Rocked Awake

Rocked Awake
(first draft)

         In a large leather chair, in the corner of my grandfather’s library, I awoke with a start when the book slipped from my hand and hit the hard wood floor. BANG! My eyes flew open and it took a couple minutes before I realized we were no longer in that apartment in New York and that, that wasn’t a gunshot. As soon as my heart returned to a normal beat, I stretched and glanced over at the anchor-shaped clock on the wall. It was 2:30 am. I draped the nautical lap quilt on the back of my chair, tossed my book on the table next to it then clicked off the reading lamp. 

         Making my rounds through the downstairs rooms, I checked to make sure it was all locked up tight before heading up to bed. Back in New York there was only one door to check but it was steel and had five different locks and a dead bolt at the very top.  Leaving a small tiffany lamp lit on the table in the foyer, I headed up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, I paused to look down over the beautiful mahogany foyer and into the cozy sunroom just to the right of that. I love how the decor here has such a cozy beach house feeling with nautical touches everywhere. With a thankful sigh, I turned and headed up the hall. After peeking in on Toby who was fast asleep, I shuffled back down the hall to the master bedroom.

         Slipping out of my robe, I climbed up into the huge cherry sleigh bed taking my place next to Jeff who was quietly snoring. Then, pulling up the watercolor quilt that smelled of fresh laundry from the line, I smile  d again as I thought, Man, it just doesn’t get any better than this. Sliding my arm around Jeff’s waist, I snuggled in close and closed my eyes. The house was still and quiet and I was just drifting off when I heard a door down the hall close.  Without opening an eye I thought, ‘was that the bathroom door or Toby’s door?’ Then my eyes flew open with the slow eerie creek of my bedroom door opening.  I sat up looking at the open door, and then jumped as the hall light switched on with a loud click.

         “Toby, you ok baby?”

         My eyes were glued to the door. The house had a strange stillness and after a few moments of silence, before I even had a chance to make a move, there was an unexpected swoosh of someone passing quickly by the open door. It looked like a woman in a long white nightgown heading towards the front stairs in a big hurry.

         Jumping from the bed, I raced up the hall towards Toby’s room, to find him
sleeping comfortably, at that moment I heard a loud rapping coming from downstairs. It
sounded as if someone was hammering on the house.

         Rap, rap, rap.

I grabbed a T-ball bat, which was propped next to the door, as I ran from Toby’s’
room.

         “Jeff, wake up!” I yelled as I ran down the hall heading for the stairs.

         Bare foot, wearing only a Yankee’s nightshirt and armed with the small bat, I raced down the front steps. Rounding the first banister I could see that every
shutter-style window across the front of the house was standing wide open. I froze on
the steps for just a moment, as the drapes billowed in the night air to the tinkling tune of
wind chimes.

         “What the hell is going on here?”

         Racing down the stairs, I dropped the bat onto one of the sofas and ran window-to-window, closing and latching them one by one. When I reached the last window, closest to the front door, I could see that an old woman was sitting in one of the white rockers out on the front porch.

         Rap, rap, rap.

         I picked up the bat again and headed towards the open front door. With my heart
pounding in my chest and the bat up near my right ear in a swinging position, I cautiously stepped out onto the front porch.

         “Alright, who are you and what the HELL were you doing in my house?”

         Rap, rap, rap.

         She was a shriveled old woman dressed in black sitting hunched over in the rocker. Her face towards the floor, steadily rocking back and forth. Suddenly, I realized the rapping sound was the rocker hitting the house every time she rocked back. Oddly enough, finding this old woman in a rocking chair did not leave me feeling any less threatened. I took a steadying breath as I looked around to see if she was alone then I bravely took a step closer to my intruder.

         “Hey, I’m talking to you. You need to leave right now or I’m calling the cops.”

         In a graveled voice that was barely audible she said, “Your family is in great danger.”
         “Oh, is this more crap about the lake being cursed? Well, you can tell your friends
in town, that we are here to stay. It will take more that some bull shit urban legend, to run us off. This lake house and the surrounding property belongs to my family.”

         “You must LEAVE!” Her voice just a bit louder this time.

         I lowered the bat to about waist level. “Unbelievable! So, let me get this straight. You came all the way up here to this very evil place…” I glanced down at my watch, “…at 3 am, to break into my home and wake me up, just to tell me to leave? REALLY?! You have to be kidding me lady. Get the hell out of here!”

         With the speed of film skipping a few frames, the woman’s head snapped up
towards me. Her eyes were completely white and from her gaping mouth came this
demonic voice:

         “It is YOU who has woken the DEAD!”

At that moment, being grabbed from behind I screamed. In one fluid motion, I spun around raising the bat to take my homerun swing and just before making contact, I realized that it was just Jeff.

         “Hey, hey, it’s me! What is going on down here? What’s with all the loud pounding? It’s the middle of the night for God‘s sake”

         “It’s not me it’s this woman…” I gestured over to the old hag in the rocker.

Jeff‘s eyes followed, “What woman?”