Down the Rabbit Hole

My eyes flickered open. They shut again. They opened once more and I was awake. A wet rag hanging from a large sink dripped water onto my right hand. The white ceiling loomed over me as I grappled without my disorientation. Then I remembered. It was Bailey. The last thing I could remember he was babbling some psycho-nonsense and then... That's right. He had bashed me in the head with a pistol. What the hell was going on?

I didn't feel the throbbing pain in my head until I tried to sit up with a grunt of pain. I pressed my fingers to the side of my head and felt blood matted in my hair. It didn't really get on my face, but if I made it out of here I might have permanent staining in my hair. I reached for the sink, gripped the side of it for support, and pried myself off of the floor. I registered that I was in the bathroom as I hobbled towards the door. Of course. It was locked.

I turned around and jumped at the sight of a silent figure on the floor. Therese was facing away from me on the floor staring at nothing. I cautiously approached her, afraid she'd lost it, too, and quietly called, "Therese? What's going on?"

I went to stand beside her and she scuttled away from me to the other side of the room, not looking me in the eyes. I took a seat on the toilet across from her and just stared at her. The purple marks on her arms told me she had not come here by her own free will, either.

"Therese," I whispered calmingly. "Please tell me what's going on. What's the matter with Bailey?"

She turned her eyes to me and just stared. No expression, nothing to tell me she was even alive other than her intense focus.

"Listen to me good. Because I can't tell this story twice."

"Me and Bailey had just come home from the movies. Your car was still gone and we were gonna call you once we got inside. When we started for the steps... We saw it..." She paused as if trying to maintain her composure. "It was... a person. Or at least it was shaped like one... It was up on the balcony of Jeannine's room. The door was already opened and it was just... gliding through.

"Bailey ran in the steps ahead of me yelling 'Get the fuck away from my daughter,' and 'I'll kill your sorry pedophile ass.' I went inside after him and went up the steps to her room. By the time I got there, Bailey was just standing there... frozen in place with his gun. That... thing was on her. I can still see the blood all over that bed, and some ungodly fog was pouring in through the open door.

"When it started to get up off the bed Bailey was screaming, 'Get back fucker!' and shit like that. I glanced at Jeannine for a split second and I swear to god... That thing was right in front of us... It knocked Bailey straight on the ground. The gun went flying...

"For just a moment... I just stood looking at that thing... It was so dark, but its fucking eyes were glowing brighter than any goddamn light I ever saw. Then its hand was on my throat. I started to say a prayer... or maybe I was begging... I don't even know.

"But then something happened... Its hand had brushed my chest and then it hissed at me and crouched down like a big African cat or something... It slithered across the ground towards the balcony... It was making noise like it was hurt... I swear, Abby, the way that thing was moving... No person could move that way. It was like it had no bones.

"I looked down at my chest real quick to see what in the hell hurt it. I realized I was wearing my crucifix necklace. Y'know the one. With the emeralds. I called out, 'It's the devil! It's the devil! God help us!' and Bailey heard my voice and got up off the floor and scooped up his gun.

"I rushed over to the bed to see Jeannine... Abigail..." She stopped, tears streaming down her face, flowing in a line with her day-old mascara. "She was covered in blood. Her face looked like it had got the life sucked straight out of it... She had blood caked all around her mouth... I couldn't even touch my own baby... I threw up all over the floor.

"I collapsed on the floor, crying, and cursing god, and just going out of my damn mind. I yelled at Bailey, 'We got to call a fucking ambulance! Get me the phone!' But when I got up to run for the phone, he kept pushing my back down on the floor. 'What are you doing?' I cried. 'We gotta help her!'

"He screamed, 'WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU CRAZY STUPID BITCH? SHE'S FINE! YOU'RE GONNA WAKE HER UP WITH ALL YOUR FUCKING CRYING!' I knew he'd snapped right then. He started waving his gun around in my face and screaming... I don't even know what he was saying... none of it made any sense... But then he said, 'you're just a fucking devil bitch! You just wanna hurt her! You belong in hell!" and he started slapping me and then he grabbed my wrists, and I was fighting like a madwoman. I just wanted to help my baby... We fought all the way down the stairs and he tripped and fell... I ran for the front door. I had my hand on the knob... And then I felt his hand on my wrist again.

"And here we are now..."