Phantom Chained

Chapter 34. Despair. Ingrid.

"Yes, yes, yes..." I mumbled, lowering my heavy head on the steering wheel. "Yesyesyes..."

I remembered how words stop making sense after you repeat them a lot.

The wind blew fallen leaves through the open car doors and chilled my feet through the still moist socks. I wondered how long I would have to wait for Clara; an hour, two, three? When would I be allowed to 'run wherever my heart desires?'

I noticed a silhouette in the distance, squinting to try and make out where it was heading.

The streetlight illuminated a thin girly figure with a pink umbrella. Despite the weather, the girl was dressed as if she was going on a date: A cropped leather jacket, a miniskirt blowing in the wind and high heels that she visibly struggled to walk in. There was something very familiar about her.

The girl turned her head, putting her umbrella up against the wind.

Cherry!

And she was approaching Johan's house!

'Why now? Why not tomorrow? Don't you have things to do? Like sit at home in this awful weather with a cup of hot cocoa?' Thoughts raced through my head at mach speed.

I didn't even realise I sounded my horn at first. Cherry stopped and looked at the car for a few seconds before quickly heading to the house, disappearing from sight.

Cherry's appearance somehow broke me out of my stupor that I have been protecting myself with, and well, here's the result: my entire body started shaking, my stomach turned into a lump of pain and my thoughts raced around randomly like a bunch of headless chickens.

And Clara was already climbing onto the front seat. She carelessly dropped an axe on the floor, the same axe that I remembered seeing when I was chatting with Johan by the woodshed. 'So that's where she was... and why did she return?' As if reading my mind, Clara began whining:

"There's a dog, a big dog! It chased after me! I need to get rid of that dog, it scares me!"

She reached out and stroked my cheek. Again, like that time at the fisherman's house, the cold, moist palm monotonously slid across my cheek, leaving a feeling of pervasive sliminess. I felt bile rising up in my throat again.

"Now you will walk up to the front," Clara continued with a whisper. "Knock on the door and ask the owners to let you in. Then you will hold the dog and the door until I come in. Understand?"

"No." I replied.

The freezing palm gripped my mouth and threw me back. Her sharp knees dug into my stomach, but I was not ready to give up yet. Desperation gave me strength to fight this monster, and every punch, every kick against Clara's body gave a new burst of satisfaction. I even believed that it wasn't that hard to beat Clara, to take care of Clara, to get rid of Clara. Just a little more and then; freedom! The end was near, just a few seconds away, just a couple of hits... until the steel grip grabbed my throat and sapped all that strength, and Clara's ugly face, from which I tore off the scarf, was inches away from mine. I saw her clearly now, much more clearly than the last time. Her face wasn't as transparent anymore but I still saw a dark-red stain inside of her left cheek.

"Foolish girl." Clara breathed out. "Now you will understand why you can't refuse me. Like that stubborn priest who thought he could withstand the pain, you too will understand how wrong you are. All principles lose their meaning when someone peels your skin off with their teeth, trust me on that, dear. I could repeat that with you but unfortunately we do not have the time for that."

Clara brought my palm up to her mouth and gently licked it with her coarse tongue, covered in the same dark-red stains; was it Caleb's blood? It was getting harder to breathe and I could only moan in desperation as Clara put my pinky into her mouth and bit it. The pain grew more and more unbearable by the second. I wriggled underneath her, trying to escape. The pain was so strong that I wouldn't even be able to imagine it in the scariest nightmare. Even as my palm fell to the floor, the pain did not cease and the nightmare became even worse...

Now I saw how Clara rolled in her mouth what was once my pinky. The red stains mixed with fresh blood and I heard the crunching of bones between her teeth...

Clara soon stopped chewing and spit it out. The deformed chunk of flesh with shards of bone sticking out of it slid down the black leather of the seat. The nail, covered in purple polish, hung on a bloody strand, swinging from side to side. My nail!

"If you make even the slightest sound, it will cost you your finger, this time a more important one." Clara's voice felt like it came from far away. "And do not even think of fainting! So, are you going to listen to me now, you sweet, foolish girl?"

"Yes." I moaned. "Please, don't hurt me! It hurts, it hurts so much!"

"You brought this on yourself." Clara sighed reproachfully. "I warned you. Give me your hand, I will bandage it so you don't stain anything else... look at how pretty it turned out... don't cry, I'm looking after you! Careful now, careful, there you go, good girl, my patient little sister in sin... everything alright? Now stop rolling your eyes and go do what you are supposed to!"

Fighting my nausea, I took a few steps along the sidewalk with my pulsating hand pressed tight against my chest. Cool rain struck my face and was the sole reason I did not lose consciousness... If I did, that insane bitch would totally pick me clean. How am I going to live without my finger? She disfigured me for life!

The metal wrought gate stood slightly open, gently rocking in the wind with a depressing creak. And Ice was already barreling towards me at full speed. Before I knew it, he jumped up on me and began to sniff my injured hand. I wanted to grab him by his collar, but that wasn't necessary as he suddenly jumped back and raced back to the entrance, where Cherry stood in an odd, hunched-over position.

I followed Ice and quickly realised why she was just standing there; the thin heel of her chic boot was stuck in the gap between the walkway's plates and she was trying to carefully dislodge it. By the time I approached her, she already got it out, and when her thin eyes met mine, she seemed quite shocked.

"Hey," my voice was extremely hoarse. "Do you remember me? Although, it doesn't matter. So, Cherry, it's best that you just leave while you're still alive, understand?"

Cherry stood up straight. Ice happily circled around us, wanting attention.

"Did you hit your head?" All the usual playfulness of the Vietnamese girl was gone in an instant and her grimace portrayed contempt and anger. "Or are you just high off your ass? When was the last time you looked in a mirror?"

Ice barked uncertainly, looking from Cherry to me, and sat down.

My vision began to blur and I sat down next to him, hugging his neck.

"Trust me," It was getting harder and more pointless to speak. "You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous, just leave please."

"You're nuts. You're the one that needs to leave, got it? I came to visit my boyfriend, and what are you even doing here? Don't worry, we'll figure that out soon enough!"

She went up the veranda steps and raised her hand to the doorbell.

"Cherry," I whispered, knowing that everything is going to hell. "Cherry, don't!"

The long finger with a pink nail pressed the bell a few times. I could hear the melody from the inside, shortly replaced by footsteps.

"Now it's definitely all going to shit." I mumbled.

The door slowly creaked open.