Reasoning those mind games

Chapter 9

The monitoring machines around Clara started beeping. Doctors rushed in and tried to do whatever they could but it was too late..Clara was dead. She was as dead as anyone could be.

"Clara.. no please.." Tracy whispered out of her subconscious.

Despite her being at the verge of a breakdown, she stepped forward and ripped open Clara's dress. Her skin was pale as snow with no life in it. Tracy covered her mouth with her hand and stepped back, tripping just in reach of Tom's arms, who had to leap to stop her from falling..

Her vision completely blacked out. The only thing she could hear was a continuous beep of the heartbeat monitor, indicating that Clara's heart had stopped pumping.

"Tracy..." Clara's echo interrupted the silence. The sound of beeps slowly faded away as Tracy tried to move her paralysed body. An intense pain rippled through her head.

"Tracy.. Can you hear me? Please help me... save me " Clara's echo begged ,

Fading out as if she was being dragged away from Tracy.

She opened her eyes only to see that she was no longer with her husband. She had been transported back to the room in the house of horrors once more. The smell of death plagued her to expel all her stomach's contents. Tracy forced herself to get up once again, and to her surprise, she could move again. All the physical pain and palpitations had vanished,it was only the feelings that populated her. All she could feel was overwhelming emotions surrounding her.

Tracy looked around at the dark room. Despite there being no luminance at all, she could clearly see everything. For a few minutes she sat there trying to analyze the direction from where Clara's voice was coming. Focusing with all her senses alert, she carefully turned her head to face in the same direction to see the same door she had entered before when she was transported there from the church.

Whoever was taking Clara must have taken her out through the door.

"Tracy .." a faint echo of a scream broke her focus. Whoever it was calling her name carried vibes of intense pain . Clara ? She thought, getting up and rushed to the door, only to find it locked from the outside.

Not knowing what to do, she started to explore her surroundings. There were no other doors or windows. The only way out was the locked door. She started looking for any potential objects that could help her break the lock and get out. The room was almost empty.The only objects were a dressing table, with 2 drawers and 3 cabinets, and a mirror on the wall across the door. One by one she opened the drawers and cabinets but they were empty as well.

The atmosphere in the room was getting suffocating, making Tracy all the more furious. Running her fingers through her hair she groaned and kicked at the table, sliding it a little from its place, causing the mirror it was supporting to fall onto the floor and shatter into pieces.

“Useless!” She grunted, picking up a piece of mirror and throwing it at the door.

The sharp piece of mirror chipped off a little flake on the door as it hit, giving Tracy an idea. She picked up a thin piece of the mirror and started to cut through the wood around the door knob.

After a few hours of struggle, she finally managed to break open a slit in the door just enough for her to reach two fingers out and unlock it. Without wasting another second, she flung open the door and dashed out, stopping at the banisters across the passage, gasping for breath.

Still panting, she looked around at the horrific building she was standing in. It was like a hollow wooden cylindrical construction, with a spiral staircase across the outer walls. No doors or windows except the one she had just walked out of.

A sense of death lurked around in silence. Death by torture and mutilation and horrible fate. Blood-stained tears dripping from the walls depicting the victims' bond to this forsaken place. The voices returned once more to her mind, causing her to lose all control. Drowning in a sea of sorrow, she started to feel herself slip. Not being able to sustain her balance due to overwhelming emotions, she tripped over the banisters around the center of the building and fell off into the empty space between the floors . Landing on cold hard ground once again.

The room, the shattered mirror all came back but the door was still open. Was it Sam? She thought.. He wanted to take Clara with her. Remembering that she had to save Clara, she quickly got up and walked out of the room again to find herself in the same place in the wooden cylinder.

Wanting to get out, she started to climb up the stairs. But in the middle of the staircase a sudden gush of dizziness made her fall and roll down the staircase.

" C'mon Tracy, don't give up."

She picked herself up and tried to climb a few times over and over again. But every time she felt something push her back down. Her energy seemed to have drained now. She stood there at the base of the staircase, panting, trying to gather up any strength she had to climb up, when a soft woman's voice interrupted.

"Are you new here girl? You can't climb up just like that." The kind-sounding woman's voice echoed.

Tracy rolled her eyes, and taking a deep breath, she turned around to face the woman. If Tracy was in half her senses she could have sworn that the woman standing before her was a goddess.

Golden waves of hair ran down her shoulders, like a waterfall under the sunset. Although she was somewhat translucent, it didn't affect her beauty at all. Even Tracy couldn't help but gnaw at her mesmerizing purple eyes and round rose-red lips.

"Hi! I'm Mariah." The woman broke Tracy out of her mesmerized stance, before she could even take her eyes off the goddess's face. Mariah walked up to Tracy and extended her hand.

"Tracy.. " she shook her hand. Something about Mariah's touch gave Tracy a sense that she could trust her.

"Mhmm and what brings you here?" Asked Mariah, smiling politely.

"Here? Where am I?" Tracy asked out of haste and looked around in confusion.

" This is a place where souls stay after death and before they go to heaven or hell. Usually, people who go through trauma are sent here until their revenge has been taken so that our souls can walk into the afterworld. I came here 40 years ago... " She paused and then quickly changed the topic. "So what was your reason for death? I mean you..." Mariah paused again as her eyes shifted to the open door behind Tracy. Her eyes widened in horror as she almost whispered the last words, " you are not dead".

"No I'm not.. " Tracy began to speak but Mariah covered her mouth firmly with her hand.

"Tracy, close that door immediately and do NOT go anywhere. I'll be back." She said and stepped on to the staircase, vanishing suddenly.

