It had been four days since the incident that led to my meeting Lawson and things have only gotten worse. I had tried desperately to keep things to myself. I had even resorted to staying inside as much as possible. Things have gotten out of hand before I had even time to cope with the second day. Lawson had been a ray of sunshine in a time of darkness and with that ray gone...the darkness plays. It dances through the rooms with the grace of a ballerina, damaging only my mind in it's passing.

I had wanted so much for it all to just go away. My heart can't take much more of what was going on. Between the objects in my home changing places, the voices in my head, and those horrific crimson eyes appearing out of nowhere, I was in a constant state of fear. I wasn't safe anywhere within the home. No door kept them at bay and no amount of purification made a difference. They kept returning even angrier than the last time.

It had me right where it wanted me, sitting in the corner of my bedroom trembling in fear. I don't remember when the last time I had slept had been. The days and nights blending into one cycle for me. My only hint at the time of day was the light that had shown through the window. The brighter it got meant it had been mid-afternoon. The darker it went only meaning it was night. It also meant the time where the eyes were most active, as we're the more violent attempts. Lucky for me, it was mid-afternoon and I had set myself up so my bed rested between myself and the doorway. It had been my only solace during this time of desperation. I felt lost, scared, and extremely confused as to what was going on. No matter how much I had thought over everything, nothing became clear. Instead, I began to lose fragments of time thanks to sleep deprivation.

Even now as I sat with my knees pressed against my chest I didn't have the slightest clue. All that I knew at this moment...was that there was something in this house and it was far from friendly. Raising my hand I had fearfully begun scratching at my flesh. Digging my nails into the fleshy part of my cheek until it bled. I desperately wished everything to go away as a small river of crimson made its way down my cheek. I barely felt the stinging pain of the fresh wound. My eyes, instead, were wildly searching my room for any signs of the beast that tormented me. Moving slowly over every surface for the slightest signs of movement. Following the trim around the base of the wall, past the closet door, and onward. There was nothing visible and yet...I felt them. Those eyes. Those bright crimson eyes burrowing into me. No matter where I was I could feel them lurking around every corner. Hiding in every shadow. Just staring me down like a lion waiting for the kill.

Looking around frantically, I tried to find the next spot it would appear from. In the closet? Behind the white satin curtains? No, that's silly, I would have seen them. Even with very few places for it to hide, it was too simple a thought. It would be hiding someplace I wouldn't expect, somewhere that I would have overlooked. Maybe...under the dresser?

I wracked my mind over the possibilities, my mind remaining unchanged in the end. No matter what idea or location presented itself on the list, it didn't matter. All I kept allowing myself to do was repeat; ' I know you're here. I know you're here…' over and over again in my head. The fear and trepidation eating away at the very fabric of my mind. Little by little, it munched away at the sanity I once had, leaving me unable to do much of anything without breaking down.

Letting out a soft sigh, I had made the mistake of getting too relaxed. For a split second, I had let my guard down, allowing the strings of sleep to pull at my eyes. They began to droop causing my vision to blur. It was during that moment of weakness I heard it. All signs of exhaustion slipping away in seconds. My eyes darted towards the bedroom door watching it creak open. The gap that had been made wasn't of significant size. It was just wide enough to fit something the thickness of a broom handle through. Turning my head in its direction, whatever had moved the door had my full undivided attention.

Time felt to have stopped. All sound, aside from my beating heart, slipped away. The quick-paced thumping builds up like a drum roll. Seconds felt like minutes and then hours. The drumming growing louder and louder, my anticipation growing. It was there! It had to be there! Nothing else could have moved that door with such ease. Easing my grip off my legs, I shifted forward. Moving nice and slow so I would be crouching, waiting for it to come. My eyes widened as they strained to see anything, anything at all.

Then...saw it. Slipping out through the opening of the door was a slim black shiny tail. Its scales are just barely noticeable against the dark oak trim. It didn't appear to be moving too quickly either. It just slithered its body through the gap, slipping out of sight. Going just fast enough to remain unseen. That is... if I hadn't been focusing on the door. The moment realization struck my heart rate quickened. Pounding loudly within my chest, breathing life into my bones. It was real! I wasn’t crazy!

