Elene – Rough Draft

PREFACE

It was cold and dark, but she was there. She knew it was wrong. She knew she shouldn't have come; she had heard the owl, (what did Shakespeare call it...“The Fatal Doorbell”), cry out to her on her way there, but she didn't take any notice. The moon rose, until the shadows no longer reached out to her and she stood alone in the now brightly lit clearing. Midnight. It would soon come, it had told her so. It would not lie. A sudden cold fear gripped her heart at the mere thought. The soft cracking of a twig broke the deadly silence surrounding her. The girl turned, feeling the familiar morbid joy filling her as she glanced into the soulless white eyes of the horror.

“I'm glad you have come"

“Of course, Master. I would never want to displease you…”

The creature smiled - her body would never be found.

XXX

Something was wrong. She had sensed it since Anne had woken up at midnight after screaming and twitching in her sleep for nearly fifteen minutes. When she had finally calmed down, still pale and shaking, she had told her that she couldn’t remember anything of the nightmare. Kate thought that this was extremely peculiar, because after a nightmare so intense, she usually remembered the dream in vivid detail for at least a few days. Even though there were no visible changes to her sister as she now sat at the breakfast table, Kate could not help but feel a strange sense of forbidding. She had recently read an article about a girl who had nightmares for two weeks straight, but her parents, unable to find read the signs, didn’t realise that their daughter was suffering from severe depression until they found her with a rope around her neck in the shower...Remembering this of course did nothing to lighten her concerns. Anne couldn’t possibly be depressed; it was just not like her.

She was most likely just being paranoid; everyone was a bit shaken after what happened to Mary Kentworth. The girl had disappeared two nights ago with bed was still made and no apparent sign of a struggle, so it was presumed that she had run away. That was what the papers said, anyhow. . . There had been a lot of strange rumours regarding her disappearance. Kate’s aunt knew a friend of a friend of the girl’s mother and apparently Mary’s best friend claimed that she had been disturbed in her mind the past few weeks - she would look blankly into space and start muttering to herself inaudibly - and had gone from being a straight A student to barely scraping a C in the last month, claiming that she was too tired to study. And didn’t her parents mention something about nightmares…? But those were just rumours, weren’t they? I mean how reliable can that friend of a friend really be? Her train of thoughts was abruptly cut off at the sound of her Aunt’s concerned voice: “Why Anne, you haven’t even touched your food. Are you not feeling well?” but Anne merely shook her head and mumbled something about not being hungry.

XXX

Kate and Anne Demerol’s Aunt was a strictly practical woman. She believed that everything in life could only be attained by hard work. When her “dear little baby sister” and brother-in law abruptly died in a car accident, leaving behind two orphaned children of 10 and 2, she had graciously agreed to take care of them (as she never failed to remind everyone.) But even though she had raised the girls in her practical no-nonsense way, this did not stop the girls of having personalities of their own. Kate was the dreamer. Very quiet, she appeared to also be very shy and timid to everyone who didn’t know her well enough. Her friends always jokingly thanked her for giving them a shot at the guys before they could notice her looks by not drawing any attention to herself. And no-one could deny that she was quite very pretty. Maybe not a timeless Belle, but her waist length glossy brown hair, sea-green eyes and great figure was enough to make her stand out in a crowd.

Yet even though her looks were a great source of jealousy among her not-quite friends, she was never really the object of any malicious gossip. In fact, these days she doubted any of the guys at school even noticed her at all, most of them had probably forgotten her name. She prided herself in the fact that she could send out the I’m-not-interested vibe to anyone just by staring them down. She didn’t really like guys that much in general, and it always exasperated her when she had to endure a whole lunchtime of listening to someone rant on and on about their new crush. She preferred to spend her free time at home, reading, drawing, painting and playing the piano.

Anne, however, was ebullient and lively. Even at the age of ten, she was always the centre of attention at every party and their poor aunt was complained excessively of getting gayer every time she had a new “beau”, as her aunt old-fashionly insisted on calling them. And of course Anne had also inherited their parents’ good looks, the only difference between the sisters being that Anne’s slightly lighter brown/blond hair was cropped short above her ears, and that her eyes where a much brighter green. But the greatest distinction between them was not physically, but rather spiritually, because Anne seemed to Kate to be a spirit of light, carrying warmth and happiness with her wherever she went.

Which was how she knew that Anne was definitely not depressed. But then, what was wrong with her?

XXX

All the way to school, Kate continued to study Anne. Was it her imagination, or did her eyes seen a bit out of focus? Maybe it was just a trick of the light…

“Anne, did you remember to do pack your history assignment, the one I helped you with. Its due in today, isn’t it?”

