Ike
Eventually my limp body found the floor and my vision began to clear. I took in deep steady breaths, focusing on tamping down the nausea before trying to move. Once it leveled off, I carefully looked around. I was on my back, staring up at a water-stained ceiling, browned with age.
Marlena’s head popped into view, a tell-tale bulge in her cheek and a little white stick tucked into the corner of her mouth. “I’d give you one if I could,” she said apologetically before muttering, “bloody nausea.”
I let my head fall to the side and groaned as another wave hit me. “Why does this make me feel like shit?”
“Because it’s not natural.”
Keeping my head still, I took in what I could of my surroundings. Just as I was about to ask where she’d brought me this time I heard rhythmic clicking. I cautiously rolled my head to face Marlena and said, “You brought me to the Hell House.”
“I did. The girl is still here.”
Rolling over like a bloated dog, I struggled to my knees. “But why bring me?”
“I was hoping I’d reach Charlotte this time, and we could sort out this mess with Click,” she explained. “Did you even tell her about me?”
I hung my head, not wanting to answer.
“I’ll take that as a no. So she doesn’t know she’s alive?”
I still didn’t answer.
“Right then.” I didn’t have to look at her to know she was pretty annoyed with me.
“I’m not ready yet,” I tried to explain.
“The nausea will subside in a minute.”
I sat back on my heels and shook my head at her assumption. “No...to let her go yet.”
Marlena’s mouth tightened briefly before she threw her hands up and swore, “Bloody hell, Ike! I need her help.”
“I know, damn it!” I shouted and surged to my feet. Marlena didn’t flinch; she just stared vacantly at me like I was a child. Remembering myself, I apologized, “I’m sorry.”
“I understand this is difficult for you, Ike. Really, I do, but..”
“Oh do you, huh?” I shot back, cutting her off. “Do you really know how difficult it is?”
She snorted derisively then stepped to stand squarely in front of me. “I really hoped it wouldn’t come to this,” she sighed. Pulling the sucker from her mouth, she lowered her head.
Before I could ask what she meant, I was suddenly jerked off my feet and slammed to the floor. The impact knocked the wind out of me, but before I could recover, a hand covered my nose and mouth, obscuring my vision and making it almost impossible for me to inhale. Whoever had attacked me was strong, their weight holding me down and easily countering my attempts to break free. It had to be a man, based on the size difference between us, but that didn’t explain why I couldn’t overpower him. I’d been trained how to fight against larger opponents, but none of those tactics were working.
Suddenly, I was aware of his free hand, pulling at my underwear before weaving it between my legs. I hurled every bit of strength I had against him when I felt his fingers rub against my flesh. I was desperate for air and terrified out of my mind. As I struggled, images flashed—a man’s unshaven face, his scratched neck, his dirty white shirt, the collar stained with perspiration. My mind scrambled to make sense of what was happening as my panic rose. “Stop fighting me!” he roared just before something blunt was jammed inside of me, the force making my head throb as pain ripped through my body.
A loud shriek pierced my ears at the same moment my vision blurred and tears began streaming down my face. An entirely new level of terror gripped me as I realized I had been the one to make the horrific sound, but it hadn’t been my voice. The chaos of the attack cleared for a brief moment and I finally understood what was happening.
I was a little girl.
“Stay still damn it!” the man growled before punching me in the gut. My body tried to curl protectively, but his weight prevented it. In my own body I could have fought him; I could have defended myself, but in this body, I was powerless. I wanted to yell at him, to tell him to stop, but I didn’t know what words to use, I didn’t know how to say what I wanted to say. The only thing I could do was scream. A blow to the side of my head made my vision wane as pain seared through me, sucking the scream out of me. He hit me again, and again...until there was only darkness.
Just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over and my lungs released, allowing me to finally suck in air as I stared at Marlena, head still bowed and her stance unchanged. I was standing in front of her where I had been before the attack, also unmoved. Still gasping for air I whipped around, searching for the sick fuck, my hands clenched into tight fists and ready to attack. Ready to kill.
There was no one else there.
“What the fuck was that?” I groaned angrily as emotions continued pulsing through me. My throat burned as if I’d been screaming and tears still streamed down my face. I felt violated and couldn’t stop crying. I’d never felt anything so horrific in my entire existence.
