Blue Kitsune: Hey Everyone, how's r favorite Hellraisers, nothing much here on my end but I manage to work out the kinks on my new story, with some help from and also like to give thanks to Laura101 for her support, this is dedicated to all PinheadxKirsty fans, please enjoy and also reviews would be nice, no flames though, t-hee.
The Ghost of You
Chapter One
Kirsty did not know how much time has passed since the whole incident at her father's home but she knew it hadn't been that long, probably a day or two when she was brought to the Channard institute. She was sitting alone in the Spartan like room that she was in. It was so white and there was no splash of color anywhere in this place.
It had such a cold presence that seem to leave her void and deprived of any cheerful emotion, probably to drain her until she was without hope or life at all.
Such a warm hearted welcome. She looked to the bars over the window and thought how this must feel for a bird trapped inside a cage with no exits to escape from. She felt more like a prisoner than someone who just went through a traumatic experience in their life but then after what she told them they must think she might have a few screws looses in the head.
It had only been about an hour when she had finished talking with the two doctors and that detective who came by and ask her more questions. He still didn't believe a word she said even when it was the god honest truth.
But what would they know, they had not seen what she saw, the horror she witness inside that house. They thought she was making it up.
They'd be terrified out of their wits if only they knew the real truth, that there were really such monsters that existed and appeared from within what seem like a normal puzzle box, like the boogeyman that hides under the bed and waits to come out and take you away. As a child she had thought those were frightening, but they were nothing compared to these. They were feeble, petty imitations. No horror that human beings had invented to scare themselves came anywhere close to what she saw. Vampires, aliens, werewolves, ghouls, they were all nothing. Stories made up to hide the real fear.
The terror that came in the darkness, the one that everyone knew about, and everyone forgot. Only sometimes, waking up between dreams, did the full realization hit. And even then it was seldom remembered, and if it was remembered it was dismissed the next morning. The knowledge couldn't survive in daylight. But at night sometimes people glimpsed the truth. That they weren't alone and that they shared the world with them.
Oh yes there were such beings that were to be afraid of and yet these fools dared to think she was making them up like she was some sort of crazy person?!
She wanted to scream at them to stop being such idiots and get their heads out of their asses but she told herself to calm down. The last thing she needed was to really look like a raving lunatic and have them decide to extend her stay here longer and she certainly didn't want that.
So she decided to just answer them as best she could until they had enough and finally left, leaving her to collect her thoughts about the events that took places 24 hours ago.
She was watching it rain outside her window and wonder how this could happen to her family. It seems too horrifying to be real. She almost kept expecting to wake up and find it had been one bad dream, a nightmare she could get over.
So much had happened in the short time since her father had decided to move into that house. There had been so much blood; the bodies that were there had been real, the resurrection of her uncle Frank as a grotesque creature without skin only to later use her father's…
"Oh daddy…" She could feel her eyes watering up as she thought of how she found his body in the upstairs room, lying there on the floor with no skin and the look of agony on his exposed face.
How could Frank and Julia do that to him, his own wife and brother? How could they just kill him in cold blood?
All this passed through Kirsty's mind in a matter of seconds. She didn't need to reason it out. She knew. It was easy; Uncle Frank couldn't have cared less for his brother, he just wanted to save his own hide and did whatever it took as he didn't mind blooding his hands and even had Julia help him out.
Kirsty could not forget the lustful look in her eyes whenever someone mentioned Frank's name, looks that should have been reserved for her husband. Or the way she stared dreamily at Frank's picture when she thought no one was watching. The signs had been right in front of her and she only pretend not to see them for her dad's sake.
Julia was even willing to help him by any means necessary, bringing him those men to have the life sucked right out of them by her undead lover just to make him whole again.
She should have known what Julia would do it to her father once Frank was nearly restored, to get rid of him once and for all.
Oh if she were alive right now, she would have strangled that bitch's scrawny neck.
I hope her and Frank are burning in the bowels of Hell right now, Kirsty thought bitterly although the Hell she figured the two were in was probably the one with those Cenobites.
The ones that claim to be explorers of farther regions, watchers of the unknown, the hunters that come from within the shadow.
The ones who were called forth into the human world, and who had another world of their own. They'd been called different things in different ages, but their true nature always came through. The Cenobites said they were called demons, angels, whatever people called them over the centuries when summoned.
