Story Debate: Thriller

My fingers dug into the carpet as I listened for footsteps, waiting for someone to push the door open and hit the lights. Nothing. The silence after the heavy wooden wardrobe fell seemed to seep into the surrounding rooms, and everything was as still as can be. Had they heard? It was only then that I noticed that I was shaking. I layed myself back down on the bed, and tried to calm down my nerves. The bed and my own body under the covers were steaming, and I noticed that the room felt hotter than on a summer's night. I pushed the spiderman covers off, and kicked them to the floor with my feet. Papa would always read a story to me. He would change the voices, and act out each little pig and the big bad wolf as he huffed and puffed. Mama didn't do that. And then he would kiss me goodnight, tell me he loves me, and look for the light switch before closing the door. Every time, every since we moved in half a year ago. Except today. I turned over to my side. The heat was unbearable; I was sweating so much that I considered taking off my shirt to sleep, but Mama wouldn't like that. I thought about God, about how blisteringly hot he was. I would've still had a burnt out hole in my PJ's where he touched me if it weren't for Lucy. Lucy, the devil. The one whom I just kicked out of my room. The one who tried to save Papa; wait, did she? I was too tired to answer my own question. She was still here. I don't know how, but I felt it; somehow I could feel a non-existant shadow inside of a place where it couldn't possibly be. She was still here, she didn't leave when I told her to. The wall was blank, not responding to my doubts, and the temperature didn't change in the slightest way.I tried praying to God to let me fall asleep faster, but after two "Our Father's" my eyelids managed to glue themselves together and I stopped. Then the door opened slightly, letting in light from the corridor, and I sighed. It could only be one person, and that meant that this would be a long night. "Pepe?" My older sister asked. "You okay kiddo?""Yup, I'm fine," I whisper without bothering to look at her. It was suprising to hear Julie speaking up from the door, not Lucy. I shrugged it off, and remembered to hope that she wouldn't notice the splintered wardrobe behind my bed."No you aren't," she said, and sat down on my bed. I looked at her. "Lucy said that you are talking to an empty wall. What happened?" I suddenly grabbed her shoulders and sat up in my bed."Julie, listen. You have to get rid of her. You have got to help me get rid of her." I said. She gently brought my arms down, and looked me in the eyes. It was a rare thing for her to do, because she is so much more taller than me."What exactly happened?" she repeated. I looked blankly at her for a second, as if my brain was deciding to switch gears."She - She told me that she controlled me. A-an and that she would hurt you or Mama-a" I slowly felt the tears coming on for some unkown reason, and fought to hold them back. My voice started cracking. "And then I told her, and I asked God too. To get out, I told her." I sniffed. "And she did, but she didn;t really leave.""Shhh...." Juliet's voice seemed to hug me through space. "Pepe?""Hm-mm?" I manage an inaudible sniffle."Did you know that God already left you?" her eyes were deadily honest. I look into them for a short second before recognizing the lie, and struggling out of her arms. "No, Pepe, stop!" she says, and holds me tighter to her own body. I stop."You're lying." I told her. "Mama doesn't like if you lie." "Did Lucy ever tell you the story of Job? From the Old Testament." she asks. I struggle to recall, but I manage to picture it again. She was sitting on the bed, right after her fight with God, and her hair was still sizzling. I remembered that part perfectly. Julie watches me nod. “Do you know how Job was left alone by God so that Lucy could “test” him?” She didn't wait for me to answer. “The same thing happened to us two. According to Lucy, it started half a year ago when we were forced to move out from our new house to this older one. I met her on the first day, and slowly grew to trust her. You have no idea the things she'd helped me with since,” she pauses, and her grip loosens. “I think Lucy finally got the hang of it, and instead of “testing” us she's just showing us the truth. After what happened with Job; she was probably a whole different person after that. Besides, we aren't crazy God fanatics, she can actually talk to us.” “So?” I ask. Personally, I don't really understand where she's going. Juliet smiles in the twighlight, and releases me completely. “I've been talking to her for the past half hour, so she couldn't have been here,” she gets up off the bed, and touches my arm. “Anyway, come see what Lucy and I have managed to do in my room.” She gets up and opens the door. My alarm clock shows that it's almost eleven; Mama should be asleep yet the light is burning in the hallway. I stand up, and walk out of my room, where Julie leads me to her bedroom. The door opens with a squeak, and Julie leads the way in. The pervasive coolness blows from her room, and I noticed for the second time that I seem to enjoy the cold that Lucy makes every time she appears. I walk into Julie's bedroom, and stand stiffly while the coolness of the air washes over me. Papa. There. Standing in the middle of the room, Papa's silhuetted form turned away from the wall to face me. His shadow beamed when he saw me, and I ran into his open arms so that he could lift me up like he did so many times before. Julie grabbed me before I could touch him. “He's still a shadow. Don't touch, it's dangerous. And Papa? You should know better.” “Lo siento Pepito. It seems like I haven't seen you in all enternity; I almost forgot I wasn't real.” his heavy Hispanic accent wafted over the room, filling me with joy, and seeming to bend the light on the wall behind him. Wait... I stepped to the side to get a clearer view of the wall. The very familiar silhuette of a young girl in a flowing dress and crazily long hair floated in the blue mist. Papa stepped aside to look at Lucy. Julie sat down on the bed to watch us. It was just me and her. “I couldn't have done it without their help, but it's not all yet finished,” the voice came from behind me, but I could see the vibrations as Lucy's lips moved. “Your Papa, Juliet, and even I sacrificed much for this to happen. He's here now, so enjoy the moment.” she ended, and seemed to sit down on something inside the wall as well. Papa looked surprised. “The moment? Why only 'the moment'?” Papa asked. “Don't we have enternity?” “For that I would need more human dedication and energy,” Lucy shook her head. “And after what Pepe has hallucinated I don't think I have a right to ask him.” she looked at me wearily. “What do you want?” Juliet asked for me. I almost stopped her, but then I hesitated. Do I really trust Lucy? “The wall. Nothing could be simpler, I can rebuild it afterwords and no one will find out.” she sighed. “But I need Pepe to do it; otherwise I won't have the energy to keep Papa here."