Chapter 7

Andrianna dreamt of a pair of eyes, cold grey eyes. And laughter followed by a scream. The unforgiving laughter of the man with the devil eyes and the loud relentless screams of Francis. She heard gasps and screams when she jolted awake.

That was when Andrianna heard it. The scratching of fingernails against the wall. Andrianna ignored it, must have been the rats. It was a jungle after all.

She looked around to take in her surroundings. She had been here before. It was Denis' cabin. She recognized the soft blue drapes of the room she always stayed in. her eyes moved around faster taking in the entire room. The pictures of Francis, marshal, Denis, and herself from the last trip they made here about 2 years ago. She smiled as she remembered the smell of banana pancakes filling her nose. Francis always made banana pancakes when they drove here. No other time but here. The pancakes were always accompanied by the soft sounds of Elvis Presley playing in the background and Marshals whining about the crickets at night that never let him sleep.

As Andrianna would walk down the stairs with Snuggles in her hand, rubbing sleep off her eyes following the sweet whiff of the pancakes, she could almost see them. All three of them in front of her, happy. Smiling down at her like she was an angel.

But the vision was filled with the loud sounds of scratching. The persistent nails brushing against the walls, getting louder every minute. Persistently begging for Andrianna's attention. Andrianna looked around, her eyes finally settling on the long mirror by the window. A feeling of dread filled her wildly beating heart, all the while the sounds getting closer. Something seemed to be getting closer to her, but Andrianna could not see it.

She felt the evil it possessed. The pure rotting death it held but she could not see it. Her eyes began to scan the room more fervently this time. She was looking for a darkness she could not describe. But she felt it. She looked at the door, lightly swinging at the entrance. The deadly still knob that she almost imagined would move.

She looked at the bookshelf as if expecting the books to reveal the secrets that the walls seemed to hold. She looked out of the window, almost expecting to see a ghostly shadow. She looked and looked until her eyes again settled on the mirror.

Something about the mirror felt different now. It felt cold. Her own brown eyes fixated on the mirror with a look of horror. The girl looking back from the bed looked so much different yet so similar. But despite all, she looked sinister. Andrianna got up, moving closer to the mirror. Trying to look closer at her reflection.

"What happened Andrianna?"

Andrianna gasped loudly as she turned to see marshal at the door. Looking at her with red eyes. The stench of liquor-filled her nostrils as he entered the room. He was drinking heavily.

Andrianna never knew marshal to drink too much, owing to the problem his father had faced before the bottle finally consumed his life. But then Marshal had never lost the woman he loved before either. He was allowed to mourn and forget his sorrows even he chose to do so at the bottom of an empty bottle.

She watched Marshal walk to her.

"Why are you awake? Its 3"

"I heard noises"

"What noises?"

"Scratching"

"It's probably the rats Andrianna"

"Probably" with that Andrianna began to cry.

Marshal knew what the child was feeling at that moment. Her horror of the events probably worse than his own. He could not offer anything, so pulled her close to his body and held her murmuring, "I know it hurts princess… I know it hurts"

Marshal held her in his arms as he curled his body around her and fell asleep. He protected her and finally Andrianna felt like she could sleep. Despite everything, she would sleep. At least this one final night in peace.

The first rays of the sun streamed through the translucent blue drapes onto her face, gentling waking Andrianna up. The first soft flutters of her eyes were followed by the warm feeling beside her body and the sound of heavy liquor laced breaths. She turned to face Marshal, fast asleep. The previously grief-stricken expression temporarily wiped off as he slept peacefully.

Andrianna slowly untangled herself from Marshal and tiptoed her way out of the bedroom. Glancing back, once more at the mirror almost hoping to see no remnants of the woman from last night. She had not noticed the bold scratches that had filled her back. And was surprised by the quite that filled the cabin. It seemed empty.

Maybe a part of her thought that she would wake up to the sounds of Elvis Presley and the smell of pancakes. She did not realize how much she wanted that vision to be true until she a smile reached her lips as she heard the soft music. Suspicious minds played in the background and Francis swayed to the music. Her long black hair bouncing as her hips moved sensually. That sway could drive the sanest of men mad. The raw sensuality in her movements always mesmerized Andrianna. Andrianna watched Francis' fingers curled around the handle as she whipped the batter. Long fingers painted in the shade of blood red. The smell of batter filling her nostrils as she moved closer to Francis.

Following the sweet hum of her voice, her fingers almost reaching out to Francis' hair.

"Andrianna?"

Andrianna turned to face Marshal. His eyes were red as if he had spent the night crying. His fingers massaged his temple and he kept his eyes partially shut as if the light hurt him.

"She made banana pancakes"

"I can see but you have to put in eggs and everything to make pancakes my dear."

Andrianna was surprised at Marshal's words.

"Not me Marshal. Her"

Andrianna turned to point at Francis but instead saw an empty space at the counter. That was when she noticed the sound of music had ceased. And the spatula was in her own hand.

"I... she was here..." Andrianna almost pleaded to marshal. Hoping more than ever that everything was just as she had seen.

"Andrianna? What's that?" Marshal said pointing at her neck.

"What's what?"

"The scratches on your neck?"

Andrianna was confused again. She moved to the closest mirror that hung on the wall of the passageway leading to the living room, just outside the kitchen.

That's when she saw it.

The bright red marks that ran along her neck. They were deep and ran along the entire right side of her neck, all the way to her shoulder. The skin had bled a little. But, what surprised her most was the light red embedding of skin on her nails.

She looked up again, but this time there was something different about what she saw in the mirror. The eyes of the girl in the mirror were red in contrast to her own and the smile.

Andrianna was not smiling but her reflection was. It held a still smile.

Marshal saw the look on Andrianna's change from confusion to horror as she kept looking at the mirror. If he were soberer and less depressed he probably would have seen the first signs of Andrianna's descend into madness or perhaps the first signs of the paranormal thing that had attached itself to her. Either way, she needed help. Whether it was that of god or medicine you could not tell.

Yet.