They are said to sometimes grant pleasure to those who seek it but they always asked for something in return, usually more than you could afford for it was your very life they desired most.
It didn't really matter, to her they were absolutely frightening because they had only one purpose in mind and that was to inflict pain onto others in the worst possible ways unimaginable.
They preyed on humans. When people lost time, they were responsible. When people disappeared, they were laughing. People who got into their world usually didn't get back.
They had power. Trying to get a good look at them-or trap them-was always a bad idea. Even being too curious about them could kill you.
She shuddered and tried not to think about it. Kirsty turned her head away from the window and listened to the rain as it continued to hit the pane, making soft pitter-patter sounds on the glass.
She closed her eyes and remembered how it rain just like this ten years ago on her mother's funeral. It had been one of the saddest days for her as she and father and other people, friends of her parents who heard the sad news of Lily Cotton's death.
They were all dressed in black, holding up black umbrellas and everyone there was crying and looking on in sorrow as the priest spoke while the casket was being lower into the ground. She remembered him saying about how God had taken her departed soul into his open embrace and let her into heaven to embark on a new life above them.
But now that she thought about it, what if there was no such thing as heaven? Yet those Cenobites had been real and took Frank and Julia but they also taken her daddy away to a place that seemed far worse than Hell.
Now he could never go to heaven and join mommy. He would be forced to spend the rest of his days in hell, to remain in that terrible dark place although he done nothing to deserve it.
She clenched her fist, feeling her nails digging into her palm until the blood came out. It was all Frank's fault! It had been his whole fault for ruining their lives. She wished that Frank had never found that box, wished he had never come back and had stayed where he belonged with those Cenobites, burning for his sins. But wishing has never gotten her anywhere and now here she in a psychiatric ward where they were thinking she had gone crazy and probably had a hand in those murders.
God why me?! She couldn't help but think of all the times as a child when she was sad and her mom or dad would come to comfort her but now there was no one who could, no, her mommy and daddy were gone and she was left all alone with no one but herself. She curled into a tight ball, pulling her knees up against her chest and whimpering slightly to herself.
"I'm so sorry daddy, I'm so sorry for letting this happen to you, I so sorry…" She continued to mutter this as she lay down and her tears stained the pillow, feeling guilty for all that went on. She hated not being able to do a thing about it because her father was far from her reach and she couldn't help save him from those monsters. She went to bed with tears wet on her cheeks and thoughts of her father in her mind.
Kirsty had only been half asleep when she heard a strange sound right outside her door, someone singing. She opened her eyes slowly and wondered who could it be that was up this late.
"Hello? Whose there?" She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She could still hear them singing and seemed to be coming from outside her room, "Who's out there?" She got out of bed to check outside the small pane window on the door, seeing nobody in the hall -- but why did she hear them still laughing then?
Only one way to find out. She, to her utter surprise, found the door unlocked which confused her as weren't the doctors suppose to keep their patients in but then she probably should be thankful as this gave her a chance to roam outside to find where the noise was coming from.
She walked down the hall looking around and listening for any sound, trying to pinpoint the source of the singing. It seemed to be right down the corridor and as Kirsty made a sharp turn, she found herself at the end and saw a set of stairs leading up to the next floor.
But as she stared, she seemed to see the person looking down from the top step. It was a woman to be precise. She was probably around her early twenties yet couldn't be much older than her but was wearing what look like a long white nightgown that looked old and of not a familiar style. Her hair was long and ruffled and she wore a blank expression on her face and her skin was glowing in the faint light.
"Hi there, what are you doing up so late?" The girl said nothing, she just kept staring at Kirsty and Kirsty thought to try a different method, wondering why she was even doing this, "Are you lost, do you want me to take you back to your room?"
Again she said nothing and Kirsty couldn't help but think if this was one of those loony who like to parole the halls aimlessly up until someone from the night shifts showed up and take them back to their rooms, locking them away for the night. But she saw no nurses or any doctors here and it seem like it was only just the two of them here in this empty hallway.
Kirsty stared at her watching as the woman remain where she was, not moving and was trying hard not to be scared of her. She kinda gave her the creeps as she couldn't shake the unease feeling as she looked up into her eyes and saw how empty they seemed just staring down at her.
But whether or not she should be wary about her, she should try and help take her back to her own room and see to it that she doesn't hurt herself in the process.
