What Lies Beneath

Chapter Sixty-One: Dream Seeker Part One

Karen stood in the dining room, now devoid of all the dark shadows and wisps that plagued it not to long ago. The room seemed dim, but there was an echo of urgency that remained twisted in the air. Faint screams danced against the walls.

"Breath Cassie! Breath!" Karen spun at the man's voice, searching for its origin, but coming up empty.

"Hello? Who's there?" The words were a last plea from a lost girl. Karen searched for their owner, but once again, found she was the only one there.

"He's not the one you seek."

"It's a girl!"

"What have you done!"

"You don't belong here."

"Do you know why the house chose you?"

Karen was surrounded by the voices of the past. Death lingered on every inch of this space. Falling to her knees, Karen covered her ears with her trembling hands. Tears stuttered in her chest. "Please stop." The words shook on her lips, but she begged the air anyway.

"I think she's dead."

"She wanted to call her Sabrina after her mother." Karen paused from her tears. She knew that voice. It was different than how she remembered it but there was no doubt in her mind. The words were young unlike the owner, but there was no mistaking it, the voice belonged to Gwyneth.

The sounds of a baby crying filled the room, overtaking all the other voices. Karen pushed herself from the floor and forced her body to turn around. She needed to see.

The once empty room was now filled with figures as they moved around the dining room table like blurs. A metallic smell lingered in the air as the people rushed to get blankets and towels. In the corner of the room, Karen caught a glimpse of a woman as she rocked a newborn in her arms. A faint dripping sound drew Karen's attention back to the table, that was now housed the body of a blonde girl who bled from her abdomen.

Karen's instincts compelled her to move closer, to get a better look at the girl. While her feet pushed her forward, her mind begged her to stop. The girl's head was turned away, but that didn't matter, Karen's eyes were too focused on the blood that started to pool under the table.

"Cassie!" Karen jumped at the boy's voice, but when she turned to look, she found that she was alone with the body. Her mind flashed back to the moment when Delphine laid dying on the very table this girl was on now. The remnant of a moment from her past mixed with a moment from this rooms. Karen shook her head in an effort to rid herself of that painful memory, but it would always linger in her subconscious ready to replay itself whenever she least expected.

Turning back to the body on the table, Karen found that her hands were trembling uncontrollably. This house was doing a number on her nerves. Her muscles tensed, begging her to run away and leave this place, but she couldn't do it. There were too many questions swirling around in her head to just walk away without answers. "Breathe Karen." The words were meant to be reassuring, but they fell short of their ultimate goal. Nothing was going to calm her down now.

Karen's hand shook as she placed it on the girl's shoulder. The skin was hard and cold, it was like touching an ice cube without the part where it melted in your hand. With a little pressure, Karen managed to turn the girl to face her.

The second she saw the girl's face Karen's hand left her body and went straight over her mouth burying a scream that was forcing its way out. Buried beneath the mop of blonde hair laid a girl who looked exactly like Sophie. Karen's muffled scream escaped through the cracks in her fingers. Pale blue eyes stared at her with the promise of nothingness.