With
a sense of apprehension rising like a tidal wave from the pit of her
stomach, she slowly approached the stone mansion. She knew this place
well, had traveled here repeatedly in her nightmares.
Nevertheless,
she entered the macabre grand foyer, it's walls hung with a dark
tapestry of malicious intent. She proceeded, as she always did,
through the arched opening to the left and into the hall. To her left
was a wall of
windows, each opposite a door. These she could look out of and see
the porte corchere from where she had just come.
The windows themselves were heavily layered with decades of dust. The
sparse amount of light that was permitted
entrance looked as though it
carried tiny inhabitants who desperately
wanted to escape but were
unable to leave their ethereal prison.
Still she marched onward,
compelled by a need to reach the door at the end of the hall. To her
right the first door flew open, banging against the wall behind it.
Barely breathing, swallowing back the scream that was so eager to
fill the silence, she stepped into the room. It was empty, as far as
she could tell.
Every hair on her body seemed inclined
to disagree. Belatedly and
to her horror, she realized
the door could
slam shut before she had a
chance to
retreat.
Turning
on her heel, she caught sight of the door very slowly, ever so
quietly, attempting to return to it's frame.
Heart pounding painfully
against her chest, she clenched her fists and raced
to the door. With
a final desperate lunge she stumbled
across the threshold.
In
order to avoid crashing
completely through the window,
she threw her hands out in
front of her, palms hitting
the walls to each side of the window.
Despite her efforts,
the impact sent
the heretofore dormant curtains
of dust billowing
through the air and into her already
burning lungs. It
was as if the unknown
presence that was hot on her heels seconds
before had managed to catch
her and was choking the life out of her.
After a fit of coughing and
with monumental effort, she finally managed to calm down enough to
realize she was alive, for the moment, and safe enough. The door at
the end of the hall beckoned still. Fueled
with adrenaline, every
muscle in her body tightened in anticipation of what lay ahead.
unpublished © 2013 JP West
