Ira Romanov, The Child-Lady

‘Tick Tock’

Whispers the Old Clock. 

A tale spun from the hands of time, and the cruelty and greed of the rich and the poor taint it red.

But perhaps, there is more than what meets the eye? Delve deeper, read within – perhaps, another tale is yet to be sung.

 

 

 

“Whatever you do, keep your ears and eyes open, child.”

It was a dull, gloomy day that day with grey clouds looming dangerously over the Russian sky. Little Ira, never scared of such frivolous weather, giggled and squealed in excitement whenever the booming thunder echoed through the mansion. For the little lady, it was a good day – there were many people milling around the mansion; all of whom were bowing to her politely. Not to mention the pretty white dress that made her feel like an angel. It was, indeed, a good day for Ira as she skipped around her room with a big grin on her face. She stopped short as the door opened, revealing a strikingly beautiful lady and her most trusted handmaids.

“Mummy!” she gasped before racing to her mother.

“Careful, child. We don’t want your dress getting spoiled.”

Ira giggled. Lady Romanov was quite strange like that. While the little girl was terribly afraid of her father, who happened to be the greatest duke in Russian history, she wasn’t so much of her mother. Despite the lack of loving words, somehow in her childishly mature mind, she believed her mother meant well.

She wasn’t so sure of her father though.

She looked up when she felt her mother stroke her hair and was startled to see tears welled up in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, mummy?” she frowned.

“Nothing, my sweet,” smiled the lady through her tears. Ira frowned further hearing the endearment, before grinning widely.

“I like mummy calling me that!” she exclaimed.

“Really? Then mummy will call you that,” said the lady looking down at her lovingly before her eyes grew sad,”I’m sorry for not doing so all these years, my love.”

“That’s alright, mummy! You can start now.”

“Oh! My child, my poor poor child,” cried the lady, hugging her startled daughter tightly.

After a long minute, Lady Romanov pulled away and looked down at Ira before picking her up gently and setting her in the middle of her bed.

“Listen carefully, my sweet,” she said, kneeling down, “Mummy loves you, you know that, right?”

Little Ira nodded vigorously. Lady Romanov closed her eyes to take a deep breath before beginning.

“Remember that I will always love you,” she began gently, “But some things have come up, my love. Your father and I are struggling and need help. But the only person who can help is you, Ira, and the only way to do so is for you to -”

The mighty lady, on her knees in front of her daughter hesitated before speaking again.

“The only way to help is for you to live with some other people. Will you do that, Ira? Will you help your mummy and daddy?”

“But why do I need to live with other people? Can’t I stay here and help,” whined Idina, making her mother wince at her voice.

“No, my love. That’s impossible. You will have to go there alone to help – ”

“Alone?” Ira exclaimed in alarm, “But won’t you be coming with me?”

“Do not interrupt me, Ira! I have taught you better. You cannot behave like this when you go away. However, to answer your question,” the lady paused to look up as if to seek strength, “Of course I won’t be coming with you. A lady of the manor doesn’t simply leave the manor. That is ridiculous.”

“But I don’t want to go alone,” whispered poor little Ira. She wanted to scream it out, but was afraid of the lady’s wrath.

“Enough!” said Lady Romanov, rising to her full height, “Dry your tears, child. You must look beautiful today.”

Ira touched her plump little cheeks and was surprised to feel that they were indeed  wet with her tears. Her eyes followed her mother who stalked to the big door before pausing.

“Martha!” she barked out.

An old lady appeared seemingly out of nowhere and bowed deeply to the lady.

“Calm her down, fix her hair, get her ready. She has a wedding to attend,” lady said coldly while the mother deep inside her wept uncontrollably. She barely controlled her tears before walking out as swiftly as she had come.

Lightning flashed as Ira stood up at her mother’s words. Ashen-faced, still as a statue, she stared after her mother with an emotion far beyond her age. Besides, age hardly mattered anymore.

She was a ten year old bride after all.

Martha, the old maid walked inside the room slowly, her joints protesting at the movement.

“Come, my angel,” she said cautiously.

