CHAPTER THREE-2
785 Words
BELLA OPENED THE DOOR and scooped up the very demanding feline on the other side. “Hey Fammy.” She buried her nose in the thick, soft fur of the twenty pound cat and let the door swing closed behind them. “Did you find out anything useful in the cemetery tonight?”
The cat tapped her on the nose with a fat paw and meowed pitifully. “I know, I know, you’re always hungry. Let’s go to the kitchen. I think there’s a can of tuna with your name on it.”
“Yowwwwl!”
Bella giggled and pushed the door to the stairwell open. She always preferred the stairs to the elevators. Being what well-meaning older women had repeatedly termed, pleasantly plump, Bella was always working to burn extra calories. Though her five foot six inch frame seemed determined to hold onto those few extra pounds, no matter what she did.
She settled Fammy on the floor and started down the stairs, trying not to trip over the frantically winding feline, who insisted on wrapping herself around Bella’s calves. Before she could go more than a few steps, however, a cold breeze lifted the hair off her face and her skin prickled in warning.
Bella stopped dead, her foot lowered toward the step below but not quite touching it. Goosebumps lifted the skin of her arms and made her shiver. A cold sense of dread, recently her constant companion, slid over her. She glanced upward, toward the third floor, from which the perception of discomfort seemed to be emanating.
“You’re gonna have to wait a few more minutes for your tuna, Fammy. I have to check this out.”
The cat yowled its dismay as Bella turned around and started climbing upward. When she reached the third floor landing she stopped, gasping in horror. Condensation rose from the handle of the door leading into the hallway.
It was covered in frost.
Bella closed her eyes and swore. Pulling the sleeve of her sweater over her hand she reached to grab the handle, expecting a spark when she touched the frosty metal. Spirits always left behind electrical energy. People like Bella were sensitive to it.
The handle sparked and Bella jerked but held on, turning it quickly and entering the hall.
The hallway was cold and darker than usual. Her foot crunched on broken glass as she stepped through the door. She realized the light fixture above the door was broken. A soft, spitting sound made her jump. The wires from the fixture were exposed and arcing, like the fixture had been ripped right off the ceiling.
Fammy yowled on the other side of the door and Bella opened it, grabbing her up before she could cut her paws on the glass. The rotund feline complained loudly and tried to squirm away. Bella set her down a few feet away from the glass. “Stay away from this glass or you’re gonna have sore paws, cranky kitty.”
Fammy yowled in complaint and stalked down the hallway, her tail snapping with irritation. Bella’s vision improved enough to allow her to see dim shapes in the pitch black space. She followed Fammy’s whipping tail toward the end of the hall, where the shadows deepened to pure black and the air was meat locker cold.
Fammy skidded to a stop and hissed, her tail going rigid and her fur standing on end. Bella’s skin prickled and she broke out all over in a cold sweat.
No! Stop him, please!
The disembodied voice slammed through Bella’s head and she gasped, pitching sideways and hitting the wall hard. She caught herself and managed to stay upright, leaning heavily against the wall.
Down by her feet, Fammy expanded to twice her normal size, her fur standing on end with alarm. Winding frantically against Bella’s calves, the rotund feline hissed and spit in warning against whatever stalked them. Bella tried to focus enough to see what lurked in the shadows, but she couldn’t shake the cold, mind-numbing fog that had slammed over her. A frigid breeze, thick with a sickly sweet smell, whipped past her, and icy fingers trailed across her skin. Bella snatched her arm away and screamed. The ground shifted beneath her feet and her knees buckled. Dizziness took her down to the ground.
She lay there for a moment, fighting the gray edges of unconsciousness. Fammy had gone quiet. The lack of sound ominous.
Down the hall a door opened and a thin ribbon of light fell over them.
Bella struggled not to give in to the blackness pulling at her. She was vaguely aware of a deep, concerned voice and a pair of strong arms wrapping her up in blessed heat. That was the last thing her mind registered as the jagged edges of her consciousness spliced her mind. Shutting out the physical world, and casting her harshly into her nightmares.
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- Writer
