Sarah Laker

25 - Collection

Neil Laker combed his hair. The gaunt, grey-bristled old man reflected in the mirror took slow, deliberate strokes across his thinning scalp. The teeth of the comb scraped into his delicate skin, forcing him to realise that the old man he saw was actually himself. How long had he been away this time? A week? A month? A year? Did he have enough time left to save Sarah? The irony of his unstable mental health was that he could forget it all for a while, become lost in a sanctuary of fog where the cruel reality of what was to come never sank its claws into him.

He put the comb down on the side of the sink and leaned on it. The cold porcelain chilled the sweat on the skin of his hands. His eyes, bloodshot and watery, prompted him to peer in closer to the reflection. Was it really such a surprise?

A sound, similar to that of a bird flapping its wings, spooked Neil into looking round. The gloom of the dark bedroom, beyond the open bathroom door, made him nervous. He had an inkling that something was in there, watching. Nothing new about that sensation that's for sure, but the flapping sound was original.

He flicked off the light switch next to the mirror and the world instantaneously turned black. It was easier to hide in the dark, the shadows needed the light.

There's that noise again. What was it? Was the window left open? Highly unlikely. Even if it was, there were no curtains to move against the wind and make that kind of sound.

Neil cleared his throat and pulled his left ear lobe down hard with his finger tips. He remembered that this always helped to make things better. He shuffled in his worn-out slippers across the bathroom linoleum to stand in the doorway, his eyes growing accustomed to the shadows.

Shut tight, as he had predicted, the tall window let in a pale aura of the midnight moon, which absorbed into the still air of the room. It collected on the old leather chair he basically lived in now. The rest of the bumps and angles of furniture around the room had become familiar friends to him; well-studied dark forms and immediately recognisable. All apart from one.

Neil's eyes began to water, his mouth became dry. He forced himself to concentrate harder on this particular shadow.

There. Over beside the chest of drawers, along the wall with the main door. A darker shape, the smooth edges in stark contrast with the brittle lines of furniture, halfway between the drawers and the door.

Wait! That sound. There it was again. This time his hearing pinpointed the noise to be coming from the exact location of that shadow.

Stock still in the doorway, Neil's legs began to tremble. Was that just from the fatigue of standing upright for so long or something else? Was he afraid? Did he remember what fear felt like? The strength of his body dissolved, leaving him crippled, unable to move. His bottom lip quivered uncontrollably, taking on a life of its own. Yes, this was fear. His heart flipped with irregular bangs against his ribs, threatening to burst its way out. A warm, wet sensation collected along the inside of his pyjama leg as he lost control of his bladder.

The shadow shape expanded. It gradually increased upwards and outwards until it took up the entire space of the wall, between drawers and door. Neil swallowed, tears overflowed and cascaded down his hollow cheeks, hot and insistent. He wasn't able to stop watching. The shape, having conquested all the available wall space, now grew denser. The darkness thickened. The flapping sound ceased. Neil wasn't sure if this was a good sign or a bad one. He pulled at his earlobe, this time with more intensity, hurting himself.

As usual, after the ritual Friday evening cleaners had been round, the room had a residual scent of furniture polish and carpet freshener, ensuring that the rooms were fully ready for any weekend visitors. Neil had been enjoying the smell. A welcome break to the daily invasion of cabbage and bleach which entered his domain. Now, captured by this emerging figure, a different odour seeped across the room. Stale and sickly, fettered meat and urine.