Chapter 14: Childhood Monsters Come to Call
My face lost all its color. It looked like I had seen a ghost. In a way, it was a ghost, a ghost from my past. This was one of the more terrifying of my childhood monsters. It was one of the rare ones that no one could defeat. Earthquakes, like the one we had just experience were normal for San Francisco. Having lived my whole life in San Francisco, earth quakes shouldn't really frighten me. I wasn't frightened of the earth quake, precisely.
Melinda knew what I was frightened of. She had been there with me. She had seen it too. The demon that lived hidden in the basement of our family home was a terrible one indeed. It escaped only when there was an earth quake. Every time it did, it wreaked havoc on our lives. Its goal was to spread evil through the house. Last time, when we were 10, it possessed my sister and I. It forced us to do horrible things.
Aidan could tell that I was worried. He didn't know what for, because that was the one demon I never spoke of. Melinda was scared too, but not nearly as terrified as I was. She had seen what Prue and I had done under the influence of the shadow demon, and it had scared her. Still, never had she nearly been forced to kill her own family. She would never really understand.
"What's wrong Patience", Aidan asked, gently touching my arm. His touch still sent shivers up my spine. The moment his skin left mine, I convulsed, as I was thrown into a premonition. When I came out of it, I was shaking uncontrollably. What I had seen had only confirmed my worst fears.
"The Woogyman", I whispered, "he's back…" Melinda's pale blue eyes widened at my statement. Even Grams had registered some recognition at the name. She had fought the Woogyman before; although that time she had come off much better than they had. Only Aidan remained confused. Of course, the name wouldn't mean anything to him.
I found myself trembling uncontrollably. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't. The dark shadow I had seen, and remembered all to well inspired a strange fear in me. It was the most vulnerable I had felt for a very long time. My dark eyes scanned the house nervously, looking for the Woogyman. I thought I saw it popping out everywhere – which I reminded myself, it could.
I was shaking so violently, that my legs gave way beneath me. I collapsed into Grams' arm. She caught me, which was remarkable for a woman of her age. Aidan peered over me, his eyes filled with a concern I had never known. He was scared for me, truly scared. He helped me to my feet, and I forced myself to stop shaking.
"Do you want to tell me what's so special about this Woogyman?" he asked gently.
I swallowed hard. I really did want to tell him. It was just so hard. Involuntarily, I thought back to the Woogyman, a formless shadow ready to take you over. I opened my mouth, and rapidly closed it. It was difficult to find words good enough to describe the horror that that creature created. He would never understand what it was like to take orders from a shadow. Normal children were afraid of what went bump in the night. I was different. I knew what hid in the night, and sometimes, it terrified me.
"You can face it Patience", Melinda whispered, "I'll be here with you. I nodded at my cousin. She understood that I was grateful for her words of confidence. I tried to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to my lips. The ground had begun to shake again. Without thinking, I clutched Aidan's arm tightly.
My surge of sudden fear had to be very visible. "You can tell me what's wrong Patience. You can trust me", Aidan said. I wanted to believe him. I longed to believe him. Normally I didn't show much fear, nor did I feel it. The Woogyman was the only demon that frightened me. It was the only demon that made me freeze up. I wanted to tell Aidan, but I wished that someone else would take that burden from me.
I had never told anyone outside my family about my greatest fear.
I didn't know how I could stand to face the Woogyman again. I tried to push him from my mind after what he did the first time. I could sense him…and I didn't know why. The last time I faced him, he had been one with me. I understood that. I didn't understand why I knew that now he was in the basement, awaiting a semi willing victim.
Aidan was still staring at me expectantly. I had to give him an answer. I knew that he would understand, and that he would help me. Logically, I knew that was the case. That didn't make telling him the truth any less difficult. I tried to think of a way to explain. I needed him to know that every time I saw that demon, I sort of froze up. He needed to understand that the Woogyman represented everything I had feared as a young child.
I took a deep shuddering breath and began to tell my story. "He lives in the basement, and most of the time he can't hurt us. When there's earthquake, he escapes. He can possess whoever he wants, and make them do horrible things…" I trailed off. That was about all I could manage to say without bursting into tears.
He nodded slowly. I think he understood as much as he possibly could have without having experienced it himself. He squeezed my hand gently, infusing me with the courage that I needed. I felt like I could face anything…even the Woogyman. I looked to the left and the right, and was shocked to see no one there. Where was Grams and Melinda?