Ira snapped out of her reverie and looked at Martha, beside a vanity mirror. Her face, old and wrinkled, but full of warmth and the little girl almost broke down at the kindness of it.

But another lightning flashed and wiped away all traces of weakness from her face. She walked determinedly to the mirror before sitting down in front of it. Old Martha smiled knowingly as she lifted a brush.

“Listen child, this may be difficult and uncomfortable,” she spoke in a rush, “But it is the only way. You must understand that.”

Ira sat with her back straight and tensed, looking every bit the lady she was to be, her eyes boring into the mirror, as Martha brushed her hair softly.

“And whatever you do, keep your ears and eyes open, child.”

The Noisy Head

Some minds are strong, some minds are weak. However, all minds are human. Some things are much bigger than they seem. The jolting fear of what is in the mind is one of them.

It was summer and a hot Caribbean breeze was blowing, but Rachel Woods felt chilled to the bone. It was them again. The same couple who drove her to near insanity ever since she turned 10.

It started on her birthday. Her parents had organized a huge party to honor the occasion of their only child turning double digits. There were lots of people, lots of food and lots of music. But young Rachel could hardly enjoy herself. She hated the crowd. She liked peace and solitude, she liked to be by herself. Perhaps a set of new books would have sufficed for her birthday present instead of such a noisy and crowded party. She was sitting in distress in one corner when she noticed a young man and a young woman staring at her from a distance. They never blinked, only stared. It made the girl conscious, for she hated attention. But no matter where she went, she would always see them – albeit a bit far, but always staring at her.

And since then, she saw them everywhere.

She never learnt their names, for they always maintained their cool distance, sometimes, murmuring among themselves. She never knew whether it was intentional or not, but sometimes their voices reached her. They never said anything nice, and they made young Rachel miserable.

It has been 11 years since she first saw the couple, and she still cursed the day she met them in her 10^th birthday party. Sure, they never harmed her physically, but they tried their best to make Rachel harm herself, and it was enough to unnerve anybody. The yet stranger thing was that they never seemed to age. More than a decade had passed, and yet, they still looked exactly how they looked on her birthday. She tried to run away from them, move to a brand new city. At first, her parents refused to comply with her wishes, arguing at the illogical behaviour of a girl barely a teen.

However, as time passed, they became increasingly worried about her. They claimed that she would be mumbling and muttering to herself. They never said anything about the abominable couple though. Finally, having had enough of the girl, her parents moved her to a brand new place, with only a single warning – that she is to not throw a fit about moving again.

But they found her. Of course they did, but they maintained their distance, and didn’t dare come close to her. Her parents, immersed in their work, couldn’t see the distress on their only child’s face, which had forced her to forfeit her college education. Her parents were enraged and still refused to see how terrified their 18 year old daughter was. It was just a teenage affair.

So she ran away. She tried her best to make money and friends, only to have to run away again. She never let herself stay in a place more than three months, and the moving was as taxing as her fear of the couple. As time went on, she learnt to make no friends, and lived a solitude life. However, much to her horror, despite the constant moving and shifting for more than 10 years now, they always found her. But it was only a month ago, she found a place that they could never find her. She sneaked out of her old home in Mykonos like a thief in the night and travelled all the way down to a quaint little village of Beausejour in Carriacou.

Yes, she was sure that they couldn’t find her here. It was too unknown, too less populated for them to come, for she always found them in densely populated areas like a pub, or a workplace. But here in Beausejour, she was sure they would never come.

And for a month, they really didn’t. It was almost as if Rachel had started a new life. No more intimidating couples, looming over her to drive her mad. She was free.

Of course, all good things come to an end. Standing on an isolated road, she realized her worst fears. The woman’s stare pierced her soul, as if she could see the deepest secrets. The man merely gave her a cruel smile. Suddenly they seemed closer, much closer.

Rachel couldn’t breathe.

Closer.

She wanted to move, to run away, but her feet seemed to be stuck to the ground.

Even more closer.

She tried to open her mouth to scream, but her mouth felt as though it was sewn shut.

A little more closer.