Tracy shuddered at the sight, but regardless of her fears, she rushed to the door and closed it. As soon as the door clicked, it disappeared as well, leaving just a plain wall around. She stared at the wall blankly, not shocked by another surprise, when another door opened almost next to it. It was the same door, except the room it led to had lights in it.

"Clara, where are you?.. Please come save me..." She whispered with the last bit of her hope. Something told her Clara was around and could hear Tracy.

Mariah rushed out of the room and grabbed Tracy by her arm, flinging her in with a jerk and slammed the door behind her. Due to exhaustion, Tracy couldn't maintain her balance and fell onto the bed. A soft shriek escaped her mouth.

Before she could get back up and ask what was going on, Mariah beat her to it again.

"Tracy, you're not supposed to be here. This place is for the dead .. how did you even get here? You know.." Mariah walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders to turn towards herself. Tracy could feel strong fear radiating from the angelic woman, making her even more scared to react. She could see the woman's lips moving now، but everything had gone silent. The room started to glitch, flashing between the room in the house where Tom was sitting beside her trying to wake her up, Mariah's room, where she was being vigorously shaken by a goddess-like stranger and a void with complete darkness around. It was like Tracy was in three places at the same time.

"Tracy RESPOND" Mariah screamed, shaking her even more fiercely. But Tracy kept slipping more and more into subconsciousness.

"C ... Clara" she whispered, and everything blacked out. She was stranded in the darkness, alone, once again.

At the hideout

Tracy's unconscious body lay there on the couch of the living room with Tom and Mr Wilson sitting beside her.

"Tom.. " Mr Wilson began to speak but Tom stopped him by raising his hand.

" I'm not giving up," said Tom, holding Tracy's hand. " Tracy is far stronger than you assume. She's blessed. She's special. I know she is still there fighting off the drugs."

"It's been two hours, Tom. I'm sorry, but if she doesn't respond soon, we'll have to.." Mr Wilson sighed, putting his hand on Tom's shoulder, who only nodded.

"I know you're in there, Tracy. Please come back. Please show us some signs." Tom whispered, squeezing his eyes. Two teardrops fell onto Tracy's hand.

They had tried everything they could to save Clara and Tracy but every effort was still in vain . Their bodies weren't responding to anything. A slight heartbeat was all that machines could detect, and the only ray of hope left lit in Tom. A hope that kept telling him that Tracy would wake up again. However, he knew that he had to accept the truth, now or later. His mind had already begun giving up.

Shaking his head, Tom slowly got up to leave, sliding his hand out of Tracy’s, but to his shock, she gripped his finger.

"Tracy, " Tom exclaimed in excitement, sitting back in his place.

"Bring me the green vile", Tom shouted behind his shoulder and turned to Mr Wilson. The elderly officer was as shocked as Tom himself, his eyes wide open as if he had seen a miracle.

"Unbelievable.." was all he could murmur.

"I told you.." Tom blurted, running his fingers through his hair, as a doctor came rushing in with an injection. "I knew it ! Goddammit ! I f**king knew she was alive"

Tracy's lips and eyelids trembled as she tried to gain consciousness.

"Tracy, can you hear me? Princess, please say something. ... Remember you're stronger than you know. Fight it! I know you can do it honey. We're here with you " Tom kept trying to synchronize with her until she finally responded.

"C ... Clara" she whispered, and her body became unresponsive again.

Her heartbeat monitor started beeping like Clara's. Doctors rushed in to check on her but Mr Wilson stopped them. He had started to believe that it was not an ordinary comma. Exchanging a glances with Tom , he nodded then slowly turned off the machine, leaving Tracy all by herself.

"Thank you Mr Wilson.. for believing in us " Tom said, smiling with the utmost sincerity. He then turned to his wife and held her hand.

The room drowned in complete silence, except for the sound of an analog clock ticking. Everyone sat there helpless, waiting for any response from either of the women. Even though Tom had researched Tracy's abilities and could very well pretend to be bipolar and psychotic, he wasn't one. He didn't have any real experience of it, so he couldn't do anything except try to calm her down, which again he wasn't sure of whether Tracy could hear him or not.

"I wish I had absolutely any real experience of all this." Tom broke the silence after a 5 minute eternity like silence. Mr Wilson turned his attention to Tom.

"My wife is fighting a battle and I'm sitting here watching.. doing absolutely nothing. I don't even know how she's feeling right now", he raised his hands in the air and shrugged. "How many years I've been pretending to understand her, pretending to be fighting the same battle. And now when she needs me for real. Here I am whispering to the air that I lied. Ah! I lied;" he got up and started pacing across the room.

"I wish I could go back in time and. ." Before he could complete the sentence , Mr Wilson cut through.

"What was that you said Tracy has the ability .. uh.." Mr Wilson tried to recall

"Astral projection", Tom replied, putting one hand on the fireplace, leaning in and looking at the fire. "I'm not sure what it is for a person in real life. I've always believed it to be a mental disorder before today but.."

"I think I know someone who can help'' the officer sighed and pulled out his personal cell phone. Tom kept staring at the fireplace.

"Can you give us a moment?" Mr Wilson asked the staff and paramedics.

When they had left and closed the door behind them, Mr Wilson asked Tom to lock it and dialed a number, putting it on speaker.

"Helloooooo little brother" an elderly woman's voice echoed through the speaker.

"Hello Mandy.. how are you?" Mr Wilson replied with a deep sigh.

"How nice of a.. an.. accident of you to call me bro? Were you dialing another number ? Oops" the jolly woman mocked at her brother, making Tom chuckle.

"Mandy, remember you used to tell us about your Astral projection... " Mr Wilson paused for a bit and added, "we need your help."