Happy Birthday, Florence

Hey, I hope you had a wonderful day! Did you like the manga we got for you? We all pitched in and got it for you special.

I do want to let you know that I've been feeling better since the last time it rained. How many days ago was it, again? Can't remember, but I do recall the feeling of dread mixed with the smell of damp earth.

I had been running errands for my mom and I was on the phone with Florence at the time. She gushed over how much she loved the new Captain America move, how she had seen it three times already and wanted us to see it, too.

I shuffled the bags into the backseat of my car when I saw it again. Like the times before, it didn't move but stood at a reasonable distance away from me. I hastily ended the call, but not before telling Florence to keep her phone nearby just in case. It was then that the rain became a downpour, the raindrops drenching my hair and running into my face, forming a constellation on my long lashes.

Could this thing control weather?

Like a child I snuck into my car and waited until the heavy rain lightened. The radio had been reduced to static; no matter which channel I tuned to it was all  the same white noise. I flipped to channel 004 when I heard something...something I can't describe.

What I can formulate was it sounded like a chant--no, it was a chant. Through the static I swore I heard voices crying out eye-ah, eye-ah and then more things I couldn't decipher. I listened closer, and this is what I got:

Eye-ah ???, hear our voice

???, soul and voice of darkness

??? alal, hear our voice

Take our ??? we may hear you

Take our ??? so we may se you

I was chilled to the bone. I turned the car off and for a few blissful minutes all was silent except for the rain.

But that was ruined when I looked through windshield...it was standing only nine feet away from me. I could do nothing but stare in horror. I did not scream; I couldn't scream. The fear had silenced me.

I shut my eyes tight and cried, my heart beating like a drum in my chest and the sickening feeling that it was leering at me. Please go away, please go away, please go away...!!

The rain stopped completely; the only evidence of it was the dark clouds and the wet surfaces. I hesitated to start the car, but through the anxiety I found it in me to do so. The radio was back to normal and I drove home with the alternative rock station blaring.

I called Florence when I pulled into the driveway, hands still shaking.

"Flo...?"

"Ellie? Holy shit, are you alright?"

"I...Flo, listen. I don't--I think that I...something almost jumped me."

"What did he look like?" she snarled out protectively, "Who tried to hurt you? Did he have a knife or anything?"

"No! He--it didn't have anything." Just the possible power over nature. "He was just really scary looking and I didn't feel safe. I hid in my car and he...lost interest, I suppose. I'm home now, though! And feeling much better now that I'm talking to you." That wasn't a lie. The sun had started to peek through the clouds and Florence's voice eased my nerves.

She sighed, "All right then. If anyone tries to fuck with you, just call me and I'll burn them alive."

"I love you too, Florence."

"I'm serious."

"I know, I know," it felt good to laugh out the words, and after some minor small talk the call ended.

I really am feeling so much better...I just don't want it to rain anytime soon.

The Test

Eight days later I sat back in Dr. Frey's office. Instead of my usual, comfy seat I was led to a plain wooden chair, old and worn, which audibly creaked when I sat. He had me place my hands palm down on the small desk before me and walked away, pulling out a small sheet of paper.

"Now, Elizabeth, I want you to clear your mind completely. If you like you can close your eyes. I'm going to read you a list of words and you will tell me what you associate them with. Is this alright?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it is."

He leaned back into his chair, stopwatch in hand and paper in the other. "Good. Alright, first word: apple."

I said, "Pie."

"Doll," he murmured.

"Porcelain."

"Wolf."

"Wild."

"King."

"Crown."

"Darkness."

"Light."

"Baby."

"Family."

"Sex."

"...family..." my fingers curled against the cool desk. Suddenly I had a rush of memories of Catherine with me, bare breasted in the moonlight as we spoke of our hopes and dreams. "Yeah, family."


Dr. Frey 'hmmed'  and wrote something down. "I see, Elizabeth." He was silent for a moment, and I looked up from my pale hands to the diploma adorned wall before me. "You're anxious...you haven't gotten over Catherine, have you? This just shows me that you're hanging on to your beloved with an iron grip. You're not giving up on her or on finding her supposed killer."

I broke down inside. I evened out my voice as best I could, "I never will give up, Dr. Frey. I never will. I understand that, I accept that. I will go the rest of my life with my four best friends, but never another girlfriend."

I turned to look at him, and he gazed back at me with a heartbroken expression, "It can always get better, you know. You seem to not be giving it a chance."

He stood up and I followed suit. He scheduled me in for another three weeks. "Let me know if you see this black figure again."

Naomi's birthday came on the 10th of March, and on that day, at her house, while we laughed and joked and enjoyed ourselves, I saw it standing in the calmly in the twilight, right on the backyard lawn.

My throat tightened and I felt every vein in my body freeze. I chugged my decently sized glass of sangria to get moisture back into my mouth, and in the moment my eyes were averted, it seemed to come closer.

"Elizabeth?" Rebecca nudged me slightly, "You alright?"

I made the mistake of turning my head towards her, "I'm...sorry, I'm just out of it." I looked back to the window and it came just a few feet closer. My heart began to beat faster.

"No, you're not 'just out of it,'" Florence placed her glass on the coffee table. "What's the matter?
You're whiter than a ghost right now. You're not like that"

I blinked. It came closer. What could I say...?

"Don't look behind you," I whimpered, "Please, please don't."

"What?" Vivian's brow furrowed and she made the move to look at the window behind us. I grabbed her shoulders too roughly. "Ow! Elizabeth, what the fuck?"

Naomi turned around. She turned around as I held Vivian, went outside to check it out. I screamed at her to come back inside...she did, "Elizabeth, there's nothing out there. What's going on? Why did you freak out?"

What could I tell them? What could I say? "Please stay inside, girls. I don't want to lose you..." I broke down right on the floral couch, my tears landing on my glasses. My poor girls, they were so confused and worried. This was Naomi's special day and it ruined it. I ruined it.

For now it disappeared...but how long until it comes back?