The Voice

Miranda pushed past Sarah as she jumped up from the sofa she was sitting on and ran up the stairs without looking back for a second.

She got into her room as fast as she could and shut the door behind her, using the bolt to secure the door from being opened by anyone from outside.

"Miranda" A voice that sounded like an echo called out as Miranda fell on the floor, placing her hands above her head like she was trying to prevent something from falling on her when there was absolutely nothing there.

"Miranda '' The voice came again, sounding all over the place. She ignored the voice and went on sobbing, a clear image of Grace's lifeless body playing in her head as she shut her eyes.

At this point, she couldn't think of anything better than to hate Sarah. "How dare she behave in such a way?" Miranda grumbled, with the voice that kept on calling her name in a slow gentle manner, taking little breaks in between.

"Miranda" came the voice again, still calm and soothing.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" Miranda screamed.

"I have told you endlessly that I am you, I am here to sooth your troubled heart" the voice answered.

"And I have also told you endlessly that you can't be me, and I don't need you to sooth my soul or heart or whatever you think you are here to sooth"

"Miranda, you have to stop pushing me away, it hurts to see you turn your back after I have been there for you over the years" the voice replied.

"Go away! Stop messing with my head, I don't need you, I have had enough of you these few days already", Miranda shot back.

"It is too early to say that when you haven't given me a chance to come back into your life, I can make your sorrows go away with a snap of my fingers in the future."

"You are sorrowful, and you need to go away, so just go ahead and do it"

"You are mistaken Miranda, they are the sorrow" the voice stated, its tone changing from a weightless echo to a deep and disgruntled voice and immediately Miranda started hearing bangs on the room door, with Andrea and Sarah screaming out her name.

There was a shift in the atmosphere from being serene, with the soft voice floating around, to a chaotic atmosphere.

The bangs on the door were getting louder, the door was beginning to shake like it was going to pull off anything something from now, with their voices sounding like a cluster of bees buzzing continuously.

Miranda crept to the far end of the room, with her back against the wall, she buried her face in between her legs that were dragged up to her chin, her hands hugging her leg as the chaos that had ensued wrapped around her.

"Miranda" The voice that suddenly went quiet spoke again, "They are the enemies you should shut away, not me because I am here to help you" it continued.

"No, they are not. Andrea is a good man, he has been supportive since I arrived, and he is still trying his best to support me, Zach on the it her hand isn't bad either, though we started in a wrong foot, I think he is beginning to accept my presence in the house, but as for Sarah, I hate her!" Miranda blurted out, the hatred that had grown in her for Sarah could be heard in her dense, shaky voice.

"I despise her, I feel like ending her life just like she just did to the poor woman, Grace who was merely trying to protect me from her wrath" She added, breaking into fresh tears.

"I totally understand how you feel, Miranda. Allow me to help you because I am the only one that will ever understand you" The voice said, "Everyone always calls you a monster, but I never did. I was always there for you and I never for one day judged you" it said.

"Andrea is a good man, I like him. Sarah is the problem, she is the one that wants everyone to see me as a monster", Miranda replied, ignoring what the voice had just told her.

"I know Andrea is a good man, I like him too" The voice said, chuckling quietly like it didn't want to be heard, "And Sarah is just trying to paint you as the monster because she is the monster, and she doesn't want anyone to figure that out" the voice added.

"Andrea is a good man and Zach is also awesome, I think I am getting interested in knowing him more" Miranda slowly repeated, absentmindedly.

"Miranda" She could hear Sarah's voice from outside calling her. Miranda raised up her head to the door, and she saw that they were relentlessly trying to force their way in. "You will never be able to run forever", Sarah called out again, and the chaos suddenly died down.

No one was banging on the door again, and she couldn't hear their voices either. The room was back to the way it was, quiet and still, tension was slowly building up in the room as lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the rumbling sound of thunder.

Miranda quickly moved her eyes from looking at the night sky outside the window, towards the door, when she started hearing a screeching sound, right outside the door. Miranda clenched her fists together, expecting the worst to happen.

Seeing that the bandage in her right hand was already soaked with blood as a result of the way Sarah mistreated her, Miranda started unwrapping the badge from her hand as it was beginning to inconvenience her.

Before Miranda could finish what she was doing, she heard a loud bang on the door, and her attention turned to the door.

As the screeching sound continued and the next thing she saw was a sharp claw, pushing its way through the tiny space underneath the door, the bones cracking noisily like it was trying to metamorphose into something else, so it could easily pass through the space under the door. Miranda let out a sharp cry on seeing this, flinging up on her feet.

"Miranda" The voice called, but Miranda was too busy paying attention to the claw that was halfway into the room. "Miranda" it called again, in a cajoling tone, like it was trying to lure her.

"I told you, you would not be able to run forever". She heard Sarah's voice again and the door began to shake as the banging started.

Miranda, scared to her bones, ran straight to the toilet, not knowing what else to do. She quickly picked up one of the broken pieces of mirror that was on the floor for protection.

Although she didn't remember any piece of the mirror falling when she smashed it earlier, that was the least of her worries, not when Sarah had turned completely into a monster to have her head.

"Miranda" the voice kept on calling, filling the bathroom with its echo.

"I need your help" Miranda cried out desperately on hearing the room door falling apart, with the screeching growing louder, coming towards the direction of the bathroom.

"You always need my help. After I have given that to you, you toss me aside at the next minute and try to move on with your life", the voice said, tightening with grief.

"I promise you, I won't try kicking you out again" Miranda cried.

"A promise is a debt, Miranda", the voice melodiously, with a harmonious blend of tones as it counts the word it spoke.

"I don't mind being indebted to you" Miranda replied, without pausing for a moment to think about what she had just said.

"Miranda '' The voice eerily called out and the light in the bathroom went out, making the bathroom to fall into a deafening silence.

The screeching noise died down and Miranda felt a stand still on everything around her. A chilling wind crept through the small window of the bathroom in full force, dividing the curtains of the window apart, carrying along an eerie whisper that sounded like a whistle of a small child.

There was a shift in the atmosphere again, this time not into chaos, but into another dimension Miranda couldn't explain.

She could no longer tell where she was or what was happening, all she could feel around her was pain, grief and sadness, coupled with the sudden urge to end this once and for all.

She raised the broken piece of mirror she was holding and pressed it on the thumb side of her left hand, dragging it down towards her forearm, allowing it to cut through her cephalic vein.

As she watched the blood pour out from the vein she had just destroyed, she felt her legs giving way as they suddenly turned numb, making her drop to the floor without her being able to control her balance.

"Miranda" she heard from a distance. She couldn't tell if it was still the voice or someone else. Miranda tiredly shut her eyes as she disconnected from the world.