At Night
It was an ordinary night, she was alone in the house, dinner went by three hours ago and now that bed time was calling she couldn't sleep. But this was no surprise.
Marianne had sleepless nights since she was 19 years old, now with 21 the routine was pretty much the same. Dinner at 10:30, go to the computer and try to watch some TV show or movie she downloaded, and when the clock marked 12 pm she when to her bedroom to change her pants with her night ones, brush her teeth and lay on the bed. Not without closing the bedroom door, because the living room that was outside was too dark and… sinister at nights for her to watch as she tried to sleep. Dark shadows passed by the rabbet of the door from her point of view, and this was the main cause why she couldn't sleep giving her back at the gateway.
By the time she put herself in bed, ready to try to sleep, she remembered the movie she saw earlier, The Babadook. A great picture she thought, not just because of the symbolism and the simple, yet delightful, plot, but because the creature of it was so lurking and intriguing.
Lurking… that word took a particular taste in her mouth, "lurking". The monster itself made almost no physical appearance yet, with the tenderest care from the director, worked so damn well. A tall, shadowy slim figure, with long fingers working as straight claws, top black hat (of those Marianne loved) arms that inhumanly bend, disheveled black hair and a face… a long, white face with a big black smile and eyes covered by the shadow of the hat, but when the viewer could see them, they were wide eyes with white irises and black pupils.
The thing, the odd thing that was rounding in Marianne's mind was that this creature was not so terrifying to saw, almost normal, almost. And of course she was the type of woman that leaned her satiric eyes at men that weren't the popular object of affection; men with peculiar features and lascivious looks. And this character from the movie was quite out of the common, and she was grasping the thought of considering it almost… ¿intriguing?
Her mind went on and on upon the subject until she fell asleep, but the idea didn't quit there. No, in her dreams she began to have disturbing scenarios and odd circumstances.
…
The dark living room from the second floor, in the middle of the night. A sound, a familiar rumble coming from behind…
-¿What is this? - Turning over she sees nothing but darkness. Only feels the growing fear paralyzing her feet -No, no sleep paralysis! -
*hissing*
-Baba-dook-dook-dook –
The darkness became a bit clearer at her eyes, only to see the tall figure with a top hat. And slowly the man extends his arms. She tries to move only to prevail on her feet, frozen. The fear is choking her so she closed her eyes and try to awake, and so she feels a breeze from her face to the neck.
-Open your eyes- With a jump she obeys only to see in front of her nothing but darkness, but she knows too well that in everybody's dreams not seeing the source of your fear in front of you only leaves you with one alternative.
-No…- The only thing that escaped from her mouth, like denial of her former reality.
-Yes…- The voice was deep, low, slow, not entirely threatening whisper. And it was landing in her neck.
-A dream, this is a dr-dream –
-Well then… ¡Awake!- With that final sentence she felt two long arms wrap around her waist at the speed of light and a face locking the trail from her shoulder to her neck… and a smile, a grin.
…
-¡No!- Sweating in her bed, with her eyes open wide with terror, she felt the paralysis slowly fade away.
"The hell's wrong with me?! What the fuck was that?!"
-Not going to think about it again- "It wasn't THAT bad! C'mon don't say it wasn't alluring!" That little fawn deep inside her was telling her exactly what she felt. That the dream itself made her feel, after all, aroused…
The big picture of the dream was comprehensibly scary but the voice and the fact that someone touched her in that way, even if it was a dream, was impetuous.
The night went on and the disturbing dream never repeated itself. But she kept moving and rolling on the bed for other dreams, mixed ones with a dark house and nothing but loneliness.
A few weeks later Marianne told her friend about it, only to be laughed at.
-You just got caught in your dirty mind again. Hey don't worry! I get it, I saw the movie because of you. The monster has an air of mystery and shadowiness, which makes it alluring and certainly sensual. I thought about it a couple of times!-
-I know but you don't get it! I felt petrified with fear, it didn't felt at any moment like a good dream-
-…That's odd, certainly, but it was just your imagination I mean, c'mon you know how exited you get about something that really touched you a nerve- Clarissa waited a few seconds, then she asked a question that make her suspect a little about the whole situation –Did you dream it again?-
-No, I think, I tried to re-dream it but without success. But not for erotic motives, I was trying to get an answer from my brain I guess- Her friend fixed herself in the seat, the night was casual, nice, no breeze and the weather was a slight fresh. The stars shine upon them.
-Look, if you have any other nightmare about it tell me. If this really disturbed you I want to help-
-Thanks, I know how silly it sound-
-Don't worry; we don't have anything else to do anyways. So for the moment we got this-
Clarissa left at 1am, Marianne cleaned the little they used and went again to bed.
The house was somewhat big, at least for her. Her sister had 25 years old and was living in the city because it was near the college, and since she had only two years of school in front of her, the single life on a tiny apartment was cozy and quiet. Caroline loved that.
