A/N: This was an interesting chapter to write, only because of the seemingly conflicting sleeping arrangements. When the scene cycles through the members of the group after they've retired for the night, it initially shows Cathy and Pam rooming together. However, after analyzing the scene, I've come to the conclusion that Pam and Cathy actually had separate rooms. They're only "bunking" together during Pam's nightmare sequence.
::~*~::
Cathy closed the door behind her, somewhat apprehensive that she hadn't taken Pam up on her earlier suggestion. Cathy had never been to a summer camp as a girl, but she'd gone to more than her fair share of slumber parties, where she had wowed many of her friends with her talents on the Ouija board. A girls' night had sounded like such a fun idea, despite their surroundings. Very innocent and even welcome in contrast to the oppressing atmosphere of Rose Red, but Joyce reassured them that the rooms were safe. Cathy had immediately repented of her poor thoughts in response to that comment, but how could Joyce, of all people, know what was safe and what wasn't in a notoriously haunted house? Hadn't she selected them because they could sense that supernatural world more so than she? On a slightly brighter note, though, nothing felt threatening about the room, so Cathy was content to let herself feel a little bit at ease.
Cathy carefully picked her way across the darkened room, her only guide the faint moonlight shining down through the windows. She wished she'd had the foresight to leave her bedside lamp on after she had dropped her bag on the bed earlier. Turning the bedside light on, she set her purse on the edge of the bed next to her clothing bag. She chuckled bitterly as she noticed the unused flashlight she had also set down and wondered what was happening to her mind. Opening the bag up, she quickly rifled through it until she found her small Bible. The moment her fingers touched the leather bound cover, a peaceful feeling washed over her. While she was still quite uncomfortable being in the house, she felt a lot better knowing that she had her faith to fall back on. Setting the book prominently on the bedside table, she pulled out her sleepwear and quickly changed.
She didn't want to admit to anyone that she was deeply shaken. Being an automatic writer, she wasn't used to these very overt physical manifestations. She was loathe to admit that anything could shake her Christian foundation, but the appearance of that ghostly specter twice had her at odds with her religious upbringing. It was a fine line to walk, that line between the supernatural world of ghosts and restless spirits and of good Christian religion. Somewhere in her life, she'd found the balance between them, but it always seemed to be shifting as her understanding of one overshadowed the other and vice versa.
Walking over to the window, she took solace in the sight of modern civilization only a stone's throw away. It was strange how just entering the house could feel like entering a completely different world. The furnishings were still very much reminiscent of the early 1900s, except for what Joyce had brought. While still so close to the city, she still felt so completely cut off from it. Was it possible to exist in two places at the same time? Certain she would lose her mind if she focused too much energy on the horrors of Rose Red, she turned away from the entrancing scene of vehicles moving over the freeway and the twinkling lights of businesses as they turned on and off.
Desiring nothing more than to curl up with the "Good Book," she scooted a bedside chair closer to the small lamp on the table and opened to where Vic and she had been discussing earlier. Revelation 12. When touring the house earlier, she had made a comment about how the house seemed to alter its appearance and layout to reflect the desires of its mistress. She had thought there was a biblical similarity of a woman who was pursued by a dragon while the forces of nature and the Hand of God had prevailed against the serpent to ensure her safety. She had correctly assumed the right book of scripture, but Vic had thought the account occurred later in the Book of Revelation. Finding the Book of Revelation a little depressing during her present sojourn in Rose Red, she flipped back to the Gospels and contented herself with reading about the Master and His teachings.