by Tim ORourke
Chapter Fourteen
We looked at each other. Even in the glow of the red lights in the room, I could see that the entire colour had drained from Melody's face and she looked petrified.
"She's back!" Melody whispered.
"What are we going to do?" I panicked. I could see Melody's eyes frantically search the room for somewhere for both of us to hide. Outside, I could hear her mum's footsteps and they were getting closer.
"In the wardrobe" she breathed in my ear.
"Are you kidding me?" I whispered back.
"Get inside," she hissed, opening the wardrobe door. I could see real fear in her eyes and sense it in her voice.
Before I had the chance to say anything else, Melody pushed me in the back and into the wardrobe. The clothes on the hangers smelt musty and old as they brushed against my arms and face. Melody squeezed herself in next to me and closed the door. My heart was racing so fast I thought it was going to explode out of my chest. I stood as still as possible and I hoped that Melody's mum wasn't going to bed for the night. I knew that I wouldn't be able to hide in here until morning.
It wasn't completely dark in the wardrobe, and I noticed a chink of light seeping in through a gap in the door. As quietly as I could, I crouched and pressed my eye against the gap. I saw Melody's mum enter the room and close the door behind her. I couldn't see all of her, just brief glimpses, but enough to know that she dressed just the same as Melody.
How did I get myself into this? I cursed.
Then her mum stopped in the middle of the room, and I saw her take off her bonnet and apron.
Oh my God, she is going to bed! I'm trapped! I screamed inside.
She rummaged around for something in the grotto, and then dropped to her knees. Her head was cast forward so I couldn't see her face. But in her hands she held a set of beads, just like the ones Melody had. I guessed that's what her mum had taken from the statue in the grotto.
How did I get into this? I thought again.
Then her mum started to speak as if she was having a conversation with someone else in the room, whom I couldn't see.
"Forgive me," she muttered, head resting against her hands which were clasped before her. "Please take the burden which is my daughter from me. "
Melody must have heard what her mother had said, as she moved uncomfortably beside me.
"I know that I sinned, that I was tempted by the devil," her mother continued. "But he tricked me into falling in love with him. He used me to carry his demon. "
I closed my eyes because if I did, it meant that perhaps I wasn't hiding in the wardrobe and having to listen to this woman speaking about my friend in such a way.
"Once he had placed his demon inside of me, he left," her mum continued to mumble. "But I know he will return one day. That's why you must help me rid my daughter of her demon. "
Holding my breath, and turning as quietly as I could, I looked at Melody. She cowered in the corner of the wardrobe. In the chink of light that cut through the gap in the door, I could see tears glistening in her eyes. I pulled her close to me, then resting my forehead against hers I gently placed my hands over her ears so she didn't have to hear what her mum was saying about her.
Her mum continued to babble her wicked prayers on the other side of the wardrobe door. To block out the sound of her voice, in my head I pictured Melody and me down by the lake, our feet being covered by the cool water that lapped against the shore. With our foreheads touching, I hoped somehow Melody would see those pictures too. I closed my eyes and pictured her.
It was like I completely lost track of time. I could no longer hear Melody's mum praying. Taking my hands from over Melody's ears, I shuffled around on the spot and peered through the gap.
I watched as Melody's mum placed the beads back in the statue's hand, and then headed for the bedroom door. Here she took off her plain grey dress and let it flutter to the floor. With her back to me, I was horrified to see her back was criss-crossed with a network of old scars. They were silver-looking in the red glow of the lamps. She took a dressing gown from the back of the door, wrapped herself in it, and left the room.
No sooner had she gone, than Melody was pushing me from the wardrobe. She tiptoed across the room towards the door.
"C'mon!" I could sense the panic in her voice.
"Is it safe for us to come out now?" I asked.
"She'll be having a shower. C'mon!" Melody pulled at my arm and we snuck from her mother's room. We crept along the landing and as we passed the bathroom, I could hear the sound of running water. I just wanted to get out of there and I began to descend the stairs two at a time. In my haste, I lost my footing and clattered into Melody who fell forward and tumbled down the last few stairs.
"Melody! Melody is that you?" her mother called out from the bathroom.
Melody clambered to her feet and dragged me to the front door.
"Who's there? Melody is that you?" her mother called again.
I looked back momentarily and saw a shadow spill across the wall at the top of the stairs. Melody yanked open the front door and pushed me outside onto the porch.
I looked at her as she stood in the doorway. "Come with me, Melody. I can take you home with me - it's different - but better than here. "
"I can't," she said.
"Melody! Melody! Who are you talking to? Who's there?" her mum called again from the top of the stairs.
"It's okay, mum. It's just me," Melody called back.
"Please, Melody, come with me?" I begged in a hushed tone. It was then I finally saw the tears she said she had been unable to cry earlier. They seeped from the corner of each eye and spilled onto her cheeks.
"I can't come with you, Isidor," she said, shutting the door.