Guardian (Part
VI - The Pounding)
Winter had arrived. Sis and I
bought some coal to burn in the fireplace to help keep warm. It was messy, but
it did help to heat the house. With only two of us paying the bills, money was
tighter than ever. I could have saved more money by giving up cable TV, but I
didn't want to. I had never had cable before, and was in love with the idea of
being able to watch movies without commercial interruption, as well as being
able to watch at any time of the day or night. I was working graveyard, and I
tended to stay up very late on my days off, watching movies on Showtime.
On this particular night,
Sis's ex-husband JJ had returned their daughter after having her for visitation,
and he remained to stay the night. The little girl had been put to bed in CC's
old bedroom, and Sis and JJ had gone upstairs. I was in the living room on the
loveseat, watching the movie The Rose (starring Bette Midler) on Showtime.
There was nothing unusual
happening. The house was quiet except for the TV; everyone else was asleep. I
was curled up on the loveseat watching the movie, caught up in the story. I
don't remember what time it was, but I do know it was late, after 1 AM. The
loveseat I was sitting on was positioned directly in front of the TV, between it
and the unlockable front door. I had the TV turned up enough to hear the movie
without effort, but not loud enough to disturb anyone else in the house.
BOOM. The house shuddered
suddenly with the deafening sound; immediately followed by the rattle of the
pictures on the walls, the knickknacks around the house, the dishes in the
cupboards, etc. I immediately thought of a jet breaking the sound barrier;
startling but harmless. I was wrong.
BOOM rattle. BOOM
rattle. BOOM rattle....it went on and on and on. I could not
hear the TV. I felt the house shake with each BOOM; a sickening
feeling. Trying to find a reasonable cause for this sudden assault, I got up
off the loveseat, and immediately went to the front door, turning on the outside
light and opening the door to see if someone was outside. No one was there.
BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. My knees weak, I
forced myself to close the door, to try to think rationally about what the cause
could be. I went into the kitchen, crossing it to reach the closed in porch,
going through to and opening the outside door, the one that faced the side door
to the garage. Again, I looked to see if someone was there. No one was.
And, in a sickening instant,
as I put my head outside to look to the right, towards the side street where
someone would park, I realized that I could no longer hear it. My breath coming
in short gasps, I slowly, very slowly, leaned back until my head was
again in the house. BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. BOOM
rattle. I put my head outside again and heard only normal night sounds and the
sudden, terrified litany that began ringing through my head;
"ohmygoditsinthehouse ohmygoditsinthehouse ohmygodITSINTHEHOUSE."
Like a puppet, I closed and
locked the door, then moved jerkily back through the porch, the kitchen, once
again to the front door. BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. BOOM
rattle. accompanied me every step of the way. I felt the BOOM vibrate in
the floor under my feet. I flipped the outside light on again, opened the door
again, forcing myself to look around as before. Except this time, I leaned out
until my head was outside. No one was there, of course. I could not hear the BOOM rattle, either, until I pulled my head back inside.
BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. Still struggling to understand, still trying
to find a reasonable explanation, I made the trip to the covered porch once
again. Numb with horror by this point, I didn't try to stick my head outside to
see if I would hear the BOOM. I knew I wouldn't. Instead, I very
cautiously looked out to see if anyone was there, then slowly and carefully
closed and locked the door. Moving precisely, I entered the kitchen, closing
that door behind me, came back into the living room, and sat down on the
loveseat, in front of the TV.
BOOM rattle. BOOM
rattle. BOOM rattle. The Rose was still on, but of course I couldn't
hear it. I was completely deafened by the continued assault on the house. Now
that I was sitting in one place, I was able to determine the general location of
where the terrible noise was originating from. Upstairs, in Sis's room. The
room I had been chased out of a few weeks before. Upstairs, where Sis and JJ
were sleeping.
BOOM rattle. BOOM
rattle. BOOM rattle. Over and over and over. I sat there, staring
blindly at the TV, too frightened to think of what to do. BOOM rattle. BOOM rattle. Movement to my right, in my peripheral vision. I snapped
my head around to lock my eyes on what was moving - BOOM rattle. BOOM
rattle. - my gaze focused on Sis's little girl - the BOOM rattle STOPPED.
She was sobbing, obviously terrified. I got up and went to her, pulling her
into a hug. "Honey," I said, "It's okay," trying to soothe her, still shaken
myself. "What's the matter?" I asked her, trying to get the three year old to
calm down so I could put her back in bed, noting in the back of my mind that I
could once again hear the movie in the background.
"Don't let IT hurt Mommy," the
little girl said between hiccups and sobs.
I didn't answer her. I didn't
have to. Footsteps creaked above my head as someone walked across the floor and
descended the stairs. It was then I realized that the door to the stairwell was
open; it had been closed earlier. I looked up and saw Sis coming down, wearing
her nightgown, her hair tousled about her head, obviously just awakened from a
sound sleep. "Honey," she said, "What are you doing downstairs?" She came
over, picked up the little girl, and went back upstairs with the child in her
arms.
The next day, when I talked to
Sis, she told me that her daughter had been put to bed UPSTAIRS, in Sis's room.
The horrible BOOM that had terrified me so badly the night before had
been deafening enough to prevent me from hearing the hysterical sobbing of the
child as she made her way across the floor above my head to the stairs, coming
down them and then opening the door. I was unaware she was there until I SAW
her from the corner of my eye.
Sis and JJ never heard a
thing. In fact, JJ had commented the following morning on how strange it was
that he had fallen 'dead' asleep the minute his head hit the pillow. He
couldn't remember the last time he had done that...
-Webmaster.
End Part VI
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII
Epilogue