She could see herself reflected in the woman’s eye.

“What do you want?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

The woman ignored her and continued staring at her. She stood impossibly close, their noses almost touching, even though she was quite far away just seconds ago.

“You have been very naughty, Rachel Woods,” said a male voice from behind, close to her ear.

She shivered. Of course they knew her name, she wasn’t surprised. Their proximity was making her nervous, and the woman’s unwavering stare was making her even more nervous.

“What have I done to you? Why are you doing this?” she put her hands on her face, trying to avoid the woman’s stare.

“You tried to evade us, didn’t you, Rachel Woods?” The woman’s voice was velvety soft.

Rachel remembered the woman’s voice. It was this same soft, sweet voice that drove her to madness, it was her who whispered how incapable, how unwanted, how worthless, Rachel was to the world – even to her parents. It was her who made Rachel lose her job, for no fault of hers that too! It was all that woman’s fault. She would have been able to keep her jobs if it weren’t for the young lady whispering and turning the entire restaurant against her. She would scream at her to go away, but she never would. Everyone would be shocked, and made Rachel leave the job, they never said a word to that woman. They wouldn’t even look at her, only continued to listen to her, till they started to agree with her and fire Rachel.

“You poor little thing,” she laughed in her soft voice.

“You can never ever evade us, honey,” the man said menacingly. He sounded deadly.

It was then she heard footsteps, and Rachel looked up in hope. Her prayers were heard, two men were approaching them.

“Help!” she cried out, “Please. They will kill me. I beg you.”

The two men looked at her in alarm.

“Who is harming you?” asked the heftier of the two.

Rachel looked at them in disbelief. She looked straight back at the woman, who was still standing close to her. She felt the man standing right behind her. They hadn’t moved.

“The woman who is standing in front of me! The man behind me! What is wrong with you? They have been following me. They will kill me! Please!” she sounded panic-stricken.

The woman’s lips curled into a cruel smile at her words, as if she knew what would come next.

“Lady, you mad? You’re standing quite alone here,” the two men laughed.

“No!” Rachel thrashed, trying to push the woman away

“You cannot win this, honey,” the man said in her ear.

“No! I will win!” she whirled around, punching the man.

She thrashed around with all her might, trying her best to inflict pain on the two, but to no avail. They simply stood standing, not affected in the least by her aims. She seemed hysterical, as she continued punching and kicking wildly.

The two men stopped laughing as they looked on the scene.

The girl with blonde hair, quite pretty, despite being dressed in shabby clothes, she didn’t seem so bad. Except that she was punching thin air. They watched as she attempted to choke a person, only that there was nobody standing there. She flailed her arms around, screaming at an empty road to leave her alone. She sounded helpless and on the verge of tears.

“Best get out of here, mate. I think she’s mad,” one man nudged the other.

“No, wait. She genuinely believes somebody is there, standing right in front of her. Look at her. She may be mad, but then, it would be my job as a psychiatrist to at least look at her problem, Thomas,” the other man rushed to her.

As soon as the man started coming towards her, the woman gave a panicked look at her partner before both of them ran away in the opposite direction, getting lost in a maze of trees.

“Miss, what is your name?” the man asked her when he reached her.

“Rachel. Rachel Woods,” she said, panting, looking at him with wild eyes.

“I am James. Pleasure to meet you despite the circumstances,” he smiled warmly, “Who were they? That you were fighting?”

“I don’t know,” she said, still out of breath.

The other man, Thomas, approached the two hesitantly.

“Please tell us your story Miss Woods,” said James, with a worried look.

And Rachel did. She was so tired of holding it all in. She wanted to let it all out. So, she told them everything, from how conscious she felt the first day, to how they almost convinced her to commit suicide.

James only got more and more worried. He listened to her, observing her jerky movements, her abrupt stops, her sudden giggling in between even though she was saying something terribly painful and her disorganized speech in general.

He offered to drop her home, promising to see her again the next day.

It was only after they were safely out of earshot from the girl, when Thomas asked James, “What was all that about?”

