The loud jingle of bells assaulted my ears, making my eardrums ache. “It’s a dream!” I exclaimed, relieved, as I gazed at the grey socks beside my pillow.
“Bullocks! It’s a damn dream!” I somersaulted back into bed, eager to shake off the nightmare. This calls for celebration! Where’s Alexa? “Alexa!” I called out. “Play me “I’m Free by The Who.”
She responded with her familiar, awkward voice, “OK.”
As the music played, I felt a sense of freedom, but Alexa’s voice, a replica of my wife’s, spoke through the lyrics, “You can’t just conclude, Bruce.”
I paused as the volume increased, blasting more ominous words, “I begged them with blood that your fate be worse than mine, Bruce.”
“Stop it!” I raced to the bathroom, but my shadow followed, screaming as I shut the door on it.
“Welcome back, Bruce,” the tree lady said, relaxing in the tub, her twigs slithering like snakes from her scalp.
“I…I…I…killed her, okay,” I stuttered, falling to my knees. “I’m sorry.”
Her forehead wrinkled, and her eyes bore an otherworldly intensity. “You won’t get out alive,” she said. “For with every life a mortal takes, the same shall be required of such a daft.”
“Kill her,” a dark part of me suggested, but I quickly dismissed the thought. I wouldn’t dare harm this ancient being.
“Your silence bores me,” she said, playing with the bathtub’s water. “Continue to plead for your miserable life.”
“I’m so sorry,” I cried, desperation dripping from my voice. “I will do anything you ask. Just don’t take me back there.”
The twigs halted, sensing the sincerity in my tone. I was bargaining with a soulless being, but I didn’t care.
“Please,” I filled the awkward silence. “Anything.”
She rose from the bathtub, her body transforming before my eyes. Nails and flesh grew, replacing the twigs, as a skull emerged from the roots.
“Anything?” she asked, her voice now a haunting whisper.
“Yes,” I swallowed hard, trying to comprehend the horror before me.
“Then, darling,” she lifted me up, her grip cold and unforgiving. “Don’t stab me with a bread knife again.”
Wait… what? “Annabel Bruce Japheth,” I nearly screamed, realizing the truth.
“Mind your manners when you talk to me,” she countered, her voice a dark echo of my wife’s.
I trembled, still trying to process the revelation: my wife was an evil demon of souls.
“Don’t be surprised,” she whispered, leaning on my shoulder. “Your love for me didn’t care about family relations or background. All you wanted was to marry a pretty thing from college, and I gave you that wish.”
My conscience screamed “No!” faster than I could. Our bare feet were soaked with water, but I never cared about its source.
“Annie,” I said calmly, trying to process the horror. “I need time to think.”
She growled, her face now contorting into the monster it once was.
“Wait! I’m sorry,” I screamed, as her fangs dropped thick saliva onto my oesophagus.
But then, she stopped and suggested, “Let’s start over.”
I wanted to push her away but an unannounced kiss had me running for the main door in my pyjamas.
That’s when I saw it – the bread knife on the floor, still stained with dry blood. “Grab it,” a dark part of me beckoned.
But a strange dizziness took hold, courtesy of her kiss. Her slow, careful strides made sense now.
“Sweet dreams, Bruce,” she blew a kiss as I fell like a log, unable to escape the nightmare.
“Not the alarm!” I awoke on my cozy bed as it rang more tediously than before.
“Wakey-wakey, Bruce,” a kiss landed on my cheek, accompanied by a familiar voice.
Ah! There she laid, wearing that red dress and beautiful smile.
“I had a nice time, Annie,” my smile appeared genuine.
“Same here,” she replied, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “But the migraines…”
We both giggled, and honestly, there was nothing more to say.
True lovers quarrel, don’t they?
Also the scene was idyllic but the morning was seemingly perfect. Let’s not get my poor wife into a nightmarish debate.
“Here’s your bread knife” she smiled.
I held it but so were my blood soaked hands.
“Baby” she pulled me back into reality except there is no reality.
It’s her world now!
Annabel’s gate of souls.
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