Reasoning those mind games

Chapter 5

Deep in the middle of the forest, ground covered with colorful Autumn leaves. Tracy stood there in a stranger's hold. Her white skin had turned ice cold, as she waited for the man to stab or kill her .. Tracy took a deep breath and leaned back allowing the man to get closer and better grip her.

The man slowly tightened his grip around Tracy's waist. Anytime now .. Anytime .. she waited desperately to get it over with but nothing happened.

Nothing except a warmth of his breath giving tingles on her neck as he leaned over her shoulder. Taking advantage of his slow movement, she cautiously slides her hands up to the man's hands to seize whatever the potential weapon he was holding. If she could somehow take his weapon or break his grip, maybe it would give her a chance to get away. Even if she was dying here today, she wouldn't die a coward. Taking a deep breath she swiftly grabbed his middle fingers twisting them both at once.

To her surprise, the man didn't even struggle against her. He only let her do whatever she was doing as if he already knew what she was doing. That's when Tracy felt the ring in his finger. Their wedding ring! It was Tom.

" Oh Little princess, I missed you so much..." Tom whispered under his breath as he kissed her on the neck.

" I knew my princess would never mistrust me .. everyone on earth can but not you.. Oh oh lord .. I love you so much.." He continued wrapping his arms around Tracy's waist again.

Tracy had almost forgotten how it felt like in his arms. But was he still her fiancé or.. She remembered Sam's face flash before her eyes.. Her mothers words echoing in her ears. Was this man a murderer? She thought, but his hug didn’t feel like a murderer's grip.

Tracy stood still in her position confused about whether she should run away or not. Her mother lied, Clara lied, Robert lied, even her Dad and Sam lied to her .. what of all Tom had for her were yet more lies. She shook her head at this thought and decided to confront her fiancé for once and get it over with. pursing her lips in frustration she freed herself from his grip and turned around looking him up in the eyes.

"Mhmm .. and That's why you tried to kill Sam.. because you 'love me?' right?" added Tracy air quoting the words 'love' me.

" Kill?? Sam? What are you talking about, are you ok? Why would I kill my friend?" Tom replied dumbstruck by Tracy's accusation.

"Oh just stop! I know what you did. I talked to him on the phone yesterday myself!" Tracy blurred out, not amused by his lame justification.

" But Sam was dead ?" Clara interrupted. Her face was flushed in fear as if she had just seen a ghost. " I saw them .. I ... I saw them..bury him I .. saw them with my own eyes." Her voice was shaking as well as her trembling body. Tracy's jaw dropped as she watched the panicking woman stepping back slowly grabbing her hair with her hands. "You.. you weren't even there Tracy."

Well Tracy wasn't there at her brother's burial but, the thing that didn't set in was that Clara WAS there. She looked at Clara startled.

"But how would you know.." Tracy inquired.

" You think I wouldn't know if my husband was alive?" Clara screamed grabbing Tracy by the shoulders and shaking her as if she was her brother's murderer. Clara's jet black eyes glistening with tears.

Another one? Tracy thought, more confused than before. It was getting kind of frustrating, how mysteries over mysteries were unveiling without a lead. It felt like trying to untangle a string which was tied from both ends. No matter which direction she followed, she seemed to be coming back to the same place she started off with , except, with a new story to solve. She had nothing to say now. First her wedding then her mom then Robert and her dead brother calls .. and now she has a sister in law..

Tracy just raised her hands in the air nodding her head at both of them.

She tried to open her mouth to say something but no words came out. Tom could see her giving up so he hugged her again and this time Tracy just hugged back and burst into tears.

" Tom what's going on" .. She sobbed, hiding her face in his chest. Her chest was getting heavy making her moan in pain between words. " I just want it to be over. Please tell me none of this is true, nothing ever happened and Everything is going to be ok. Hm?. Please tell me it's all a dream"

" I wish it was honey." Tom spoke up when Tracy was done. " Clara was Sam's wife. Me Clara and Sam were best friends and Clara and Sam were in love. They wanted to tell your mother about their marriage, but the very next day after they got married, Sam died. So We decided to stay silent about it."

" So she wasn't your ex either? " Tracy looked up at her fiance, who only chuckled in return.

" Nop ! You were my first and last choice" He smiled, wiping a tear off her cheek.

" Ehmm.." Clara, who had now calmed down as well a bit, interrupted their romance by clearing her throat; " We kinda don't have less time.. sooo how about we get back to work." she suggested, turning to Look into Tracy's blue eyes " ... by the way you do have your brothers eyes as well as his anger"

Everyone chuckles at her comment. They sat on the ground, hands in hands, legs crossed.