"There! I saw it! I saw it!" The words rushing past my lips before the danger could cross my mind. Scrambling to get upright, I only cared about catching it. Capturing it so that way I could break myself free from this torment. So, I charged the door. Blood rushed to my lower extremities, making my numb feet carry me. Stumbling about like a newborn deer with each motion, I kept moving no matter what. I couldn't let it get away. No, not after all it had done. A sharp stinging traveling along my legs with each frantic step. My flesh felt to have been consumed by pins and needles by the time I slid to a stop. Clasping the lip of the door frame tightly I ripped open the door the rest of the way with my free hand. Peering out into the darkened dusty hall. Taking a deep breath after a deep breath I took a moment to inspect up and down the hall for any sign of the thing. Looking along the floor like I had before for those dark scales. But...Alas...there was nothing.

“N-N-No…” I breathed as tears filled my eyes. Nothing had been along the ground or standing there to block my path to salvation. The hallway remained empty, void of any living creature. How could this be? Have...I truly lost it? I have only been within these walls for five days...no three days? Maybe...seven? Clasping my head, tears burned my eyes as desperation struck once more. Pulling at my hair roughly till I felt the sharp pains that shot through my nerves. It wasn’t a dream, the pain was real. Which only meant one thing... I was losing my mind! I couldn't even keep track of the days let alone follow this thing to see what it was! Was my mother right? Was I just meant to suffer my life? First, the prison in which she raised me and now this home. Was this my fate? To go insane?

"No. No. No, I'm fine... I'm fine... I'll be fine. It's just a trick of the light. " I told myself, trying hard to sound encouraging. Releasing my matted hair, my arms pulling closer to my body. Holding myself in a tight embrace where I began to scratch at my arms. Vigorously racking my nails over my skin, oblivious to the damages I was causing in my distressed state. Scratch after scratch my nails ripped up chunks of flesh in their wake. Opening up miniature rivers of blood that moved slower than molasses from the ever-worsening cuts. With the trembling of my hands and voice, I couldn’t believe such a lie. My mind was lost, broken into thousands of shards. Counting the thumping in my ears instead of listening to the voices inside. The pleas to calm down were pushed aside. The wales that carried encouraging thoughts smashed under the weight of the chaos. The pounding and darkness were all that grew in strength. Was there no way for me to encourage myself that things will be okay? Would these voices push me further into madness?

‘Give in…’

‘Death is your only escape…’

‘Welcome...the despair…’

‘End it…’

‘...Survive…’

Prying my fingertips away from my arms I roughly rubbed my eyes. Blood coated my eyelids and temples in a blotchy mess. The voices had gotten out of hand, pushing for the outcome they wanted. All except one. Survive one voice repeatedly prayed, pushing its wish through the suggestions of the others. A ray of hope in the darkness or was it just my inner strength finally revealing itself? Nevertheless, this voice was the only ounce of hope I had right now. Wincing I gripped my arm beginning to feel the repercussions of the damages I’ve caused. Gazing down at the crimson patches on my flesh I had no idea it had gotten this bad. The burning that came from the wounds paired with the smell of copper made me sick. It had come to harming myself to solidify what had been happening. I would need to seek help to fix what I had done.

"Pathetic Girl. Can’t just die easily can you? " A woman's voice spoke up. Beside me, the bedroom door slammed shut. A scream of terror erupts from my mouth. Instinctively moving away from the door, I further into the narrow space with the owner of the voice. Spinning around in the hall I sought to find the owner of the voice.

"W-who are you?! " I cried out swearing that the hall had been empty only moments ago. My mind continuously fighting me on what it had been seeing. One moment there was nothing around me. The next...I wasn't alone. Standing nearest to the door was a tall lanky woman with pale waxy skin that weakly hung from her skeleton frame. Clothes, tattered and torn hardly fitting her dirt-caked flesh. This...this woman looked to have been to hell and back. If I had to guess she was only a fraction of what she had been in a previous life. What possibly was once a beauty in the past, was now a walking corpse that plaques my home. Slowly the woman's amused smile turned into a distorted grin. The corners of her mouth quivering as sharp jagged teeth replaced the human-like ones she had. Her body wobbling from side to side with her first step forward.

