Kathryn Dahne - Curse of the Nun

She wasn’t going to risk it. She was sure she had taken one in the bathroom. She had been fuzzy about the car, but the one in the bathroom she knew for certain.

“I think you should take it now,” Mike pressed, a strange edge to his voice.

Anna shot him an annoyed glare. “I’m going to bed.”

She was done with this. What was Mike trying pull here?

Mike slammed his fist down on the nightstand, rattling the glass of water and making Anna jump. He took in a deep breath, composing himself gain.

“Anna, take it,” he said in a low voice.

Anna sat stock-still for a moment.

“Michael… you’ve never spoken to me like that before,” she whispered, confused and alarmed.

That wasn’t Mike. That was how Lex had spoken to her, but never Mike.

“Take it. Now.” Mike said shortly.

Anna reluctantly swallowed down the pill. Fear churned in her gut. Mike watched her coldly before turning and walking away without another word. Anna stared blankly at the wall for long minutes after he had left, trying to work out what had happened. She felt tears tracing sad caresses down her cheeks. She just didn’t understand. Mike wasn’t like this. Mike had never even so much as shouted at her before, not even when she had been near hysterical herself over one thing or another. His calm, sweet nature was everything Anna had fallen in love with. That man hadn’t been her Mike. It just didn’t make sense.

Her last thought before laying down for bed was wondering when Mike had put that silver crucifix on the wall. Her Mike wasn’t religious. Why did nothing make sense to her?

Anna woke from dreams of blood and pain to a roiling sensation in her stomach. She bolted for the bathroom. Her knees hit the tile with a crack as she hastily slammed the toilet seat up. Bile burned at the back of her throat as she retched, emptying everything in her stomach. She heard soft footsteps approach from behind.

Mike flicked the bathroom light on. “Hey, baby, are you okay?”

“I took too many of those pills,” she moaned.

“I screwed up. Can you forgive me?”

Anna heaved again. She took a few shuddering breaths before speaking. She didn’t want to look at him right now. She was too sick and exhausted to even be as upset with him as she knew he deserved. She just wanted to throw up in peace, and then go back to bed.

“Can we talk about this in the morning?”

“Sure,” Mike agreed readily. “Here, this will help you feel better.”

Anna wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and turned bleary eyes on Mike. He stood in the doorway; hand outstretched with a pill resting in his palm.

“What’s that?” Anna asked dubiously.

“It’s mine, from when I had that stomach flu.”

Anna looked closer at the pill before recoiling slightly. What the hell was he thinking? Her anger resurfaced swiftly.

She rounded on him, yelling. “That’s mine, Mike. I don’t know what you are playing at—”

“What are you talking about?”

“Get that away from me,” Anna snarled.

She wanted to snatch the bottle from his hands and throw it at him as hard as she could. Maybe that would snap him out of it. Her stomach roiled again before she could put thought to action. She turned back to the toilet, another dry heave wracking her frame.

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Mike protested, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She threw him off of her with a violent motion.

“I don’t want it.” Anna wrapped her arms around the cold porcelain for comfort.

She wasn’t going to get any from Mike.

“But—”

“I said NO!”

There was a moment of chewed silence before Mike spoke again.

“Fine,” he said in a clipped tone before walking off.

Anna groaned into the toilet bowl.

Anna sat on the couch, her feet curled beneath her as she booted up her laptop. The house around her was silent, save for the persistent tick, tick, tick of the clock on the end table. She typed a few words into the search bar before locating the article she was looking for. “STABBING IN BRENTHAVEN”, the header of the article read in bold typeface. She skimmed it for what had to be the twentieth time, her eyes still catching on the “SUSPECT UNKNOWN” every time. Despite what she had told Mike before, Anna was beginning to think that maybe she needed to remember what happened that day. At that moment, she figured it was better than thinking about what had happened last night.

A photo of the rental house was attached to the article. Something in its window caught Anna’s attention and she zoomed in on the picture. Standing in the window by the front door, Anna could almost make out what looked to be the figure of a nun.

Ding-dong !

Anna sighed and slammed her laptop shut. She set it aside and slid her feet out from underneath her to go see who was at the front door. She made it into the foyer before she came to the immediate conclusion that she should have just stayed on the couch. Lex was peering in through the square windows on the front door.

“No,” Anna whispered. “No no no.”

Anna ducked into the kitchen to grab her purse. She rifled through it to make sure her handgun was in there. Her sister had always thought she was crazy for owning one, especially with a child in the house. Anna thought that was easy to say for someone who hadn’t been stabbed twice now. She pulled it out to check the cartridge.

No ammo.

Anna deliberated for a few moments before deciding that even the sight of it would probably be deterrent enough. She replaced it in her purse and went to open the door.

“Lex! I was just about to leave,” Anna lied breezily.

“Maybe we could talk?” Lex asked.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” Anna crossed her arms against her chest.

She should have known that answering his call yesterday would only breed more trouble. So much for him moving on.

“I just want to talk one more time,” Lex pleaded, lifting his hands in a pacifying gesture.

“I have to go.”

“Come on.” Lex took a step closer.

“I can’t,” Anna said firmly and attempted to shut the door.

Lex reached up and caught it in one hand, holding it open. Anna glared at him, trying to cover up the sudden spike of fear. He loomed over her, just as he had done so many times before.

“Don’t be like this.”

“Lex, please,” Anna tried to reason with him.

She needed to shut the door. She should have never opened it.

“Anna. I need to tell you something.”

“You’re violating the restraining order,” Anna reminded him.

“I still love you, Anna.”

She couldn’t listen to this. Not after everything that had happened.

“What happened to moving on?” She snapped.

“I can’t move on without you, Anna.”

She held her ground as he tried to wedge himself further inside.

“I’ll call the cops!” Anna warned him.

This was her fault. She never should have answered the phone yesterday. That was when everything had started to unravel, wasn’t it?

“I know you still love me, too.” Lex had a sickly-sweet smile on his face.

Anna tugged on the door again to no avail. She contemplated kicking him, but knew from experience what he was like if things escalated to violence.

“I mean it, Lex!”

Lex’s voice dropped into a deep growl. “Stay with me, Anna.”

For a moment, Anna froze. It wasn’t quite a memory, not in the truest sense, but something deep in her brain recognized that tone, and it made her desperately afraid.

Anna pulled the gun out of her purse and aimed it at Lex, backing away from the door as Lex forced his way in.