Entry #521221, added on 06-28-08 @ 7:47 pm EDT
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| Part Two - Chapter Six: Yellow Bandana | Entry #521221 |
Chapter Six
I awoke to a familiar scent in the room. I rolled over, still groggy but
faintly aware of myself. I thought for a moment and tried to remember a dream. Someone had warned me not to look away from something I no longer recalled. I felt drained. In the dream I had been fighting or running.
I raised up to the side of the bed, the scent gone. My nightgown, damp from the sweat of the hot night, clung to me and felt sticky. I looked to the window. The curtain stood still. No breeze, I thought. Another hot day. I opened the curtains; the morning colors were responding to the increasing light of a rising sun.
I stretched and continued to look around. I noticed the lower drawer to the small dresser inside my closet had been opened slightly. Did someone open it while I slept?
I guessed Les grabbed a Dr. Pepper. David wouldn't since he hated them so much. I stooped to the bottom drawer and inspected it.
Nothing seemed disturbed or missing. I assumed I had just been careless and not shut it all the way before going to bed. I pulled a can from the drawer and closed it tightly. I walked to the hall.
I missed my big sister, Kathy. She'd recently moved out of our apartment to be with her fiance, a guy named Randall Perez. I wanted to tell her of the dream. She had a way of calming my fears, especially after a nightmare.
The scent from my dream, and from my room, floated near again. The slight vanilla mixed with a floral of some type caused me to search my memory once more. Then, as I almost locked it down, it startled me and I looked back. I saw nothing, but the scent lingered like a song on the tip of the tongue. I couldn't place it, but knew it just the same.
I headed for the kitchen. I knew by the light from the window Mom had already gone to meet the bus to carry her to a long day of work. I passed the bedroom occupied by the boys; they still slept. I descended the stairs and entered the kitchen.
I set the can on the counter, pulled the ice from the freezer, placed it in a glass. The ice popped and crackled as I poured the soda, which fizzed up and over the edge of the glass. I stared at the mess for several seconds, grabbed a dish-towel, lifted the glass, wiped the bottom of it, then the counter.
As I wiped, I heard a cry of what I thought was a young girl, one about my age. I looked outside. A kitten darted across the grass in the front yard of our apartment building. I turned away, satisfied, but heard the cry again just as the scent wafted into the kitchen. My neck hair stood on edge and it brought me back to the dream. I sat at the table and sipped, feeling like I needed to remember something important about it. I remembered running, afraid of something behind me, then a voice whispering, "don't look back". So I didn't; I kept my eyes forward. That was all I could recall.
While I sat at the table, I felt a creepy sensation of something approaching, about to grab me. I looked around and behind me. The morning light, not yet bright, cast odd shadows. I decided to crawl in bed with the boys, at least until they awoke.
I gulped down the rest of my drink and climbed the stairs. As I moved upward, I sensed someone walking with me, just behind. I walked faster as the "pricklies" in the back of my neck returned. I broke into a run and jumped the last step at the top.
In a swift motion, I looked behind me to find nothing. Realizing I had stopped breathing, I took a deep one and stared at the dark, empty stairwell. I backed away from it and into the boys' room across the hall. Soundless, I crawled under the sheet and curled up next to David with my eyes still on the doorway. Something remained and hovered just outside. I could feel it.
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© Copyright 2008 L. A. Powell (UN: lisapowell at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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Content Rating Notice: Recommended for Readers 18 Years and Older Only
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