“What the fuck? I told you we would discuss this with her later! Today was supposed to be a good day. You always have to ruin everything!” her father snarled.
“Oh, go fuck yourself. I’m the only person in this car living in reality. She needed to hear the harsh truth. I don’t care if she’s mad or if she hates us.” Her mother said. Trish rolled her eyes and laid her forehead against the window.
“What fucking truth? I’m not kicking her out of the house if she has another episode. You made that shit up all on your own!”
“What? We won’t be coddling her anymore; she needs to grow up!”
“You’ll be leaving the house before I put my daughter out on the streets to become another fucking wandering crazy homeless person!”
“I’ve already decided. It’s done.”
“For you. I’ve decided she stays. I pay the majority of the bills around here. If you kick her out, you will be homeless. I will empty out every bank account and leave you with nothing. Don’t test me,” her father growled.
“Really? You’d do that to your wife of thirty years?” her mother gasped.
“In a heartbeat. Unlike you, I love Trish. You’ve overestimated your place in the household.”
“No, I think you have. You’re always so sweet and caring to her. She doesn’t need an enabler; she needs someone to bring her back to reality.”
“Oh yeah? You’re always nagging her, picking at her, and arguing with her. Has that really helped, or did we just pick her up from a mental asylum?”
“Let me try it my way, and you’ll what she needs is a strong iron fist.” Her mother’s voice shook.
“I don’t think so. I’m putting my foot down on this one. Your “fist” has done nothing but cause arguments. I’m going to help her, and you’re going to shut up!” her father screamed.
Her mother responded, but Trish was no longer listening. I can’t wait to get back home and see Sausage, she thought to herself.
I can’t wait for you to come back home, a deep voice responded. Xavier’s voice.
Trish sighed. We’ve talked about this; my home is with my parents.
No, your home is with me. You’ll come crawling back, and you will know once and for all that you are mine.
Trish stopped responding to Xavier and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in, held it for four seconds, and exhaled. Trish had been trying to be better about listening to what her therapists tell her to do. Maybe this breathing thing actually works? she thought as she continued with squared breathing.
~~~
They arrived home after picking up burgers and fries for her father and herself and a burrito for her mother. After Trish spent some time loving on Sausage, they sat at the table and ate in silence. She stared at her food while her parents played a game of ‘who can look away the fastest’.
“We’ll be in the living room honey unless you’d like us to stay with you?” her father asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a gentle squeeze.
Trish shook her head and took another bite of her messy burger. Her father shrugged and wandered off into the living room. Her mother cleared the table from their meals in silence. Trish popped a fry in her mouth when her mother walked over and kissed her on the head.
“You know that I love you, right? I just want you to be normal and live a normal life.”
Trish nodded.
Her mother smiled and walked into the living room as well. The television blared over the squeak of the recliner. Trish finished her food in silence. She placed her plate as quietly into the sink as she could and crept into her bedroom. Sausage followed behind her; his paws noisy against the hardwood floor of the hallway.
Well, there goes my being quiet, she thought. She shut the door behind them, his paws now silenced on the carpet. She laid on her bed, Sausage jumped up next to her and cuddled against her body, and closed her eyes.
~~~
“Patricia, wake up! Time to take your meds,” her mother called. She opened the bedroom door and walked in with two pills and a glass of water. Trish groaned, sitting up. Sausage yawned; a tiny squeak escaped.
“Can I trust you to take the pills?” her mother questioned.
Trish nodded and stuck her hand out for them. Her mother placed the pills in her palm and watched as Trish popped them into her mouth. Trish grabbed the water glass and took a few swigs. “Thank you for making this easy on me,” her mother said. Trish shrugged.
After he mother left, Trish leaned against her headboard and sighed. Sausage climbed onto her lap and laid his white and brown head onto her chest. Maybe if I just do what they say, they’ll let me move out quicker? She thought, petting his head. I’m not totally against medicine now. Maybe I am really crazy, and Xavier really is just a figment of my fucked-up imagination.
After a few hours of staring at the wall, Trish sat up and riffled through her bedside drawer to make sure that her knife was still next to her bed. It wasn’t. Her parents must have taken it away. She crept out of her room and shut the door behind her so that Sausage couldn’t follow her and make a noise. The television was off, and the house was dead silent. Darkness enveloped her. She squinted her eyes and reached her hands out to touch the walls around her. She shuffled along out of the hallway and into the kitchen. Leaving the lights off, Trish maneuvered her way to the knife drawer and felt around for a steak knife.
“What the fuck?” she whispered to herself. Trish couldn’t find any steak kinves, butter knives, paring knives, nothing. Trish took a deep breath and grunted. She moved into the living room and dug through the trash drawer in the entertainment system. Trish couldn’t find a pair of scissors either.
She cracked open the bathroom door with a creak. Trish paused and waited a few moments before swinging it open. The sound reverberated throughout the house, and she could hear Sausage whining in the bedroom. No signs of movement. She turned on the bathroom light and dug through the drawers, looking for anything sharp. All of the tweezers and nail clippers were missing.