"Come on, don't worry I won't hurt you I—" She heard something and whirled around. She saw nothing behind her but when she turn back to look up she saw the woman was gone.
She vanished.
What the, hadn't she, where did she go? Kirsty had no idea where she might have run off to but she decide to go and find her, hoping she wouldn't do something crazy and went up the stairs and started looking around to see if she find where she went off to.
She waited and listened and wasn't long before she heard something. It sound like there was music playing, like a piano and was coming down from the hall. What the? This was getting really weird?
Wasn't everyone suppose to be asleep and who would bring a piano to a psyche ward was beyond her and despite how she wanted to follow wherever the woman was, curiosity got the best of her and she went to go check it out. She kept walking down the hall, looking for any signs of where the music was and also of the woman herself.
It wasn't long before she reached another dead end but there was a door there. The music was getting louder and seemed to be coming from behind it. Also she heard that singing again.
Maybe, she thought the girl snuck in here but why? All the way to the door her heart was thudding wild disapproval. Her body seemed to have more sense than she did. No-don't-no-don't, no-don't-no-don't, her racing pulse said.
She could feel her pulse in her wrists and throat as well as her chest. God, don't let me run away, she thought.
Her palms were tingling. Her stomach felt sick. She took hold of the knob, turning it slowly and flung the door open.
She found herself in another room but this time saw that the woman was there and humming softly while she played. She listen to the soft tap of the keys and the woman's voice, so soft and soothing, a haunting melody that drew Kirsty in. She felt like a little child listening to one of her mother's lullaby who made her worries and fears disappear and only wished to listen to her singing.
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The firefly wakens: waken thou with me.
Now droops the milk white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.
Now lies the Earth all Danae to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake:
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.
The woman then finished and Kirsty was thinking she would then leave but then she watched as her fingers ran across the piano once again but this time was playing a different tune, a melody Kirsty didn't recognize until she realized it was the same one that she had heard from the puzzle box!
No, no! Kirsty was feeling her heart was racing and the thudding became a screaming.
No, don't. Don't-don't-don't____
Kirsty continue to listen while felt herself back against the wall, wanting to reach for the door, but couldn't find the knob as the woman continued to play unaware of the bad memories it was bringing up for Kirsty.
Don't think about it...don't remember, the voice in her mind whispered. Nobody can make you remember. Stay safe behind your walls, or else...
But it was already too late, the images were in her head, the Cenobites, seeing the one with his face pulled back and putting his fingers in her mouth while she screamed, the one with the pins saying, "Please no tears, it's a waste of good suffering…"
God no, no stop, make them stop! Kirsty didn't even realize she was shouting though she could hear the words 'Don't, stop, no they'll come if you play that, they'll come for us!'
Kirsty found the knob and tried turning it but the door wouldn't open, it refused to budge. Kirsty's shouts were becoming screams of despair as she was now stuck in this room with this mad woman, listening to her play that song and looking around wondering if they were going to show up.
God, stop, make it stop but the woman did not take heed of her and refused to stop playing and Kirsty closed her eyes hard, praying for it to go away.
Kirsty tried to scream. She couldn't, the words seem to be stuck there but in her mind they were loud and clear.
STOP!!!!!!! She could hear them ringing out when she finally open her eyes again and found she back in her room and lying on top of her bed.
What the?! Kirsty looked around confused finding herself back in her room. What was going on? Hadn't she been down the hall a while ago but how did she end up back here? Did she sleepwalk or something?
She ran a hand through her hair and trying to figure out what was going on. She found it very odd and tried to think; to retrace what happened but the strangest thing was she barely recalled anything. She knew she went to investigate something, hearing somebody that was down the hall and then following it to where she enter the room and that was all she could recall. The rest was a little fuzzy and nothing else seem to be coming back to her as she stared at the ceiling pondering what just happened.
How weird but what could it mean? She try to shake it off, telling herself it couldn't be that important, "It must be the stress…it must be getting to me." She said just to reassure herself as she went to lie down and tried get some sleep. She didn't know if she could but eventually her eyelids grew heavy and a few seconds later, manage to go into a dreamless sleep where she manage to not think about her uncle, Julia or the Cenobites.
But little did Kirsty know that the person, the woman she thought was from the earlier dream would be a frequent guest of hers at the Channard Institute and she would have bigger problems to face along the way?