My breath wedged deep in my throat at the sight of this grotesque stranger. Closer and closer she came. Her arms hanging weakly at her sides until she was aware I couldn't move. The pure sight of her having left me paralyzed in fear. It didn’t add up, how was she there? WHY was she here? All the questions I wanted to cry out were silenced well before the words could even form. Gripping my arms tighter I could see the excitement behind the woman’s motions. Her once limp elbows began to snap back and forth, bending inhumanly, imitating a skipping motion without the skipping. The bones grinding against each other within the flesh suit she adorned. This woman was going to kill me!

'M-move...move!' I mentally shrieked, seeing how much closer she had gotten within such a short time. I wanted to move, no I NEEDED to move. If I didn't whatever the hell this thing was would get me. Who even knows what it planned to do. Crying out over and over in my head, I tried to get my body into motion. She had gotten much closer now, almost at arm's length to me. 'I... Don't want...to die.'

My quivering lips parted and a cool breath entered my burning lungs, calming the broken nerves inside. It felt refreshing to feel like something inside me was trying to help calm this chaos. Granting me the chance I needed to run, to break out of the petrified trance this thing had placed me in. I didn't know how or why, but I wasn't going to question it. Lifting my gaze to meet the woman’s' I witnessed her figure taking its final step closer to close the gap between us. Standing no taller than myself, staring back at me with a hunter like gaze.

"C-crimson eyes." I breathed as the realization hit me. This woman had been the cause of this! Not only had she frightened me on the first morning here but she had also been what had been speaking to me. Whispering warnings and threats into my ears at all hours of the day. Trying at every waking moment to break me. To force me to break under the mental turmoil that she was causing. The turmoil that very well has plunged me into depths of my darkness. Flinching back, a gust of air shot through the space my face had been. Her nails raking through space between. ‘She missed!’ I mentally gasped, looking over myself and then her quickly. She swung again, her eyes glowing brighter with the aggravation of yet another miss.

Time felt to have stopped, my right foot pivoting under a third swing. Turning away from her. her nails grazed my cheek slicing opening a small cut in its wake. Breathing grew easier with every breath I took. The air chills my lungs, soothing them, getting me ready to run. The voice speaking once more as I took my chances and ran. Each step growing in strength the further away I got from the creature. All the while being encouraged to keep moving by the repeated words. Rushing from my previous place in the hall, I made my way towards the front door. My bare feet padded against the ground, behind me, the eyes of the creature burrowing into my spine.

'Almost there.' I briefly thought, breaking into the living room counting the steps until I would reach the front door. All I needed to do was cross through that door to find the help I needed. Possibly even get a priest in here to perform an exorcism on the creature to make the home livable once more. That was probably going to be the first thing I did. The sooner this thing was out of my home the better!

"I've let you live long enough, little girl." The specter hissed appearing at my left side instantaneously. Gasping in shock, I didn’t understand. I hadn’t even heard it move so how did it get so close so quickly? Its speed had to be far greater than I had imagined having closed such a gap in a short time. Looking towards it, I stumbled trying to keep from getting hit. My right ankle painfully twists, rolling as a result. I fell to the ground forced to crawl the rest of the way to the door. My hands gripping the floorboards praying I made it before the creature struck once more. Tears pouring from my eyes, the fear rearing its head once more. It's low cackle overhead sent chills down my spine. Movement was turning into more of a chore with each passing moment. But...I needed to get out. I wasn’t ready to die...I had so much I wanted to do, so much to see. Reaching up, the palm of my hand patted the face of the door until I found what I had been yearning for. Gripping the cold metal knob and using it to pull myself up to my feet. Turning it, the subtle click of the latch lighting a flame of hope within the depths of my soul. Just like back at home, I would be free. There would be no specters, nor abuse...no mothers. Nothing would be beyond this point to hold me back from the life I wanted to have. With a mighty yank, the door swung open. My eyes burn from the blinding light before me. Grimacing, I rubbed them with the backs of my hands. The blood that had caked the backs of them, smearing over my skin.

“hehe...Knock...Knock.” The mocking voice of the specter laughed. The light going out before my hands could even lower fully.

“N-No! No! I was free!” I screamed in horror. With the vanishing of the light, my escape had been barred. The doorway was blocked by an unknown wall of stone and my body...back in the hall where it all had started. I hadn’t moved an inch since I had first been struck by its claws. The blood splatters on the floor all the same. Even the patches that would have been on the floor where I had fallen were gone. How? How was it that I hadn’t moved? Why...had the voice stopped? Had it given up on me too?

