The Doctor

On the seventh day, Catherine returned.

I was napping, deeply in sleep with my phone at earshot  and when I heard the doorbell. Thinking nothing of it, I grumbled, turned over, and proceeded to drift off again. The person at the door rang it again, and this time I had little choice but to throw off my covers and answer it. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and opened the door to see no one else by Catherine.

And there she was: dirty, unwashed but smiling. "Elizabeth...hey. I have to apologize for acting so crazy. Things have been really, really weird as of late, and it's so--"
I threw my arms around her without letting her finish. I couldn't believe it: my Cathie had safely returned to me! Tears welled in my eyes and spilled over onto my cheeks, which in turn landed on her clothing. She hugged me back.

"I love you, too, Ellie. I really do." she whispered.

"Where did you go?"
Here she stepped back and looked at me oddly. "Wait. Why did you ask me that?"

I motioned for her to come on inside. Behind us I closed the door and locked it, just in case. "You were gone for seven days. Your parents and I tried calling you. Hell, we all tried to contact you. I went to your house the day after the beach and you weren't there. I looked everywhere!"
She folded her arms in concentration, "Are you...sure?"

I responded, "I'm 100% positive."
Catherine suddenly got this look in her eyes, a look similar to understanding. She slowly nodded her head in a 'oh, so that's it' kind of way. "Well," she murmured "You will never have to worry about that ever again. I'm getting my shit together."

I laid a hand on a shoulder. "I'm happy about that, Catherine. I am. But where were you this whole time?"
Here she looked at herself, noticing the mud, dirt and grass stains, some dried and some fresh. It looked as if she had taken a hike for six days and then slept in a field full of weeds. Her nostrils and upper lip were crusted with dried blood. "I don't have the slightest clue. I woke up outside of my room but didn't think much of it. I remembered how anxious you were about me...and here I am."

That was quite unnerving to hear. Even Catherine herself was clueless as to where she went and why she was missing.

I spread the word that Catherine had come back, much to the relief of every last person I knew. Rebecca still wanted her to go see a psychiatrist, which everyone agreed was the best course of action. Catherine herself thought it a wise idea. Luckily for us, a doctor was indeed available.

Dr. Alphonse Frey, a very clever and amiable man with several degrees in several fields came to her rescue. He gladly took Catherine as his patient, saying that she indeed need the help of a trained professional to get rid of these ailments, hopefully by the time of our wedding. I remember standing in his huge office with all those books and diplomas that proudly testified the extent of his knowledge. I saw copies of books by Frederich Wilhelm Von Junzt and Ludwig Prinn, two very notable German authors. 

One time when I accompanied her to the office, Dr. Frey offered me some herbal tea and cherries that he picked from his garden. I ate the entire bowl by the time they were done. Catherine liked him, I liked him, everyone liked him. Things were indeed looking up for all of us.

A Bit of Reason

I was so worried about Catherine that I barely got any sleep that night. I tossed and turned and counted the seconds until dawn. It seemed like an eternity before the sun came up, and when it did, I was out the door and into my car. I drove to her house in a trance, my hands gripping the wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white.

As I pulled up the driveway, I saw that her parents' cars weren't there; they got up early for their job and sometimes got home late. Catherine's car, on the other hand, was in its usual haunt. I approached the front door, unlocked it, and went right towards the stairs.

"Catherine? Are you awake?" I called out from the bottom of the steps. "Are you sleep asleep, girlie?" I quietly walked up the stairs, before finally getting to her closed door. I knocked twice, and when I recieved no answer, I opened it.

She was gone.

The blankets on her bed were tangled and pushed back seemingly in a fit, as if she had clawed her way out of a nightmare. Some papers with the creature were flung around, and on closer inspection of found small droplets of blood upon a few. I stood there completely dumbfounded for some time before rushing through the house screaming her name, looking everywhere in the house. She was nowhere to be found. I clearly remember a cold panic thundering through me, and the helplessness and worry seemed to take me over.

I called Catherine hundreds of times, left hundreds of voice mails, and paced any room I was in so many times I swear I left a long groove in the floors. I asked her parents if they knew where she was, but they were just as confused as we all were. A part of me tried to reason that it was her going out and looking for a wonderful place for us to vacation to, as she had said before. But judging by the way she acted the night I dropped her off, it didn't seem likely.
On the fourth day I simply curled up into a ball on my bed, clutching my cell phone and crying softly into my pillow. I wished that I had walked into the house with her and stayed. I wished that she would get better. I wished harder than ever before. I don't know how long I stayed that way, but the sound of the doorbell roused me from my stupor. I slowly walked down the stairs, hair disheveled and eyes bright red, and answered the door.

Lo and behold it was Rebecca, who wanted to check up on me and see how I was doing. From the sympathetic look on her face when she saw me, Rebecca was kicking into full on mommy-mode; ready and willing to ease my pain. I felt my eyes beginning to sting; the tell-tale sign that another flood of tears were coming my way.

Immediately she escorted me to the kitchen, sat me down, and let me cry a river into her shoulder. As I wept, I also heard her cries join mine. It took too long for my tastes to calm down again, but when I did, Rebecca was right there for me.
When I could manage words again, she asked, "Do you have any idea what might have caused Catherine to act this way? Any hint at all?"

I took a deep breath and told her everything that had happened with me and Catherine; the new fears, the insect, the bloody coughs...and then I told her about this Fear Dubh, and how it might be connect to all of these events.

Rebecca sighed and looked at me incredulously, "Elizabeth, really? Fear Dubh and any related stories are just that: stories. Anyone and everyone claiming to see it is just mass paranoia. There has to be something else that is the matter."

It was so tempting to just nod my head and agree with her. Rebecca took nonsense from no one, tolerated stupidity from no one, and used logic and reason to sort out any problems. Her being that grounded helped the rest of us many a time.
"But Becca, you know her. She was never like this at all. What if someone--something-- is stalking her? Actually, no. I know that something is stalking her. Maybe it's that thing."

Rebecca shrugged, and I could see that she, too, was as anxious as I was. "Catherine is such a sweet person; I can't see her earning the ire of someone, unless this person was just sick in the head. Maybe, just maybe, there is a stalker who is using the image of the Fear Dubh to terrorize her. Maybe she is an unfortunate, random victim of a person who likes to torment their targets by messing with their minds as much as possible."
I opened my mouth to speak, but as I thought about what she had said, it had some basis. In fact, I was willing to believe everything that she had said. And then she continued, stating facts and giving logical answers to the confusing questions I had. Another knock at the door came an hour later, and this time I saw Vivian there, also coming to see how I was. As soon as Rebecca gave her the rundown on what was going on, she, too, joined in the conversation, though Vivian was a bit more willing to believe that something supernatural was most likely happening.

"It could happen!" Vivian exclaimed. "I mean, Catherine was never like this before. Who is to say that Fear Dubh doesn't exist? Stranger things have happened."

"All I'm saying is, I just have a hard time believing that a tall man all in black exists." Rebecca replied. "It doesn't seem probable in the slightest. When we find Catherine, we should get her to see a psychiatrist and clear this up. Something is going on and we have to get to the bottom of it. We all hate seeing her like this."

Vivian raised her hand. "I'll drive her, when the time comes. And we can all go to a restaurant afterwards."

I muttered agreement. I wondered how long my Catherine would be gone; a moment longer and I would pack my bags and look for her myself. The big problem was, I had no idea where in God's green earth she was. None whatsoever. I would be pure foolishness to go out and try to find her when I don't have the slightest clue where she is.

On the seventh day, Catherine returned.