October was always a busy month. Expensive too.
Two anniversaries, fourteen birthdays, including her own, and various family get together s, one on the ninth; her grandmothers birthday, and one right at the end of the month. Halloween.
Both celebrated in the same place, gran's cottage in the little village of Sleapie. A quiet place to put down roots, at least until October; the locals used to the local bi-events. Well, at least no one complained. The local pub and boarding house; The Centurion raked it in when the relatives came to stay, the one local shop did very good business, and the locals themselves had a wonderful time socializing with the strangers (and some very quiet and lucrative business came to a satisfying conclusion) so both parties were satisfied and no real damage was done.
On one memorable year, there seemed to be more relatives than any other, cousins mostly, some her age some more like aunts or uncles, the later came from the four corners of the globe. Aunt Sammie and uncle Todd from Virginia USA, uncle Carl and uncle Frederik from Africa, and the 'Siamese twins' - a family joke that she never quite understood, and wasn't quite ready to ask about, from Australia, and good old stalwart uncle Borris: Russia. He was her favored after gran. His stories of long dark nights, told in his heavy accent spellbinding them as they sat around the burnt down fire, it's eerie glow lending its own magic to the mood. All sat cross legged as Uncle Borris spun tales of Polish Werewolves, Transylvanian Vampires, and, on two memorable occasions; a fearsome Russian Witch called Baba Yaga, whose house could move about the forest on long wooden legs. And a demon who was tall, thin and had tentacles that haunted woods all over the world.Annie slept not at all after hearing that last story, (her gran's cottage being nearly IN woodland) and her parents gave Borris a talking to, to which he simply shrugged his massive shoulders, bothered not at all. Next morning he was gone, not to come back for two years. Annie had asked her gran why uncle Borris wasn't visiting anymore, her gran quite stiffly told her that Borris was not well enough for the flight and had to stay at home. Then changed the subject. When he did appear again she noticed her gran giving him a hard look, making him flinch. No one else saw this and Annie never mentioned that she had seen this exchange.
Uncle Borris never told another story after that, and the children; in thier teens now had to entertain themselves after dark, which they did harmlessly, up until Annie's sixteenth year.
It was just a game.
Her cousin Terry Parker had suggested it to them. He told them that he had played it once before when he was at college and it was a hoot to see the results. The others were skeptical, not really understanding how it could be done, Terry reassuring them that it worked, that there was sound scientific reasons for it to work, launching into an explanation that the others immediately ignored. Except Annie. She was fascinated about it and was willing to give it a go; his explanation seeming plausible to her own mind, but, more to the point exciting her curious heart. What would they see? More to the point, what would she see?
Five minutes later five bored/exited teenagers were setting up the game, with Terry giving exact-ant instructions on what to place where. Furniture was moved: a dresser, cleared of all objects, then covered with a black towel. For effect, Terry assured them. A mirror - her gran's good one, was then placed in the middle. Finally two candles were light, one on either side. One of the younger cousins asked nervously what this was for. A shake of the head was his only answer.Everyone was then ushered out of the room, except the first victim.
five minits went by...ten...fifteen...
Suddenly the door burst open! The girl who had gone first came running out, full speed, laughing and crying at the same time. The others tried to comfort her, asking at the same time what had happened, what was it like?The girl, calmer, though still emotional began her tale of the mirror, which was cut short by the eldest. Dont tell, he said, it would spoil the game.
They would have to wait and see for themselves.
Three more went in, the third left after only eight minits citing boredom as an excuse for the shortest time, but they all knew that it was fear. his skin was too pale.
Then it was her turn.
she went into the room half scared - scared of the unknown, and half angry. She felt as if she was about to be the butt of a joke. Had seen the two eldest whispering in a corner, watching her. She didn't even look back at them, knowing they were up to something, but not giving any sign that she knew. She could maybe come out of this with a bit of dignity. But she had to keep her wits about her.
Annie sat in the chair in front of the mirror, focusing on the dimly lit area behind her.
They gave her ten minits before jumping into the room all at once. Shouts and yells of trik! descended into screams of horror when they saw her slumped form leaning back on the chair. Annies head was right back, dangling on her neck as her hair brushed the floor, eyes wide open, mouth in an insane grin, which, because her head was upside down looked like a rictus of pain.
The children were quickly ushered out the room and adults were summoned.
Annie awoke three days later, in bed with the curtains closed tight against the night. Her gran sat by her bed, knitting. When she saw her granddaughter had awoken she smiled at her. Annie smiled back, glad that her gran was there. She began to ask what had happend when a memory hit her with a stunning impact. An image, surfacing like a shark from the depths of her mind. A shark in the shape of a man, tall, slender, wearing a business suit. in place of his face was,
Nothing.
And he had been standing behind her.