She was alone in the house and could afford it thanks to her aunt and Caroline, after all the taxes were low since she was the only one, and the rest of the things she had to pay were merely cleaning things and food. And the job Marianne had was at least well paid, hard to find, but a nice one to execute. Helper on an art gallery, she did some administrative things but mainly she attended the needs from the owner of the place, she was a secretary with trust bonuses on the job.
With that, her aunt working on a mechanic shop and Caroline with her internships in medicine, the house still stand on its own.
When she finished, she went to the stairs to go to the bedroom but a loud sound make her stop in the middle. The sound was dry, strong and so loud she could bet the next-door neighborhood heard it. Another noise, stronger, and coming from her room. She gasped and started to fear if someone had entered in the house, with sigil tried to listen something else, a rumble, if it was actually a thief. Nothing came from the upper floor.
Easing herself she went slowly upstairs and grabbed her baseball oak bat that kept hidden behind the table next the stairs, for occasions like this only. She was neurotic but not dumb, if someone entered her home she at least was going to defend it.
*low rumble*
Jumping in her feet, almost letting the bat go –WHO'S THERE?!-
*growing rumble*
-Get out of there son of a bitch!-
It was dark; she wasn't to turn the lights to let the suspected thief know where she was. But it was too dark, and Marianne could only tell she was heading to her room because of the routine, otherwise it was damn too black to see anything.
She was afraid for her life, she was picturing the whole thing in her mind already; it was a thief and it was going to reduce her in strength so he could rape her and with the worst of lucks, kill her after. Of course, if he was into necrophilia things were going to be backwards.
"Fuck! That's not going to happen. This is just my common scenario of paranoia and it only will be a fucking cat on the sealing or something. And you can't let THAT happen to you! You hate you THAT much to let it happen?!"
Her thoughts were interrupted when slowly she manage to see that next to the door that leaded to her bedroom, rested the same tall figure from her dream.
She tried to scream, but el lungs failed her, her eyes wanted to shut, but they were wide open, her legs wanted to run, but they're glued to the floor. She couldn't believe it, it was him; but she couldn't aloe herself to even think of saying the name out loud. But she did at the end.
"The Ba- the baba…"
-Dook… Looking for me?-
Marianne saw how the thick black line that play the role of his mouth turned into a wide close smile and that slight move make her body ache with terror, because what she was seeing was as real as the cold in her feet.
The tall man stepped away from the wall and get closer to her, not walking; but what it seemed like floating from the floor.
With nothing to say she look back and took a step back, only to realize that the creature in front of her was no more there. Nowhere to be seen and the dark around her turned more blinding, suddenly a worm breeze blow in the back of her head and slide to the neck, followed of a whisper so low that resounded in her entire body all the way to the ground where she stand, like a lightning had stuck her down.
-You awoke…-
-I-I you tried t-to-
-No…-
-Then, what?-
-You tell me-
-I, your-you're not real-
-I'm not?- And right then he rise his arms to slowly touch Marianne's arms, ever so slow and somewhat teasing.
-What are you doing!?- Her voice was a soft whisper full of terror, but the situation was otherworldly and surreal. She begged to God that this was another strange and suggestive nightmare. Sadly she couldn't follow that reasoning much longer because the dark claws were circling her throat. More than menacing, but cautiously, opening path to a breath that was pulling all her airs up in the air. And in the middle of the trace that marked half way from her shoulder to her ear lobule she gasped at the feeling of warm full lips, placing themselves there; where she couldn't feel anything more than an erotic feeling of encounter.
She was so drawn in the confusion and warmness that for a brief moment all fear fade, with each minimal movement his lips made. Those terrifying lips were kissing softly her tender skin, and as softly as he place them, started to move the kiss upper in her neck until they reached her ear.
A tender gasp escaped from his mouth making Marianne tremble, obviously not with fear.
-¿Why? - She cried.
The creature purred at the question and took a full grip on her waist, making her gasp.
-You interest me. I've watched you since the dream-
-How can you be…-
-Because I'm not a creation. I'm a myth-
-Please… Don't k…- She couldn't finish the sentence it was too horrifying to think about it. Even more from the angle she was taking place.
-I'm not the same thing you've watched in that little screen. I'm more-
After he said this, the tall figure turned Marianne around to see her eyes injected with fear and confusion. And smiled at the feelings he created on her, it was amusing to see how much he could pull from her and still having the will of making her stay.
-Are you scared?-
-Of you- Reducing the gap between the two of them, the Babadook got his face so close of hers that all she could see was a blur.
-Well, you shouldn't-
She closed her eyes not believing her situation, the closeness and the thing she had in front of her. Even she tried to pull her face away but the top hat figure trapped her lips on a full, capturing, warm kiss. Gasping from surprise and confusion, she felt fuzzy and without strength, she was so drained from energies, having her entire system work for fear and primal instincts like running and being alert. She just couldn't handle it.
Her arms felled at the sides of the creature arms that still surrounded her, and his embrace took more grip in her waist pulling her closer to him. He made one claim of her mouth and not by his surprise she opened just a little her lips, the kiss was chaste but fiery and passionate.
She was lost in the mere nothing, everything swirl and she was trapped in the most strange and frightening kiss she ever had, a fairly strange first kiss.
