Judith Goodhope || Mother's House of Horrors

Rupture

Thunder.

As she put the cards away, she couldn't help seeing the card on the bottom of the deck. You had to be careful what you allowed yourself to see. Any card that made itself known became important, influenced the reading of the cards around it. But Judith thought she understood this extra comment from the deck perfectly.

Three of Swords.

Rupture.

Break the bonds and go.

She packed swiftly and silently. The deck went into a pocket of her coat. Everything else she stuffed into the suitcase.

She wept as she packed. She had come here for Abigail. But Abigail had never been here, had she? She thought back to that other library and that blue-haired person that had cursed her with the idea of Carsden. Could it have even been Kris Kent in disguise? Anything was possible. Clearly this town was a trap, feeding on the weak and vulnerable. But she wasn't weak. She would not be weak.

At the door to her room she paused. Open the door, she thought, just open the door. But something again wanted to unfocus her mind and get her to stay. Like some kind of spell had been cast.

"Open the door."

Come on, Judith, she said to herself, staring down at the doorknob. You may not be on Kris Kent's level, but you have powers too. Fight whatever charm this is.

Judith Goodhope got her hand onto the doorknob and turned it. She expected the room to be locked, but the door opened.

The apartment was empty and dark. Light came in from the streetlamps outside.

"They're in the basement." Judith wasn't sure if she was seeing it somehow or just guessing.

Lightning.

She needed to move. But as she passed by the kitchen area she noticed a large pitcher of Kris's tea on the counter. She pitched the pitcher into the sink and watched it all run down the drain. Kris had been feeding her tea since the moment they met. All day every day. Already having gone however many hours without it, Judith felt clearer. Stronger.

At the front door to the apartment she encountered the mental lock again and pushed herself through it, only to now encounter a physical one. But she could solve that too. She did feel stronger now. Oddly strong. Maybe...

She gripped the doorknob and pulled. It broke off the door. She heard the knob on the other side fall and roll down the stairwell. She pushed the door and followed the rolling knob downstairs.

She moved across the ground floor of the dark library. Lightning. Thunder. She could see the door to the basement, open slightly, light within. Dancing light like fire. She moved past the desk to the front door of the building.

A small line of stones crossed the doorway of the Library. Judith kicked through it and out into the night. (Had the Library door been locked? If it had, she had broken through it with barely any effort.)

Crossing the barrier of stones, Judith felt a new life surge through her. Strength, yes, sight, the streetlamps dazzled her eyes, and a hunger, she'd never felt so hungry, had she eaten all day?

The rain hadn't started yet, but she could see it. See how it would begin in mere moments, see where it would fall. She could see the swirling insects around the light over the Library door, even though she was facing the street. And a bat. She could see a bat swooping down out of the sky, heading for the cloud of bugs. She couldn't see the bat itself so much as its course, its path. And not so much its path but where it would be. Not where it was but where it would be. So when it dipped under the light to catch a moth, Judith was one step ahead of it, snatching it out of the air with her strong hands, bringing it swiftly to her mouth and biting, killing it quick, then feeding. So hungry.

Judith.

The voice had been there. Maybe since she arrived in town. Maybe before. But she could only hear it now.

Come to me, Judith.

Something was in the woods. Calling her. Something was in the woods.

A humanoid form ran down the street shrieking. Somewhere in the distance glass broke. The rain began just the way she had seen it would.

Come.

Should she go?

The cards. She needed a card.

She needed a card.

She ripped the pocket of her coat open. (When had her nails become so sharp?) She ripped the box of cards open.

She needed a card. She needed her cards. So hungry.

As the rain poured down, Judith Goodhope ate the Three of Swords. She ate Judgment. She ate Death. She ate until she had eaten them all.

A third eye opened on Judith's forehead. Now she could see.

Judith left her suitcase behind as she ran off down the path she saw before her. Not the path so much as the destination she knew she would reach.

On the pavement outside Darnell Library, the only thing left in the sad, soggy, still-price-tagged remains of Judith's tarot box was a small slip of paper on which Kris Kent had written a powerful protection spell and a short message.

"Stay inside, Judith. Trust me."