Marlena ignored my question, seemingly unaffected by my current state. “As I said, Ike, I understand this may seem difficult for you, but this isn’t about you. This is about a young girl who was raped and murdered, and instead of her death freeing her precious soul from that horror, it left her trapped, all alone in the very place she was tortured, for more than two decades.”
I doubled over, bracing myself on my knees as I absorbed her words like a blow to the gut. “And that was you showing me what happened to her?” I asked on a ragged breath, needing confirmation of what my brain was struggling to process.
Marlena’s stoic expression dropped a fraction as she met my gaze and I caught a glimpse of the regret she felt for putting me through it, before she pushed it down and nodded curtly.
Every muscle in my body tensed as I replayed what I’d seen and felt, and the anger built. “Fuuuuuck!” I roared as the unmitigated rage gripped me with the knowledge that I couldn’t wrap my hand around the asshole’s throat who could do that to a little girl.
“I need her help. Click needs Charlotte’s help.”
And just like that, I felt my chest crack open, releasing all the rage and denial I’d been holding inside since I’d learned Charlotte wasn’t really dead. As much as I wanted to argue, Marlena was right—what I wanted, or selfishly felt I deserved, had no bearing on what needed to happen. “She’s in this house?”
Marlena pushed open the door she was standing beside, letting the light from the hall window spill into the dark room, revealing a young girl pacing the floor. She didn’t seem aware of me or Marlena, she simply stared ahead, moving her fingers as she tapped against the far wall.
“How can I see her? I was never able to see the other spirits when I was in limbo.”
“You’re not in limbo, Ike. Not really…you’re more like a visitor.”
“Do you know her real name, or where she came from?”
“No,” Marlena murmured as she studied the little girl, “that was the only memory I could get from her.” A few moments passed before she licked her lips and inhaled deeply, then turned to me and said, “I’d like you to try to touch her.”
I widened my eyes. “What?” How was that a good idea? The last living memory this poor girl had was of a man brutally hurting her. I held my hands up in front of me and stepped back, not wanting to add to Click’s trauma.
“Look, I don’t even know if it will work, but if it does, maybe you’ll be able to pull her with you when I release you.”
Marlena had a point, but I didn’t like the thought of upsetting Click. I felt her eyes boring into me as I chewed on her request.
“Ike, please. We won’t know anything if you don’t at least try,” she pleaded.
I rubbed my hands over my head. I did not want to do this, but…what if it worked? What if I could touch her and take her back? Not only would it help this poor child, but maybe it would somehow release Charlotte, too.
Before I could overthink it, I walked to Click and reached out for her.
“Damn,” Marlena whispered as my hand passed through Click’s shoulder.
“Well it was a long shot,” I surmised. “Now what?”
Marlena stepped away from the door of Click’s room and motioned for me to join her in the hallway. “Look, I know about you and Charlotte and George,” she began, “Classic love triangle…though not really so classic with you being dead and all. I understand that this situation is hard for you—”
“I doubt you could understand,” I argued.
“How far does your love go? What would you sacrifice for love?” Her green eyes met mine.
Charlotte’s image cascaded through my mind. “For her…there’s no limit,” I answered honestly.
Marlena’s mouth turned up into a soft sad smile. “Tell me the love story of the Sun and the Moon where Sun dies every day to let the Moon bloom.”
I looked at her quizzically. Was she quoting me poetry?
She smirked when she took in my expression. “I know your love for Charlotte is deep. It’s real. I see it. I know it’s not fair how this has played out, but you know, deep down, she’ll never find peace until she helps this child. Charlotte has a purpose. We all do. All too often, there comes a time when we are asked to sacrifice what we want, or think we deserve, to help the one we love. And we do it. Willingly. Because that’s what it means to truly love someone. Love isn’t getting your happily ever after, Ike. Love is being willing to sacrifice your own happily ever after in order for the one you love to find hers.”
“I’m going to tell her,” I insisted. “I just…I just need a little more time.”
“You don’t have anymore time, Ike. Charlotte isn’t dead, which means time hasn’t stopped for her, not yet, but if she doesn’t learn the truth soon, there might not be any left for her to help Click. She’s the one who deserves a happily ever after, Ike. Hasn’t she waited long enough?” She turned back to Click and put the sucker back in her mouth.
I nodded despite her back being to me. I knew she was right, and yet I found myself demanding that there had to be another way, one that didn’t risk Charlotte leaving me.
How could I say goodbye to Charlotte again?