No response.

“Anne?” she tried again.

“Anne, are you all right?” she cried, turning her head from the road to look at at her sister.

Anne’s face was a deadly white, her head rolling lifelessly to one side, but all this went unnoticed by Kate, and she could only stare at one of Anne’s features: her eyes. Her eyes were wide open, rolling around in their sockets in an almost alien manner.

“Anne! Damn it answer me, what’s wrong with you?”

In the timeframe of about 5 seconds Kate had slammed onto the brakes, pulled the car over to the side of the road, unbuckled her safety belt and pulled Anne out of the car onto the sidewalk. The moment she touched her, a horrifying scream issued from Anne’s lips. It didn’t stop.

“Anne, what’s the matter with you?” Kate half-screamed half-sobbed as horrible images of herself driving Anne’s limp body home flashed in her mind.

Suddenly, Anne’s body relaxed, and for a terrible moment, she thought that her worst fears had been realized. However Anne merely opened her eyes and gazed at Kate with a look of bewilderment on her still-pale face.

“Kate? Where are we?”

Kate stared at her in disbelief as she stood up and looked about her as though trying to find a signpost showing her the answer.

“What’s the time, I hope were not late for school. I have history first period and I…” She stopped abruptly at the look on Kate’s face.

“Is something the matter? Why did we stop here anyway, and why was I on the ground?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Remember what? Look, don’t just stand there looking so omniscient! What happened?”

“Don’t you remember what happened after you fell asleep? Did you have a nightmare again?”

“No, I just remember falling asleep in car, and then you were there, kneeling over me.”

If Kate had been worried before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. What puzzled and scared her most were not cause of Anne’s sudden attacks, but her queer inability to remember them. She’d never heard of seizures where people suffered from amnesia afterwards. She made up her mind, and, ignoring her sister’s indignant protests, she said: “We’re not going to school, Anne. I’m taking you to the doctor.” Yes, something was very, very wrong.

XXX

“So he told you that everything was fine? Are you certain? Maybe she should stay in bed for the rest of the day, just to make sure,” were the first words out of her aunt’s mouth when she arrived home with a very aggravated Anne some time later. Kate had not told the doctor or her aunt the true nature of Anne’s attack, she had only told them that Anne had experienced a kind of seizure and didn’t seem to remember blacking out. She was not sure why she was not telling anybody about the eyes, or the scream, it was just a kind of instinct. She knew that they wouldn’t believe her wild theories anyway, because theories were all she could come up with at the moment. But as she felt sure that those were no ordinary attacks, she was equally certain that there wouldn’t be a logical answer behind them. There was something sinister going on and she was going to find the out what. She chose to ignore how pathetically “Nancy Drew” the words sounded in her head. She had tried racking her brain for a subtle clue that she was overlooking, but she could find no hint of what might have caused the attacks on her sister. For she was sure that they were attacks. Then again, maybe it was only because she had read a few too many mystery novels, that she never even considered the idea that her sister might be suffering from seizures. So does that mean that I’m looking for more than there actually is? Could they just be medical seizures after all? She mentally slapped herself: she was starting to rant again, and she knew that that wasn’t going to do any good. She decided that it would be best if she could “sleep” in Anne’s room with her that night. She would stay awake the whole night if she had to. She was not sure what she expected to find, but she had to start somewhere.

XXX

Kate did stay awake that night Guarding Anne, as she called it. However, morning came and there was no sign of anything peculiar. Anne had had a peaceful night’s sleep, and seemed her normal blithe self at the breakfast table. Their aunt dismissed the matter as a freak accident caused by too many late nights out and too many stress form school. Anne went to school and had a very ordinary day and came home complaining that her history teacher had given them too much homework again. By evening everyone had forgotten the unfortunate events of the previous day, except Kate. The only one she confided in was Yvonne, her best friend. They had been friends since the first grade Kate hoped that she would be the one person who wouldn’t think she was grasping at straws.

“But it just doesn’t make sense. Why would she have two “attracts” in 24 hours, and then suddenly be as right as rain?” Kate asked for about the tenth time since Kate started explaining about Anne about half an hour ago.

“Look, I keep telling you you’re letting your imagination run away with you again. I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation…”

“But, there can’t be a normal explanation for what happened, because it wasn’t a “logical” seizure, it wasn’t normal, and the doctor didn’t find anything wrong so that proves it! I have to do something, Yvonne, and you have to help me before it happens again”

“But if the doctor really said there was nothing wrong...” she tried feebly.

“That’s exactly my point. If something normal was wrong, he would have said so. But it’s not normal. It’s... supernatural.”

