Sankofa (Idol Mini Season Week 2)

[tigrkittn]

(Content warning for F-bombs)

“HELLOOOO!” shouted my idiot brother as he peered up the narrow staircase. “Any ax murderers hiding up there? Bats? Vampires?”

“Shhhhhh!” I hissed at him, and blew out a hard breath of frustration. 

“God, you’re always such a chickenshit,” he scoffed. “I’m just fucking around.” Charlie jumped up and extended his arms and legs to suspend himself between the walls of the narrow hallway. 

“Yeah, you’re good at that,” I grumbled. “And get your feet off the walls, asshole. You’re going to leave marks!”

He jumped back down. “Jesus, Sarah! Have you ever had a moment of stupid fun in your whole life? It’s like you were born a middle-aged librarian.”

I barely heard his grousing, my attention absorbed elsewhere. Down that hall behind him were two small bedrooms, a bathroom with ancient fixtures that included an actual claw-foot tub, and a small door at the far end that opened on a steep staircase that led to the attic.

Charlie knew none of this—he was practically a baby when we left this house, too young to remember anything about it.

Much too young to remember the night invisible hands had tried to drown me in that bathtub. 

###

My ancient Mazda rumbled up the right-hand lane of the interstate, CD player booming The Cure through staticky speakers. Charlie slouched in the passenger seat, his phone six inches from his nose and thumbs tapping away. Probably playing a game. 

“So I was thinking...” I started, eyes on the road. My brother’s eyes slid in my direction for a moment so I continued. “Our old house is kind of on the way to Rochester. I want to stop there real quick.”

“Seriously? Why?” I didn’t answer right away so he continued. “You just want to look at it or something? Whoever lives there now is going to think you’re a freak. Which you are.”

I busied myself changing the CD, and then cautiously changing lanes long enough to pass the truck in front of me. Charlie was outright staring at me now, so I had to respond. “Nobody lives there. Nobody’s lived there in years. I checked.” After a pause I added, “There’s just something I need to do.” My little brother’s eyeroll was practically audible, but his attention returned to his phone. 

As we rolled up I-95 to 9-W and across the Bear Mountain Bridge, I experienced an overwhelming sense of deja vu. I knew for a fact I’d never made this drive before; I’d definitely never parked alongside the curb in front of the old brown clapboard house I hadn’t lived in since I was ten; even the incredulous look my brother shot me as I entered the code into the lock box hanging from the doorknob and slid the key into the deadbolt felt familiar.

###

“Ok, so no waking up the vampires and boogy-boogies. What ARE we doing here?”

I barely heard him. My feet were moving of their own accord, carrying me down the hallway toward the open door where a drip-drip-drip sound echoed against pale-blue tiled walls. 

The cold chills and vivid flashback memories I anticipated never came. It was just an old bathroom—four walls interrupted by a small window in one, the floor a black-and-white checkerboard of hexagons. The tub was just a tub, white porcelain with gray metal peeking through the worn patches on the rim where decades of hands had rested.

Upping the ante, I raised first one sneaker-clad foot and then the other, climbing into the big clawfoot tub and sitting down. Charlie’s gaze from the doorway met mine, his expression puzzled and wary. Before either of us could speak, a loud THUNK came from above our heads, like the sound of a heavy dresser being toppled over. I let out a small shriek, and Charlie jumped backward about two feet and then tried to recover his cool and catch his breath at the same time. 

“You said there was nobody here!” he hissed at me in a stage whisper.

I shook my head slowly. “There isn’t.”

We stared at each other, momentarily frozen, as the thunk was followed by a scraping, dragging sound.

Leaping out of the tub and out of the bathroom, I took a hard right turn and raced to the end of the hall. I flung open the attic door and took the stairs two at a time. They ended at a hole in the attic floor where I popped up like the target in a whack-a-mole game, and spun around to view the small space in its entirety. 

It was empty. Dust motes floated in the dim light, but the plank floor held not so much as a cardboard box or forgotten hanger.

I wasn’t surprised as much as ... disappointed.

“Where are you?! I know you’re here! Show yourself, damn it! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

“Sarah?” The low, hesitant voice was my brother’s. 

Striding deliberately to the center of the floor and inspecting all four corners, the ceiling, the floor, I spoke again. “Why me? What the FUCK was that all about?” 

“Sarah, are you ok?” Charlie half whispered.

I took a deep breath and let it out again, listening to the silence and watching the dust motes dance in a sunbeam. “Yeah. Better than ever. Let’s hit the road.”

###

“You really are a freak.” This time Charlie was smirking as he said it.

I grinned at him. “Yep.”

The Mazda purred as I flew up the entrance ramp onto the highway, settled into the left lane, and sped toward our new life.

 

 

Comments

[muchtooarrogant]

What a great story. I like the fact that Sarah decided to face her fears head on, and when she discovered that there might actually be "something" there after all, she challenged it without hesitation.

Clueless or not, I felt a little sorry for Charlie. (grin) Of course, he shrugged it off in short order, so no harm done I guess.

Thanks for sharing this fun read!

Dan

[tigrkittn]

Thank you so much! In my head Charlie is only 15, so his behavior made sense, but I couldn't find a way to get that in there in a natural way, so I decided it wasn't that important.

[roina_arwen]

Oooh - well done! Attics were often servant’s quarters - maybe it was a long dead nanny, coming to bathe her errand charge, lol!

[tigrkittn]

"Bathing" should never be confused with "drowning" But thank you!

[mollywheezy]

Great story! I loved how you intermixed humor with the creepiness.

[tigrkittn]

Thanks!! I'm glad you liked it.

[fausts_dream]

I dig the way you use humor to relieve tension then build it again.

[tigrkittn]

Thank you! I really appreciate that.

[nicholewithanh]

The dialogue felt authentic and definitely pulled me into your story! I got an excellent feel for your narrator and her brother. Enjoyable read!

[tigrkittn]

Thank you! I really love writing dialogue more than anything else.

[adoptedwriter]

Great blend of creep and funny!

[tigrkittn]

Many thanks!

[chasing_silver]

Very suspenseful! I really enjoyed this take.

[tigrkittn]

I'm so happy you liked it!

[halfshellvenus]

I'm voting ghosts in the attic on this one!

where I popped up like the target in a whack-a-mole game
I loved that description. :D

The sibling interaction feels very authentic here. Well done!

[tigrkittn]

Thank you! I wasn't sure the whack-a-mole would read the way it did in my head - I'm glad you liked it.

[murielle]

Well that's one way to hold an exorcism!

Very well and creepily done!

[tigrkittn]

Thank you!

[inkstainedfingertips]

You drew out the tension very well and kept me engaged from start to finish. This was a really fun piece to read.

[tigrkittn]

Thank you so much! I haven't written fiction in a billion years, so I'm glad I didn't totally fall on my face :)

[erulissedances]

I love her bravery.

- Erulisse (one L)

[tigrkittn]

Thank you for using that word *happydances* ❤️

[thephantomq]

ghosties who don't know their own strength need not help children bathe lololol.

That house reminds me of the one I lived in as a kid. I don't remember if it was haunted, but honestly it probably was.

[reidharriscooper]

I was grabbed by the brother checking on a serial killer before bats.

I feel there's more to this story, maybe not for Sarah, maybe its best she never learns the truth but if there is a truth a reader would love oen if you the writer has one.

[alycewilson]

Intriguing!