GUARDIAN TALES...WEBMASTERS TALES

WEBMASTERS TALES

Guardian (Part V - Confrontation)

I made no further attempts to sleep upstairs. In fact, I stopped going to that part of the house altogether, unless it was absolutely necessary. Sis continued to use her room, of course, but I knew when I wasn't wanted. I had some things in boxes up there, and if I needed something I would go up in full daylight. I also tended to Sis once when she went to bed with a bad cold, but only stayed long enough to check on her or bring her something. I never heard the crackling energy again the remainder of the time I lived there, but the scratchings and knockings in series of threes in the walls continued.

Not long after my experience upstairs, CC moved out, leaving her bed behind. She kept it 'kitty corner' in the room, with a cabinet behind it, serving as a sort of headboard. There was scarcely enough room to open the cabinet door, but with effort one could get their hand in there. One evening I was laying on the bed talking to CC on the phone, and I reached into the cabinet and found a pair of handcuffs inside. I teased her about having them, unable to resist, and played with them while talking with her. I tried to open them but could not. The bracelets had been locked together, and there was no key. Losing interest, I put them back in the cabinet and forgot about them.

I could no longer sleep in CC's room either by this time, and finally gave up altogether. My bed became the worn loveseat in the living room. CC had left her job at the convenience store, and I replaced her, working on alternating nights with Sis. This system worked well. Although she no longer lived there, CC was a frequent visitor.

Our personalities were still affected by the extra 'roommate' in the house, making us more prone to reacting in uncharacteristic ways towards each other. One way I was affected was in a growing determination to make CC admit the Guardian was real. Whenever that topic came up, CC would still shake her head and claim 'there's no such thing'. The more she denied it, the more determined I became to make her say it was there. This argument came to a head one day when we were both in the kitchen. The Guardian was also there, unseen but felt by me, at the other end from where CC and I were standing.

"There's no such thing," CC said again, shaking her head from side to side, her eyes wide and frightened. "Goddamit," I shouted at her, "It's here with us right now, it's right there!" I pointed towards it, and when CC continued to deny it, I deliberately walked into the sphere of energy that was the Guardian, turned around and said, "It's right HERE."

But, it was difficult to turn around to face CC; The energy I found surrounding me felt thick, somehow...and STRONG. It was an effort to turn to face her. In slow motion, I moved, focusing on her frightened face, finally saying, "It's right HERE," but not saying it normally. Each word was drawn out, stretched, as though I were playing a tape in slow motion, deepening my voice.

The terror that rushed through me at that moment was primitive, visceral. "Oh, sweet Jesus," I thought. Any doubts I might have had about whether the experience was real were swept away when I saw CC's face. Parchment white, her knees began to slowly buckle. I didn't hesitate - ignoring the weakness in my own knees, I stepped out of that deadly energy and caught CC before she fell, taking her into the living room where she could sit down. I sat with her. We never had the argument again...

I spent every minute in that house acutely aware that we were not alone, that for whatever reason, something else was there, something unwanted, something evil, that watched us, that was aware. A living entity of some sort, who knew we were as conscious of it as it was of us. I had no sense of safety. One rainy windy night, a few hours before I was due to relieve Sis at work, the power suddenly went out. In a panic I called Sis, who calmly told me where the candles were. My hair was wet from the shower; I called a cab and grabbed my makeup bag so I could fix my face once I got to work, then sat by the window in the breakfast area, waiting for the cab to arrive in an agony of terror. Mercifully, the Guardian left me alone...

-Webmaster.

End Part V

Part I    Part II    Part III    Part IV    Part V    Part VI   Part VII
Part VIII   Epilogue