Chapter 1
The white walls of the hospital were too bright. As though they had collected the rays form the sun and now reflected the left over energy. Scrubs passed by in a flurry of motion with no real direction.
Confusion.
"I'm sorry Ms. Sandrovitch, but she's not going to make it." The doctor had no face. He spoke after that but his words were muddled and blurry.
The crying faces of everyone in the funeral home stared back as one woman stood at the thin podium. The coffin to her left. One of her mothers pictures had been blown up and stood in one of the corners.
"I don't understand." She spoke slowly. "My mother isn't dead." Every face shot her looks of sympathy before she was ushered to one of the pews.
Sorrow.
The floor was made out of black and white marble along with the tall walls. The large furnace was a good meter bigger then the group of people standing in front of it. Everyone surrounded the dark cherry wood coffin, placing white lilies on the top of the coffin. Men in suits started to push the coffin into the raging fire of the furnace.
Anger.
Carter knew. She knew her mother was sleeping in the coffin. Why were they putting her mother in the fire?
Panic.
"No! Stop! MY MOTHER IS IN THERE!" She lunged after the coffin that was fully submerged in the flames. Her hands found purchase on the metal rods along the side, but the wooden box was far too heavy.
Desperation.
"MY MOTHER IS IN THERE! MY MOTHER IS IN THERE!" She continued to wail as her arms stayed in the fire. She had to get her mom to safety. She just had to.
Soon enough she was drawn away from the fire by her older brother before he threw the damaged sibling to their oldest sister and slammed the door shut to the furnace. Carter then crumpled on the floor, still in her sisters arms as she let out an inhuman wail.
A cry of loss.
Carter's eyes flew open to escape the retched nightmare, but it was of no help. Her nightmare kept showing images while the scream that came out of 'her' mouth was on constant replay. Tears started to stream down her face while her body stayed absolutely still. As if to sympathize with her without knowing to do so, she felt the nudge of her dog, a Shar Pei mix, by her side even though the canine was still asleep. After a few minutes Carter let out a shaky breath and sat up. The sweat on her arms and face started to cool from both fans circulating air in her room.
"Shit." Was all she mumbled before she felt the dog wake up and start sniffing her owner to see what the problem was. Carter gave her a few pats on the head to comfort the dog before she got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, dog in tow. There was no point laying in bed when she knew she wasn't going back to sleep so she might as well start her day.
In the bathroom she looked up to the sky light that glowed blue. Just enough light to make out the bags under her gray eyes. She stood there a little longer, examining her reflection. From the black hair that just barely went past her breast to the hour glass figure to the over sized T-shirt she used as her night gown. A shirt that made her look like nothing but skin and bones.
Once she had brushed her teeth and hair she walked back into her room to grab her glasses on the nightstand by her bed before she looked to the digital clock that read 5:45 AM. She let out a deflated huff with 'really' flowing with the breath out of her mouth. If she had better dreams, she would've slept for another four hours. Four hours that she knew would come back to bite her on the rear when she had to go into work later that night.
"This is some bullshit." She whined before grabbing her pack of cigarettes on the way out of her room. As she walked through the dark house she could hear the distinct sound of her cat meowing in the kitchen, wanting her usual treat. Carter ignored the wailing cat and instead opted to walked out the front door.
As soon as she had finished her cigarette she walked back in and made her way to the kitchen. After she had given her cat the treat she then let the dog outside to do her business.
Suddenly flashes of her nightmare started to come back causing her breath to stutter for a few seconds before she pushed the images to the back of her head. She knew how to block out the horrid dream due to the fact that she had been having the same nightmare for the past week. Every night without fail, without change and definitely without mercy. It was starting to worry her, if only slightly.
"Carter? What are you doing up?" Carter whipped around to see her mother walking into the living room, her scrubs already on for work. Carter's eyes made their way to the clock to show it was slowly making its way to 6:30 AM. Realizing her thoughts and made her loose time she shook her head before she hugged her mom.
"The nightmare was back and I knew I wasn't going back to sleep any time soon." Carter admitted before they broke away from the hug.
"Oh Baby, I'm sorry. I wish I could make it all better." Her mother soothed as she ran a hand over her daughters face. Carter gave her a small smile before walking towards the back door to let the dog in.
"It's alright Ma. It's just a dream. It's not real or anything."
The house became quiet once more besides the shuffling of the two Sandrovitches. After seeing her mother off and telling her she would be coming home late, Carter decided to get dressed for the day and make her way over to her friend Scarletts house. While the rest of her friends would be asleep, she knew Scarlett would be up because she had to drop her little boy off at the elementary school right in front of Carters house.
"You had the nightmare again? Dude, that's no bueno." Scarlett and Carter were sitting in Scarletts garage when Carter told her friend about why she was up so early.
"I know, but there's nothing I can do about it." Carter explained as she propped her foot up on the chair in front of her.
"No, but I think that's a strong sign. Now don't you roll your eyes at me! I'm telling you, between your family history for messing with things in the past and what you've personally been through it's not a hard leap to make." Scarlett said before taking a sip of her hot coffee. Once she finished her sip she started to shake her head, blonde and brown hair flowing with the motions. "I would never dream of trying to alarm you, but it could be something serious." Carter let out a scoff.
"I highly doubt that. I've had nightmares before and I've had some stuff happen when I was younger but nothing to be concerned about. I mean, come on." Though she was trying to convince Scarlett that her dreams meant nothing, she was having a had time convincing herself. She shook off that though with a quick sip of her coffee.
"So, are you enjoying this break from darts?" Carter asked before her friends face lighted with excitement. Soon enough they were lost in their conversations and attempts to make the other one laugh until tears came that they didn't give a second thought to the grave conversation that took place.