“Now you’re not making any sense. I thought you didn’t believe in all that superstitious trash about ghosts and stuff. Look I know you can sometimes be a bit stubborn and impulsive,” she continued, ignoring the look on Kate’s face.

“I just want you to promise me that you won’t do anything stupid or rash. Anne is fine now. I don’t know what happened to her, but whatever it is; I don’t think it has anything to do with ghosts or…”

“Who said it had to be a ghost? There are other…”

“Don’t interrupt me! I’m not listening to this anymore. I really don’t want to fight with you over something this stupid, and you are clearly not taking in a single word that I’m saying, so I’m going now. Cya.”

So with that she stalked off, leaving Kate a little shocked by her apparent indifferent attitude towards Anne. She watched her friend as she turned round the corner and disappeared from view, and then, lost in thought, Kate wandered automatically into her favourite café, hoping a hot drink would help her make some sense of all the thoughts racing around her head.

XXX

The “Coffee House” had always been one of Kate’s favourite places. Set on a busy corner in the old part of town with a few rusty old flowerpots in front of the small, dusty windows, it was not much to look at. She did, however, know that appearances could be deceiving. The Coffee House boasted with the best coffee in town; they served everything from plain Nescafe to her favourite low-fat ice vanilla latte. As she entered the cosy little shop, she was met by the familiar intoxicating smells of freshly roasted coffee, a smell which always made her think of home and how her parents, in the early years of her childhood, had gotten up every morning at 6 to make fresh coffee. Then their mother would come wake them up, and they would smell the coffee in her hand before they saw her, smiling, telling them to get up.

She made her way to her usual table and called hello the owner, Harry Smith, who was smiling at her from behind a cloud of steam. He signalled to one of the waitresses and as soon as she sat down she was handed a menu by a timid looking girl of about her own age whom she had never seen before. She had shoulder-length red hair and nice brown eyes; she would have been quite pretty if she didn’t have such a hardened expression on her face. Was it her imagination, or were there bags under her eyes?

“Hello, are you new? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before. I’m Kate Demerol. I come here a lot” she added, seeing the girl was quite taken aback by this greeting.

“I’m Harriet Kentworth. Yes, I am new. I only started working here a few days ago”

“Wait a minute…Kentworth…I’ve heard that somewhere, though I can’t remember where…” Kate frowned, completely oblivious to the panicked look on Harriet’s face.

“Oh, now I remember, that was the last name of the girl in the papers, the one who disappeared. You’re not related by any chance, are you?” Harriet paled.

“She was my sister.” She didn’t quite manage to keep the emotion out of her voice. She then turned around with a strange look on her face and said “I’ m sorry, but it’s my lunch break now. I’ll send someone over to take your order.”

Kate was reluctant to let her go. Here at last was her chance to prove to Yvonne that she was right. She could ask her about the nightmares. What if she confirmed that her sister had indeed suffered from them? Maybe she could even take her to the best friend, who saw the girl stare blankly into space. Almost like Anne had done…

“Kate!”

Kate jumped and looked up into the face of Harry Smith himself. She had been so lost in her own thoughts again that she had not even noticed him standing right next to her.

“Oh, Harry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you…” She felt herself blush. This seemed highly unbelievable even as she said it.

“It’s alright. Now what will you be having today?” He smiled teasingly, “No let me guess…” he frowned in mock concentration

“This is a bit of a wild guess, but could it be a non-fat ice vanilla latte?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, he knew her so well. She teased him right back. “No, I’m getting a bit tired of that actually. I’ll just have a regular cappuccino… with some cream, chocolate powder, low-fat milk and extra sugar please.”

Harry smiled and his eyes twinkled.

“Just a regular cappuccino then, eh? Coming right up” He was just about to walk away when she remembered Harriet.

“Oh, Harry, I met the new waitress, Harriet. She seemed awfully shy. Can you tell me a bit about her? She told me she was that girl’s sister, you know, the one who disappeared.”

“Yes, she came to me about a week ago. She was in a terrible state, the poor thing. She said that she was desperate for a job. Since her sisters run off, she said that things have been going downhill. I told her I only had a waitressing position open, and that I couldn’t pay her very much, but she just repeated that she was desperate so when could she start.”

“Did she ever tell you anything about herself? Her family? Her sister”

“No, like you said, she’s a shy girl. Timid as a mouse. I decided that as long as she did her job well, there’s no reason why I should enquire into her private business.” He shot her a warning glance.

