The Lady with Blue Lips
Copyright 2012 Brenda Franklin
About the Author
Brenda Franklin lives in Louisiana surrounded by the family she loves. When she isn't writing the paranormal, she enjoys long walks in a cemetery, a good crime drama, and reading as many books as she can get her hands on.
Follow Brenda on:
Twitter: Beefranklin613
Blog: Into My World of Reading and Writing
Other works:
Guardian, A Fated Pairing
The Pulse Trilogy
Book one, A Steady Pulse
Book two, Barely Beating
Book three, Flat Line
Chapter One:
The cold of the late winter’s night crawled across the thick maroon carpet overtaking everything in its path. Slowly the cold air found the bedpost and eased its way up it like a slow raising tide until it reached the tip of the hanging blanket.
First the edges went cold before it drifted up and to the edge of the bed itself sliding onto, and across the top of the surface. Like a wave rolling up and across the sand of a beach with its icy breath it caused the woman below the blankets to tighten all the more tucked firmly in her warm cocoon.
Again the wind blew fiercer than before stirring the tired woman who was now too cold to sleep. She sluggishly eased one eye open in protest and then the other. Her breath like hot steam eased out from under the blanket where her shaky hand emerged.
She tapped the small lamp beside her bed three times to bring it to its fullest light. Pulling her hand quickly back under the blankets she looked toward the windows.
Another breeze brushed against her shoulder. She couldn’t make out if they were open or not. She let out a long yawn and rubbed her eyes groaning as she decided she would have to get up and take a look. Obviously something had to be open to cause the winter’s night air to slip into the room.
A scurry across the floor jerked her head to the side where she saw nothing. She couldn’t see the floor well at all from where she was sitting so she eased forward, still holding onto her blanket, to check. She wanted to be sure there wasn’t a rat running across her floor. Just as she leaned her body over the edge of the bed is when she felt a shift in the bed around her. It seemed to depress. Her hair stood on end and her arms became riddled with goose bumps, than the light snapped off with a metallic sound.
She jumped turning to look at the lamp which was still semi visible in the dark thanks to both the moon light from the open curtains of the windows and her clock. She reached out to turn the lamp back on but nothing. The bulb had blown. A second sound of movement slid across the floor.
“It’s okay. Get a hold of yourself,” she mumbled in the darkness letting out another hot breath between her trembling teeth. Her eyes strained to see before she remembered her flashlight tucked away.
She reached down to the floor and eased her hand under the bed. Her fingers reaching out for the flashlight she knew should have been within reach, but now, when she needed it most, she struggled to find the darn thing.
With her arm stretched to its fullest and passing over plenty of mysterious objects she finally found the flashlight and pulled it quickly out from under the bed. She turned it on lighting up the darkness to her relief.
She waved her flashlight out across the room checking for signs of anything that could make noise other than a rodent which made her cringe. She saw nothing and deemed it safe enough to walk without fear of finding a furry creature.
The woman pulled back her blankets and grabbed her robe securing it around her waist. The carpet had stiffened into ice blocks below her toes making each step almost painful as she eased her way to the windows.
Ice crystals clung to both sides of the glass, but she found no sign of cold air coming in from the sides of the window.
Just to make sure she pulled hard to break the ice and get the window open. Once it was opened she slammed it securely shut before making sure to lock both of them.
She felt yet another wave of cold air roll across her shoulder as though it had been a breath and quickly turned around jumping back against the windows with her flashlight held out in front of her looking for someone, but no one was there. The room was eerily quiet as she shined her light back and forth. The only other sound than her heavy breathing was the sound of her pounding heart almost giving her a headache. Out of the corner of her eyes a dark mass seemed to appear but when she shined her light out to the object she found nothing but an empty corner. An object quickly rushed past the door way, again she jerked her light towards the door.
She laughed weakly at herself trying to pull her mind back together. “Get a hold of yourself girl. You’re losing it,” she mumbled again rubbing at her eyes and swallowing the lump in her throat.
