Then suddenly the scene changed. It was like flipping a light switch. The
blood bathing Ruby’s head and dress were gone. Her skull was intact. Her hair was tidy again.
I couldn’t escape the terror and clutched my hands across my chest
defensively.
Her eyes narrowed in concern. “What’s wrong? Did you see something,
Jo?”
“I… I…” The lullaby had faded. The awful, heavy dread saturating the
room vanished. I took a quick breath and found I was covered in sweat.
“Was it a nightmare?” She reached towards me, but I recoiled. “Jo, you’re
scaring me. What happened?”
“Just a dream,” I choked, because that was what it had to be. “Just… just
a bad dream.”
She watched me for another second, worrying at her lip, then stood to
turn on the lights. The room didn’t seem so awful without its shadows. “Are
you sure? You look awful, Jo—you really scared me.”
“Scared myself,” I managed and choked through a horrified laugh.
Ruby helped me back into my chair and wrapped a blanket around my
shoulders. She offered to make me another hot chocolate, but I begged her to
stay in the room with me. I still didn’t feel safe with letting her out of my
sight.
She returned to her chair and sat cross-legged. “Do you want to talk about
it? Sometimes, discussing bad dreams helps—”
“No, definitely not.” I felt nauseous. A car engine purred down the street,
and I flinched. The headlights glided past our window then disappeared.
Not a sports car. Not Happy. Please.
Ruby ran her hands through her hair. I stared at the motion, still afraid of
seeing the locks saturated with blood and bone fragments, but the only thing
that caught her fingers was a tangle.
“I’m sorry for making you stay tonight.” She dropped her hands back into
her lap. “I know you don’t like this house. Did you want to head home?”
“No.” I pressed my hand to my heart, willing it to slow, then spoke in a
softer voice. “Thanks, but it was just a bad dream. I want to stay. Besides,
human company will be better than snoring cats.”
She chuckled. “All right.”
A car passed again. That was too many for coincidence. I rose and
crossed to the window to tweak the curtain back. Our road didn’t have
streetlights, and I couldn’t see anything except a patch of dead lawn.
“Maybe I will take you up on that offer of hot chocolate.” I’d said itpartially to distract Ruby from the car and partially as an excuse to stay up a
little longer. I didn’t think I could sleep any time soon. “I’ll come with you.”
“That’s all right. You stay here and rest. I’ll bring it back.”
“No, please, let me come.”
She nodded, so we both went into the kitchen, turning on the light as we
went. I twitched as I heard a jangling noise, thinking the chains had returned,
but it was only Ruby pulling cups out of the cupboard.
It must have been a dream… right? The sensations and sounds had
seemed so real. I could still remember the tune well enough to hum it. I sat at
the bench and fiddled with a napkin to give my fingers something to do.
Ruby kept sending me quick glances. She was worrying at her lip again. I
tried to smile while I counted beats and hoped my heart rate would slow to
match them. It didn’t. My fingers trembled when I reached for the cup Ruby
handed me.
“How about we put on another movie?” she asked. “Something fun and
distracting.”
“That would be gr—”
The car passed our house again. The purring motor escalated my nerves,
making me nearly crazed in my fear and frustration. I slammed the mug
down.
“Jo?” Ruby followed me as I strode back into the foyer. I hit the light
switch, unbolted the front door, and threw it open.
I squinted to see through the darkness. A splash of colour lurked under
the tree on the opposite side of the street. Then tyres screeched as the red
sports car sped away. I swore under my breath.
“Jo?”
Ruby huddled beside the staircase, trying to stay out of sight. I shut the
door. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to… sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her smile was fragile.
I tried to coax my shaking fingers to turn the lock, but it took me a few
seconds to succeed. When I turned back, the woman stood behind Ruby. It
was a perfect, horrible image. Ruby had her arms wrapped around herself as
she leaned her shoulder against the staircase’s side. Her head was tilted, her
fine hair falling about her shoulders, and her blue eyes wide.
The woman in grey stood behind her, head bowed, her face impossible to
see behind the tangle of black hair falling over it. She held her pose stiffly,
looking down at the girl in front of her. Mottled fingers curled over Ruby’sshoulder.
I opened my mouth, but the figure was gone before I could make a noise.
Only Ruby remained, shivering, with a clot of black shadows hanging behind
her.