The blood stained hand rose high into the air above her head, clenched into a white knuckled fist. He wanted nothing more than to kill her bare handed, no weapon, and no method. Just beat her until her heart stopped pounding. Looking up at him through blurry green eyes, she could make out his form. Dark trench coat, long blonde hair, parts of him matted with blood. Maybe it was hers, or maybe it wasn't. It didn't really matter anymore. He was going to kill her for the sake of his cause; her screams meant nothing to him. The fist came down in what was almost slow motion, she couldn't move. She was frozen and bound to a fate that was designed for her to die. She shut her eyes and cried out.
Eileen Galvin sat up in her bed with a start, reeling from the memories her subconscious refuse to let her forget. She swallowed the remnants of the dream and clutched the thin blanket to her chest as she breathed in and out harshly. Her heart hammered in the chambers of her chest as if trying to force its way out. Sweat had formed over her skin causing the uncovered areas of her to prickle with goose bumps. Eileen shut her eyes in a futile attempt to calm herself down. But her hands just wouldn't stop shaking.
It's okay. I'm okay. He's gone, he can't come back anymore. Not for Henry and not for me.
One year, three months, two weeks and six days since the events in Otherworld. Eileen had all but counted the seconds since she and Henry came out of Walter Sullivan's twisted realm. It had been Walter who had chosen her and Henry to be sucked into his sadistic games, all because somewhere in their lives they'd encountered him and caught his eye. If anything Henry was the most unfortunate to be chosen, all he'd done was move into room 302. Eileen on the other hand had merely offered him a gift of a child's heart. For Walter it had been a sign, a gift that gave him more than a shabby doll but the rights to her soul.
Eileen couldn't think of Walter without wanting to scream her throat raw. Her entire life had been normal, so unbelievably normal that looking back she almost pitied how sheltered society had made her. And envious to all the people who would never know the horrors she did, they'd die with the notion there was no such thing as the boogeyman.
She moved her trembling hands from her chest and released the blanket. Her digits wrapped around her shoulders as Eileen hugged herself. A year was a long time, but not long enough to forget. The nightmares of Walter in her apartment beating her nearly to death continued to torment her. During her journey at Henry's side Walter had found a way to warp her mind somewhat so that she felt compelled to help his younger self. As insane as it was, even now Eileen yearned for the little wide eyed child who seemed innocent to his older counterpart's plans. Whether he had been real or not, little Walter had saved her life. He was pure.
Eileen gazed around her bedroom that was lit by the moon through the open window blinds. It looked safe, like it always did. Sometimes she had to remind herself Walter wasn't in the closet ready to cut her up with an axe. Or any of his other hellish creations.
The brunette threw the blanket off her body and slid out of bed. The cold wooden floor stung the pads of her feet. She hissed softly. It reminded her that this was all real. She was in control of her life.
Eileen opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the hall quietly, tiptoeing as she did so. Her room was at the very end of the hall, and towards the middle across from her was Henry Townsend's room. She stopped there for a moment, placing her nimble fingers on the closed door. Her heart swelled some, no longer rampaging within her.
Eileen loved Henry, but not in a sexual way. What had happen to them ended up forming a unique and frightening bond that no one else could ever forge. They went to hell together and together they survived. Without him she'd be dead, there was no amount of gratitude that could sum up her feelings for Henry. After the events in Ashfield the two wasted no time leaving town. Neither had even gone inside the apartment building to grab their things, nothing was necessary enough to go back in for. It seemed crazy to move into another apartment even if it was across the country. But they were as far from Ashfield as they could ever be. It wasn't even a question to stay together, the duo hopped into the cheapest rental car and fled. Parting ways was never mentioned. Eileen and Harry had picked the most livable two bedroom apartment affordable and moved in. It wasn't fancy what so ever. Supported by her waitressing job and his manual labor in a locally owned factory, it was the best their salary could do.
Her fingers slid off the door. Henry would be sound asleep. He was lucky he could sleep, because she surely couldn't. Eileen smiled to herself. He was an average man trying to be her hero; it was no wonder everyone in the building thought they were a couple. Henry put his fears and worries aside to take care of her, make sure she was alright. She wished she was stable enough to help him but she just wasn't ready to be a shoulder to lean on.
It was a ritual, just like Walter's but a lot less gruesome. More times than none Eileen had nightmares, and after she awoke from them she fled to the bathroom at the mouth of the hallway. As she neared Eileen caught a glimpse of the living room clock. 2:43pm.
Great, I'm never going to wake up in time for work tomorrow.