“I think it will be better if you don’t pray either, Kate. Curiosity killed the cat, you know”

XXX

Kate woke up the next morning with her mind clearly focused on the task ahead. After dropping Anne of at a friend’s house, she made her way straight to The Coffee House. The café opened at 9:30 on Saturdays, but Harry and the waiters came in at about nine. She wondered if she would get any useful information out of Harriet; she seemed so unwilling to talk about her sister. She couldn’t force her to tell her anything, after all, so what happened if she just bluntly refused to talk to her?

As she parked her lime coloured mini-cooper, she couldn’t believe her luck. In front of the closed back door, apparently early, was Harriet. She recognized her immediately. Her sheet of long, startlingly red hair stood out in bright contrast to the grey surroundings. She was leaning on the door, looking tired. Was it just her, or did she have a few more bags under her eyes than at their last time she saw her? But that was just yesterday…

As she caught sight of her, Harriet looked around frightfully as though considering making a run for it. She decided against it, apparently, for she quickly arranged her features in a would-be polite way and said: “I’m sorry, we’re not open yet”, unnecessarily pointing to the large red “closed” sign hanging on the door.

“Oh, well…actually, I was hoping to talk to you…about your sister” Kate added, deciding to throw caution to the wind.

She seemed to be expecting this, for she replied in a way that made it quite obvious that she had rehearsed the speech many times.

“I’m very sorry, but there is really nothing I can tell you that you wouldn’t know already if you read the papers.”

She suddenly cast a furtive gaze around her and continued in a whisper: “I have told you people all I know. Look just tell…” here it seemed that her courage was failing her and she faltered. Kate was completely bowled over. This was not what she had expected... And now Harriet seemed to be fighting some inner battle, and by the looks of things, she was losing.

“Just tell…tell him that I don’t know. I don’t…know…and tell him that, I wo…That I don’t know.” Kate was sure that this was not what she had meant to say. But Harriet seemed to be done talking and, with one last fearful look at her, hurried around the corner and out of sight, leaving behind a very confused Kate, feeling as if she was even further from solving the case than she was this morning.

XXX

That evening at the dinner table, a very depressed Kate sat down next to her animatedly talking sister and resigned herself to the fact that in the end, there was no mystery and even if there was that it was too late and impossible to do anything about it anymore. She almost had herself convinced when her aunt suddenly spoke, and changed everything.

“You wouldn’t guess who I ran into today. Ria Kentworth’s son, Jason! Such a nice boy, I haven’t seen him since he was about 8 or 9. Well there I was in the parking lot trying to fit all my bags into my tiny boot and the next moment, there he was, smiling and asking if I needed any help. Goodness knows how he recognised me after so many years. He must be down to help in the search, he was very close to Mary. Poor boy. I could see he didn’t look so good; big black shadows under his eyes and all...”

“I didn’t know that Mary had a brother.”

“Well, he’s her half-brother actually. About your age, Kate. You see Peter was married young, too young, and his first wife left him when poor Jason was only a few months old. When he was about 9, and Harriet about 7, his father married Mary’s mother, and Peter thought it would be better to send him to go live with his mother for a while. I can tell you there was a lot of speculation about that decision, to leave Harriet with him but send the boy to his mother, but it seems that it was for the best; he really has grown up to be a very handsome young man.”

Kate mentally rolled her eyes at the way her aunt emphasized the word handsome and looked directly at her. But she was much too excited about the possibility of someone else who could help her figure out what happened to Anne to give it much thought.

“Where’s he living at the moment? With Peter and Harriet?” she asked, trying to sound casual. It didn’t work. Her Aunt couldn’t help but notice the sudden glint of interest that came into her eyes.

“Yes,” her Aunt started, smiling smugly, “I think so. I would call them and ask, but I don’t really know them that well...”

Uh oh, she thought. Her Aunt had clearly misread her expression. But then again, maybe this could work out in her favour...

“Wait, if you don’t know Peter and Susan, how come you know Jason?”

“Oh, I used to babysit him when his parents went out. But they were never really overly friendly, so that was about it. I don’t think they’d even remember me. If you really want to reach him though, he gave me his cell phone number.”

“Oh?” Kate tried unsuccessfully to retain her casual tone.

“Here,” her Aunt reached into her bag and took out a folded piece of yellow paper. I hope you can read his handwriting though, but maybe he was just in a hurry...”

Katie quickly turned her face away before her Aunt could her her grin. It seemed very funny that her Aunt thought something as minute as handwriting could lessen her opinion of him. And she had to admit, it was starting to become something more than just interrogating him; she was genuinely curious to meet this handsome guy who apparently could do no wrong.

