2021-03-02 - Whispers in the Dark

The room was dark and the streetlight outside cast shadows in the bedroom. One of them belonged to Kailey who was not asleep as she should have been. Beside the bed was Morganna's crib and the baby was sleeping deeply. Flerken was beside her and not quite asleep. Her eyes occasionally would glint when she moved to groom or nuzzle at the baby's dark curls protectively.

Kailey sat with her knees curled up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. Her eyes stared out at the hypnotic swirls of snow outside. The room was chilly and she was shivering in her sweat-soaked tee shirt. But she hardly noticed after the heavy thudding of her heart or the icy fear running up and down her spine.

"RUN KAILEY!" The words echoed so clearly and loudly in her head again. Closing her eyes and burying her head into her knees didn't make the nightmare fade. It only made the image of her mother's pale face come up clearer. Sheer terror written across her features as she had...what had she done again? The nightmares teased her with memories forgotten or locked away. At least they were regular nightmares and not the kind Gray Harbor enjoyed visiting on its citizens.

The room seemed to chill even more than the winter outside already had made it. If Kailey hadn't been hiding like a turtle she might have seen her breath momentarily fog in the air. It would have given her a second or two warning that reality had shifted around. Again. Instead, as she began to shiver, she felt the fluffy throw from her bed being wrapped around her shoulders. Warming her marginally and also making her jump. Turning to look over her shoulder she expected to find Everett and was instead greeted with a face unseen since she was ten years old.

A hand clamped over her mouth just as she was inhaling to scream. The hand was cold like stone and smelled of burning wood and jasmine. It was the flower's scent that made Kailey's scream falter as much as the soft shushing from her very dead mother. Who stood behind her dressed in what she died in; blue jeans with a flip knife in one pocket and a holster for a gun on the other. "You don't want to wake Mew," The ghostly phantom of her mother said in a low voice, smiling down at her.

This was not in any way fare and Gray Harbor didn't remotely care. Kailey stared and her eyes began to water as Colleen, her dead mother, removed her hand from her daughter's mouth to stroke her cheek. "How..." And yet Kailey knew just how this was happening. It didn't make the moment any easier to comprehend or handle. "Why?" Was a much better question and triggered a sadness in the specter.

"Why what?" The ghost of Colleen asked evasively, continuing to stroke Kailey's cheek and hair. "Can't a mother visit her daughter?"

"You're dead. You shouldn't be here," Kailey said in a weak voice, finding more of her words as the seconds ticked by. Even as she said the words she feared they would dispel the woman before her and she grabbed at a cold, cold hand. Turning to press a kiss to the back and smell that scent again. It was less burning wood nod and more gunpowder and jasmine. Her mother's scent that she would never, ever forget. The tears began falling as her mother again shushed her. Pulling her hand away to bring Kailey into a gentle hug as she bent over her in the chair.

"Ssshhhh, shhhhhh, don't cry baby girl," The ghost whispered as she stroked Kailey's hair. And she was quiet even as she sobbed into the faded blue tee-shirt. It all felt real, looked real, smelled real, talked real, and it wasn't possible. But it was. And Kailey's poor mind screamed, 'DANGER' just as much as the orphan child's hopes and dreams whooped with utter joy at this chance. The later was much louder at the moment. "Momma's here. It's okay," Colleen spoke softly and soothingly, continuing to stroke sweat-soaked hair. _"It's okay...for now."

The feelings surging through Kailey almost made her miss those last two words. But sniffling and taking as deep a breath as her tears would let her asked, "W-what do you mean?"

"You need to run. This place will devour you if you let it," Colleen said as she changes her grip from a loving hug to gripping Kailey's shoulders. Giving a little shake she repeated, "You need to run before they realize who you are!"

Kailey shook her head to try and clear her thoughts and the tears from clogging her mind. "What? Who? What do you mean?" She asked as the ghost's grip on her shoulders quickly began to lighten and turn colder. Like walking through a sprinkler's mist. Sadness filled Colleen's face as she shook her head. When she tried to speak again there was no voice to her words and the phantom looked resigned. Her head hung slightly and she reached out to wipe away one of Kailey's tears, but her hand simply passed through the flesh.

~I'm sorry. I love you. I can't stay anymore. Run. Be free.~ Colleen signed to Kailey as she began to fade from view before her eyes. The ghost turned away and walked into the dark shadows in the corner of her room, fading from sight as if sucked away by that darkness. It made her spine chill and cold sweat stand out on her brow again. Kailey hugged the blanket tighter around herself as she tried to process what had just happened. Tears freely fell and her nose was running badly. But she couldn't move for a good five minutes. Staring at that corner where her mother had vanished hoping she would return and knowing she wouldn't.

"Mama?" Morganna's voice cut through the catatonic spell that Kailey was under. The bedside clock showed 6 am and just the start of light was coming in through the thick clouds that drove their flurries down. "Maaa?" She sounded worried and Kailey dashed the last tears and snot trails away on her sleeve before moving to sweep her daughter up in a big and loving hug.

"It's okay, Mew. Mama's here, she's just a little sad," Kailey whispered as she kissed the dark curls on her daughter's head. Morganna squirmed and looked up at her mother with an incredibly thoughtful expression. It was a moment between mother and daughter ruined by the babe's morning diaper fill. "Oh...Oh...What did your dad -feed- you yesterday?" Life returned to normal. Or as normal as it could for Gray Harbor in this particular house.