My Last Breath

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

    An ear-piercing howl stirred her from a dead sleep. Anne opened her eye and the first thing she saw was the roof. Carefully she sat up and could feel the throbbing of a headache behind her eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep it down.

    The fire had died down sometime during her rest, and all that was left was cold embers. The room had become swallowed up in a darkness so thick it made it hard for her to breathe. Lighting arced across the night sky, illuminating the room.

    Clive was asleep next to her in the chair, the book had fallen from his hand and landed on the floor. The door to the far left of her room was open, Anne’s heart picked up and she tried to keep her breathing calm. She pulled the blanket off her legs and tried to swing them around. When she stood, the lighting gave the room light once more. She grabbed one of the blankets off the bed and wrapped it around Clive. Maybe he just forgot to close it…

    She used the lighting to help guide her around the room. Her bladder screamed for release. It had been some time since she used the restroom. When she approached the open door, she saw it was a bathroom. Anne sighed in relief when she saw the toilet seat was left up. Thank god, he just forgot to close the door.

    Going inside the bathroom her feet touched the cold tile and sent shivers up her body. She closed the door behind her. There was a window next to the bathtub, each time the lighting arced, the branches outside of the window made it look like claws scratching at the glass.

    The bathroom was white. Everything but the shower curtain. It was the only splash of color in the whole room. She lowered the toilet seat and proceeded to do her business.

    With each crack of thunder, she thought back to the falling tree and how easily it could’ve crushed her. Maybe this is the only safe place. Once she was finished, she flushed and went to wash her hand, when the bathroom became alight, it was the first time she saw herself.

    She was worse for wear, a bandage wrapped around her head and her eye. Her face was bruised and her lip glued back together. She looked like she had lost a little bit of weight in her face, her golden brown eye that looked like molten amber in the sunlight was dark, her flesh was the color of her bandages. An off-white. Her lips were the only thing that had a little bit of color left to them. They were rose pink. Her neck was thin and had scratches all the way down to her chest.

    Anne could see the sharpness of her jaw, and the elegance of her face. A lot of people once called her ‘Princess Anne-Marie’ because of her gentle beauty. Now, however, she looked like—

    Eyes flashed behind her in the mirror, glowing a dark ember red. Anne’s body grew frigid. Her mouth was dry. Her hand held onto the porcelain sink. Her eye never straying away from the ones staying back at her. Her grip grew so tight on the sink her knuckles turned white.

    A top hat laid on top of the glowing eyes head, a dark mist-like shape moved closer. Its steps were silent. A scream was trapped in her throat, but her mouth refused to move. The eyes floated in mid-air as it came through the door.

    “Who are you…?” She whispered.

    The mist came closer, the sound of a boot stepping behind her broke her out of the daze. She blinked, realizing she was no longer alone in the bathroom, Anne finally let out the scream that had been trapped in her chest.

    The mist was right behind her, a hand was reaching out not from behind her but from the mirror. Long, sharp nails touched her bandaged eye sending shivers of terror down her spine. Her breathing became faster as she started to hyperventilate. The fingers tickled her cheek, Anne belted out another long panic-filled scream. “Get away!”

    She broke the trance as she stumbled back, her legs striking a radiator. The bathroom door slammed open as the soft light from a candle, lit up Clive’s face. “What is it? What is it, Anne?!” He turned to her. The panic on his face resonated with hers.

    Her chest heaved as she stared at the mirror.

    No one was there.

    She was alone in the bathroom, except for Clive now.

    She had always been alone.

    Her body trembled in the cold sweat, as the smell of death lingered in front of her. She slowly turned her eye to Clive, who looked just as terrified as she did. “T…there…” She breathed hard, “There was someone—”

    She watched him relax as he came further into the bathroom, he pulled the shower curtain open and looked. He went to the linin closet, pulled it open, and looked. “I swear…I swear to God there was someone else in here with me.” She took another sharp breath in, “Clive, there was someone in here with me.”

    He once again looked at her, and gently took her good arm. “You’re under a lot of stress Anne-Marie. Stress can cause your brain to think you’re seeing things that aren’t there.” His grip was light, and his hand was warm. His thumb gently caressed her bare arm. “Maybe you even had a minor concussion that I wasn’t aware of. I may be a doctor, but I don’t have the equipment here to see if you have any brain trauma.”

