“Open it!” she heard the voice cry aloud in her head.
Her guts wanted to rip through the door and finally break free from her father’s shackles of silly rules which always had no reasonable explanations attached to them. She tugged at the door and stopped, wondering if the man was right, and if it was truly unsafe.
“Nora!” she heard the voice call to her loudly than ever now, and this time around, it was right behind her.
She turned her neck slowly and felt her body follow, while her back pressed against the door hard and wished it could materialize itself through it without having to face whatever was before her. It slowly took form and a really familiar one too. The bold brown eyes slowly emanating from the fuzzy white smoke, to the color of dark long hair, brought back haunting memories to Nora as she felt her eyes widen.
“Mother!” she gasped and clenched her fingers into the door.
It drew closer and pressed its cold feel into her face while she felt too frightened to even blink.
‘Save me”, the eerie voice from her mother hushed before slowly dissipating into a distant tone. “Save me!’
The second time made her jump and leap ahead as a pissed looking image of her father stood by the stairs with his hands crossed over his chest. She looked at him, still frightened, before looking back to where the entity had stood, but with nothing in sight.
“You will defy my orders whichever way you can, Nora!” he raged.
Nora waved her hands in the air and tried to speak but her voice seemed to have gone missing. She waved and pointed in the direction she assumed the entity had gone, but her father wasn’t having any of her drama. He marched towards her, shoved her aside and tested the integrity of the door behind her.
“How many times have I warned you against even trying to get into that room?” he asked.
Nora stared at him oddly, tried to reconnect herself with the bizarre incidence she had just witnessed, and hopefully not get angry at her father’s obvious disregard to or for whatever was going on with her.
“Dad! This isn’t about the door!’ Nora yelled. ‘I saw something!”
He turned around and waved her words off. “We will talk about your appropriate punishment in the morning”.
She chased after him, yanking at his pajamas, hoping to get his attention, but the man remained as stubborn as a mule while he hurried down the stairs and continued to ignore his daughter.
‘I have nothing to listen to and I will take appropriate steps when the time is right, in dealing with you”, he continued to mumble.
Nora stopped for a moment to think and reason through the odd incidence. The formed image through the cloud still lingered in her mind and she was certain she had made her mother’s face and heard her voice from it.
“I saw mom!” she cried atop her voice just as her father was about to disappear out from her sight.
Muzin stopped walking but didn’t turn around immediately. Nora felt her breath heighten and her anger towards her father take on higher leaps as she waited for him to speak.
He simply replied without turning around. ‘Your mother is dead, Nora. Please go to sleep”.
It felt like the confirmation she had always wanted; something to indicate the man had moved on ar at least, wasn’t interested in anything that had to do with his previous wife. His heart was cold towards the dead woman now or so it seemed, and Nora could not believe everything she was seeing from the man. He was different and definitely not the same one her mother had been married to.
She felt too ashamed by his actions to race down the stairs, and definitely too enraged with herself for putting up with him for so long, to even go anywhere near her room for now. She had often heard people saying the world was a cold one, and there was absolute testament before her as she simply could not relate how a man would stop loving or caring for his wife because she was dead.
“Why?’ she whispered to herself, hoping the question would remain unanswered.
The fear of learning the truth terrified her and she slowly crouched on the staircase, picturing the sweet, caring and loving face she had grown up to know before her mysterious death. Nora pictured her father’s face looking joyous too and holding absolute happiness in it years ago, unlike the one she had to live with every single day at the moment.
“Help me!” she heard the same voice call out again, but upon turning around, there was nothing behind her but the odd looking attic door.
The situation sent chills down her spine, but it also reinforced her intent to find out whatever her father was keeping from her, and after watching him yank at the door behind her desperately to ascertain its integrity, she knew where to look.
***
Muzin walked into the living room looking refreshed from the past night sleep without realizing the gloomy looking figure slumped on the south side couch from him. He dragged his feet towards the kitchen to make himself and his wife some coffee, before realizing they had run out on milk.
“Nora!’ he yelled atop his voice, holding the milk container in his hand.
Nora raised her left hand up slowly, without any vocal response. Muzin turned around in shock to find the girl still in her pajamas at ten in the morning. He took another look at his watch, stared at his daughter and made no action to proceed towards her.
“We ran out on milk last night”, Nora replied finally. “Good morning Dad”.
Muzin slowly moved closer, bearing an angry look on his face while he bent over to look at his daughter. She smiled and waved oddly at him before turning and facing away.
“How is this even possible?” he asked in a bemused tone.
Nora shrugged
