Kathryn Dahne - Curse of the Nun

Anna clutched the crucifix tighter and started to climb the stairs. She hoped it really was KK up there this time. Not that she had found any way of telling. Everything felt so real.

A light was on somewhere in the depths of the attic.

Anna peered over the line of the floor and spotted KK sitting against a pile of boxes, a bare light bulb swinging from its cord above him. His equipment was sprawled around him and he was clutching at his leg. It bore a nasty looking gash that bled sluggishly, visible through a tear in his jeans. He didn’t look like he’d had a much better time of it than Anna since they had been separated. He still did his best to smile at her as she climbed up.

“‘Sup?” he said, irreverently.

Anna chuckled, relief at seeing him more potent that she expected.

“How’d you get in here?” She asked.

He shrugged helplessly.

“I have no idea. I woke up here after you used the pentacle.”

“My bad,” Anna replied.

She moved aside the EMF meter and settled down next to him.

“Yeah, your bad,” he agreed with a small smile.

“You okay?”

“My leg’s a little chewed up,” KK said.

“What happened?”

“It was a hallucination. I could have sworn I saw my mom.”

“Those visions are too real,” Anna agreed fervently.

“They are. I’ve never had one that vivid before,” KK admitted.

“Hopefully she’s starting to run out of energy,” Anna replied.

The EMF meter let out a soft beep and the reading spiked.

“Anna…”

They shared fearful looks before turning to the still open ladder-hatch. The atmosphere of the attic grew more oppressive. The small room was windowless, lit only by the bulb above KK’s head. The air suddenly felt too thick, like molasses in Anna’s lungs. The ladder groaned with the weight of someone climbing up it. A sharp sound that got a little louder with each successive rung. KK and Anna pressed themselves tight against the wall behind them. The top of Catherine’s habit breached the portal into the attic space itself.

Anna bit her lip harshly to keep herself silent. She could feel KK trembling next to her. Catherine’s head and shoulders appeared through the hatch as she climbed into the attic. Black eyes glinted, shark-like, in the reflected glow from the bulb.

The light above them grew in intensity before the bulb died with a sharp pop! The trapdoor snapped shut and the room was engulfed in total darkness.

There was something about being robbed of sight, of losing that most basic human sense, that sent Anna’s panic into overdrive. Anna could feel herself starting to hyperventilate as the fear rose fast in her. She couldn’t see anything. Not Sister Catherine, not even KK who should have been sitting right next to her.

“Don’t move,” she heard him whisper.

Anna could feel someone kneel down next to her, their knees cracking in the blackness.

“Stay with me, Anna,” Sister Catherine whispered, too close to Anna.

Anna swallowed hard but said nothing.

“I can hear everything in this house. I know you can hear me… I can hear you both right now.”

Anna heard what sounded like someone standing up and walking away. Had Catherine moved off? Or KK? She strained to hear anything else in the darkness. Nothing. Not even the ragged whispers of her own breath seemed to reach her ears. The silence stretched the air taut with something crueler than anticipation.

KK’s agonized scream shattered the stillness.

She froze up, every muscle in her body locked tight. She was too afraid to even reach out in the darkness to find him, sure she would only find Sister Catherine’s frigid fingers instead. She remembered on a visceral level what had happened every time she slipped up and let the nun get her hands on her. She didn’t want to go through that again.

From across the room she heard KK’s frightened voice. “Help.”

“Oh God,” Anna whimpered.

How had he gotten so far away? It must have been him earlier she had heard. He’d gotten up to get away from Catherine and left her behind.

“She’s lying, Anna! I’m right here.” KK’s voice said right next to her.

“I’m over here! Help!” He called from across the room again.

“Touch me if you are okay,” Anna whispered to the voice next to her.

She wasn’t sure if that would prove anything but she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know which voice to trust. She braced herself for feeling the nun’s grave-cold grasp instead of KK.

“I can’t see you!” KK hissed next to her.

“Anna, please! Help! I can’t breathe!” Shouted KK across the attic.

She could hear him coughing wetly, his breaths labored and harsh.

“Help… me,” KK choked out across the room.

Anna knew she couldn’t just abandon him if he was in trouble. He had come into the house when he didn’t have to, to try and help her. She wasn’t going to betray that by ignoring him. She stood up and made her way over to the hatch. She needed light. She needed to be able to see . Then she would stand a better chance of figuring out the truth.

She took a shaky step in what she hoped was the right direction. She’d lost all sense of her surroundings in the dark. The previously claustrophobic attic now seemed endless.

“I’m opening the door,” she called out to him.

“No!” One of the KK voices shouted.

“Anna,” the other cried desperately.

Anna took another determined step towards where she believed the hatch was. Something collided with her in the blackness.

White hot pain exploded across her abdomen. Anna dropped to her knees, a noise of suffering ripped from her throat. She tried to suck in air, but each inhale pulled on her stomach, sending a fresh wave of agony through her.

Light suddenly flooded the room again. KK was crouched in front of her, unharmed. He’d managed to pull the ladder hatch open again. Anna looked down to see the silver crucifix stabbed into her gut.

“Oh my God, Anna,” KK reached out and pulled her up.

Anna clung to him, her fingers clenched tightly in his shirt as they stumbled down the stairs and out of the attic.

KK set her down in the large tub. Anna shivered, she felt so cold. The pain was still there, but it felt distant. KK grabbed a heap of towels and pressed them to the wound around the crucifix.

“Keep pressure on it,” KK said.

Anna obediently pressed down on the towels. She couldn’t really feel the pressure the way she knew she should. It wasn’t a good sign.

KK frantically combed through the medicine cabinets looking for bandages. Anna could only stare at the crucifix, which shivered with each of her stuttered inhales. She lifted one hand off of the towels and reached for it. KK caught the motion from the corner of his eye.

“No!” He admonished. “Leave it in there or you’ll bleed out.”

The whole world was a little fuzzy at the edges already. Anna didn’t think it would make much difference. She closed her eyes and thought about all the things she would never see again. Claire’s face entered her mind. She was never going to know how her first day at the new school had gone. Would never get to watch Claire decorate her own bedroom. She thought about Mike, living in the new house without her. Wondering why she had never shown up. His face when he learned she never would. Tears slid hot and wet down her face.

“I’m not gonna make it,” she said weakly.

KK made an unhappy noise of protest in the back of his throat and moved next to the tub to hold her hand. His hound brown eyes were sad and lost, but there was a determined set to his mouth. A single tell of the stubbornness his outward appearance belied.