Slipping inside the bathroom she turned on the light and shut the door, leaving it slightly cracked open. Eileen took a deep breath and looked herself in the mirror. She was utterly gorgeous; no time in Walter's tainted world could rob her of that. But the beauty was tarnished. Her once lively green eyes were worn and full of experience. She had the eyes of someone who'd seen too much for her years. Eileen had lost weight from not eating as much as she should, able to keep her figure despite slimming down a few sizes. It was seeing how the diner she worked in made the customer's meals that made food so grotesque, and not so much the memory of rotted K-9's.
The hard part came next. She turned her back to face the mirror, and looked backwards so she could see her reflection. Eileen wore a simple purple tank top with snug shorts to match. She pulled her top nearly off and stared blankly at the brand on her back.
20/21
The crude scars were now faded marks on her flesh. Yet they still perfectly outlined the scrawled numbers cut into her, reminding her of that fateful day.
The mother reborn, twenty slash twenty one. No matter how many years go by this will always be with me.
Tears simmered in her eyes but didn't fall. She wouldn't allow another tear to be wasted on the past. She wasn't dead and that meant she ought to live her life to the fullest. At least that's what Henry told her.
The green eyed woman slid her top back over her body and turned forward once more. She ran a hand through her tangled but growing brown hair. It'd been a long time since she had cut it. The brown tresses grew a little past her shoulders in contrast to when it was cropped short. However she liked it with a bit of length to it. Her Ashfield friends had liked the short hair. She would never see them again, so it didn't much matter now.
Eileen was in a daze about her former life when the lights began to flicker. She gasped inwardly and took hold of the sink as soon as the ground shook.
An earthquake? Here?
An earsplitting crash pierced her ears, causing Eileen to fall to the ground and cover her head with her hands. Never before had she been in an earthquake and she had no clue how to protect herself from it. Eileen squeezed her eyes shut and cried out as her entire world shook around her. Her only thoughts were for Henry who may be covered in a heap of debris. Top floor or not they weren't safe from their own home caving in on them.
The quakes only lasted a moment longer. The stop was so sudden the Eileen was still moving when the earth went still. She opened her eyes wide and breathed out, heart pounding once again. It was a miracle she made it to her feet. Taking hold of the sink edge as she hauled herself up. The lights ceased flickering, a good sign that the apartment building as a whole wasn't compromised. It took a second for Eileen to feel how the air had changed, thickened. She couldn't breathe, she was panicking now.
Then Eileen saw it. At first she thought it was a figment of her imagination, a trick of her unfocused eyes. But the more she stared at the enormous hole behind her, the more the truth sank in. Eileen went pale. The hole in the bathroom wall was big enough for a human to fit inside, surrounded with archaic symbols on the top, bottom and sides.
Not real, not real. No…no…not real.
She turned around and the hole was there, staring Eileen right in the face with its black endless abyss of an eye. A sob escaped her throat.
"No…please let me be dreaming!"
Not only fear but anger filled her. Everything came rushing back with the strength of a freight train, and she didn't want it. Apart of her felt like everything that took place a year ago was all a waste. Which dawned a second thought: If the tunnels were back, did that mean Walter was too?
"Dear God…"
Eileen threw open the bathroom door and rushed into the hall. She jolted over to Henry's room and took hold of the door knob, pushing it open.
Fog, endless bottomless fog. The small room was gone. The door to Henry's room gave way to fog that had no end. All hopes fell, and terror grew limitless. Henry was gone.
She took a step backward, her back encountering the wall.
Not gone…back there. He's back in the Otherworld.
It was clear now, whoever had brought this back upon them, God help her if it was really Walter Sullivan, had taken Henry to coax her in after him. And it worked. Henry didn't leave her behind and she be damned if she left him.
Pushing her fear aside Eileen swallowed the lump in her throat and took off towards her bedroom. Moving towards the bed, she went down flat on her belly and reached under her bed, half expecting something to grab her. She pulled out a steel baseball bat that Henry had given her as a gift after they'd rented the apartment. It was to make her feel safe, who knew she'd really have to use it?
Eileen changed her clothes, putting on a pair of jean shorts and sneakers. Over her purple tank top she zipped up a thin black hoodie. Preparing to go into the Otherworld didn't take as long as it would seem.
Weapon, check. That was all.
She jogged back down the hall, passing the open door of what was once Henry's room without a single glance. Eileen had hell in her wake and in her future; it wasn't enough to stop her. The idea of running for the front door and fleeing had appealed to her. However she wasn't that foolish. That door would lead to more fog, and if it didn't it'd only be another year or so until the sacramental psycho found her again. And there was Henry; if safety and freedom resided outside the door he was enough to stop her from going to it.
Standing before the hole in the bathroom wall, Eileen gripped the steel bat in her left hand. What await her she'd have to face alone.
"I'm coming for you." She whispered.
Crawling into the hole, Eileen took her descent back into the nightmare.