Among the Shadows:

" You can't escape me, foolish girl. You’re far too weak for that" the creature spoke moving the specters lips simultaneously, her crimson eyes glowing in anticipation. Had had Ebony right where she wanted her, damaged and distressed. So distressed she could almost hear the inner gates of her mind rattling. The being inside trying to save the girl however it could. Letting the ghostly figure step forward once more, it's nails bared, lashing out at the petrified girl. The thick scent of blood filled the air in greater amounts. Her claws, ripping open the sleeves of her shirt, blood seeping through the fabric and painting the walls a beautiful ruby. Following after was a pain-filled cry that brought life to the air. Forcing her to step back letting droplets of blood splash against the ground, this weak insignificant girl was done. Just as the creature had wanted, a sitting duck ripe for the kill.

'Time to end this.' The creature inwardly laughed. Letting its body start growing in size, its scales expanding, stretching out as the growth process began. It’s eyes watching poor little Ebony try her attempt at escaping once more. The girl limped as she ran, trailing blood along the wall as she went. The ghostly woman was sent forward once more to distract from the scene. All the while the creature would inflate like a long cylinder birthday balloon, starting to fill the newly emptied hall. The specter was expecting to tear the girl into ribbons with its nails. Swinging once, then twice the hits expected to draw more blood. The woman instead shrieking in pain at the contact of blood and flesh. Her white skin, boiling against the bleach white bone. The apparition is growing unstable, leaving the creature no choice but to act. Watching no longer an option with its target rushing for the door once more.

Sprouting limbs of its own, its upper body quickly beginning to take shape. Arms sprouting out of the womanly torso. Followed by raven hair that covered its face and a serpentine tail being in the place of its legs. Nothing about this serpentine creature said if it were truly a snake or something else. However, the sharpened scales and extra spines traveling down the body made it hard to tell the type of creature that had taken up refuge within the home. Sitting upright on the tail the slithering serpent propelled herself towards the girl. Her massive black tail swaying from side to side moving her around the old wooden surface with ease.

The specter howled in agony, trying over and over again to stop the girl. Its claws phasing through the flesh leaving no marks. The remaining flesh on its body, bubbling, burning up the more it attempted to harm the girl. Charred flesh infected the home. The specter struggles to maintain its natural grotesque form to hold control over the girl. However, Ebony was becoming harder and harder to fool. The girl pushing back in a fit of panic, her blood burning her attacker without her even noticing. Her body lurching towards the kitchen, aiming for the secondary exit.

Seeing this the creature released a low, exasperated hiss as she moved. Her tail smearing the blood as she went. Masking any trail that her apparition could have created during the chase. Running her fingers through her hair, catching a glimpse of herself within a moderately sized mirror hanging on the wall. A woman from the waist up was what the reflection briefly showed. A beautiful woman with crimson eyes that harbored hatred for this place and hatred for the very prey she had been chasing. Her sharp teeth replaced the perfect pearly whites that would have been there. Bringing her fingertips to her luscious pink lips, she giggled. Eyes wild from the thrill of the hunt. The excitement in leaving a pool of blood in her wake once more enticing her onward.

Upon entering the kitchen she had been expecting to see the girl cowering or looking for a weapon to use against her as many had before her. Though, she was hoping to find her unable to even open the door due to the fear she had experienced. Not that it made much of a difference in the end. She just loved how pronounced the horror showed in her victims’ eyes when cornered like a mouse. Instead, she came face to face with her fears. Looking through the screen door her eyes were met with enraged silver eyes looking back at her. Standing in the garden where their owner resided, his arms protectively coiled around Ebony's wounded form. Those darkening orbs narrowing, hatred growing the longer their gaze remained connected.

The creature knew of him, his name on the tip of her tongue. Nevertheless, seeing him being on the grounds filled the serpent's mouth with venom. Every fiber of her being trembling with rage. The pain he had caused pressing her to retreat for the time being. Turning back the way she came, she decreased her size to hide properly. Slithering back into the shadows to attack another time. For now, she needed to wait. To buy her time to attack once more. She had to admit though, she enjoyed being right almost as much as the killing. With him being there it proved that this girl was the one going to take Ivora’s place. So when the time was right...she would see to it he got to watch her die again.