Her fingers felt almost numb and then it hit her. She looked up to see the open vent in the ceiling and relief washed over her. She released a grateful breath realizing that she most likely turned the AC down very low to help her sleep. It wasn’t too uncommon for her to do it throughout the year, but usually not winter.
Laughing at how silly she was being she made her way across her room with new found courage. Each step quicker and farther than the last. She jumped the last few feet to the light switch and flicked it on. The light flooded the room shunning anything that hid in the darkness. She couldn’t be happier to be able to see everything.
She stepped out into the hallway, which was nowhere near the temperature of her room, with her flashlight guiding her and the light of her room against her back. She made it down the hall just a few small steps before she heard another heavy sounding drag or movement coming from her room. A huge piece of her felt a sudden since of urgency and fear and she rushed down the hall and into the living room where the thermostat was located.
When she reached the end of the hall she turned back terrified to see someone there, but there was no sign of anyone chasing after her. She continued to face the room stretching her hand out to touch the thermostat. Once her fingers were on it she leaned back and lifted her light to give it a quick glance. What she found gave her a mix of fear and confusion. The light in her hands shock ever so slightly as she tried to keep it together. The AC wasn’t turned on.
She was hesitant to head back down the hall when the light in her room flickered for a moment. She looked around the corner wide-eyed and terrified as a shadow eased into the hall blocking out the light. With a gasp she clung against the wall for support, but with a blink it was gone.
She was left trembling, the flashlight ever so softly creating a clicking noise as something inside it jingled back and forth.
“I’m just losing it,” she whispered to herself unable to see anyone still. “Just imaging things.” She nodded pressing the right side of her head against the wall.
“Shhh…” an ever so slight shush formed in the empty air next to her left ear. She backed up faster than she realized almost falling over herself to get away from the hall with some shred of sanity left.
THUD.
She continued back until she slammed against the back of the furniture nearly dropping the light at the sound of the sudden noise which emanated down the small hall. She was all but certain it came from her room and only more convinced when the lights flickered again. Then they cut off all together.
She was frozen, her knees tapping together almost unable to hold her weight up any longer. It couldn’t be a robbery she told herself. If someone was down the hall she would have seen them. She felt certain she would have seen them.
The room around her seemed to drop several degrees in a matter of seconds. The hall darkened with an almost tangible black substance. Then her flashlight blinked a couple of times. She shook it desperate to k
eep some sort of light, but it quickly died leaving her to stand against a couch in the darkness uncertain if she was alone.
She fumbled backwards and into the kitchen where she flicked the light switch, but nothing happened. She tried it a few times desperate, but still the same result.
She turned around facing the living room and the hall. Her eyes finally adjusted to the lack of light in the room.
Nothing. Everything seemed quiet again. But the cold grew.
She made it successfully to the knives and grabbed the biggest one she could find holding it tightly between her numbed fingers still clenched in her other hand was the dead flashlight in some hopes that maybe it would turn back on.
The next thing she could coherently think about was getting out of her apartment. She needed to get to the door across the living room and unlock three locks before she would be out into the hall where she could get help. She knew the moment the lights went out that she needed help. She just didn’t realize how much.
She tried to take a couple of deep breaths but found it very hard to get any air in her lungs as she clutched both the flashlight and knife against her breasts.
“You can do this.” She mouthed unable to wait any longer. She moved quickly across the room catching a shape out of the corner of her eye before reaching the front door and dropping the flashlight so she could work the locks better. She didn’t have time to think about what was moving in the corner of her eye as she frantically worked the locks.
She snapped the dead bolt, unlocked the door knob and was able to pull the door open when the chain tugged tight refusing to break in her haste. She panicked, fumbling with the chain lock for half a second before hands were upon her pulling her back into the darkness of the room and muffling her attempts to scream.
Chapter Two