" Now Tracy," Said Tom quite concerned. "I need you to close your eyes and go to the astral world. Take your soul out of your body and go back to the church. Look for anything they show you, anything suspicious at all. Clara will be there with you. I'll stay here and watch out for the police... Take a deep breath and wander. And remember " He paused for a bit squeezing her hand "I love you!"

Tracy nodded, kissed her husband and closed her eyes. She felt an injection pierce through her arm and then everything went still.

Come Tracy .. Echoed Clara's voice.

She opened her eyes to see Clara and her fiance still sitting there. Clara was asleep but her husband was looking at her .

" Tracy,? Are you coming? ``asked Clara. Except the words came from behind her not from Clara.

She quickly turned around to see another image of Clara standing beside her. The other Clara reached her hand for Tracy to hold it . She slowly reached for the ghastly hand spread out for not knowing what was going on. To her surprise, it didn't pass through Clara's ghost as she had expected. Instead it seemed to be real. Another surprise hit her when she got up to follow..

She was a ghost herself. She could See HERSELF sitting there in front of her. She looked around in amazement. Now, she could see other souls wandering around as well . But they didn't seem to like her watching them.

" Psst. Don't look at them, they don't like it.. let's go" Clara whispers, tugging her Arm. Tracy nodded and they both began to fly towards the church immediately.

The same church, same wedding hall but strange red fog around. Both women come to an agreement that something sinister is brewing as they walk into the hall holding hands. They scanned the room for anything unusual. A clue of some sort. The mannequins crowd is full of ignorance, wearing rose coloured glasses, eating up every word the groom feeds them. As she tries to focus on the groom a bit more, she notices that his form is flickering like a static on an old analogue TV. His face starts to blur.

She looked back at Clara and whispered "Did you see that ?"

The fear in those black eyes said it all. Clara only responded with a swift nod in agreement. A noise in Tracy's pocket pulls her attention. Who could be calling me , she thought to herself? As she pulled out the phone and held it to her ear with haste.

"Hello? May I ask who is calling?" she softly asked.

"Tracy You need to listen to me get out of there now!" He said unsteadily.

"Tom I don't understand, but how... you're standing in front of me?" Tracy stated.

"No you have to believe me that man is not me. You have to run. Please I beg of you!" He pleaded.

The line fizzled out and the signal was dead. Tracy grabbed Clara's hand and said " we must leave now RUN!"

They fled their way out of the church hall with a sense of urgency. The light in the room turns dark in a haze. The air grew heavy. Each breath became harder. The crowd in the room falls silent. Their bodies collapse to the cold marble floor. Laying there emotionless. Bodies become no more than empty shells. Clara shrieks in dread and her hand slips out of Tracy’s. Tracy turns around to see her lifeless body slump to the floor turning to dust right before her eyes.

"No! This can't be real! It can't! Make it stop!" She closed her eyes hoping to awaken from the nightmare. She reopened only to see that the church hall was no more. She appeared to be in an old run down house. The building smelt of rotten old flesh and bones. Screams echoed in her mind begging her to make him stop.

" Make it stop make it stop make it stop..." Tracy covers her ears with her hands and screamed as loud as she could. All the voices suddenly stopped.

Blood painted on the walls from surreal to abstract, she moved through the house, her breath breaking with every creak in the floorboards. She opened a random door in the hallway leading to a huge bedroom. Her gaze fixates on the broken mirror across the room on the wall. A dark figure stood behind her. Her eyes widened in shock as the man reached out for her and grabbed her. The light went out and she felt herself being dragged with a speed of wind.

With a jerk, she opened her eyes again. She was back in her body. Lying cold on forest ground. Clara and her fiancé were there no more. She was alone.

In a distance, Mr Kennet’s voice could be heard faintly, calling out her name and then she fainted again whispering " Thank you Mr Kennet I'm ok"

She woke up on Mr Kennet's lounge couch. Mrs Kennet and an old friend of Mrs Kennet were sitting beside her. She had seen that lady before a few times in a cafe but didn’t know who she was.

" Oh glad you're ok we were worried " said Mrs Kennet with genuine worry on her face. The other lady just nodded.

“Thank you Mrs. Kennet,” Tracy smiles, sitting up straight.

" We'll drop you back home" said the other old lady helping Tracy.

Something about her voice sounded suspicious, but Tracy was way too exhausted to think what. She just wanted to go home for now.

They walked up to Tracy's house and left her at the door. Tracy looked at the time after bidding goodbye to the old women. It was 12 am.

" Oh no mom must be asleep" . She curled her lips and raised her eyebrow at her watch, before inserting the key into the front door and entered her house, silently shutting the door behind her making as little noise as possible.