“Ah-ha!” Trish yelled but then covered her mouth. She bit her lip and pulled out nail scissors crumpled in old bathroom tissue that her parents missed. Trish giggled to herself and turned off the light. She walked back into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Sausage licked at her feet and jumped onto the bed, wagging his tail.
Chapter Sixteen
T
rish sat down in the darkness next to Sausage and petted his soft fur. His hair sheds and falls onto her comforter and ground. Trish sighs and places the small silver scissors into her bedside table drawer. She lays back and looks up at the ceiling. I can’t wait to have my own place again. Just me and Sausage against the world. No relationship to worry about. No parents meddling. No police at the door. No friends. Just me, myself, and I. The only human I need.
Trish had checked her phone a few hours prior. She had several missed calls from James and even one from Emily. I don’t need them anymore. People annoy me and backstab me. They leave me when I am at my weakest, and for that, they will suffer. True friends and true lovers don’t do to me what they did. I hope they rot. She thought to herself while she stared up at the ceiling.
“Tsk tsk, Patricia, I thought you were better than that,” Xavier said, his voice bounced around the small room. The entire ceiling was engulfed in the familiar black churning cloud. The formless, shapeless, and careless motions of the cloud enticed her. Trish stared up at it as it started to sparkle a deep red. With every beat of Xavier’s voice, the cloud pulsed. It looked as if something or someone was moving around in it. Weird shapes poked from the inside of the cloud-like a cat kneading a blanket.
“What do you mean?” she asked, watching in amazement.
“I thought I was the one who loved to watch humans rot. We are not so different.”
Trish rubbed her temple. “You’re not supposed to be here. I’m medicated now and am not supposed to be hearing you anymore.”
“You heard me in the car and did not see
m to mind,” Xavier retorted. Trish watched as the cloud grew larger, touching her bedroom's white walls; the contrast blinding.
“I was trying to keep my cool. I don’t need my parents up my ass,” she said.
“Indeed, you do not need them. All you need is me,” Xavier said, musically pronouncing every syllable. Trish was entranced. Sausage jumped off the bed and walked over to the bedroom door, and pawed at it, whining.
“But I don’t need you. All I need is myself. The hospital helped me to see that,” Trish said, her body moving back and forth.
“That is what I do not understand about you poor souls. You will listen to anyone and everyone about anything, but you ignore it when your soul is talking to you. Why?” Xavier’s voice deepens.
Trish sniffles. “You’re not my soul.”
“No, I am not. But I am a part of it. Attached, tethered, bonded, shackled. You cannot get rid of me, exorcise me, or pray me away. I am you, forever. You get rid of me, you die. Simple as that.” Xavier laughs, the black cloud crawls down the white walls even further. A horrid stench of rotting meat and damp Earth blanketed Trish in a comforting yet terrifying manner.
Trish sniffled and wiped her nose. The black dripped ever closer to her. The stench circled her head and smacked her in the face. She squeezed her blankets hard, her knuckles turning white. The room was silent, save for Sausage whimpering by the door.
“Have you decided when you will be going back home?” Xavier asked.
“I told you, the cave isn’t my home,” she cried.
Xavier paused, the cloud twisting and turning with rage. “You will come home.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“You will. Do not worry, my child, you will come home, and you will come home tonight.”
“Tonight?” Trish cried.
“Yes, tonight. I will get you there one way or another. You have to stop fighting me like this. It is getting tiring. I have waited almost a year to finally get you alone, and now the time has come.”
“The time has come for what?”
Xavier laughed deeply. Her bedroom walls shook around her. The noise banging against her head like a baby against a wall. Screams filled the room. Trish couldn’t figure out if it was her screams or if the screams were coming from the black cloud. She tried to call out for her parents but was silenced. The noise hurt her ears. Then, she heard music off in the distance. It sounded like an out of tune harp.
The walls continued to be enveloped with the black cloud, to the point where Trish could no longer see anything past her bed. No white walls, no door, no Sausage. Trish squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, rocking back and forth on her bed.
“Stop! No! Please, I don’t want to!” She screamed as the dark, pulsing cloud took over. It inched its way up from her bare toes and ankles, slowly, tauntingly.
“You are making this difficult on yourself. Relax and enjoy the moment,” Xavier’s voice boomed in the distance. She almost couldn’t make it out as everything in her head was loud. Her legs felt ice cold and wet, tar-like. The black cloud seeped into her pores, devouring the clothing she was wearing. As it worked its way up her thighs, she thrashed out; the blackness froze her legs still. Trish could no longer move. The veil pressed her back down into the bed, becoming one with her mattress.
“Wait…” Trish squeaked as it embraced her stomach. The tar-like substance of the shadow started to burn. Her skin bubbled, and she couldn’t scream out in pain. The music in her ears grew louder. Xavier was laughing in the distance, saying something that she couldn’t quite make out. The sinister black tar covered her arms and chest. Trish could no longer breathe. She gasped for air that would never come. Trish groaned and croaked as the cloud covered her neck.
“This is my favorite part,” Xavier clapped, clear as a glass of hot water.
The tar covered her head and invaded every orifice in her body. It slithered in like a water snake, splashing around and gliding in. Trish couched and whimpered. Her body started to seize. She shook violently, rattling the remnants of her bed against the wall and floor. Sausages whines grew louder and the music burned her ears. Blood seeped out of her ears, eyes, and nostrils.
