Regina

by Mary Ann Moody

  Chapter Seventeen

  True to his word, daddy took me out again and taught me how to drive. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience since we were hostile towards each other. I didn’t understand why he was upset with me, but I tried not to let it dissuade me from learning. I was days away from turning sixteen. Daddy promised me a car for my birthday, but I didn’t get too excited. My parents didn’t seem too happy about the prospect of buying me a car when we got back to the city.

  My mother continued to have a blast with her family. Aunt Rachel came by grandpa’s house many times with her kids. MeKayla was alright, but I didn’t care too much for Michael. He was only nine years old, but I felt something bad behind his eyes and actions. He loved doing things that hurt other people. Once, he purposefully threw a baseball through one of grandpa’s sunroom windows. Since the window was made from a special plastic, it was harder and expensive to fix. Grandpa swatted the hell out of him for that one, but that didn’t stop this little monster from lighting a large pile of leaves on fire.

  I was upstairs, in my room with MeKayla. I don’t know where the ‘grown ups’ were but I started to smell something coming from my window. The smell filled up my room quickly and I had no problem finding the source. Rage boiled when I saw my bratty cousin trying to set fire to a pile of leaves.

  “Put those leaves out right now, Michael!” My voice boomed from my window. I kept my eyes on him as I stuck my head out the window, but he only laughed at me. MeKayla came to my aide and told her brother to put of the fire or else we would come down and make him.

  “And I’m from New York, buddy! I’ll kick your ass!” My voice barely shouted that out before I busted out into giggles. MeKayla joined me. We knew I would never do it, but it sounded really funny when I said it.

  He did put out the little fire, but aunt Rachel didn’t punish him when we told her what Michael did. She always lets the little monster slide, in my opinion. MeKayla was alright enough, but I stayed away from Michael. Maybe he would change when he got older? I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

  Aunt Rachel was mystery to me. She acted and spoke as if she and mom never parted. Maybe I was as much of a mystery to her as she was to me. She didn’t really talk to me very often. If I saw her, she would kindly ask how I was and if I like Lee. We always tiptoed around the obvious fact that my mother never told me about her. I continued to look for signs of her dimple, but never saw one. This was the same girl from the pictures, wasn’t she?

  During the day, Rachel worked as a bank teller for one of the banks in Lee. It was a good job and she appreciated the money it brought her. Twice divorced, my aunt sure loved the men! I found out from MeKayla that Rachel use to have a string of boyfriends in school and after. To this day, men still flocked to my beautiful aunt.

  Katie, Nat, and Becky came over to grandpa’s house one day to explore the house and grounds with me. I found Katie’s friendship comforting. She was the only person I could talk to around here. I was still working on knowing Nat and Becky, but their attempts at friendship seemed artificial. As for Steven, everything ended up to be romantic. It started raining the day after I broke up with Jeff. I got into the truck and made a hasty decision to go see him. I was drenched from head to toe when I got out of the truck. My shirt was ruined and my jeans would never fit right again, but it was worth it. He opened the front door of his house just as I shut my car door. We looked at each other through the rain in a long, intense stare. He knew why I was there and I ran to him. Steven threw his arms around me in the middle of a Texas storm and kissed me. I wanted it to be the most wonderful, magical kiss I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t. When the kiss was over, something felt wrong inside me, like I kissed the wrong person.

  My dreams were still as intense as before. I had them pretty frequently now. It required much of my attention to keep up with them. As soon as I woke up in the morning, I wrote them down. My goal was to find all these places in Lee. They must be connected somehow, but my new relationship with Steven and Katie kept me pretty busy. We went to a lot of parties together. Steven and I spent hours making out in a private room while everyone partied below us. We were completely wrapped up in each other, but I never felt compelled to tell him about my dreams and Lee.

  After an intense dream one night, I pulled out my dream journal and read it front to back. I couldn’t put it down. I saw a pattern to the dreams so I got a pen and paper to take notes. My dreams surrounded the house with the wall of mirrors, a woman with red eyes trying to kill me, the backroads, and the fog. I felt frustrated that I could not figure this out and glad we would be leaving soon.

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  I saw a girl hung from the ceiling by her hands. Her blonde hair spilled over the blindfold that covered her eyes. She was crying. Large streaks of blood ran from injuries inflicted on her body so maliciously. I wanted to help her, but I could not move. Then, a musical melody began and snakes slithered into the room. In a surprising sequence, they danced together as I watched them in horror. The girl cried harder and I tried to get past the dancing snakes to help her, but they would not get out of my way. I dared to reach out my hand to shove them aside, but they did not strike me. The crying was louder. I had to help her, but these stupid snakes won’t get out of my way! They wanted me to dance with them, but I screamed that I had to help the girl. I pointed to the injured girl above us and the snakes eyes narrowed with realization.

  A purple mist exploded in the room, knocked me back, and off my feet. Violently, the purple mist spun like a tornado and out of it emerged a voluptuous woman with red eyes. She stepped on the dancing snakes to stand in front of me. I felt as if I looked at Hell in the flesh. Her seductive smile made me feel secure, but only for one second. Then, her smile turned vicious. She reached out her pudgy fingers to grab my throat. She wanted to taste my blood! She wanted to drink my youthful blood!

