Bellatrix's POV
She wasn't crazy. I knew she wasn't crazy, and so did she. The hospital, however, begged to differ. They kept her drugged up and sedated every day. They said she was schizophrenic, that she was a danger to society. They were wrong. That, that thing that was stalking her was the danger. That thing that ruined our lives, turned them upside down, was the danger. I didn't say anything. They would assume I was just as crazy as she was, and they would put me away, too.
She wouldn't talk anymore. When she was awake, she sat in the corner of the room, furthest from the door. Her eyes stayed trained on the door. She was always drugged up, always, but her eyes stayed locked on the door as though she was completely sober. She all too willingly avoided sleep unless the staff would drug her, which was really frequently. She was only sixteen, too young to have a shot liver from being medicated so frequently.
Our visits mostly consisted of me holding her hand, stroking her hair, and us sitting in silence. She would lean her head against my shoulder, her gaze shifting to each of the windows and the door. The thing had put her here and it had her cornered. She wouldn't leave, though. She wanted to stay here where it was safe, where the thing couldn't get her because her every move was being watched. However, it would taunt her, and it would taunt me, too. It sat at the window and tapped it lightly throughout the night. It ran its fingers down the window, jiggled the doorknobs, and I couldn't sleep. Oh God, why wouldn't this thing leave us alone? I just wanted to sleep! Nobody else saw it but our brothers, Max and Jared. Oh my God why couldn't anybody else see it? Was this just a malfunction of our brains? We were siblings. We were from the same womb. Maybe we were all insane.
The thing would take its time in leaving. It lurked outside of my window, following me from room to room. It did this to Elise and I when we were young. We would split up, try to confuse it, and it would get angry. It slapped the window once, but it didn't sound like flesh on the window. It sounded like rocks hitting the window. Elise screamed, and it sat there. It cocked its head. It had no face. I know I sound crazy but my God it had no face! When it would leave our home, it would go to the hospital where Elise was. It would lurk about her window. She'd pound on her door and scream and scream and scream. "Help me! Please help me! It's back, oh my gracious God it's back! Why me?! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" Her screams would turn to sobs and the nurses would come in and sedate her. She would fight back though, oh Lord she fought like there was no tomorrow. But in our minds, there might not be a tomorrow. This thing had been terrorizing us for as long as we could remember. It had no face, but we could feel its stare. The stare of the beast would burn holes into me, holes that I couldn't take.
Elise was the least self controlling of the two of us, and in her first few weeks in the hospital, she would scream at it to leave us alone. I had to lie in front of the nurses, pretend I didn't see it. Elise would scream at me, too. Scream for me to stop pretending that it wasn't tearing apart our lives. Scream for me to stop pretending I didn't see it, scream that I had betrayed her. I started to cry. One of the nurses jabbed a needle into Elise, and she slowly stopped struggling against them. Her eyes closed and her screams became garbled mumbling. The nurses would ask me if I was okay, if I needed to talk to anyone about the strain Elise put on the family.
I would shake my head and follow them to her room. The thing followed, too, standing at her window and watching with its head cocked in interest. Our parents were ashamed that Elise had to spend the rest of her life here. They swore by it that they could never give life to such an ill child, and they told people that Elise and I were adopted. "Trixie, it's for the best," Mother whispered as she stroked my hair. I pushed her hand away. "How could you? How could your family name be more important than your children? How could you do this to me, to us?" I snapped. She held her hand as if I'd burned it. "Bellatrix!" her voice pierced the air like a whistle. "How dare you talk to your mother that way?!"
The thing sat at the window. It stared at her, long and hard. I ignored its presence. It was dressed like it was going to a funeral, wearing a black tuxedo, all of the time. Its pale skin was smooth, too smooth to be human, and I knew this thing wasn't.
My mother looked at the window for a split second and the thing put its hands to the glass and waved. She tore her eyes away and stared at me. "Well?" she asked impatiently. "How could you deny your own children? You make me sick. I hope you enjoy looking into the mirror and seeing the wench you are every day because I don't enjoy looking into your selfish eyes." I stomped out of the room, the beast outside applauding silently.
I suppose you want to know how we got here, how Elise ended up being declared mentally insane. This thing is out to get me, to get us. We have to explain, to get the story out, before he kills us, too.
Yes, too. This thing has killed before, and we know he is going to do it again.
Elise's POV
Bella and I were young, only five years old. Our brother, Max, was seven, and Jared was 12. Jared had always been scared and shaky, our entire childhood, and our parents thought nothing of it. He complained of a tall man following him everywhere, a tall man dressed like a penguin. We ignored it, saying that it was Jared's wild imagination going nuts. Jared was very artistic, you see. He drew and painted what he saw in the world around him. However, Max started seeing the man in the suit, too. He started crying at night, asking to sleep in my bed or Bella's bed. The man was punching his window. Then he would start to cry harder, "He's at the window! Don't you two see him?!"
We started to see him that night. Max, Jared, and Bellatrix never said a word to our parents. I should have done the same. I should have kept my mouth shut.
The man started to show violence and rage at us as we got older. Jared had his window open one day when Bella and I were 9. It was a huge mistake. The man reached a long, sharp fingered arm through the window and grabbed Jared's arm. Jared screamed, a long, pain drenched scream, and Max was the first one to run down the hallway to Jared's room. Bellatrix and I followed, and the thing had Jared's arm. Jared was screaming, trying to free his arm from the man's grasp. Max ran at the thing, and I have to say that he will forever be the bravest man I've ever seen for this. The man pushed him back, slamming him into Jared's desk, and he reached for Bellatrix.
Fear paralyzed her. Fear locked her arms to her sides and her feet to the floor. The man's arm extended quickly, and I pushed Bella out of the way. The man's fingers cut my arm in multiple spots, parallel to each other, and he pulled his arm back. I was bleeding insanely at this point, and he turned and left. He wandered into the dense forest behind our home where all of our windows faced. He would have stabbed Bella in the chest if I'd let her stand there.
Bellatrix, the most logical of us, stared at Jared. "He'll be back, you know," she muttered. "Why did you have to bring him here, Jared? Why did you have to be born?" she spat at him angrily. She stomped out of the room and strode out the front door without looking back.
She was right; the man was going to come back. He would definitely be back.