    Anne gently shook her head, “I’m sorry. Maybe I was just dreaming while I was awake…I used to have sleepwalking episodes after—” She stopped, and bit her tongue. She didn’t need to tell a stranger what she went through. It was none of his business.

    He led her back to the bed and helped her in. “Look, I’ll leave the candle lit till you fall back to sleep.” He laid the candle on the bedside table, picked up his book, and went back to the page he stopped on. “Besides, many things can cause—”

    She narrowed her eye at him, “Say it. Say what you want to say. I know you’re thinking it.”

    He sighed, “Hallucinations. It’s not uncommon. We’re in the middle of a bad storm, you’ve been through a major car accident, and you’re worried about your mother. Things will get better. I promise you, Anne-Marie.” He rubbed his tired eyes and went back to the book.

    “…I’m not crazy.”

    “I didn’t say you were.” He replied back, turning the page. “You’re simply under a lot of stress right now. Things happen. In the morning I’m going to look at your stitches and see if they need cleaning.”

    She watched him in the candlelight for a minute longer, his face was scarred and warped. He was missing a brow and a good portion of his bottom lip. But he had a good facial structure with high cheekbones. His nose was still intact, and he still had curly red hair that bounced each time he moved. “Can…can you tell me more about yourself?” She gently asked.

    His eyes never moved away from the book, the stark silver of them could freeze blood if he wanted them to. “There’s nothing notable about me.” He licked his finger, turned a page. The sound of it was loud in the quiet room.

    “How old are you?” She was still too afraid to go back to sleep. The last thing she wanted to do was see that thing in her dreams.

    “46.” Another page turn.

    She swallowed, “Where were you born?”

    He closed the book and looked at her with chilly eyes. “Indiana. What about you? Where were you born?”

    “Essex.” She replied, “My dad had a one-night stand with my mom, and here I am. He never came back to claim me, so my mom moved to Florida to start a new life with her new husband and my older sister.” She winced slightly.

    He leaned forward, “Do you need more pain medication?” He pulled out a pocket watch from his vest, “It’s a little after three, you’re due for some.” He was getting up from the chair.

    Anne reached out taking his wrist in her hand, “N…no. Please. Just stay for a little bit longer. Tell me, do you have any family?”

    Clive, surprised by this sat back down. “Not anymore. My parents died a long time ago, leaving me with this mountain and the cottage.”

    “Your parents left you a whole mountain?” She was shocked, “How does that even happen?”

    There was the smallest of smiles on his lips, it made her breath catch. She let his wrist go. 

    “That’s a tale for another time. Not tonight.” His eyes seemed to warm, even if it was just for a moment. “My family is very old, and has been passing things down for generation after generation.” He sighed quietly.

    This information gave her something else to think about, something to make her mind grasp around other than the thing she saw in the mirror. She rubbed at the bandages that wrapped her arm up. “How badly was I injured?”

    His face softened, “Pretty bad. I had to give you CPR. I thought you were gone. There have been many deaths on this mountain. People don’t listen to the weather report and the road gets washed out in heavy storms. The road may be for public use…but the storms are harsh in these mountains.”

    She still rubbed her bandaged arm, “I almost died…didn’t I?”

    “No, you did die. You had no pulse when I found you. I had to beat the water out of your lungs. Luckily it wasn’t long.” He ran a hand through his hair pushing it back away from his eyes, which softened in her presence. “I came out here because I was sick and tired of death. I’ve been here for quite some time now.”

    For the first time since waking up, she felt a sliver of trust enter her. “Thank you Clive for saving my life. My mother would’ve gone nuts if she found out—” She stopped.

    His eyes never wavered from her, “Found out what?”

    “Nothing. Is it alright if I go back to sleep?” She didn’t want to face the demons that lurk in the darkness, but she was rapidly growing tired. The longer she stayed awake the harder it was for her to relax.

    He picked the blanket up from the floor, he was about to wrap it around her.

    She raised her hand, “No. I gave that to you because you looked cold. I have plenty.”

    Clive placed it back on the chair and tucked her in. “I’ll wake you up in a few hours. Sleep well, Anne-Marie.”