“The couple she talks about – they seem very dangerous. She suffered hallucinations even today of them trying to kill her. I fear for her life, Tom,” James said with an air of concern.

“So today’s incidents were just hallucinations of prolonged torture?”

“No, Tom. It’s even worse. The man and the woman – they are both hallucinations. She has been seeing these hallucinations since a long time, to the point where they are almost incurable.”

“What?!”

“Tom,” said James gravely, “Rachel Woods is suffering from schizophrenia.”

The Dierelech Mansion

 

In the heart of an abandoned masion, lie the most haunted lies.

 

The stairs creaked, sounds ricocheted, the walls, an ugly shade of green. The mansion was old and abandoned. For long, humans have avoided going inside the dilapidated house, while animals hissed in alarm at it. The more daring ones confirmed the presence of a ghastly, unearthly air. The very look of the colossal, decrepit mansion was enough to unnerve anyone.

And yet, Sophie felt perfectly at home. It was the first time she he had stepped foot inside the Dierelech Mansion, but she felt a deeper connection to it. She felt nothing touch her, but the warmth of a home lived in. Shaking her head at the absurdity of her thoughts, Sophie decided to venture deeper inside the house.

Despite it being ancient and run down (and perhaps haunted too), nobody could deny the grandeur of the massive house. Built in the early 1800s by Lord Dierelech, it sought to intimidate other lords and ladies of their social status. Its sheer magnificence demanded respect and reaped fear in the minds of the peasants, whose houses were built in the shadow of the handsome villa. And it succeeded in doing so too, until all the five of the Dierelech family; men, women and children, all alike, were brutally murdered in same house. The head maid found them the next morning, still with their supper bowls and in their evening dresses, but with their throats slit open. Other than a vague sign of struggle marring the site, there was nothing in the house to mark as incriminating evidence. After ten years of futile searching, the police closed the case as suicide. The house has been left abandoned since.

For a reason unknown to her, this information cloaked Sophie with a feeling of anger and anxiety as soon as she stepped inside the Dierelech Mansion. She felt something amiss, but she shook it off as she stopped in front of a door, that seemed to be hidden from the eyes of the world. It blended in with the green wall almost perfectly. Sophie almost missed it if it wasn’t for her instinct, asking her to stop in front of the old door. She pushed the door open to see a narrow wooden staircase, which felt oddly familiar to her. The image of polished wooden stairs with a red carpet enveloping it flashed in her mind.

As she stalked up the stairs, she knew she will uncover secrets that will shake up her world.
Nothing will be the way it was anymore; she felt it in her bones.

She reached the end of the stairs and stared at a seemingly heavy mahogany door.
She felt her stomach churn in anticipation.

She touched the knob and twisted it.
A haunting sensation gripped her soul, and she no longer felt at ease.

With her heart in her mouth, she pushed the door open.

Sophie stepped into the room and gasped as she took in her surroundings. Cream walls, red cushions, wooden chairs – it was all familiar. She knew she had seen it all somewhere, she just couldn’t think where. Her mind showed her flashes of a little boy, barely 8, running around the room, giggling with a toy in his hand. She turned her head watching him move as though someone was trying to catch him, although he seemed to be quite alone.

He is now sitting on the bed, with his hands grasping the blue covers that he was fidgeting with. With a frown on his forehead, he was staring at the empty space in front of him. He suddenly shook his head furiously and ran.

He is sitting on the polished and carpeted floor now, looking down and twiddling his thumbs. He seems to be older now; his movements more controlled and stiff. Suddenly, as if he’s called, he looks up with a jerk, before letting a smile slide onto his face. It wasn’t the smile of a boy of 10, rather, it was one with hidden craze and obsession in a man’s heart. It was the smile of a maniac.

He slowly moved his head, his eyes seemed to follow someone moving, before finally stopping at Sophie. She took a step back instinctively. It no longer felt like her mind was merely shuffling through pictures. It was too vivid, too real.

‘Can he see me?’ she wondered.
But no, the boy was smiling at someone behind her. With fear that twisted her heart, she turned around. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight in front of her.

A loud scream echoed in the Dierelech Mansion.