Chapter Two: Disturbances
There was no sign of the stranger, Louis, throughout the next week or so and Anna was glad. She had enough on her plate at the moment, what with work and picking up Lucy from daycare and… the nightmares. They had begun simple enough; just flashes of light and darkness in her sleep. Slowly, day by day the images began to reveal themselves, like she was watching the same movie over and over in brief, nonlinear excerpts.
Always the same dynamic, however. Large, smooth hands gripping her flushed skin. Two leering beryl eyes burning into her. A name, a mere sigh upon two thin lips, always calling out her name. Sometimes the caught glimpses of soft, golden light; or exotic flowers swaying in a balmy breeze. However, they always ended the same, with a cold sweat and a swift fall to the floor of her bedroom.
Anna refused to open her window, no matter how hot it became. Her mother and sister abhorred this, pleading with her to let the cool air into the stifling brick oven of a house. She never relented.
"I'm worried about you, Anna." Her mother said abruptly one afternoon, fanning herself out on the shaded front deck, nursing an iced tea.
"What do you mean mom?" Anna feigned ignorance halfheartedly, her own glass moistening her palm as she watched the ice bob absentmindedly.
Her mother laid a feverishly hot hand upon Anna's knee. "I think you know what I mean."
Anna paused, sipping her drink tentatively, half watching Lucy run around the yard with a bubble wand, filling the air with soapy, fat bubbles. Heart sinking, Anna wondered if her mother had been suspecting the unnerving anxiety Anna was experiencing. Insanity was something Anna had never thought herself susceptible to, but lately she felt like pulling her hair out by the roots. Sleep deprivation left her without appetite. Emaciated, exhausted and wild-eyed, she loathed to imagine what her mother thought of her.
"It's Ryan, isn't it?" Her mother went on gently, as if giving a recited speech.
Anna was dumbstruck.
"I remember my first love," Victoria went on, rubbing her daughters knee cap lovingly, "Felt sick to my stomach. So… I spent that summer, my sixteenth, at summer camp to get my mind off things."
Anna resisted the passionate urge to roll her eyes. She was by no means disrespectful and truly she had a wonderful relationship with her mom; but this was ridiculous. Sitting silently, Anna listened to her mother's absurd words with a detached calm.
"So," Her mother, "I've set aside some money for a plane ticket-"
Wait, Anna thought perking up, what?
"So you can spend the rest of the summer with Grandma Eire and Papa Row." Her mother finished, squeezing Anna's wet hand tenderly. "How's that sound? Huh? Get away for a little while?"
Anna felt herself grow lax with one great wave of relief. Spending the rest of the sweltering summer in the cool mountain air of Mjondalen with the steady rush of the river nursing at the bay sounded like just the thing to get her mind off the nightmares. Didn't she hear once that nightmares are partly caused by conflict in one's environment?
"I'd love to." Anna said almost mechanically.
And so it was done.
Grandpa Row met her at the airport in his little station-wagon, ready to drive the couple hours it took to get to Mjondalen. Nestled between three rather large clusters of mountains, Mjondalen was cool and crisp under the influence of those snow-capped giants; though still warmed by the ever present sunlight. The paved roads were a recent addition, Grandpa Row had told her in June and at length she watched the scenery pass as he sped towards her grandparents little farm on the edge of town.
It wasn't much, but it was close to heaven as Anna ever imagined it.
The little poultry farm, with one addition of a cow for fresh milk, was set along the fringes of the little town, located in a little glen just beyond the thick forest that gave way to one of the three mountains. Close enough to town to see the river from its elevation; the old fashioned farmhouse was a welcomed sight indeed. Running out to greet her Grandma Eire, Anna gave a girlish squeal of excitement.
"Hello," Eire grinned shyly, speaking in her native accent and enveloping Anna in her frail old arms, "Back so soon I see."
"Yeah," Anna beamed, "Just couldn't stay away."
"Ah, I see the necklace is growin' on ye." Grandma Eire noted, taking the moonstone between her thumb and forefinger as it glowed ethereally in the sunlight.
"I told you she'd never take it off." Grandpa Row winked as he carried Anna's suitcase into the house.
That night Anna was subject to many a folklore before the blazing hearth. Grandma Eire sat knitting in her favorite chair while Anna sat at Grandpa Row's feet while he spun stories as the fire cackled.
"So then," Grandpa continued while Grandma rolled her clear blue eyes abashedly, "both Loki and the goat would cry- shrill as maidens!- with every yank of the cord that tied them together… erm… so to speak, of course."
"And did Skadi laugh?" Anna asked, almost eagerly, although her cheeks burned with the foul nature of the joke.
"No," Grandpa went on, sobering, "Only when the cord snapped and Loki fell into her lap!"
Anna laughed lightly as her Grandpa nearly fell off the sofa with laughter.
"What an idiot." Anna sighed softly.
Suddenly, without warning, a great gust of wind plowed through the west window and blew the fireplace right out! Anna nearly screamed with fright and her Grandpa roared with laughter as Grandma rocked nervously in her chair.
"Well!" Grandpa exclaimed. "Seems it time to get to bed!"
Nodding, watching her grandfather light a candle on the mantle, Anna kissed each of her grandparents' goodnight and climbed up to the loft-turned-bedroom. The only formal bedrooms resided downstairs but Anna had built a make-shift room for Colbie and herself when they had arrived there early June. A mattress sat in the corner near the window where Colbie and her would watch the stars wink to life above the mountains at night. A lamp stood off to the side and she turned it on quickly. A rug had been laid out along the cold hardwood floor and she was grateful for the small comfort. Dressing down into a pair of boxer shorts and a soft blue cami, she brushed her golden waves and collapsed upon her mattress.
Quickly slipping into the warm waves of sleep, she felt the dread return like a shadow casting itself over her.
No! She cried out.
Yes, Anna, I am here.
No, you can't. You couldn't have followed me.
I did. And I always will. I want you Anna, you belong to me. And we'll never be parted again.
You're insane…
I'm in love… I love you Anna. Accept your fate and come to me…
No! I won't! You're not real! You're not-
Gasping, Anna felt something hard gripped in her right hand. Blinking in the darkness, she watched the open night air, aglow with starlight and her moonstone necklace, open before her. Standing in the doorframe of the house, she held the front door in one hand, one foot already out the door.
"You're not real…" She finished, her throat hoarse. "It's not real…"
Tears stung her eyes as she quietly shut the door, her grandparents' gentle snores filling her ears from the other side of the house. Making her way upstairs, she shivered as she sat huddled up upon her mattress. Praying to God she wasn't losing her mind, she felt her pulse racing.
She did not sleep that night.
