The Scratch

The Scratch

I don’t know how I ended up here. I don’t think anybody could’ve guessed how I got here either. When my friends and my dear parents learn about everything, they’ll say, “Where did it all go so wrong?”

“He was raised right,” they’ll say. And I had been. I was the son of two very humble, but well-to-do, Christian parents. They sent me to the best private school in the state. And later, I got into one of the best universities. At least, the one they wanted me to go to. Ole Miss.

As a family, we all went to church every Sunday. Mom was good friends with the pastor’s wife. So, we ate lunch at their house every week after service. I learned all my bible verses. I even preached a few sermons here and there when I was home from Uni.

On the surface, I was a good kid, and later, a good man. So, where did it all go wrong? Let me start at the beginning of this story. Maybe if I tell it right, it’ll save what little of my parents’ reputation they have left. It’s a classic tale, really. The kind you see in the movies that your parents never let you watch as a kid.

It all started three days ago. My friends and I had met at Toby’s bar for some drinks to kick off the weekend. And to celebrate our late friend’s thirtieth birthday.

Brett, Jake, Riley, Lanie, and I were all toasting to the memory of our friend at the bar. “Six months without you is too long, brother,” Jake held his Irish Car Bomb high in the air as he said this.

We all raised our glasses as well, “To Nate,” we all said in unison and downed our drinks like we were back in college at the frat houses.

I finished mine and looked over at Lanie, my girlfriend of the past three years. She looked beautiful that night, but she also looked sad. Riley finished her drink next and whispered something into Lanie’s ear.

A quick and faint hint of jealousy passed over me when I saw it. I wondered what they were saying to each other, but I didn’t bother asking. She had been in a bad mood since the accident, and I didn’t want to push it. But she didn’t want to talk to me about it either, and that bothered me.

I knew her and Nate had dated back at university. But they broke up ages ago. She couldn’t possibly still have feelings for him. Survivors guilt, I told myself. I loved her and had planned on proposing next Christmas Day at her parent’s house.

Her father already gave me his blessing. I was just paying off the ring. To be honest, I was also kind of nervous. What if she said no? Then what would I have?

A few successful business ventures? Sure, but how far could that get me without a woman with vision at my side. And that woman, for me, was Lanie. She was good to me, too. She never even gave a hint of needing anything from anyone else. She was loyal and sweet, and my mother loved her.

Life was going well for us, you could say. With the exception of my best friend drowning right in front of me six months ago. I missed him too.

He was my go-to person. I went to him for absolutely every problem that ever arose for me, and he was always there with the best advice and support a guy could ask for from his friends. He was the person you could always call when you needed something.

I wished I had his heart. But I didn’t. I wasn’t Nate. I was just Jonah, and that would have to do. I was different. On the surface, I was just like everyone else we went to school with. Inside though, there was something not quite right. My mother knew it when I was younger, my father denied it, I tried to ignore it.

That worked for the most part. And thus, I grew up to be a perfectly normal American citizen, just chasing that great “American Dream” I had heard so much about from my father. He had this idea of who I would end up being in his head. The last thing I ever wanted to do was let him down.

Riley was laughing with Brett, her boyfriend since high school. Lanie was just staring at her glass while Jake tried to tell me some story about this chick he just hooked up with the night before. I kept my arms crossed, hunched over the bar, glancing back at my future wife every now and then. I wanted so badly to ask her what had been bothering her lately.

Before I had the chance to give in to such juvenile paranoia, my phone rang. I jumped to grab it from my pocket, excited to have an excuse to step out and catch some air. “I... I gotta take this, guys,” I announced to everyone.

Jake made some passing comments about him stealing my girl while I’m away because I work too much. I wanted to hit him but didn’t. Lanie didn’t hear any of it. She didn’t seem to notice me stepping out either.

I answered the phone the moment I stepped through the doors. Relief washed over me like a tidal wave and my arms relaxed. This was my element, work. This was what I knew I could do. I understood it the most out of everything in life.

I was still on the phone when I noticed an old woman sitting on the sidewalk under the streetlight. She was hunched over wearing a worn-out shawl over her shoulders, an old and smelly sweater, and a long skirt that looked like she dug it out of the trash.

She was mumbling to herself when I looked over at her. I didn’t say anything, I just kept talking to my assistant on the phone, looking away and trying to act like I didn’t see her there at all. She kept mumbling though. I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.

