Emily Brown

I awoke with a start, my heart was beating faster than a race horse. As I struggled to regain control of my breathing, I soon realised what had woken me up. A noise which could only be compared to an animal in agony filled my apartment, penetrating the nights peaceful silence. Sitting bolt upright, it quickly dawned on me that the noise was not an animal but in fact Lynsey Fisher, my next door neighbour.

Jumping out of bed, I pulled on my dressing gown and made my way across the hall to her apartment. To my surprise her door was ajar. I braced myself for a split second before pushing the door wide open.

The hall was empty, all except for a rusty hammer which lay lifeless in the middle of the floor. I called sheepishly from the doorway,
"Lynsey? Lynsey are you OK?"
For a moment the screams stopped and then became even louder and more hysterical than before.
Taking a deep breath, I crept towards the deafening wails, hands shaking. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see.
Lynsey sat unnaturally upright in bed, her skin a pasty yellow colour and covered with pink scratches. Her once long and beautiful, brown locks now resembled dread locks and she had patches of hair missing, which were scattered in clumps around her.

"Lynsey. What's happened? What's wrong?"
"Get out! Get the fuck out of here! I don't want you here! GET OUT!", she screamed.

I glanced around the room and noticed the floor and bed were covered in photographs torn to shreds. As I took a step towards her the pungent smell of sweat and urine filled my nostrils.

"What's going on? Tell me what's happened. Look at you your hurt, let me help you", I pleaded.

With this she slowly twisted her head to look at me, her black, empty eyes sent a chill down my spine, stealing the breath from my lungs. What she said next was precise and slow, her lips curled as she spat every word at me, dragging them out like an animal torturing her prey.

"Fuck you. You don' want to know. You think this is a game? You wanna play?" she began laughing uncontrollably.

"What?"

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT! GET OUT NOW!"

Confused and scared I fled from the room. Just as my hand grasped the handle for the front door she called to me.

"What?" I said

"Emily Brown" she moaned.

 

As if someone had knocked me from my feet I fell to my knees, the sound of forks scrapping a plate rang in my ears, every hair on my body stood on end. Acid burned in my throat, as bile rose from my stomach. My body became stiff and as I hit the ground, a cold and dead weight, the last thing I saw was her face.