The Attacker

Darkness has settled. For only a moment, the calm lasted, before a door creaked, a floor board squeaked. The room grew cold, and with another creak – louder this time – the door to the room swung open as well, with flickering light racing from the tip of the candle, trying to lick at every corner to scare away the dark.

The light soon covered pale flesh, that of a shaky foot, hiding beneath the bed. A smirk, a chuckle, and the light moved closer. Closer. A few more steps of the light holder, and the foot quickly drew back into the shadow behind the blankets. A soft whistle hissed through the room, and in a single movement, the holder was kneeling by the bed, cover pulled back and light resting upon the floor. There was a squeal, and the body attached to the foot jerked, pulling back rather quickly.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are, Caroline.” It was no more than a haunting whisper that filled her senses. She twitched a bit in the corner, and a chill prickled up her spine.

“L…Leave me alone,” she whimpered, the blanket that rested against her back shaking in time with her shoulders.

“Oh, Caroline, come now. I don’t want to hurt you…” His naturally gray eyes pierced through the shadows, and her body quaked as she yanked herself from under the bed, narrowly missing his outstretched hand as it breezed against her skin.

“D-don’t touch me!” she exclaimed, her voice tight with panic. As she scurried to the end of the bed, he kicked the candle to the ground and grabbed her roughly at the knees. Her head connected with the hardwood floor, as a sonorous crack filled the room.

“You can’t move, Caroline.” As much as it hurt, she discovered he was right – the pressure and force were there to move her limbs, but they didn’t even twitch. The only movement was in her face as she twisted it to a horrified, terrified, struggling expression.

The man, much taller than she, moved towards her, rolling her onto her back.

“Get…away…from me.” Her voice was clenched, and barely above a mutter. His hands grasped at her shoulders, a smirk spreading across his lips. Caroline wriggled slightly, but couldn’t get herself off the floor, or out of his hands.

“You can’t get away now…Paralysis can overtake certain limbs, or the entire body. In your case…you cannot move an inch. Now, just close your eyes and this will all be over soon…” She whimpered and grimaced as his fingers wrapped around her throat, slowly pushing his thumbs into her skin, tightening his grasp.

Caroline felt her wind pipe closing, her face flushing quickly as the blackness enveloped her eyes. It only lasted a few seconds, before he loosened his fingers.

“I…am going to make…you suffer.” His voice was low, and in a tad of a whisper, but still just as dreary as it had been when she first heard it. She coughed, her chest heaving up against his wrists as he moved a bit. He rested his weight on her abdomen and caused her to groan as she tried to use force through those muscles to bump him off her. The look in his eyes as he peered down at her sent shivers across her skin, causing her to twitch once again that night. His fingers started to dig into her throat, but this time they didn’t let up, and he dug them deeper until her chest was puffed out with air, making her throat dry out, and her lungs burn.

“N…no…” It was nothing more than a soft squeak that managed to pass his fingers as they dug into her throat.

“Y-yes,” he mocked, chuckling. She managed to feel her hands once again, her fingers jerking a bit. He watched her as he shoved his thumbs down, contracting his hands to squeeze the air from her body, the life from her heart. Still smirking, his body bent at the waist, and he brushed his lips over her ear, letting her chest shake as she tried to breath. “This is it, Caroline. You are mine. You cannot rid yourself of me, no matter what it is you try to do, no matter who it is you talk with. This is your life. This is your future. This is your everything…” he hissed into her ear, and she started to feel a tingle surge through her body.

He watched her lips, as they shaded from pink, down to a fleshy white, and on to blue as he crushed the life from her. Her eyes were rolled back within her head, and her mind was clouding up with the black that filled the room.

A knock came to the door, and Caroline lifted her head off her pillow, letting her hands rise up to her neck. She coughed, and the door opened, the dim fluorescent lighting moving across the floor.

“Caroline? It’s time for your medicine, hun,” spoke the woman, in a faint Southern drawl. Caroline’s eyes weaved across the room, seeing only the brunette standing in the doorway. Her left hand raised limply off the bed, causing the second woman to step over, setting the pills in her hand.

“O-okay, Serene…” she whispered. Serene reached down, filling up the glass of water that sat upon the nightstand.

“You hearing his voice again?”

“W-who?”

“That man…The one who’s name you don’t know,” Serene replied, handing her the water. Caroline quickly swallowed her medicine.

“I don’t hear anything…I’m fine…” she grumbled. Serene sighed, and walked from the room, looking at the nurse in the hallway.

“Those pills are the right ones…right?” she asked, moving back towards the steps. The nurse nodded, pushing her hands into pockets of her smock.

“Are they not working, either?”

“She says she doesn’t hear anything…but I know she does. She’s whispering. She’s not looking comfortable. I think she had a red mark on her throat-“

“So that man is still in her head.”

“Yeah…I wish I knew what to do to get rid of those voices.” The nurse shook her head.

“The only thing we can do for her schizophrenia is give her the medication and watch her take it. Otherwise she will only get worse…” Serene nodded, and picked up her bag, waving to the nurse as she pulled the front door closed behind her.