“Thanks, I’m going to go up now – homework”

She didn’t really even know why she tried; her Aunt just smiled and nodded a knowing look in her eyes. It was strange to see her Aunt like this. She had never done anything but complain about all Anne’s guys, and yet now here she was, looking more like a besotted teen herself than the strict .... Kate had grown up with. Could Jason really only be a year or so older than Kate herself? She snuck a quick look at her Aunt around the stairs. Yup, she’s still got that I’m-in-my-happy–place look on her face. Jeez, how old was this guy?

She sighed and went up to her room, and, opening the door, couldn’t help but wonder why everything suddenly felt so out of place. Not in the physical sense; her room was the picture of organisation and looked exactly as it had since she moved here, with the exception of the new laptop and stereo system. No, it was just strange, the way her life had suddenly become so much more complicated in the matter of a few days. She felt like there should be some physical proof of the turmoil in her brain reflected in this serene room. Then again, what did I expect? A ransom note for Anne? A message written in blood on the wall? As lame as this sounded to her, she couldn’t help casting a hopeful glance underneath her bed before dolefully turning on her laptop to check her e-mails. She saved Jason’s number in her phonebook while she waited for it to start up.

After quickly glancing at her usual facebook updates and deleting a bunch of junk mail, she glanced at her phone. No use putting it off.

She suddenly felt inexplicably nervous. Don’t be stupid, he probably won’t even answer, she tried to convince her subconceince.

She took a deep breath, and dailed...

XXX

She was all alone, and it was dark. Not the normal night-time darkness; this darkness was heavy, solid somehow, and she was trapped.

“Anne...”

NO. It was coming, and there was no-where to run. And even if there was, her legs were suddenly not her own, her body moved of it’s own account, it was taking her to It.

Anne woke up screaming, drenched in sweat, and, just like last time, forgot the dream the moment she opened her eyes to find a ghostly pale Kate standing over her.

XXX

She knew it was him form the moment her came in through the door of the unfamiliar little blue cafe where she waited .

He was at the front now, asking Betty, the slightly over-weight, chatty middle-aged waitress who’d been working there since Harry bought the place, something that made her wink at him and look around half-heartedly as tough she’d rather he just stayed there with her.

As he talked, he casually flicked his shoulder-length red hair behind his ears to expose a doubly pierced earlobe. She also noticed that he had a few tattoos on his arms, though she couldn’t see what they were of from where she sat.

He wore a baggy jean which had obviously seen better days, and a plain green shirt tooth necklace along with a plain black band with a small coloured bead in the middle.

Usually Katie would have instantly felt put-off by such a “ gypsy look”, as her Aunt with an expensive brand’s logo printed in the middle. Around his neck he wore what looked like a shark always called it. Yet not for a moment did she wonder why her Aunt had found nothing to complain about, because instead of looking like a hippy or rapper , the only word she could possibly find to describe Jason was, well, classy.

She guessed it was his smart stride and proud upright posture, radiating a confidence that couldn’t be ignored. And there was something else; the expression he wore like a mask on his stunningly handsome face.

An expression that would hold even the most easily distracted captivated, hanging on every word he spoke. A haughty mask of seemingly bored superiority that could turn in an instant to a charming facade with which she had no doubt he could make life very easy for himself amongst the fairer sex. Her Aunt’s reaction yesterday didn’t seem so peculiar anymore; apparently no-one was immune to his naturally charismatic appearance. Yet she sensed that the mask on his face was not at all the real him. Time could only tell if he would be a help or hindrance to her. He hadn’t seemed very enthusiastic when she had talked to him over the phone. Just said that he’d like to meet her and when and where.

Suddenly her sister’s face swan into her head, seconds before she woke up this morning, and she no longer needed mental persuasion to keep herself focused. She was only here for Anne.

She stood up quickly and waved him over, seeing him doubtfully eyeing a group of girls giggling and whispering in the corner. He was probably wondering if she’d brought an entourage. Kate grimaced briefly, yea right.

Spotting her and flashing her a brilliant Oscar-winning smile that made her mouth go dry, he made his way over.

“Hey there, I’m Jason”

“Hi, nice to meet you...I’m Kate”

“ I kind of figured that, what with you jumping up and waiving me over like a windmill and all...” he said, mocking her from behind his still carefully guarded face; he clearly didn’t feel the need to charm her the way he did her aunt, or even the waitress.

She wondered what she was doing there as she tried desperately to ignore the heat licking slyly at her cheeks. She knew he noticed her reaction, and saw the look in his eyes as he realised the effect his careless words had. She took it as a hopeful sign as the grin suddenly left his face and he studied her critically, sizing her up. Maybe he was just teasing after all.