Chapter 6: Whispers in the Kitchen

“Oh, I can’t possibly expect that from you without teaching you first,” Ethel responded. She rose from the bed and stroked Marielle’s arm reassuringly.

Marielle glanced at her mirror quickly.

“No, you won’t see anything scary there, just because of what happened in that dressing room,” Ethel said in a calm tone of voice. She placed her arm around Marielle and walked towards her dressing table.

“You see,” Ethel said as they stood side by side in front of the mirror. “There can be nothing here from there because it does not necessarily live inside that mirror. That was simply a point of contact at that specific time and if a phantom followed you it could be anywhere. It won’t be confined to one specific space.”

Marielle stared into the mirror for a few seconds and then turned towards her grandmother.

“I think that I need to get something to drink and snack instead,” she announced with a determined look in her green eyes. “It’s long since I last ate and I’m hungry now.”

She placed an arm around her grandmother and guided her away from the mirror, moving towards the door.

“Oh, that’s perfectly in order,” Ethel responded with a smile and a nod. “We don’t have to talk in here. We can talk anywhere else in the house, as long as your father doesn’t hear us. He will certainly come in search of you.”

“So, Mom’s still out?” Marielle asked in a lower tone of voice.

“Yes, it seems as if that meeting of hers is going on longer than usual, or she has gone to look in on her friend, Charlene,” Ethel responded.

They walked down the staircase silently and headed for the kitchen after they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Sit down and let me make you some hot chocolate to recover from the shock and to fill you up,” Ethel suggested as soon as they reached the farm-style kitchen.

“Isn’t there any cake left?” Marielle asked.

“No, but there are some cheese-topped crackers in the fridge,” Ethel responded.

Marielle shot up from her chair and headed towards the fridge. She took out the plate of snacks and returned to the table where she sat down. She began to help herself to the snacks while Ethel made the hot chocolate.

“Did you have friends over?” Marielle asked as she bit on the first, highly garnished cheese cracker.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Ethel responded. She was waiting for the kettle to boil and stood with a finger pressed into her cheek. “In fact, someone was also enquiring about ghosts and spirits,” she commented with a pensive frown on her forehead. “That’s quite a coincidence isn’t it?”

Marielle looked at her grandmother carefully.

“I hope she’s not making this up, just so that I can feel as if I have someone to relate to,” she told herself inwardly.

“What did she need then?” Marielle asked with her eyes still steadily on Ethel’s face.

“Well, they wanted to know whether their departed loved ones could communicate with them using a mirror as a medium,” Ethel said with a distant look in her eyes.

“Why do they delve into the lives of their departed ones?” Marielle asked with a reproving frown.

“You mean; delve into their after-lives,” Ethel corrected her.

“More or less that, yes,” Marielle confirmed. “One should resolve one another’s issues whilst still on earth. Not after death,” she continued.

“That’s a good principle, but few people know about it,” Ethel responded. “Those who do are too stubborn to practice it. I guess it’s human nature?”

“Well, I think they should begin to face reality and not take anything for granted,” Marielle retorted.

“Yes, it would be good if we could all do that,” Ethel remarked as she began to make the long cup of hot chocolate.

“You say that the woman in the mirror was bleeding from the neck?” she asked.

“Yes, but slowly,” Marielle replied. “It seems as if someone cut her neck. Not her throat.”

“Perhaps she was bitten in the neck, that’s why the blood flowed slowly. It was actually for sucking to feed and not just bleeding.

“Grandma, that’s disturbing,” Marielle whispered with her eyes large. “Are you trying to say that a vampire bit her and she died?”

“Well, I suppose so, but ideally she should not be dead but turned into another vampire, as a result of the experience,” Ethel commented.

“You mean it’s possible for her to still be alive even though I saw her as an apparition?” Marielle asked with her hand stopping half-way to her mouth.

“That would happen in very rare cases,” Ethel mumbled with a frown as she pondered the situation.

“I think that’s even scarier,” Marielle responded. “But then, why would she need to summon someone’s help?”

“It could be a case where the vampire did not turn her, but decided to feed on her instead,” Ethel commented as she scratched her head pensively.

“Feed?” Marielle asked with a confused frown on her brow. “You mean; he drank all her blood and now she’s dead?”

“Or he drank a little too much because he was out of control. He might have been new to the world of vampires or he was a Rogue,” Ethel replied.

“Oh, no!” Marielle exclaimed. “I think we can just as well sit up all night and go to bed in the morning because this is all too heavy for me at this time of the night when my mind is easily overwhelmed,” she suggested with a worried frown between her wing-shaped, dark eyebrows.

“Sorry love, but it’s important to know the facts before you go to bed,” Ethel responded. “Being ignorant is going to lead you towards believing in fables. You can also start imagining things with your tired mind, alright.”

“But are you going to teach me in a matter of minutes because it is really late now?” Marielle asked with a concerned frown as she took her hot chocolate from Ethel’s hands.

“It will last as long as it takes,” Ethel responded in a low, but serious tone of voice. “You should be well informed, so that you don’t make unnecessary mistakes and end up in trouble. It’s better to miss out on a day at school than to walk around in confusion and fear,” she added with a serious look in her grey eyes.