The stories that killed their writer

Chapter 5: We need to fight it

Lana's POV

After our time in the bath, we got back to our room. I immediately started getting dressed, as I knew Melody would want to work. She always wants to work, she always wants to keep busy. She hates staying indoors and doing nothing.

Melody, however, walked to me and wrapped her arms around me. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting dressed," I buttoned my shirt up. "Why?"

Melody started unbuttoning my shirt. "Why are you getting dressed?"

I raised my eyebrows.

She unbuttoned my shirt all the way and started pulling it off. She then felt around my chest before planting kisses onto my neck.

I gulped. "Mel, what are you doing?"

She pulled back a bit. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

This should make me happy, my wife wants me. My wife wants to make love to me, she wants to spend time with me. But it worried me. Melody was a creature of habit, this was out of character for her.

But, maybe I shouldn't think that much about it? Maybe I should just be happy? Maybe I should just close my eyes and enjoy it? And so I did. I closed my eyes and let my wife take over. I felt her kiss around my neck, I felt her undo my bra, I felt her feel around my body, I felt her going down my body.

And then it stopped with a simple noise.

I opened my eyes and turned around, to look at Melody.

"Hello?" Melody answered her phone and went to sit down in the meantime. She nodded while she seemed to listen to the person on the other side of the line.

I sighed as I stood there, naked and partly turned on. I wondered what it would be this time: an unplanned meeting, a client wanting to speak in person, some work that needs to be done... Either way, it would change our free day.

While Melody was calling, I had an uneasy feeling. I got chills all over my body as if a breeze of wind came over me. Somehow my mind immediately went to a ghost, even though I knew there was no ghost in my house.

I gulped as I realized what this meant. Shax... It had to be nearby, but why? I looked around, I was looking for anything that would suggest its presence. Then I saw it, in the corner of the room. It looked at me, its eyes piercing into my soul. I gulped as I kept looking at it, I didn't want to lose it out of my sight.

"Yes, I'll be right there," Melody's voice came closer to me. "Lana," She took me by the chin and made me look at her. "I have to go, it's something at work..."

I nodded.

"I'll hurry." She smiled a bit before kissing my lips and going to the closet. She started getting dressed.

I quickly looked at the corner again but Shax was gone. I gulped again, what did it need? Why was it coming closer to me, to us?

"I'll see you later." Melody said before rushing out of the room. When I heard the front door close, I got anxious. I was all alone, at home, with a demon.

I looked around, I saw no one. "Wednesday?" I looked around again. "Wednesday?"

"What?"

I turned around, towards the window. I sighed relieved when I saw her. "Thank God, you're alright."

She slowly nodded before raising her eyebrows.

I followed her gaze and suddenly remembered I was still completely naked. I took my clothes off the ground and started getting dressed. "Shax was here," I said while I was getting dressed. "I don't know why."

Wednesday went to sit down on my bed. "What is Shax's ultimate goal?"

I looked at her.

Wednesday nodded. "That's why it was here."

I gulped. "We need to do something," I went to sit down next to Wednesday. "We need to fight it."

"Finally," She nodded. "How?"

I shrugged. "We need to make a plan, all of us," I looked at her. "Get Estelle and Christina and meet me in the living room."

Wednesday nodded before going to the window and vanishing.

I gulped. Stay strong, keep it together. I got up and walked to the bathroom. "Bree, are you here?"

Suddenly Bree appeared. She was seated on the ground, a knife in her hand, while her wrists were bleeding.

I gulped. "Come," I walked to her and helped her treat her self-inflicted wounds. "I'll take you to Wednesday, ok?"

Bree looked at me and smiled a bit. "Thank you."

We walked out of the bathroom and out of my room. We walked to the extra room in the house, the children's bedroom, and entered. "Louie, Leila, are you here?"

Bree looked around. "Are we going to do something?"

I looked at her. "We're going to get together, all of us," I then looked around the room again. "Louie, Leila, I know you're here."

Suddenly they appeared. "Hey," They said in unison. "What's up?"

Leila spotted Bree. "Hey," She walked to Bree. "How are you?" They hugged.

I looked at Louie. "We're going to meet downstairs, come on."

We all walked downstairs. I passed by the kitchen first. "Mark, Macy, we're going to talk, are you coming?"

Mark and Macy looked at me. "Sure." It's odd how they just appeared all the time as if they were my real parents.

We all walked to the living room and sat on the couches and the ground. We huddled together, like a bizarre family. The family I created with my stories. The family only I could see.

Wednesday arrived with Estelle and Christina. "We're here." They sat down with the rest.

I got up and walked to the front. "We need to talk," I gulped. "About Shax."

Suddenly, they all got serious and worried. It was clear none of them wanted anything to do with Shax.

I gulped again. "Shax is coming closer to me," I looked away for a bit. "It's growing stronger, it's growing bolder, it's getting more dangerous," I looked at them again. "It needs to be stopped."

"How do we do that?" Louie asked.

"I don't know," I sighed. "That's why we're all here together, to figure out a plan."

"We need to fight it," Wednesday said. "Just confront it and fight it, all of us against it," She looked at all of us. "There's more of us, we can beat it."

Some seemed to agree, others, like Bree, didn't. "We don't know how strong Shax is, what if we get seriously injured or die?"

"Maybe we can try to talk to it?" Leila suggested to which Louie and Bree nodded in agreement.

"If you three try to talk to Shax you'll seriously die," Estelle said to which Christina and Wednesday nodded. "It's very dangerous, it's not open to talk."

I sighed. "We have to find a way to fight it though, I'm not risking anything here."

"Lana?"

I gulped and turned around. "Melody?"

Melody frowned. "What's going on here?"