“Thanks, Mara, I’ll need that report by Monday. Be sure to email it to me as soon as it’s done. "I have to go now,” I hurried off the phone and turned toward the doors to go back inside. I hesitated for just a fleeting moment, staring at the doors, debating on whether I should just go home or not.

Before I could shake that absurd notion out of my head, I heard a crazy, maniacal laughter coming from the same direction the old woman had been sitting and ranting to herself. When I turned my head to look, she wasn’t there.

“What the hell?” I said out loud. When I turned towards the entrance again, she was right there at the side of my face, laughing. Half of her teeth were missing. Her grey and brown hair was thick and matted to her head, branching out in all different directions.

“Evil begets evil,” she kept saying over and over through crazy, creepy, high-pitched giggles. I was taken aback. I tried to step backward away from her, but she reached for my face with both hands. Her fingernails dug into my cheeks. They were long, sharp, and so dirty they looked dead and ready to fall off at any moment.

I screamed for help. I was frozen. I didn’t know what to do. “What the hell are you doing?” I screamed at her and pushed her off, finally able to tell my body what to do. She scratched my right cheek as she stumbled backwards, falling and hitting her ass on the pavement.

It all happened so fast.

She stopped laughing. Her eyes were wide open and wild, like a rabid animal. She smelled like one too. An odor came from her that reminded me of death. Not that I knew what death smelled like, but if I had to guess, this was it.

“Evil begets evil, boy!” she exclaimed and started laughing again. Rocking back and forth on the pavement, clutching her knees to her chest. I turned away from her to run through the doors when Lanie came flying through them and ran into me, her face pressing into my chest by accident.

She stepped back, looking at me like I had committed a crime. “Where have you been?” She asked me, a look of concern and worry now taking over. I must have looked more shaken up than I thought.

“Did you see...” I turned to point at the woman that had just been sitting there on the sidewalk not two seconds earlier, but she was gone already. Quick old hag, isn’t she? I didn’t say this out loud, but I thought it.

“See what? What happened to you?” Lanie was definitely concerned now. I shook my head, trying to come to terms with what I just saw. It was too late, I was shaking and breathing heavily like I had just run for miles.

“Nothing,” I answered, “let’s just go back inside.” I pulled her by the arms, rushing her back in. I just didn’t want to be out there anymore. I felt like the woman was still watching me from somewhere.

“What the hell are you doing?” Lanie yanked her hand away from me. I stopped in the doorways, shocked by her reaction. Still panting like a dog finishing a run at the park, I said, “I’m just going back in with everyone else. Don’t you want to come with me?”

Instead of an answer, she gasped, putting her hand over her mouth suddenly. “What happened to your face?” she asked loudly. The doors were still wide open when she asked this. Everyone inside was already staring at us. I hated to make a scene, so I rolled my eyes and shut the doors once more.

“Some old homeless woman came up to me and scratched my face while I was on the phone,” I told her, “Please, don’t make it a bigger deal than it is. Let’s just go back inside and have some fun. You could use a little fun these days.”

She looked offended. Shit. How did I offend her this time? “What do you mean by that,” she asked. I was exasperated. “I don’t mean anything by it. I just mean that you have been kind of quiet lately and maybe all you need is a good night out with friends.”

She looked down at her feet, like she felt guilty about something. I didn’t even get the chance to ask her what was wrong when my vision was filled with the image of Nate flailing his arms around in the water, screaming out for help.

It lasted for only a second, but it was enough to knock me back. I fell backward into the entrance of the bar. Everything was quiet after I landed. Everyone inside the packed bar was looking at me now. Lanie just stood there staring at me, her face expressionless.

For some reason, this pissed me off. Jake and Brett were already rushing to me, while Riley made her way to Lanie’s side. They were helping me off the floor and back on my feet, holding both of my elbows. I jerked my elbow away from Jake and said a little more harshly than I had meant to, “I’m fine. Leave me alone.”

“Jesus, Lanie. Did you hit him? What happened to your face, man?” Brett asked. He was visibly concerned about my appearance, I could tell. “I said I’m fine.” I put my hand over my cheek, which now stung a lot. I was starting to feel nauseas as well.

I just looked at Lanie, letting the anger swell up in me and translate my unhappiness for me through my eyes. She wouldn’t even look at me, though.

