Chapter VIII, Evil Reaches Out - The Second Death
Our mother was completely horrified, terrified, and sickened by the revelations of her twisted mind. She had utterly vanished into whatever connection that functioned as her actuality. Her entire being lost into a chemically-altered awareness. From our room, Ashley and I heard the thrashing of uncontrollable rage, the shattering of fragile objects, and the senseless symphony of destruction. The crash of broken glass rained upon the floor and profanity-laced expletives pounded from behind the sealed door created sounds that conquered and defied reason. An incomprehensible drama was overtaking the remnants of our family. Without rest, absent of respite, my angel was subjected to a litany of insults and verbal mangling of her guiltless soul.
"How could you, you damn dirty cunt, how dare you!?" was screamed with such ferocity and forcefulness from the woman that had carried us both into life itself. "Damned filthy rotten excuse for a daughter, I hope you die in your own vomit of reeking disgust!" "I hate the both of you," said with a much more controlled tone that made the impact exceedingly bone-chilling. "My husband, the man I gave my life to and that slut of a daughter ..." the sound of our mother's expression trailed off into nothingness but an upwelling of sobs and opening of drawers. Ashley exploded into an unrelenting cascade of heart-wrenching tears.
"My God, my God, my God, what the hell is happening?" were the only thoughts that I could think with any clear rationality. To be perfectly honest, I had surmised that the known universe had just developed a giant fissure and we had fallen directly through into another dimension. This, whatever this was, cannot be connected to anything that remotely resembled a coherent continuum. We were being drawn into a passageway where cause and effect no longer applied. The unmitigated shock that was sweeping over my entire body was suddenly snapped with a crack and I was thrust back into the here and now when I became aware of my little sister's retching of anguish originating from deep within her. As she lay naked next to me within the sheets of our bed, in unresolved levels of excruciating emotional turmoil, she was pushed so deep by her personal agony that conscious thought was curtained away in the deepest recesses of her being. I reached for my angel, both of us in a state of total unbelief, and wrapped around her with as much exposed flesh that could be joined from the surface of our bodies, hoping beyond hope that the physical contact between the two of us would break this evil spell and ground her within our embrace. "Ashley, my deepest love," I whispered into her ear, "This is NOT about YOU" I tried to convince her, although my words were still quivering from the shockwave of what had just transpired only a few minutes before. Ashley grabbed my hair and buried her face into my chest trying to suppress the waves of unadulterated anxiety lapping against her sanity.