“Cleanse your body, Patricia,” Xavier said.
The deep black of the room absorbed into Trish’s body. Her body stopped shaking, the music stopped, and the stench disappeared. “What happened?” Trish groaned as she tried to remember. She remembered nothing.
Trish rubbed her head as well as her feet, they were warm to the touch. “Sausage?” Trish called out.
“Sausage is fine, he is by the door. Annoying little garbage lifeform,” Xavier said.
“Where are you?”
“I am apart of you like I stated earlier. This time though, it is official.”
“Official?” she asked.
“I’m in your head forever now. I can also influence you. Until you willingly come to the cave, I plan on ruining your life.”
“Why?” she cried.
“Why not?” he asked.
Trish didn’t have an answer. She knew that Xavier would stop at nothing to get his way. That’s why she had to do everything in her power to not let that happen.
“Oh, but you see, I have a trick up my sleeve,” Xavier said in a sing-song voice.
“Tricks?”
“Oh yes, just like riddles, I love tricks. Tricks are like magic, but more entertaining.”
“How is it more entertaining?” she asked, biting her lip.
“I love pulling the wool over human’s eyes. I like to make them see things that are not really there and do things they would never consider doing. It is fun to use you like a puppet, pulling on strings, making you dance.”
“Please stop. I don’t like this game.”
“You will love this game until you decide to go home. If you keep fighting the inevitable, I would love to show you exactly what games I like to play.”
Trish cried and smacked her head against the wall. “Stop it! I said no!”
“But I love watching you in distress,” he said. Trish banged her head against the wall once more. Blood oozed out of a fresh cut.
“Beating yourself is not going to make me go away. It will only elongate your problems. I am going to ask you one last time. Will you come home?”
Trish growled loudly and smacked herself in the head. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” she screamed.
Xavier laughed. “As you wish, my sweet.” The familiar weight presses down onto Trish. She falls back against her bed, being unable to breathe once more. The weight presses Trish’s chest hard, squeezing it as if she were in a vice.
“Stop fighting him, Ladybug,” her grandfather appeared before her.
“I can’t! He is going to hurt me,” she wailed.
“Indeed. He will hurt you if you don’t listen to him. I sent him your way to help you, remember?” Trish thought back to their conversation when she was camping.
“I don’t get it. Why would you want to hurt me? Why would you send him to me? I love you…” she said.
“I know you do. Just do as he says, and we’ll be together again soon.” Her grandpa kissed her on her forehead.
“Please answer,” she cried.
Her grandpa sighed and sat beside her. “I sent him to you because I knew that he would make you stronger. Look at how strong you are today! You’ve maneuvered through life without issue with just one arm, defeated the mental asylum, and found out who your true friends are; myself and Xavier. That’s all that a grandfather could ever ask for,” he answered.
“But I want to live!” She took a deep breath.
“We all want things that we just can’t have. Do as he says and you’ll spend the rest of eternity with me, Ladybug.” Her grandpa said, stroking her hair.
“Grandpa, please… I thought I could trust you.”
“Stop your whining and do as we say!” he screamed. His eyes turned black and swirled just like the cloud. “You damn kids and your opinions. I have somethi
ng helping you, something older and wiser than all of humanity, and this is how you treat me? You’re so entitled. I thought I knew you better than that,” her grandpa said. He stood up from the bed and glared down at her, his piercing dark eyes seeing right through her soul
“Grandpa… I don’t know what you want me to say?” she cried. He disappeared in a tuft of smoke, and Xavier’s cloud stood in his wake.
“I tried to give you a chance, as did your grandpa, but you just will not learn.” At that moment, Xavier took over her body, just like he did in the cave. She sat up, her body tremored, her legs jiggly. She leaned over and grabbed the silver scissors she found in the bathroom earlier. Her hand shook, the metal scissors tinged, the blades smacking each other.
Trish stood up and hobbled over to the bedroom door. Her mind in a trance, her eyes clouded over. She couldn’t hear, see, or feel anything. The familiar weight against her body almost comforting. Sausage licked her feet and jumped up, slamming himself against her bedroom door. Trish leaned over and picked him up, kissing him on the top of his head. She loved on him while she carried him to her bed, his weight heavy in her weak arm. Trish sat down with her beloved Sausage. She patted the top of his head and turned him over, rubbing his belly. His tail wagged, and he licked her hand. She smiled down at him.
All at once, she jammed the scissors into Sausage’s abdomen. She twisted them with a squelch. He yelped out in pain and quickly tried to squirm away from her. His blood seeped onto her hands, her pajama bottoms, and her bed, coating her in his lifeforce. His paws pushed her away from him but she held onto him tightly, pressing her nub into his fresh hole to keep him steady.
Trish smiled and removed the scissors, and stabbed him again. She bit her lip and ripped the scissors out. The blood splattered along her bedroom wall and nightstand. Her face was spotted with a deep red. This time, he quieted down, his thrashing stopped, and he went limp. She pushed his body to the floor.
The Cave Page 13