I jerked my other arm away from Brett and shoved past her and Riley and out the door. Brett followed, trying to convince me to go back inside. But I wasn’t feeling well at this point, and I was absolutely embarrassed by the whole thing.

“I just need to go lie down,” I called behind me, still rubbing my cheek as I walked as fast as I could back to my apartment, which was just down the street from the bar. It was also located next to my office, which is why I picked it.

My phone was ringing. Lanie was trying to call me. Next it was Jake. That asshole. I was getting angrier by the second, so I turned it off. I reached my door, unlocked the dead bolt with my key, walked inside, and slammed the door behind me. I never acted like this before. I’m always so well composed.

My father would be disappointed if he seen me lose my temper like this. He was always preaching to me about keeping my emotions to myself. Never let people know what you’re thinking.

I paced around in my living room, huffing as I did, gripping my phone in my hand so tight that my hand started to go numb. I threw it across the room and watched it shatter to the floor. I couldn’t believe I had done that.

I sat down on the couch, letting all of my weight fall with me. I was exhausted. I wasn’t feeling well, and now I couldn’t control my emotions. This wasn’t right. I haven’t been this out of control since I was a kid.

My head hurt; my heart was racing. I was tired; exhausted almost to the point of collapsing. I tried to relax in my seat, but it was pointless. I decided the best choice for me right now would be to take my sleeping pills prescribed to me by my doctor, take a shower, and try to get some rest.

I wasn’t going to rest any time soon if I didn’t take my prescription. On top of the burning pain that was coming from my cheek, which I had cleaned and dressed in gauze after my shower, I was still upset with Lanie. I couldn’t believe she would act that way towards me.

We had always been a team. She was the most supportive person in my life. Anything that ever went wrong with my work, she was always there helping me find and execute a solution. She was a woman of action in that way.

I could always confide in her. We talked about everything. There had never been any secrets between us before and now there seemed to be a lot of them. That’s how it felt, at least.

I couldn’t even begin to guess what was wrong with her before. But now, there was something in the back of my mind telling me that she must have still been in love with him. Maybe they were even seeing each other behind my back all these years.

I shook the idea out of my head as I dried off, brushed my teeth and combed my hair, then walked to my bedroom to put on some pajamas to get some much-needed sleep.

I pulled the sheets back and climbed in, feeling their cool clean texture that I loved so much. There is nothing better than a good clean bed to lie down in at night. I got that from my mother.

Little did I know, that night would be the first of many crazy nights. My bad luck had only just begun.

Asleep or not, that woman still haunted me. She came to me in my dreams, reaching and clawing at my face. At one point in my dream, the scratch on my face had begun to rot like dead flesh and spread throughout the entire right side of my head.

I was in my bathroom picking at it, leaning over the sink and studying it in the mirror. Then the mirror showed me an image of Nate, like he had just popped up on the television screen.

It resembled the news broadcast that they released just after the accident, before anyone had even had a chance to inform his mom, the only family he had left, of what had happened. I hit the mirror, shattering it, but the pieces that fell to the sink and floor still played the broadcast.

When I looked back up, the mirror was still there, intact and perfectly untouched. It now showed my reflection and that of the woman standing behind me. I jumped and turned around to see if she was there, but I was alone in the bathroom.

But she was still there in the mirror, laughing that same creepy laugh and saying the same thing over and over. “Evil begets evil,” she kept repeating. Suddenly, she reached for my face, eyes wide open like a predator lunging at its prey.

I was lying in my bed once more, unable to move now. She was floating... yes, FLOATING... over me with her hands still gripping the sides of my face. She whispered, “you have three days left. Three days...”

Then she ripped the right side of my face from the bone. I could feel everything. It was the most unimaginable pain, but here I was feeling it in my sleep. I screamed, holding my face, trying to put my skin back where it belonged. The woman just laughed and disappeared.

I shot up in bed, sweating and trying to catch my breath. My mind was racing with anxiety and fear. I was so afraid; I didn’t even want to get up to look around the apartment to make sure I was still alone. I felt my face to make sure it was still intact. It was.

I heard a knock at the door. I froze. I didn’t want to check it. I just wanted to go back to sleep, without any of the dreams. I just wanted to forget everything.

The knocking turned into banging, and I had no choice but to get up. I could hear someone on the other side of the door saying in a loud deep voice, “It’s the police, we’ve come to check on you, open up.”