  I woke up in a hot sweat and breathing hard. I took a drink of water and calmed myself down. This time, my dream left me feeling scared when I woke up. I had the sensation I wasn’t alone in the room. Someone was with me. I stayed perfectly still as I tried to breathe as quietly as possible. I desperately wanted to scream or reach for the light switch, but I felt it would be too late. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw it. Something sat on its haunches right outside my window. I had to blink my eyes to make sure I really saw it, but it was there when I opened my eyes. I didn’t move an inch. The dark figure appeared to be a person. I thought I saw the shape of a head and shoulders, but I could be wrong. A thin window screen was the only thing separating me from the monster outside my window. My breath was locked in my throat as I waited for it to move. I saw a faint orange glow as it shifted right outside my window.

  Out of the darkness of the night, I heard it whisper, “Come with me, Anna.”

  “DADDY!” I screamed as loud as I could.

  The monster grabbed at the window screen in an effort to rip it away. I screamed again and lurched for my bedroom door. Thankfully the room was small and my effort to escape was not thwarted. Before I opened my door, grandpa burst into my room. He carried a flashlight and a gun.

  “Grandpa!” I screamed as I clung to him, but he pushed me out of the room. “The window! It’s coming in through the window!”

  I ran the two steps into my parents’ bedroom and saw them stirring to get out of bed. They looked alarmed and quickly asked what was wrong. Something felt wrong as I watched them get up from their beds in concern.

  “What’s all the commotion?” Daddy asked me.

  “You didn’t hear me screaming?” I asked them.

  They shook their heads and went into my bedroom. Grandpa’s head was out the window. I watched him search around the patio below us. When he pulled his head back into the room, he asked, “What was it?”

  “I don’t know, it was dark. I couldn’t see it, but it was orange.” I said.

  “Orange?” Grandpa asked with narrowed eyes.

  “Yes, sir. It sat righ
t outside my window watching me. I saw an orange glow coming from it. When I screamed for daddy, it tried to get into my room.”

  My parents went to the window to look at the screen. Grandpa said, “It looks like something tried to come through her window from the outside.”

  “Could it have been an animal?” Daddy asked him.

  “What animal is orange, big enough to climb up the wall without leaving tracks, pry open Regina’s window, and leave as quickly as it came?” Grandpa asked.

  Daddy narrowed his eyes in thought. “Is this a riddle?”

  “No, you moron!” Grandpa snarled at daddy. I didn’t know if it was safe to laugh so I stayed completely quiet. “It was an actual question.”

  “Well, I don’t know!” Daddy’s voice squeaked. “You’re the hunter. You tell me.”

  “My point is, it wasn’t no animal. It had to be a person.” Grandpa turned to me. “Regina, I want you to close your window at night. I’ll set up a trap in case they come back.”

  “Comes back? Comes back?” Daddy squeaked. “In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve already been here! Many times! Now I demand you tell me what is going on here, George! Who keeps breaking into the house and scaring Regina?”

  I felt awkward having this conversation in my tiny bedroom, but I was glad they didn’t exclude me from it. I would like to know the answers to daddy’s questions, which were all good questions.

  “I honestly don’t know. I never seen anything like it.” Grandpa said as he sat down in my desk chair. “Me and Lydia ain’t never had no problems out here before and we’ve been on the property for over thirty years.”

  “Well, you have to have some idea!” Daddy exclaimed, but mom shushed him.

  Grandpa looked up at him. “All I know is nothing like this ever happened until you three showed up.”

  “So you’re saying this is our fault?” Daddy narrowed his eyes at grandpa.

  Mom interceded. “Alright, this is over. Regina, please sleep downstairs tonight.”

  “No way! Do you know how many windows there are down there?” I exclaimed.

  “Fine, stay here, but close the window and the shade, and keep the door open.” She turned to daddy and grandpa with anger. “You two, go to bed. We will discuss everything in the morning. Everything always looks clearer in the morning.”

  Grandpa nodded his head. “Fine. Regina, I’ll be downstairs with shotgun. There’s a marathon of a good show somewhere on television right now. You are welcome to join me. I don’t think I can sleep anymore tonight.”

  “I’m right behind you and the shotgun, grandpa.” I grabbed my phone, laptop, pillow, and my blanket. I followed grandpa downstairs. My parents went back to bed. Grandpa flipped on the television. It made me feel safer to be with him, and his shotgun, but I couldn’t stop looking out the windows. Was it out there, watching me now? I couldn’t shake the eerie feeling something really was coming for me. Grandpa and I stayed up watching black and white episodes of the Munster’s until the sun came up. I couldn’t stop wondering what was at my window tonight. Why my father never answered my scream. Why was it only grandpa who came to my rescue? And why was grandpa the one watching over me tonight and not my own parents? Tonight seemed to be a perfect example of the changes taking shape in my family and I could not stop it.