Marshal sat on the couch when he heard it. Louder and clearer than the sound of the television. He had not believed Andrianna when she spoke of the scratching at night, for he had not heard it. He assumed it was Andrianna's way of coping.
But right at that moment, the scratching was as real as his life. He heard it loud and clear coming from the room Andrianna was sleeping in. The sound of unforgiving nails against the wood.
He walked up to the room and slowly opened the door. And there she was, sitting on the bed her nails deep into the wood. Andrianna's expression was blank, her eyes open but devoid. Her mouth parted as she breathed heavily and then she spoke in a voice which wasn't her own, "she is mine" and she laughed. The laugh was what could only be described as possessed.
Marshal watched her eyes change, as her body descended into fits she was waking up. He saw the shadow that loomed behind her. The scratching had returned but this time was not Andrianna, it was the shadow behind.
That was the woman in black. Marshal saw her now. He believed Andrianna.
Andrianna's eyes opened when she heard it.
The scratching, she felt a numbing pain in her hands as she regained consciousness. Her little eyes woke up to Marshal standing worried, waiting to pounce. His eyes held fear as he looked behind her. She could smell something like rotten eggs and she feared the woman in black was here. She feared that that was the cause of marshal behaving like this.
She turned around but there was nothing.
"Marshal?"
He blinked once more time before he responded and jumped to pull her small body to his own.
"She had her arms around your neck. I won't let you be taken too"
"Who?"
"Rachel"
"Who?"
"The one you refer as the woman in black"
All blood drained from Andrianna's face as she felt Marshal's tears drop on her cheek. He was clutching her like a mad man. She looked at the pain in her fingers and saw that her fingers were bleeding.
She said nothing, nor did she understand anything. Except that the woman in black just became a reality. That Andrianna was not going mad.
"I am so sorry I did not believe you before. I am so sorry I did not protect you before."
Andrianna held marshal in between her small arms, holding him as he cried. He was helpless. She was not sure how long she had held him, heard his sorrow and helplessness. She only knew when it stopped.
Running her tiny fingers through Marshal's soft hair she finally coaxed.
"Who is she?"
"Rachel Henderson. Well, she was a woman I think I once loved and had wished to marry. She was someone I knew from my childhood. We had been friends. She was beautiful, nothing in comparison to my Francis, but I guess many would disagree.
I remember the vanilla smell of her long blond hair that reached her waist. She would sit by the dressing mirror and comb it twice a day. It would shine like a summer morning. I loved her hair. We were three of us in reality.
Rachel and I. Always going off on a silly adventure. We loved playing the secret seven, looking for anything and everything we found worthy of a mystery. It created a lot of fuss back then.
Then one day we realized we were all grown up. With age, Rachel had become more and more beautiful and sadly just as psychotic.
Her parents refused to acknowledge her mental instability and if you ask me I think so did I. I was in love with her after all.
We dated through college; she got pregnant so we got engaged. Well, my little princess let me tell you one thing, pregnancy already makes women crazy. Now imagine that happening to an already unstable girl.
She went over the edge. The three months of her pregnancy drove a wedge between us. I could not stay. I could not take it. I was too weak. And so I left a very pregnant fiancé, promising her complete support as a parent but none as a husband.
The next morning I found out she was dead. Hung herself from the roof. It was brutal. I remember aimlessly walking around that day, thinking of my dead child. Thinking how I failed my daughter.
I can't fail you now princess. I already lost you once."
Andrianna said nothing. She simply nodded.