Chapter2 Now Presenting…Mary

Beth's sitting on the living room couch for hours; as her mind begins to wander. She starts remembering those nights spent at her grandmother's house as a child. At night, in the dark, those hallways and staircases would exponentially stretch out with every step you took. The faster you ran, the further your destination would pull away from you; until some sort of magic formula in quantum physics allowed you to catch up with it. And then, there were those horrid noises in the dark…things that go bump in the dark as they say. Every sound magnified, throbbing in your ears throughout the night. Eerie sounds that haunt your memories for the rest of your life. You'll never completely get them out of your head. They'll just lie dormant, waiting for their time to awaken and resound in your mind once again. Now is the time for Beth's noises to awaken. In a self-induced trance-like state, Beth's mesmerized by thoughts of her nights at grandmothers; when she's suddenly ‘awakened' by knocking at the front door. While staring at the front door, there's another knock. "Who is it?" No reply. "Hello? Who's there?" No answer; but, another knock. Beth makes the decision to go to the door; but, not before grabbing a candlestick holder off the mantle. Beth slowly moves toward the door. More knocking. She stops, clenches the candlestick holder tighter while simultaneously pulling it to her chest, takes a deep breath and calls out… "Who…is…it?!" No answer. But, no knock either. Then a disturbing realization enters her mind…Anna's outside somewhere by herself! Beth rushes to the door to look outside; but, just as she reaches for the knob, she hears pounding at the back door in the kitchen. Now concerned about Anna…without any hesitation…she spins around and quickly runs to the back door. The pounding stops just as Beth forcefully twists the knob and thrusts the door open. She charges out back; candlestick holder at the ready. No one's there. Beth notices Anna skipping rope by the barn. Anna, seeing her mom, stops to wave at her. Beth, relieved her daughter's fine, smiles and waves back. Anna goes back to skipping rope. Beth, dumbfounded, starts laughing. She doesn't want to; but, can't help it. Then, she hears it; and, the laughing stops. The front door just slammed shut. Beth re-enters the house; precariously working her way back to behind the couch. Beth stands behind the couch surveying her surroundings. There are no signs of anyone being in there. Now, thinking that perhaps whoever it was has gone; Beth lowers, but, still holds onto the candlestick holder. She goes over to look out the front door. When reaching the door, she quickly raises the candlestick holder back up to the ‘batter position', as her knuckles immediately turn white from clamping down tightly on it. Her heart starts pounding and her breathing becomes heavy. She's trembles, as sweat begins forming on her forehead. The dead-bolt had been locked and the door re-chained. Beth's come to the disturbing conclusion that whoever slammed the door shut must still be in the house; and, in a brief moment of lucent thought and reasoning, she rushes to the phone to call 911. She picks up the receiver and…no dial tone. She simultaneously drops the receiver and candlestick holder; standing there paralyzed from fear. She wants to move; but can't. After being motionless for what seemed like an eternity to her, Beth hears a child's footsteps running along the floor above her. Suddenly, she's able to move; and, starts following the pitter-pattering of the steps moving back and forth across the ceiling. They stop; and, so does Beth. She waits and listens. "Mommy?" Anna calls from the kitchen. Beth jumps from being startled; then calls back to Anna, "Wait, Sweetie; I'll be right there." Beth doesn't hear any more steps, so she goes to Anna; who's at the kitchen table getting ready to pour two cups of orange juice. "Mommy, did you see Mary?" Still distracted, looking back into the other room, Beth, as if on ‘auto-pilot', instinctively carries on the conversation, "No. Who's Mary?" "She's my friend." "Your friend? I didn't know you had a friend here yet." "Yeah; we play all the time out at the barn." "Oh. That's nice; I'm glad you have someone to play with." Beth keeps looking out the kitchen towards the living room. "So; is she nice?" "Yes. Very nice." "That's good. You'll have to introduce her to me sometime." Then it dawns on Beth. "Sweetie, wait a minute; why are you asking me if I saw Mary? Wasn't she playing with you?" "Yeah; but she asked if she could use the bathroom." "So, then you told Mary to use our bathroom?" "Yes. That's okay; isn't it, Mommy?" Beth bends down and hugs Anna. "Yes. Yes, of course it's okay, Sweetie." She hugs Anna again, and kisses her on the cheek. Finally relieved, she sits down at the kitchen table as Anna pours the juice. They sit and wait for Mary to come downstairs. Mary never did come down that afternoon.