"Grams? Melinda?" I asked tentatively to the relative emptiness. As I had expected, I received no answer. Aidan looked at me, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. As a telepath, you would expect me to know what people were thinking all the time. Usually it wasn't the case. With both Aidan and Melinda, it was different.
I strained my ears to listen for any sound of them. Aidan and I nearly jumped when we heard it. From the basement came a distinctive crash.
"That came from the basement", Aidan said gravely. He was grave because he understood what that meant. I understood too. The Woogyman had them under his spell. Aidan and I were the only ones who could save them.
"The Woogyman", I muttered softly. Never in recent memory had I felt so afraid. My greatest fear resided in our basement. To save my great-grandmother and my best friend and cousin all rolled into one, I had to face it. It was time for me to choose what was really important. It wasn't as easy as I wanted it to be.
"We're going after them", I said firmly. Aidan looked at me questioningly. Perhaps he had noticed the slight quaver in my voice. Either that or he thought that because of my earlier reaction, this was one demon I shouldn't face.
"It's okay Patience. It's okay to be afraid", he said softly. I was going to retort that I wasn't afraid, but that would be a blatant lie. An idiot would have noticed that I shook with every step closer to the basement door. The door was ajar. This was not a good sign.
"Aidan", I whispered. I was happy to find that the guy I wished was my boyfriend still walked behind me. It gave me strength to keep putting one foot in front of another. "Can you provide a little lighting?" I asked him, "I probably could, but I don't want to use those powers right now."
Aidan nodded. I felt a comfortable heat behind me. I turned to see Aidan holding a ball of orange flame that lit the room directly in front of us. The light comforted me a little. I took a slow calming breath. When Aidan and I reached the foot of the stairs going down to the basement, I gasped.
Lying slumped at the top of the stairs was Grams. I knelt down and gently pressed two fingers to her neck to check her pulse. It was strong and steady. She was merely unconscious. Aidan shot me a look of understanding. This could mean only one thing. The Woogyman got Patience. It was up to us to get her back.
Suddenly, we heard Melinda call for us from the shadowy depths of the basement. "Aidan, Patience, I need your help!" she yelled. It was so dark in the basement, that even with Aidan's fire, we couldn't see her.
Aidan and I looked at each other, and we simultaneously said, "Trap." It was such an obvious trap that we didn't know why the Melinda…no, the Woogyman…we didn't know why the Woogyman even bothered. Without hesitation, we walked down the first few steps together. What other choice did we have?
When we got closer to the bottom of the stairs, we could see Melinda. She was standing there, staring at us. As she was bathed in the light from Aidan's fire, I could see that she wasn't exactly Melinda anymore.
She was smiling, but it wasn't her usual smile. It was an evil glare. It was like she dared me to come closer. She seemed to not even take any notice of Aidan. I stayed firmly rooted to the spot. I could do nothing more then stare at the person who was once my cousin.
"What's the matter", Melinda cackled. That was the first time I've ever heard Melinda cackle. She was still speaking in her normal voice, but her tone was far from normal. It was as close to evil as Melinda's normally calm voice could get. It was unsettling, almost frightening. "I got a new power", Melinda said, almost conversationally. There was a puff of black smoke and a very long knife appeared in Melinda's hands.
"This isn't you Melinda. You don't want to do this. You're my cousin, and I love you", I said. There were tears in my eyes. I was begging her, only she wouldn't listen. She smiled. It was that insane smile that sent shivers up my spine.
"You're right. I don't want to do this", she said softly. My muscles that I didn't know were tense relaxed a little. I shouldn't have relaxed at all. Melinda wasn't finished speaking. Or at least…the Woogyman wasn't finished. "HE WANTS ME TOO!" yelled a guttural voice that I was sure didn't belong to Melinda.
I cringed, and beside me, so did Aidan. She ran towards me, completely ignoring Aidan. I was paralyzed in fear. I couldn't even think to use any sort of power to uses. I shut my eyes and waited for the fatal impact I knew was sure to come. It never did. I opened my eyes to see Melinda flying through the air and smashing into the opposite wall.
There was another power I didn't know I had. Quickly, I ran up the stairs two at a time. Aidan followed without being told what to do. I was thinking fast, although I didn't know what to do. "Aidan, what do we do?" I asked him quickly. He didn't have an answer for me. Both of us were improvising.
There was a spell specifically to vanquish the Woogyman. If I could say it while Melinda was still unconscious no one would get hurt. I tried to think back to what on earth that spell was. I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. I knew it had something to do with light, but other than that, I was totally blocked. I had to think fast. Melinda was stirring.
