“You killed me…”
Mel trembled in her sleep.
“Murderer… murderer…”
A muted gasp left her lips.
“You’ll get what you deserve!”
Her eyes flew open in shock.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as Mel ran her hand through her short, red curls. She licked her lips, her gaze on the large window that was sprinkled with raindrops. A muted gasp left her lips when Mel felt a nudge at her feet. And when she glanced down, she smiled and ruffled Chivo’s black fur.
The endless nightmare was entering its fifteenth day, and she was awakened every time by those same words that had been haunting her since her sister’s death fifteen years ago. Mel held her head in her hands, her figure hunched over on the large round chair. She closed her eyes but snapped them open when the image flashed in her mind. The image of her sister’s betrayed countenance drenched in water.
“That’s mine! Give it back!” A child’s voice echoed throughout the empty pool.
“I had it first!”
Two small and identical children wrestled with each other on the pool deck for the doll that was held in the hands of the girl whose back was facing the pool.
“I won’t let you have it!”
With one forceful pull on the doll’s hair, the head snapped off and fell into the water. The girls stopped. May pushed her sister off and reached for the fallen part that was just beyond her grasp. Mel grabbed her sister by the shoulders and pulled her back, but May resisted using both of her hands to fend her sister off.
Driven by anger, Mel pushed her sister into the water, not expecting May to grab onto her shirt and pull her down with her.
The air was dragged from her lungs, and her eyes blurred as her head entered and re-entered the water, her loud gasps muffled by the incoming waves.
The burn enflaming her lungs was her determination to survive. But her consciousness slowly began to fade. Her eyes now glassy, gradually, she sank lower, her arms no longer having the minimum amount of power to keep her barely afloat. And the last thing she saw was the seemingly lifeless body of her sister drifting into the unconsciousness with her.
A sudden breath of fresh air pulled Mel out of the blackness. Hunched over and desperately coughing up water, she clung to the first thing she could get her tiny hands on, which was her mother’s blouse.
Her mother hushed her, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have left the two of you alone…”
Mel struggled to her feet, her balance unsteady as her gaze swept the area for her sister. And then she saw her: May’s body on the deck, a stranger desperately trying to save her. Mel scrambled to her, tripping multiple times.
The stranger looked at her and said, “I’m sorry… she’s gone.”
Mel had her favourite cup of English coffee held in her hands, finding comfort in its warmth. She took another sip, attempting to erase her sister’s lifeless countenance from the depths of her mind. But she knew that it would never be possible.
The loud bark of Chivo coming from her bedroom startled her. Mel placed her cup on the counter and went to find her black labrador. Chivo was facing the window, his barks loud and violent-like.
She flipped on the lights. “Shh.” Mel stared at the blind-covered window as she hushed him. When Chivo’s barking failed to cease, Mel attempted to drag him out of the room, but the animal refused to move.
“I’ll give you a treat, okay?”
The barking continued.
Mel placed both hands on either side of her hip and sighed. She looked out the window and slightly cocked her head to the right and approached it with haste. She swiftly opened the blinds and peered outside.
Nothing.
She faced her dog. “See, there’s nothing there.”
Then lightning flashed, and thunder roared. And in that split second, she saw the window’s reflection in the large mirror placed on the opposite side of the room. And what she saw made her face turn pale, limbs unable to move.
With wide, glassy eyes, her eight-year-old self met Mel’s petrified gaze. Her wet and thick black hair clung to her pasty face, and the corners of her lips were turned upright into a wicked grin.
Mel instantly spun around. But the face was gone.
Raindrops trickled down her window as lightning flashed again, the thunder booming in the distance. And all she could hear was the loud spatter of rain and her own racing heartbeat.
Chivo was still facing the window when Mel brought herself out of her reverie.
“Come on, let’s go,” Mel said breathlessly.
He didn’t move.
Mel was already at the doorway when she snapped, “Chivo!”
He still didn’t move.
Annoyed and agitated, Mel began walking towards him, ignoring the shiver that had suddenly crept down her spine. She reached out to him, her fingers just grazing his fur when his head suddenly snapped around.
And she screamed.
The same glassy stare stared back at her, water forming at the rims of his eyes, and the corners of his mouth turned upright into a sinisterly innocent grin.
What’s mine is yours…
