A disturbance

It was late but Elena was finding it hard to get to sleep. Every time she drifted off her mind was filled with images of Diane. She kept having nightmares of her friend running down a dimly lit corridor, panting almost out of breath, scared out of her mind as she was chased by an unseen assailant.

She had put the television on and was absentmindedly watching some trashy Lifetime film. Half awake and half asleep she was not exactly concentrating on it. At least it took her mind off the worries she had about what had happened to her friend.

The rain was coming down hard, battering loudly against the windows. The occasional lightning strike was not helping to calm her nerves either. Lightning crashed down striking the roof the building and her apartment was thrown into darkness as the power went out. Elena almost jumped off the sofa as loud knock struck her door. Overcome by a sudden attack of nerves she found herself rooted to the sofa.

The knock came again. Timidly, Elena found her way off the sofa and nervously stepped over to the door. She put the latch on and slowly opened the door. She peered through the crack and saw her neighbor Lucille. Lucille stared back at her eyes full of fire, a sense of purpose to her that the old woman that she rarely had these days.

“Lucille? It's one in the morning.” Elena asked.

“They, done took her. They done took that little girl and you din't do nuttin' to help. The Gedde done took that poor little child and now she's all alone. All scared of the storm.” Lucille cried.

Elena took a step back, confused and frightened by what Lucille was saying. Elena heard footsteps approaching from behind Lucille. She almost slammed the door shut out fright until she noticed that it was Lucille's husband Linus. He put his arms around his wife comfortingly.

“I'm sorry about this Elena. She gets like this I think it's the weather. She don't mean nothing by it.” Linus explained.

He gently led Lucille back to their apartment. “She's all alone girl. Crying the dark.” Lucille shouted.

Linus shook his head, escorting his wife inside their door. He closed it after him. Elena stood there for a moment unsure about the things that Lucille had said to her. She was sure she had been talking about Seth again but something about her words had hit a chord somewhere deep inside. She closed her door and eventually found the energy to drag herself back to bed.

She lay there thinking about Diane and what Lucille had said.