I hurriedly unlatched the door and opened it and was quickly met with a flashlight shining in my face. I put my hand up to cover the light that blinded me. I could see two officers and a third person; I couldn’t tell who it was. I had assumed it was another officer until I heard them speak.

“Jesus, Jonah. You don’t look okay.” Lanie cried from behind the two officers. “Sir, we came to check on you. Your girlfriend was worried about you when we heard screaming as we got here. Are you okay? Is there anyone in the house?” the taller, stockier officer asked in that authoritative tone.

“No, no one is in the house. I just had a crazy dream. Must have been my medicine,” I replied quietly. “You took something tonight?” the shorter officer asked. “Only what I’m prescribed for sleep,” I answered him.

The officers looked past my shoulder, shining flashlights into my home. I knew they didn’t believe me. I opened the door a little wider and asked them if they wanted to come inside and look around. They gave each other a look, then happily stepped in.

I moved out of their way to let them in, looking at Lanie the whole time. “You don’t look well at all. You’re pale and sweating. Are your lips turning blue?” Lanie rushed inside behind them wrapping her arms around me for a hug, then checking me all over for anymore minor or major injuries.

She stopped when she placed her hand on my forehead. “You have a bad fever. He has a bad fever, guys. Something’s wrong,” she said to me first then to the officers who were still checking out the apartment.

“Can we see the bottle for your prescription, sir,” the bulkier officer asked. I nodded and pointed to the medicine cabinet just over in the kitchen. “Third cabinet door to your left,” I said. The smaller officer looked at me with genuine worry.

“Are you feeling alright, do you need an ambulance?” he asked, walking over to take a closer look at me. I looked over Lanie’s shoulder to the mirror on the wall behind her. I really did look like shit. My skin was paler than I had thought a person could get. I was dripping sweat like I had just come out of the shower only five minutes rather than a few hours ago.

“It’s two in the morning,” I said, noticing the time on the stove. “I’m just tired and need some sleep.” I turned to Lanie. “If I still have fever in the morning, I’ll go to the doctor.”

She seemed like she wanted to say more but she held her tongue. I was proud of her for that. She used to be so impulsive when she spoke. It took some work to teach her when the appropriate times to speak your mind were, but she had been doing much better this past year with it. Even mother complimented her on it the weekend before last when we went to have dinner with my parents.

“Can I stay with you? Just to make sure you’re alright?” She folded her hands in front of her and looked up at me like a child. I couldn’t say no to her. I smiled and pulled her closer to me. “Of course,” I said as I kissed her forehead.

“Well then, I think we will get out of your hair and let you get some sleep. Everything appears to be all good here,” the bigger cop announced. The smaller cop was studying me hard when he pulled a card from his front pocket. “I’m officer Conan Daniels, badge number two two nine. You call the station and ask for me if you need anything in the meantime.”

I thought this was very thoughtful of him and took his card. Lanie thanked them, and I made her apologize for worrying the two officers about something so unimportant and wasting their time. She did and they left, closing the door behind them as they did. I could hear them talking amongst each other on their way back to their car, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Lanie was looking at me apologetically at me. I laughed it off. “It’s no big deal. I just want to get back to sleep.” She snapped out of it and was herself again. “I’m going to take care of you. Let’s get you back in the bed,” she told me as she led me back to the bedroom.

She put on one of my shirts and laid down in the bed beside me after giving me some Tylenol for my fever. I kissed her cheek and laid my head back down on the pillow, letting a long breath of relief out as I did. I drifted off to sleep peacefully with Lanie at my side.

Three days, the woman had said. What did she mean by that? I didn’t understand anything that was going on. All I knew was it had something to do with Nate. I felt like this was just the beginning of something big now. I felt this overwhelming sense of impending doom taking over me.

I don’t know how, but I needed to figure out what was going on with me. Maybe I’d even go find the old woman who scratched me. I couldn’t decide if I should tell Lanie yet or not, so I decided to keep everything to myself until I could figure out what to even say to her.

If the Hag’s warning was anything to be taken seriously, that meant tomorrow was day 1. Day one of what, I didn’t know yet. But I was nauseas just thinking about what it could be. If it were anything. I guess I’ll have to wait to find out.

To be Continued....

More to come: Part two: Day 1

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