"Mikey?" I say as I place his jaw between my hand and try to wake him up. It's useless. I look around to try and make sense of what is happening.
My heart is beating uncontrollably.
Outside I can hear the commotion of the police, but I can't tear myself away from this little boy; no matter what danger we now both face in the cottage.
Deep breath...
Nothing I can do will calm my nerves, I'm going on automatic. I try to inspect him, to find out where the blood is coming from, but my hands are shaking too much. From what I can tell, he isn't wounded.
This isn't his blood...
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"Mia, der iz a man upstairs, and he iz in da trouble," whispers Consuela from halfway up the steps.
"How bad is he?" I ask her, trying to work out the variables in between the frantic racing thoughts that zip through my mind.
"He iz no good, yer know," she tells me matter-of-fact.
"Yer go, Mia. I iz watch da little boy. He iz just scared, and datz why he is da passed out," she tells me as she starts to walk down the steps to take a seat beside Mikey.
"I don't know if I want to go up there," I tell Consuela who begins to hum some Peruvian hymn to the boy.
Consuela gives me a look like I'm the world's biggest pussy, and so I start to slowly make my way up the stairs. After all, maybe Mikey was asking me to help his father?
Everything in me tells me to turn around, but for whatever reason, I'm compelled to make my way towards the second floor. It's as if destiny is calling, and I have no other choice.
When I'm halfway up the stairs a loud crackle occurs, and a moment later the lights in the house go out.
"Shit!" I say and fumble my way back down the stairs, past Mikey and Consuela, and towards the kitchen to search for a flashlight.
Of course the cottage was just hit by lightening! Why wouldn't my life get any more fucked up than it already is right now? All I'm missing is for the sky to open up and fucking Armageddon to commence.
Thunder booms loudly.
I fumble around in the drawers, but only manage to find a lighter and a candle.
That will have to do...
A moment later, I'm halfway up the stairs again, walking towards the eerie top floor like Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly.
Sigh.
The wooden steps creek underneath me, and my heart pounds so loud that I'm absolutely convinced that it is pulsing in rhythm with the candle. I take one more look back down the stairs to make sure that Consuela and Mikey are ok, before turning the corner to stand at the end of the hall.
It's pitch dark. The storm clouds block any moonlight that normally would pour through the skylights. I start to make my way down the hall, and am caught off-guard by something sticky on the ground.
I lower the candle to try and inspect what it is, and from what I can tell it's blood. A mass stream of sticky blood that seems to be coming from...
The bathroom?
I take another deep breath and use my free hand to pat the wall beside me for balance. There is something very familiar about this situation, and that really freaks me out.
Deja vu?
I take another step and almost slip, and so -- I place the candle on the floor and begin to take more cautious steps towards the upstairs bathroom. As I move away from the candle light, the hallway becomes darker; and I use both hands along the wall for guidance and balance.
I'm scared about what I might find, but I know that this is on some weird level predestined. I am completely drawn to this bathroom door, and whatever lies behind it. I feel very strongly in a weird and non-sensical way, that I've done this all before.
I am living a deja vu.
And so, as I take one more frightened step towards the bathroom door -- I am met with an eerie silence. I can no longer hear my heart beating. A cold chill passes through me, and swirls around me. I know now, that the coldness I felt when I first entered the cottage was not coming from an open window or door. This type of chill is different from the wind. It pierces through the upper layer of your skin and makes the hairs on your arms stand up straight.
As I watch my breath start to form fog in front of me, and the world turns completely silent, I know beyond any doubt that I am not alone on this second floor hallway.
The dead are also here.
