Chapter 6: Chain Letter by Stephen Simpson
Beth growls softly and low, as a dark shadow fall across the
wall.
A white ghostly form moves across the room, its black hair
hanging lifelessly down to its waist. A soft whispery, drumming sound followed
by a deep, soft gurgle reverberates through the room.
Beth jumps up and starts barking and whining at the same time, jumping forward bravely and then moving a step back again, anxious.
Marlene wakes up with a start. She sees Bobby standing
upright on her bed and across her legs, his neck hairs raised, barking loudly
and nervously at the white figure hanging over her. She looks into its face and
recognizes it immediately from the email she deleted today. “Oh, my God,” she
mumbles, as she feels the tingling of needles and pins start at the tip of her
fingertips. She feels it spread like a hot awareness up her arm and then the
sharp piercing hot poker through her heart.
Lisa wakes up to a rainy Tuesday morning. She gets out of
bed and walks straight to the bathroom. She has a shower and then gets dressed
for the day.
When she gets back in her bedroom, she pulls the blinds at
the window, but opening the window brings no light into the room. The sky is a
dark grey, the buildings glistening with rain.
She turns towards the bed where her husband, Peter is still
asleep and wakes him with a touch to his shoulder.
His eyes open immediately, at first blank and then awareness
fills them.
“Morning,” he says softly and groans.
“Morning. Big day for you today, so you better get up now,
because you don't want to have to rush around.”
He stretches lazily and then lifts himself up onto his
elbows. “No, coffee?” He asks, while glancing towards the bedside table.
“Is there ever?” Lisa smiles friendly, although feeling
agitated. “Just get up, now,” she insists as she walks out of the bedroom, down
the short hall.
As she passes her daughter, E’lisa's room she can hear the
music softly coming through the door and the tapping of her fingers on the keys
of her keyboard.
Lisa continues walking past her room. “Get off that computer
E’lisa and get dressed.”
She hears a frustrated grunt coming from E’lisa's room and
then walks into Paul's room.
Lisa sits down on the edge of his bed and rubbing his back,
she says softly, “Hey, handsome prince, time to wake up. The world needs
saving, and beautiful princesses need to be rescued.”
He smiles that sweet smile of his, her little boy, but soon
that will also be over. Although he would always be her sweet little boy, a
time will come when she will not wake him up with her usual routine.
Ferociously he will hide his deep inner secrets and his friends will become
more important. He will treat her as if she is stupid and ignorant, but for now
she will savour the fact that she is his friend and she is the cleverest person
he knows.
“Morning Mommy,” he says.
“Morning, my sweetie. Come you have to get up and get
dressed now.”
“Okay.”
He throws the blankets off and jumps out of bed with the
exuberance only one as young as he can have.
“I'll see you downstairs soon,” Lisa says as she walks out
of the room.
“Okay Mommy,” she hears him call after her.
As she passes E’lisa's room she pauses a while, to listen to
the sounds coming from her room. She can hear the water running in her shower.
Lisa goes downstairs to make breakfast. She has the same
routine every single day, and she only really wakes up once she is halfway
through having breakfast.
Today, however, the phone breaks through her sleepy,
fogginess and she moves the pan from the cooker, while she reaches for her
phone on the counter.
She notices that it is her brother, Stephen. She answers the
phone. “Hello, Stephen, you forget the time difference again?”
“Hi, Lisa.” He sounds funny and immediately Lisa is sorry
for her sarcastic greeting.
“What's wrong?” She asks with a sudden feeling of dread, a
feeling everything has changed.
“It's Mom,” he says softly, his voice breaking.
“What happened?” Lisa asks urgently.
“She died last night,” he says hurriedly.
“How?” she asks shocked, a little too loudly, “What
happened?”
“It was in her sleep; the doctor says she had a massive
coronary heart attack.”
“Are you sure? She has never had any heart problems. Has
she?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“So how did this happen?” Lisa asks, almost accusingly.
“I don't know Lisa. I usually come by on a Tuesday morning,
just for a quick coffee and to see if everything is okay, you know how she is …
was, never asked for anything or complained.”
“Yes.”
“Well, the house was still locked up. At first, I thought
she had overslept, so I rang the doorbell for almost ten minutes, but then I
thought this couldn't be right because I heard Beth and Bobby whining on the
other side of the door. I used my spare key and went inside and…”
The silence lingers.
Lisa asks anxiously, “And what, Stephen?”
“She was on her back, on the bed, her face so white and her
eyes wide. She was staring up at the ceiling, her mouth open as if she was
screaming for help.” His voice breaks completely.
“I am coming today. I'll phone you when I know what time my
flight is.”
“Okay,” he whispers.
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