"Um…um..." I said frantically. My eyes darted around the basement. I looked for any sort of possible escape. There was no escape. Suddenly, an idea that might help us hit me with the force of a speeding train. "Aidan, start a fire!" I yelled urgently. Aidan didn't ask questions, and he did as he was told.
Leaping flames appeared instantaneously, surrounding the form of Melinda. She had regained consciousness and gotten up. She merely cackled at the sight of the flames. Without blinking an eye, she stepped through the flames. When she emerged from the flames, she was completely unscathed. That scared me most of all. If she was still Melinda, she couldn't have done that.
"What now?" Aidan asked, glancing sideways at me. I shook my head. I didn't know how to answer him.
"I'm thinking!" I exclaimed irritably. I was thinking. I thought as fast as I possibly could. If only I could remember that stupid spell, everything would be fine. I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.
An athame had appeared in a puff of black smoke in Melinda's hand. "How do you want to die?" she said almost sweetly. She let the athame fly, aiming directly for my head. I levitated several feet into the air at exactly the right moment. Had a been a second late…well…I wouldn't have been able to land lightly on my feet, to put it lightly.
"Please Melinda…you don't want to do this. You know me…it's Patience. You're strong enough to fight him", I begged. Usually, I didn't beg. I hated how in movies, people begged and pleaded and then those people already ended up dead. Today the circumstances were a bit different. This was Melinda we were talking about.
"Of course I want to", she said in that inhuman voice she had used once before. My cousin Melinda was gone. The only hope of saving her would be for me to remember the spell. I wished I could freeze her. She wasn't exactly a good witch anymore, so it would have worked. Stupid powers. There was nothing I could do.
Melinda was staring straight ahead now. Her gaze was slack and unfocused. There was black billowing smoke all around her. It took a vague almost human form. That was the Woogyman, how he usually looked. "Hello Patience", said the Woogyman in a low grumbling voice.
I felt my blood run cold. How on earth could the Woogyman know my name? I had never been as afraid as I was at that moment. I had no idea what to do. I thought I was panicking before, but that was nothing compared to this. The earth shook violently again. I stumbled, and I feared I would fall down the stairs.
To regain my balance I stuck out my arm to grab hold of the wall. My hands touched the picture of my mother and aunts that always hung beside the basement door. As my hands touched the picture frame, I gasped as I was thrown into a premonition.
Flasback
I was a young child, hesitantly walking into the basement. A dark shadow went through my nose and mouth confusing me. The Woogyman told me to use my powers against my family. I didn't want to, but he was too powerful. I formed a knife with which to kill them.
My mother had found me. She had been devastated by what I had become. Reluctantly they had trapped me in a crystal cage. I hadn't understood what was happening. I had been to young. I walked towards the edges of the cage, bouncing backwards. My mother said the spell.
I was ejected from the premonition with the force of a bullet. Despite my greatest fear that I was facing, I wasn't afraid anymore. I knew what to do. After that premonition, it felt like I had my mom there with me to help me. Aidan looked at me and smiled. Everything felt so right when he was there. I managed a small smile too.
"I know what to do now", I said.
Melinda had come charging towards me. She brandished the knife, ready for the kill. I recognized the blood lust in her eyes. I recognized it because I had felt it myself. When I had felt it though, it was all my own doing. I stood my ground. I could say the spell.
"I am light", I began shakily. I felt my throat suddenly constrict. I clawed at my neck. It felt as if someone invisible was strangling me. I backed up a little.
"I am one to strong to fight. Return to dark where shadows dwell", I said quickly. I was finding it very difficult to breath. Melinda stood stone faced opposite me. Her hand was clenched in a fist. It was her! She was the one telekinetically pressing on my windpipe. Aidan kept the fire burning, but I had to be the one who finished the spell.
"You cannot have this Halliwell", I gasped. My throat burned. Breathing was almost unbearable. Aidan was looking at me extremely concerned. There was nothing he could do to help me now. I had to help myself.
I fell to my knees. I saw black spots everywhere. "Go away and leave my sight, and take with you this endless night", I managed to whisper. The Woogyman shrieked, and in an instant, he exited Melinda's body, and returned to under the basement floor. Melinda's telekinetic grip on my throat stayed strong until she fell to the ground.
"Are you okay Patience?" Aidan asked. That was the last thing I heard before my lack of breathing ability, and the indescribable pain became too much. I fell into the endless darkness and thought no more.
TBC…