After Humanity

Chapter Eighteen

Rachel

In spite of her exhaustion, Rachel had barely been able to find sleep for more than a few moments. She kept waking up over and over to see the blackness of night still blanketing the room. Alice had come back at some point, she remembered. She'd heard the door open, seen the lights in the living area turn on and off. If she listened hard enough she could hear the old woman's light snores intermitting peppering the quiet of the house. She closed her eyes yet again, hoping that sleep would finally take her away from her troubled thoughts.

Behind her closed lids, Rachel soon recognized the familiar wooden walls of her home. She turned in a circle to assure herself that the vision was real. But there it was, her family home, the door in place, the cupboards untouched by sibla hands. Everything as it should be. Looking to the kitchen she saw Mama there, cooking dinner. Father sat at the table whittling.

"Mama?" she asked hesitantly. The phantom woman turned to her, a smile on her face.

Rachel smiled back. They were alright. Mama and Papa were alive and well and everything was fine. She took a step toward her father who stood to come and embrace her. But then he stopped.

"Papa?" Rachel asked. "Papa what's wrong?"

She looked on horrified as she saw the splotch of red appear on his stomach, the bloodstain quickly spreading, ruining the fabric of his shirt. He clutched the wound and opened his mouth to scream, but all that poured from his lips was more red.

"Papa!" Rachel cried out frantically. She had to help him, but her feet wouldn't move. It was like she was stuck to the ground. At the sound of jangling chains she looked down to see her ankles in shackles. She was bolted to the floor!

"You're my brave girl."

Rachel's eyes turned sharply to her mother at the sound of the woman's voice. But Mama was no longer cooking. She was staring a Rachel now. Her skull broken along the left temple, blood streaming from the wound.

Tears filled Rachel's eyes. This couldn't be happening. Not again. She had to do something. She had to help them.

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot rang in the air and Rachel watched her parents simultaneously fall to the ground.

No. No! they couldn't be dead, her mind protested. But there they were, lying unmoving on the ground. The red pooling around them. More and more red blood, poured from their bodies, creeping closer and closer to where Rachel reminded shackled to the floor. She tried desperately to break free of her restraints, but to no avail.

"Mama, wake up," Rachel begged, still trying desperately to free her chains. "Papa help me." Neither of her parents moved. Feeling something sticky Rachel looked to her hands to see them covered in blood that streamed from her wrists. She stumbled back, falling to the ground. The smell of blood filled her nostrils. Her whole body was covered with it. Her parents' blood. Her father's lifeless eyes stared into hers. Red filled her vision. Red and death.

"Papa!" Rachel screamed. "Mama! Papa! No!!!"

"Shush. Shush," Arms wrapped around Rachel as her unseeing eyes darted frantically around the dark room trying to make sense of her surroundings. Her heart leaping in her chest.

"Hush, child."

The soothing voice again.

"It was only a dream. You're alright."

Rachel realized it was Alice who was holding her. Alice whose tender embrace felt so comforting. She collapsed into the old woman's body as the tears streamed down her cheeks.