As Carter was walking up to her house, she noticed a beat up El Camino parked right behind her white Jeep. Curious as to why her father had company over she cautiously walked up to her front door. She couldn't hear any sound coming from the house, which was strange because her half deaf father would always have the TV sound blaring.
"I'm back!" She called out before locking the front door behind her. With her back to the living room she could hear her dog, Jewel, jump over the couch so she could sniff Carter to see where she had been. Carter gave her a few love pats before she looked up to see a stranger sitting on the couch across from her fireplace.
"Carter!" Her father bellowed. "Come meet this nice man from Pest Control!" He beckoned her with his hand as so not to get up from his spot. She made her way to the living room while keeping her eyes on the man. His hair, while not greasy, seemed to stick to his scalp while the scruff around his jawline seemed to bring more attention to his nose and ears. He stood up as soon as she was in front of him and stuck out his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am." She couldn't tell if it was a drawl or a twang but she knew he had to have been born and raised in the south. She grabbed his hand and kept eye contact with him while she shook. "Name's Garth."
"Nice to meet you Garth." Carter gave him a smile as he started to gather his things that were on the coffee table.
"Well, I will have my supervisor contact you with a return date on when I'll be back and we'll have your house cleaned out in no time." His laughter was contagious to the point of a small smile making its way to Carters face. After a few more pleasantries Garth had left the Sandrovitch house. Once gone, Carter turned to her father, a thoughtful look on her face.
"When did you guys call Pest Control?" She leaned on the couch with her hip as she crossed her arms. Mr. Sandrovitch just threw up his hands.
"Your mother must've done it early today or during the week." Carter nodded her head, as though to look like she bought the story, but something seemed off. Then again, she had been feeling off since the whole nightmare thing. She took a big breath as though to exhale of the troubles on her mind before she clapped her hands together.
"Well, I'm gonna walk Jewel around the block. I'll be back a little bit later." She explained before she walked to the front door to get the dog leash. She nodded to her fathers usual 'be careful' warning before leashing up the dog- which had been following her exact footsteps since she came home. She then walked out the door, locked it behind her and let Jewel lead the way.
As she was walking away she couldn't help but feel as though this would be the last time she would be walking around the neighborhood.
The walk was quiet. Nothing unusually strange happened and yet Carter couldn't help but feel there was something horribly wrong going on. Everything just seemed too quiet even though the usual traffic of cars would pass by and the birds were still as loud as ever. It was enough to put her on edge.
"Maybe I just need a drink." Carter muttered as she and Jewel made their way back to the front door. Before the key slid into the lock she noticed her mothers vehicle was back in the drive-way. A smile came to her face when she realized she could speak with her mother before she went into work in 30 minutes. With that thought in mind she opened the front door and un-hooked Jewels leash. Though something strange happened. Jewel stayed by Carters side. The dogs short fur started to stand on end and Carter could see the bunching of skin on the Shar Pei mixes haunches.
Everything seemed to slow down.
Carter took a slow step inside the house and made her way to the living room. While any other time it would've been three steps to get to the couches, it felt like her foyer became an un-ending hallway. With Jewel never leaving her side, she kept her steps light and anything that dangled she kept pressed to her body. She finally made it to the couch only to freeze in mid motion before her mind went blank.
There, on the coffee table that Garth had picked his things up from, was nothing but the carcass of her black cat. The cat had been gutted with her entrails left on display on the table. Her eyes were glazed over while the mouth looked to be stuck in mid meow. Tongue hanging out of her open mouth.
A hand flew up to Carters mouth as she started to feel the hot sting of tears forming around the corners of her eyes. Her mind went blank as she looked at the feline. The same cat she had picked out in second grade. The cat that had a litter of kittens that she had fallen in love with. The cat that had moved with her to Houston when she needed the year away from her parents. The cat that would always sooth her, even when Jewel could not. Carter could feel her world start to shatter around her.
As she came back into the world, she could hear the dull barking of Jewel by she side. She looked down to the protective dog, wondering why her bark was so muted even though she was standing right next to Carter. Her next thought was 'What is she barking at?' before she slowly moved her head to look at the figure in the hallway.
It was Mrs. Sandrovitch in her scrubs, showing that she had just returned from work. Though Carter was more drawn to the knife in her mothers hand that was pointing towards her daughter. As though to question her, Carter looked up to her mothers face before she froze. She had expected to see hazel green eyes. Eyes that she should've gotten when she was born.
They were solid black.
"Mom?"
Suddenly, as though time snapped back like a rubber band, everything moved quickly. Too quickly for Carter to recover from her discovery of her mutilated cat. Hands grabbed her elbows and kept her arms pinned to her side while her mother walked up to her and put the knife to the young Sandrovitches neck. Pressure was added to the knife to show Carter that she shouldn't struggle but not quite enough to break skin. Carters wide eyes took in the way her mother moved, like a predator sizing up their prey before going in for the kill.
"That's enough." Someone called from the hallway Carters mother had come from. Her mother backed away from Carter and stood next to her instead, both bodies facing the person. He wore a black suit with a high collar. His wispy brown hair showed a receding hairline while green eyes drilled into Carters grey ones.
"So hard to find good help these days." He seemed to mutter to himself, his Scottish accent leaking through every word that he spoke. "The parents aren't the ones we're looking for so you can do whatever to their bodies but the girl." He took a few steps forward with a sly grin on his face. 'The girl is the one we're after." Carter could see her mother nod before the man in front of her nodded to whoever it was that was holding her straight. She felt slight movement before she was picked up like a rag-doll and then deposited on the couch, right in front of her dead cat. Soon enough the man walked around the couch as well and stood in the way of the fire place.
"Name's Crowley, and I'd just like to have a few minutes of your time."