Disembodied Voices

Natalie sat at the desk in her room. The small radio on the corner of her desk played quietly as she studied. Her physics book was spread open. She was leaned over it, highlighting the important parts for her midterm next week. She tapped her sneaker against the hardwood floor to the beat of the music.

She took a deep breath and sat back against her chair. She rubbed her eyes and ran her hands through her long, auburn hair. Her head had started to hurt from the hours of studying. Just as she leaned forward to continue her reading, she heard her mother yell her name from downstairs.

“Natalie, could you come down here please.”

Natalie pushed her chair back, and it screeched against the hard wood floor. She stood and stretched her arms over her head. She pulled her bedroom door open all the way with a small squeak. Her footsteps softly thudded on the hardwood floor of the hallway as she made her way towards the stairs.

She put her hand on the banister and pivoted to head downstairs. Suddenly, she was pulled backwards. The faint smell of her mother’s perfume filled the air around her as she was yanked back into her parents’ bedroom. The door closed and she turned to find her mother staring at her. Her eyes were wide as saucers and her face was ghostly white.

Natalie looked at her stunned. She furrowed her brow as her mother said, “I heard that, too.” She was trembling. Natalie was utterly confused. She looked back towards the closed door, then back to her mother.

“Wait,” she whispered to her mother, matching her volume. “I thought you were downstairs.”

Her mother stared at her, shaking but unable to form words.

The sound of her mother’s voice echoed up the stairs once more.

“Natalie,” the voice called out. “I need you. Come down here now, please.”

Natalie started to tremble herself. Her big, brown eyes were now filled with terror. The voice sounded just like her mother’s. They stared at each other, silent and terrified.

The voice boomed up the stairs.

“NATALIE! I ASKED YOU TO COME DOWN HERE. NOW.”

The floorboards shook beneath them. The light on the bedside table crashed to the floor. Glass from the lightbulb shattered against the hardwood floor. A small scream escaped Natalie’s throat.

She gripped her mother’s face in her hands. She whispered, “What do we do?”

Tears streamed down her mother’s face. She shook her head. She was uncertain of who was in their house, and she had no idea what they were after. Besides Natalie.

The sound of heavy footsteps thudded up the stairs. The floor shook violently under their feet as the sound got louder and louder.

Natalie grabbed her mother’s soft, trembling hand and pulled her to her feet. Glass shards crunched under their feet as they crossed the bedroom. They made their way to the window and Natalie shoved the window upward with a hard shove. The pane shook as it slid into place. She pushed the screen out and it fluttered to the grass below.

“NATALIE!”

The voice boomed. It still sounded like her mother’s voice but was now filled with gravel and a deep despair. It sounded as though it was just outside the bedroom door.

Natalie searched her mother’s face. Her eyes, still wide as saucers and full of terror, now seemed empty. She put her hands on her mother’s cheeks and begged her to jump.

They were on the second floor, and it was a solid 18-foot drop to the ground below. There was a cool breeze whipping around the open window. The curtains fluttered gently as Natalie edged her mother towards the window.

With no warning, her mother pushed Natalie out the window. Natalie fell to the ground with a hard thud. She landed square on her back. The fall knocked the wind out of her. She turned to her side and curled herself into a fetal position, gasping for the clear, cool air to fill her burning lungs.

Just before Natalie was pushed from the window, the doorknob slowly started to turn.  Her mother heard the sound and, in a panic, shoved her daughter to safety. Or so she hoped.

The door flung open, and the room filled with thick, black smoke. A foul stench surrounded Natalie’s mother as the floorboards shook loose. The voice filled the room. A high pitched, angry screech filled every inch of the room. The sound was so loud that she momentarily fell deaf. She felt like she was inside a war movie with the hollow sound filling her head.

She gripped the floor, trying to find the cool air from the breeze outside. If she could only get herself to her feet, she could throw herself out the window, too, and find Natalie. She reached up, desperately searching the walls for the break of the window.

The room fell silent. The booming echo stopped, and the thick smoke stopped swirling. It was now frozen and rigid. She stopped moving, holding as still as possible. She tried not to breathe. She feared that whatever was there was now quiet, searching for her breath.

A gentle breeze wrapped itself around her. The window.  She knew that the window was just above her. She was so close to escaping. She closed her eyes and with a vigorous jump, she launched herself out the window after Natalie.

A guttural howl filled the air as Natalie watched from the ground below as her mother’s body was falling towards her. Relief washed over her.

“Mom!” Natalie screamed as her mother’s body was violently yanked back towards the house. She watched as her mother’s body was sucked back into the howling house. The entire house leapt from its foundation and shuttered as it fell back to the ground. Everything went silent. The smoke cleared. The howling stopped. The world seemed eerily quiet. 

“Mom!” Natalie screamed, pulling herself to her feet and rushing to the back door. She flung the wood door open and headed towards the staircase. Her feet stuck in dark sludge that covered the linoleum kitchen floor. A sour, pungent stench covered the walls.

She pulled her shoes off and continued towards the stairs. Soot covered the banister and filled her lungs. She coughed up thick black mucus as she ran towards where she’d last seen her mother.

She flung the door open and found the room empty. Nothing but soot and a large circle of sticky, black sludge on the ceiling. It was dripping into a puddle at the foot of the bed. It was stringy and smelled awful.

Tears streamed down Natalie’s face. She had no idea what to do or who to call. She crumbled to the floor and cried. Nearly an hour later, the front door swung open.

“Natalie,” her father’s voice carried from downstairs. “Are you home?”

She froze as the house began to shake under her feet.