Kathryn Dahne - Curse of the Nun

“You certainly didn’t get that from me,” Anna said wryly.

She kissed Claire noisily on her cheek and stood back up. So much was about to change for them, and a part of Anna could still hardly believe this was her life. Her own home, a sweet, kind man with a good job, her daughter off to a prestigious private school. It didn’t make sense that all this goodness could be waiting around the corner for an ex-addict with an attitude problem. But Claire looked so happy, so excited, and Anna knew that whatever else she may feel, her daughter deserved to have this chance. Maybe that was enough, Anna thought, unable to stop her eyes from welling up at the cocktail of emotions going through her at that moment.

Mike noticed her distress; of course he did. He came up and wrapped his arms around her.

“Private school isn’t that bad,” he teased, trying to deflect some of her roiling emotions.

Anna gave him a reluctant sort of smirk.

“I’m alright.” She tried to adopt a reassuring look.

“You sure?”

She nodded and offered him a slightly less conflicted smile.

“You deserve this, Anna,” Mike said seriously, seeing right to the heart of the matter in that perceptive way that still surprised her sometimes.

She swallowed. “I don’t know if—”

“Anna, look at me.”

Gentle fingers tilted her chin up and she looked at him through tear-blurred eyes.

“You’ve worked so hard for all of this. And tonight, we are going to lay down in our bed in our amazing new house and have amazing S-E-X, and you are going to deserve all of it.” Mike said steadily.

Anna looked away, unable to cope with the sincerity in his eyes and huffed out a reluctantly amused breath.

“Okay?” Mike pressed.

“Okay, but…” Anna dropped her voice to a whisper and glanced at Claire in the car, “she can spell.”

“Oh S-H-I-T,” Mike whispered back, prompting a real laugh out of her.

Anna pulled him in for one last kiss before gently shoving him away.

“To work with you,” she said.

Anna leaned against the kitchen counter later that morning. She had just completed her final walkthrough, having checked each room to ensure there were no overlooked items and no damages for Aunt Donna to hold against them. God knew that woman would certainly try to find anything she could.

Anna pulled her phone out again, her thumb poised above the contact reading “LEX.” She swallowed hard and hit the “CALL” icon. The phone rang once, twice, before guilt and shame made her quickly hang up. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself and sort through the mess inside her head.

SLAM!

The cupboard doors in front of her violently exploded open, plates leaping off of the shelves to plummet to their death. Anna screamed.

She stood there for a few moments, too stunned to move as she feverishly tried to process what had just happened. She trembled slightly. Her mind groped desperately for an explanation. Had there been an earthquake? Nothing else had seemed to move, but there hadn’t been a lot on the counters left to really judge. She bent down, shaking slightly, to examine the broken heap on the floor. Anna had been so sure that she’d packed these already. She must have delegated it to Mike and he’d forgotten. Right ?

The only semi-rational thought she could conjure at the moment was that Aunt Donna was going to kill her if the floor was scuffed. She grabbed a trash bag and started to hastily clean up the remains. As she picked up one of the larger pieces she noticed the letter “S” carved harshly into the hardwood floor.

Oh no. She brushed aside a few more pieces to uncover a single word: “STAY”.

She jumped a second time at the sudden chime of the doorbell, eyes snapping up at the sound, her heart pumping with another shot of adrenaline. When she looked back down again the word had vanished, the deeply etched letters gone as if they had never been there at all. She sifted through the pile in confusion, but the floor beneath was unmarked and smooth.

Anna shivered. Seeing things was not a good sign, especially because she wasn’t even on anything. Was she somehow relapsing?

The doorbell rang again, more insistently.

The stress was apparently getting to her more than she had realized. It had to be the stress. She’d be fine once this move was over. Anna licked at her lips in uncertainty, then pushed herself back up to a standing position. She would really never hear the end of it if she didn’t let Donna in soon.

Anna hurried to the door, trying to put the kitchen event out of her mind in favor of dealing with the very real threat of Aunt Donna. She plastered the most sincerely welcoming smile she could manage on her face and opened the door.

Donna stood on the doorstep, dressed in designer clothes and draped with more jewelry than Anna could afford to buy from a year’s wages. She privately thought it tacky, but Donna’s favorite pastime was flaunting her own wealth. A pair of dark sunglasses hid her judgemental eyes as Donna flipped through a large key ring containing a true multitude of keys. What could she possibly need that many keys for?

“Oh good, there you are!” Donna exclaimed, looking up. “I can never find the right key.”

No wonder , Anna thought to herself.

“I’m Donna Winslow, Michael’s aunt,” Donna continued, thrusting out her hand for Anna to shake.

Anna raised an eyebrow. “We’ve met. Many times.”

Apparently, it was going to be “pretend you are a total stranger” with Donna this time. Anna mentally shrugged. It could be worse.

“I’m here to inspect the house before you go.”

Anna bit back a sarcastic, “really? I thought you were here for tea” through a monumental effort of will.

“Sure,” she said, trying for amiable instead. “I just need to—”

Donna pushed past her and walked inside, apparently completely indifferent to anything Anna had to say.

“I’m in a hurry; I left my dog in the car,” Donna said.

Anna had zero problems with that. In and out again was just fine by her. The least amount of time in Donna’s presence the better.

“Oh, Okay,” she said, hovering awkwardly a few steps behind the other woman. “Can you start upstairs?”

That would give her time to finish cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

Donna whirled around, pushing up her sunglasses to fix Anna with a piercing look. Anna fought against the instinct to respond aggressively in kind. In and out, she told herself. In and out.

“It’s my house, I’ll start wherever I want,” Donna informed her curtly.

She scowled at Anna for a few moments before heading over to the stairs. Anna watched her go with an incredulous expression. Donna tossed her keys over her shoulder as she hit the first step, and Anna managed to stop them from hitting her in the face more from dumb luck than actual reflexes.

“On second thought, turn my AC on. I want to be thorough.”

Anna watch her ascend with all the haughty dignity of a returning queen and could only mouth the word “unbelievable” to herself in response.

Anna had just finished cleaning up the last of the ceramic shards when she heard a loud thump rumble through the second-floor overhead.

“Oh no,” she muttered.

That was never a good noise. She wondered if it was that stupid box again.

“Oh no, what?” Donna asked, entering the kitchen suddenly and startling Anna.

Anna took a couple breaths to calm herself.

“Was that you up in the spare room?” She asked.

Donna gave her an appraising look. “I was in the office. There is chipped paint on the walls; it’s fifty-five dollars to repaint it. I’m going to need that by Thursday.”