Summer Of Blood

Something Metallic

Something was wrong. 

Keitha "Jackie" Roswell new it the moment she opened her eyes and scanned the darkness of her bedroom. Her eyes studied the darkness and slowly the shadows toke shape allowing Keitha to take note of at the moment of the room around her. She could see her dresser along the wall catching the late shade of blue along the white contrast of her bedroom wall. She swallowed moving her gaze to the left until she caught sight of the long length of her mirror where it stood along the corner of her bedroom right next to the open window.  It was the middle of the summer and the hot humid days had lead to long humid nights. She had been tired of those long nights and in desperation she had decided to leave it open for the night. She stared at that window now watching as the pale white curtains danced in the moon light.  The sticky humidity and the sweet fresh scent of the drumming rain. But, It wasn't that though that made her conscious mind rise up from it's depth but instead something else. 

Something Metallic. 

She eased her body to the side of her bed and then ever so slowly shifted until her legs hung over the side. She ached. The need to move was so hard. She shook her head forcing the fog of the dream to dissipate. She was careful as she slowly placed her full weight onto her bedroom floor. She treaded carefully moving from her bed to the large green door of her bedroom. She was quiet as she laid her hands along the wood listening. The wood itself was smooth and in some parts flaky as she placed the side of her cheek against it to listen outside. 

There was only silence.

 Keitha curled her fingers until they made a tight fist against the wood. She stood there with her hand against that wood and her face softly pressed against that deep green wood for a moment longer before she reached turning the knob until it softly clicked. When she pulled back allowing the door to open some, she felt the wave of humidity brush along her skin. It made the night gown that she wore stick so close to her skin.  She eased her body out careful not to make a sound so that maybe what she had smelt was all a dream. A nightmare that in her haste to escape had followed her into reality. She walked carefully down the hall glancing at the pictures on the wall and the over the banister to the living room were she could see the remnants of last nights game of Poker had ended for her parents. Her mother glass of wine and her father glass of bourbon sitting right next to one another. She always found it so funny that her parents enjoyed having a glass of alcohol to drink right as they played a game of Poker, Blackjack, or Go fish. It as a routine that she knew would follow them till the day they died because they loved to meaning of it. 

It was the story of how they meet.

She gave a soft smile at the sight before treading down the hall and down the stairs. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned her head towards the large windows that overlooked the small farm her family lived on. The thick fields of Sugar Cane swayed back and forth in the wind as heavy droplets of rain pelted the window and beyond. She watched it for a moment mesmerized by the sight of the sharp strikes of lighting or the rolling sound of thunder. But, Once again the smell of something Metallic rose up once again and she forced herself to walk. She clenched her toes the moment they made contact with the edge of the thick carpet of her living room. She scrunched her nose a bit as it tickled the ends of her toes.

 She crossed the room clenching the carpet for a bit before moving out of the living room and through the kitchen. She scanned the kitchen taking not the floral pattern of the aluminum and the light green hues of the kitchen appliances that small decorated the space. There was a soft sounds here. The running hum of the refrigerator. The sound tumble of the washer and the heavy buzz of the dryer. The whispering tap of the rain against the large panes of the window.  She continued through until she came to the arch way of her parents bedroom. She stared into the inky darkness waiting and listening.  She didn't know why she was just standing there.