Out of the Darkness (TENTATIVE)
an excerpt

She looked back over her shoulder at the place she used to call home. Pale green shutters she once imagined were eyelids that closed whenever the house slept framed the windows. The large, solid oak door, showing signs of weather and age, stood resolute upon its hinges. A two story colonial in what used to be a prominent subdivision, painted the usually white and looking oddly like a clone of its neighbours. So many good years had been lived in that house, and looking back on her childhood she never once thought she would have to leave such a safe haven. But reality can be a cruel mistress, and the passage of time its malicious cohort.

A faint shadow peered out of the upper story bedroom window. Her younger brother no doubt, watching her as she stood outside her packed car. Or perhaps it was the very thing that was forcing her to leave. In the waning daylight she couldn’t be sure, and from such a safe distance her highly sensitive sensibilities could not distinguish the energy of the entity.

She waved. The form in the window stood motionless.

“Melonee, it’s time to go.”

Her aunt had come to pick her up and take her to Chicago with her. She sighed, then entered her car. If only her family had believed her. Unfortunately none of them were graced with what Madame Marie claimed was her “gift”. Mediumship; the ability to peer into the various layers that comprise life and creation. When she was younger she recalled instances where objects would move seemingly of their own volition and could feel presences of others whose physical form could not be captured with that human eye. It was always slight, almost like tricks of the mind so she never made much of it. Just the active imagination of a child, her parents said. As she got older the signs were more substantial. Voices in silence. A very larger and very solid bookcase swung out from the wall. Random cabinet doors opening whenever she entered or left a room. It wasn’t until her tenth birthday, after experimenting with a Ouija board during her sleep over, that she encountered her first supernatural manifestation, in the form of a small child who’d apparently lived in the house during the century it was built. She came to her once the house was still and all her friends were sleep. She said her name was Wendy and that she was nine. Wendy had no real recollection of what had happened to her, but she spoke often of falling into darkness. By this time Melonee had has so many experiences with the paranormal that Wendy’s existence didn’t scare her, although the fact that she still could not see the little girl did unsettle her a bit. There was something unsettling about her energy that Melonee could not quite put her finger on, and wouldn’t be able to for at least three more years.

By the age of twelve Melonee’s family had long stopped believing the “imaginary friend” stories she’s tell them. As far as they were concerned, twelve was way too old for such foolishness. They signed her up for counselors, and even had her medicated for a sort period of time, but once that proved to only make the stories come more frequently, accompanied with nightmares that send Melonee into fits of insomnia. The counselor suggested it was just Melonee’s way of dealing with her younger brother’s birth, which happened around the time Wendy appeared, and encouraged her parents to ignore the antics, which were surely just ploys for attention.

At thirteen Melonee began her menses and against the counselor’s advice, her mother made a big to-do about the event. She had a tea in honour of the “rite of passage” and invited all Melonee’s female friends and family members, much to Melonee's embarrassment. Nothing adverse happened during the gathering, but that night Wendy appeared to her physically for the first time and voiced her displeasure.

“Why did you allow this to happen Mel?”

“Wendy I… I had no control over this. It’s the way girl’s are built, for some odd reason.”

“Well now we can’t be friends anymore?”

“Wha.. What are you talking about?”

“He’s going to want you now. He told me so.”

Melonee looked at her. She was a small girl with a head full of sandy brown hair, fashioned in ponytails that fell in ringlets along her light brown face. Her eyes were shadowy pits in the faint in the light of the room’s lamp, lending her a tell tale ghostly appearance despite her solid presence. Her facial features were soft, almost like those of a porcelain doll, but the expression they held were not as sweet.

“Who is he Wendy?”

“He told me not to tell. If I tell, I’ll be in big trouble.” Wendy crossed her arms against her chest.

“Well I don’t think there is a he.” Melonee sat at the edge of her bed and crossed her arms in a similar fashion. “I think you’re just mad that I’ve become a woman and you can’t.”

Wendy’s features grew dark and her physical form faded slightly. This was how Melonee could tell when she’d angered her friend. She didn’t want to, because in times past Wendy’s anger meant something precious of Melonee’s would come up missing for a while, so she tried to smooth things over.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that Wendy. But you’re confusing me. Who is he?”

Wendy came back into focus.

“I told you I can’t tell you.” She looked around the room. “There’s no telling where he is. He could be watching and listening to us right now, and if he is I’ll even get in trouble for telling you this much.”
“Okay,” Wendy replied. “So there’s this mystery man who wants me. I buy that. Why didn’t he take me before?”

“Because you weren’t ready.”

“Ready for what?” Melonee threw her hands up in exasperation and fell backwards on the bed. Wendy came to stand besides the bed. Closer to the light Melonee could see her eyes. A warm amber, the colour of honey, which something floating just behind them akin to fright or worry. She sat ont eh bed next to Melonee without making a dent in the mattress.

“I’m not quite sure Mel. I just heard him talking to the others…”

Melonee shot up. “The others? “

“Yes, and he said that…”

“Wait, wait, wait... How many others?”

Wendy seemed to lose herself in thought. “Quite a few. Maybe fifteen. Maybe twenty. I haven’t met them all, but I’ve heard the stories?”

“And they all stay here in the house?”

“No Mel. On the land.”

Melonee considered this for a second. Through friends of hers she’s heard the story of how the place where her subdivision was built was the site of a great fire back when the village of Franklin was founded. There were little to no historical references of this fire so the adults who lived in the area relegated the tale to myth and legend, but that did not stop the children from perpetuating the story during sleepovers, adding to it hear and there to maximize the effect of its scariness. Tales of ghosts and zombies who only came out on Halloween or whenever a child was just too bad for their parents to handle abounded, all in good fun of course, although more than a few of Mel’s friends held secret fears that the stories might hold a bit of truth.

Melonee turned to Wendy.

“So the stories are true?”

“What stories?”

“About the fire here.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Melonee.”

Melonee stood and paced the room. It was well past her bedtime but she didn’t at all feel sleepy in the light of this news.

“So this man… how do you know him?”

“I’ve seen him around a few time before I came to you. After I came to you I seemed to see him more. It wasn’t until here lately that he’s taken to talking to me about you. He seems really interested in you Mel.”

Melonee stopped her pacing. “But why? That’s what I can’t get. And why now?”

“Well Mel, I think it has something to do with…”

At that instant the lamp dimmed in the room and Melonee to feel a slight electric buzz in the air. Breathing became difficult, as if the room had become humid. The buzzing in the atmosphere traveled inside Melonee’s head, causing a dull throb and a rattling in her teeth.

“Oh no!” Wendy screamed, but only inside Melonee’s head, intensifying the buzz and the teeth chattering. “I told you Mel! I told you!”

To Melonee the room seemed to shrink inch by inch although she knew its dimensions had not really changed. She looked over to where Wendy had been standing and could only see her shadow-like outline.

“What’s happening Wendy?”

Wendy’s voice came to her as faintly as her form appeared to her eyes.

“He’s here Mel. He’s here and now I have to go.”

“Melonee, what’s going on in there?” Mel’s mother’s voice came to her from the other side of her locked bedroom door. “Open this door Mel!”

Wendy’s form had altogether disappeared into the darkness of the room but Melonee could still hear her speaking.

“You have to leave here Mel. You can’t let him get you. You can’t let Louis get you!”

And with those last words, the room returned to normal. The only sound that could be heard was Melonee’s mother’s banging and shouting from the hall outside the bedroom.

Mel slid to the floor where she stood, head still throbbing and held in her hands.