Silent Nightmares
Chapter 2
Time passed.
An awful lot of time and by morning, there was still no sign of Anastasia Rose.
The outside temperature was still below freezing and last night’s rainwater had turned into frost and ice.
It was too cold for Emma to continue searching, after all, she was alive and she needed to keep her warm.
Some of the town citizens were still searching thought most had given up and had other things to do.
But as for me, I was now even more determined than before to find Annie.
But time was running out. Annie was also alive and I knew as well as Emma that for Annie to have been out all night in this weather, it might have even killed her.
The chances of finding Annie alive were getting slimmer by the minute.
Now resorting to searching in places he had already thoroughly inspected, my determination was now being matched by my hopelessness.
I began to wonder if I would ever find Annie alive.
Near Spiral Hill, I had been searching again.
Exhausted, I just about collapsed to the ground, and leaned against a tombstone.
My eyes were tired of searching the heavens.
There was now little hope of ever finding Annie Rose.
I sighed as I rested head in hands.
And then, there became a change in the wind.
A soft crunching sound like leaves crushing under feet whispered from behind the other side of Spiral Hill.
I looked up when I heard the quiet but sharp sound occur from the silence.
There was then a thud and more crunching with it.
I quickly got to my feet and peered round the side of the Hill.
What I saw did not scare me, it haunted me.
There was Annie Rose. Face down in the icy grass, her hair swung over her head, covering the sides of her face. Her white nightdress stained with mud and dirt, ripped and torn. Annie’s skin was busied and full of cuts and grazes.
What I had set his eyes upon I…I don’t know how to describe.
I crawled over to her.
“Annie?” I tried to speak to her.
But Annie showed no response.
I feared that she was dead. But I tried again to wake her.
“Annie, can you hear me?” I came closer to her.
“Are you all right?” I tried to wake her.
I reached out my hand and to place it on her shoulder.
Suddenly, Annie snatched hold of my hand before I reached her.
“Annie!?” I now knew that she wasn’t dead.
Annie slowly lifted up her head.
Her face was hidden by her hair that drooped over her head.
I felt the skin on Annie’s trembling hand. Cold as ice.
I stared through Annie’s frost covered hair trying to see her face.
She was crying.
I knew Annie wouldn’t last like this for a much longer.
“Come, I’ve got to get you out of here.”
As I stood up I tried to pull Annie to her feet.
But Annie was like a lifeless puppet. She was so cold I wasn’t sure if she was paralyzed.
I pulled Annie to her knees.
Getting to my feet, I pulled Annie’s numb, ice cold body up from the floor.
I then heard her soft crying and felt her shivering in my arms.
Though Annie was injured, she was safe.
I felt relieved to have found her, but I was worried because of the state I had found her in.
I knew there was no time to lose.
“Let’s get you outa here.”
I rushed off through the cemetery, back through the main gate and to the gate of my house.
A few of the town citizens saw me with the ill injured Annie Rose in my arms.
“Jack!” The Mayor hurried towards me.
“Oh, you’ve found her.” The Mayor was over whelmed that Annie was safe.
He looked at Annie.
“Where have you been?” He pondered.
Annie looked towards the Mayor.
Her skin pale white.
Tears still streaming down her face.
Her checks red and bruised.
Cuts and grazes covering her forehead.
Blood smeared on her skin.
The Mayor’s head turned round, revealing his unhappy face.
He then knew Annie wasn’t as safe as he thought.
Annie turned her head back round and rested upon my shoulder.
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t know.” I gazed once again at the wounds on Annie’s skin.
“Mayor, I need you to get the Doctor at once! Tell him it’s urgent!”
“Of course! Of course!” The Mayor ran off to the Doctor’s lab.
I took Annie inside.
I laid her down in the chair.
Once again I felt how cold she was.
I knew that living things needed to stay warm to survive.
I knelt down besides the fire place and lit the fire.
“Stay warm, Annie. I’m not going to let you die on me.”
I brought Annie closer to the fire.
“Stay warm.”
I did all I could to help Annie.
“What happened to you?” I quietly but urgently asked.
Annie did not reply.
“Annie, I’ve seen plenty of people scared in my time, but you aren’t just scared, you’re hurt. I need to know who or what did this to you.”
Annie just stared into the fire.
“Annie, please answer me.”
But Anastasia Rose seemed mesmerised. In another world. As if she could not see me or even hear my words.
But then the front door burst open.
“Jack!” Emma ran up the stairs calling.
“Where is she? Where’s Annie?”
Emma then saw her lost friend for herself.
“Annie!” Emma ran and skidded on her knees towards Annie.
She through her arms around her best friend.
“Annie, I’m so glad you’re safe.”
Emma was overwhelmed that Annie was found.
“Jack.” Spoke a familiar voice from the top of the stairs.
“Sally.” I got to his feet upon hearing the voice of my beloved fiancé.
I immediately came to her and joyfully greeted my love.
“Where did you find her?” Sally wondered.
“Under Spiral Hill. Shivering on the cold floor.”
“I thought we’d all searched the Spiral Hill cemetery from top to bottom.”
“I thought so too.”
“Sally!” Called the Doctor’s voice from the bottom of the steps.
“Since when have wheel chairs climbed stairs? A little assistance if you please!”
Sally walked back down stairs to help the Doctor.
I left Annie just for a moment while I lent a hand.
After a few minutes and the Doctor was carried up the spiral staircase placed down onto the flat floor.
“Right, now let’s take a look at her.”
The Doctor wheeled over to his new patent.
He immediately noticed her bleeding.
“First we need to clean you up, don’t we? Sally, warm water and some clean rags.”
Sally walked back down the steps to fetch what was needed.
Meanwhile, the Doctor needed to get a response from Annie.
“Annie, can you tell me who did this to you?” He questioned.
But Annie just continued to stare in shock.
The Doctor tried to diagnose the situation.
He then tried a different approach.
“Do you know what I believe happened to Nadallia, Annie? I believe she was attacked. Is that the same thing that’s happened to you?”
Annie did not answer.
“Annie?”
“She didn’t answer me ether, Doctor.” I explained.
The Doctor took Annie’s mesmerized mood into consideration.
“I’m beginning to think these cuts and bruises aren’t the worst of her problems.”
“What do you mean?” Emma asked.
“Annie is suffering mentally, Emma Donnahue. Her mesmerisation is not ignorance. It’s a symptom.”
Emma came up to Annie.
“Annie, can you hear me?” Emma worried.
“Do you think she can hear me?”
“She can hear you very well, but she can’t reply. There’s obviously something that happened during her disappearance that’s caused this ‘extreme state of shock’ as I would call it.”
Emma took hold of Annie’s hand.
The Doctor noticed the Annie was still bleeding badly on some of her bigger cuts.
But luckily, Sally was back with a bowl of warm water and some clean rags.
Sally knelt down beside Annie and began to help the Doctor clean the cuts and wounds on Annie’s skin.
Emma took hold of a cloth and also gave a hand.
And of course I lent a hand and helped to clean Annie’s cold skin of blood.
Anastasia’s friends all showed their concern for her.
But even though Annie was found alive, her troubles were far from over.
Something had spooked her so much that she wasn’t responding to anyone or anything.
I was now questioning myself about Annie’s condition. Questions like, ‘what happened to her the last night?’ ‘What made her scream?’ What made her run away?’ ‘What brought her to her graphic present state?’
I was determined to get all these questions answers.
