!" she yelled.

I hopped up. "What was that?"

She pulled up sleeve revealing a large red welt. Without words, she got up and shrugged. "Damn bugs. Everything's biting me up."

I watched as she left the room, leaving the light behind her. I didn't bother to get up to turn it off. I laid back down, looking at the front door. I got comfortable, feeling safer that the light was on. I eventually drifted off to sleep peacefully without hearing any screams throughout the night.

...

As soon as I walked into class, Gretel felt the need to attack. "Welcome back," he said as I sat down. My seat still remained the same as it was before. I sat down, doing my best not to make eye contact with anyone.

The teacher walked into the classroom, glaring at me while she sat her books on the desk. The class raised their palms in the air. Not wanting any more trouble, I raised my hands in the air and said the words. "May our -" As I tried to say the chant, I saw the lines on my hands move. Tickling me, they formed strange shapes and eventually spelled out a word.

"Gretel." The word said.

"Dante!" The teacher yelled out. "I will not stand and watch you disrespect our rules. Stand up!" I stood up while she and the entire class stared at me. "Say it and protect yourself and this school."

I stood up, facing her. I licked my lips then chanted the prayer. "May our nightmares dress in black. Oh, the terrors of that day. Lilith, we keep you in our prayers, each and every day."

My palm lines were back to normal. I sat back down then let the teacher do her regular session. Chuckling behind me was Gretel. I looked at him, thinking what his name was doing drawn into my palms. I felt jittery as I turned back around. Not knowing what to do in a situation like this, it was pretty scary. I needed help and some advice.