2019-07-14 - When The Devil Visits

The alarm was going off before the sun even decided to make an appearance this morning. Irvriya had been asleep for about an hour so it’s no surprise that the woman groggily reaches for the nightstand and then finds the cord for the clock and rips it out of the outlet. Her head doesn’t even come off the pillow. It’s pure talent. She doesn't understand why the alarm went off so early, but it won't be waking her for a second go round.

“You came to visit me the other day.” a voice rasps from the darkness.

It’s a voice that makes the raven haired woman sit straight up in bed and she looks to all the dark corners in her bedroom. But she sees nothing. “Go away.” she whispers softly. She couldn’t deal with this, not right now.

“Come on, Irvriya. You miss me. I miss you.” the voice grows closer and there’s a stench that comes with it. It made her nauseous, just like it did so long ago.

“No one misses you. It’s why you keep taking children that go into that place.” she spits out. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size for once.” she growls at the unseen voice.

That’s when she feels a pain in her face as a skeletal hand reaches out to grip her roughly, “Like you and the others? Do you want me to take the other eye?” it asks coldly.

“You’re like every other bully that those kids have met. And one day none of them are going to be afraid of you. You want to threaten me? Go ahead, take the other eye. I’d still be able to feel your bullshit instead of see it.” she hisses as she bares her teeth at it.

The skeletal hand grips her painfully and leans in, “You all always come back to me.” That’s when she feels the pain in her skull, feels her left eye start to bleed and she panics internally. But stays calm on the outside.

The alarm rings at six in the morning as Irvriya jerks herself awake. She’s covered in sweat and she reaches up to touch her face. She throws the covers off and rushes over to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.

What greets her is a set of bruises that wrap around her jaw and up her cheek. Her left eye is just as it always has been. Missing. Her right is blood shut like she’d had too much pressure applied.

“I can’t do this again.” she whispers to herself as she turns the faucet on and splashes her face with cold water. “Please don’t make me do this again.” she whispers. She grabs her towel and heads back to her bedroom. She grabs her phone and dials her receptionist, “Hey Connie. Don’t come in today. I’m having a bad one. No...nono. I’ll be fine. Just we don’t have any appointments so don’t want you to have to drive across town.” she tells her.

Then she puts her phone down and curls up on her bed. She’d get up eventually.