Mystery of the Night

There was a pause. “What do you remember Owen?” asked Kitty, her hand still resting on his arm.

“A terrible green face staring into mine,” said Owen staring fixedly ahead. Kitty followed the line of his gaze to look at the wallpaper, then looked back at him, a quizzical expression on her face.

“You mean that is the last thing you remember or something from a nightmare…?” She looked uneasy.

“No, I am certain that that is who attacked me,” said Owen. He closed his eyes. Kitty clasped his hand. It felt good to know she was there. It felt comforting. Images floated before his eyes. That terrible face, vivid green, right against his, dark green lips drawn back in a snarl. A sharp stench invaded his nostrils … His eyes snapped open again. “I don’t think it could be just a nightmare,” he said. “I was attacked. And I can remember that face. Would it come back for me?”

“I’m here,” said Kitty in her soothing way. “And don’t worry about your memory loss, the answers will come.”

Owen drifted off into an uneasy slumber, dreams filled with the terrible face.

He awoke with a start late that night, filled with a new sense of purpose. “I must get out of here,” he told Kitty. “I must find out the answers for myself. If I were to revisit the places I have been before my memory must surely be stirred again.”

Kitty looked at him, an expression of concern on her gentle face. “Just be careful how you go about unearthing the memories,” she urged. “I’ll come with you.”

“In truth, I would be glad of the company,” said Owen, and they left the suite of rooms together. Kitty carefully locked the door behind them. They stood at the top of the long iron staircase that wound down and down like a corkscrew. They descended into a moon lit alleyway. “One has to be careful, living around here,” murmured Kitty. The feel of her gloved hand in his was reassuring. They stood in the alleyway.

“Now from where did I come?” Owen wondered aloud.

Kitty opened her mouth as if to say something, but Owen suddenly threw his arms into the air. She blinked as he gave a vehement exclamation. “I remember! It was here! She attacked me here!”

“She?” said Kitty.

Owen’s head was spinning. “Yes of course it was a she, she dragged me into a cellar and forced me to have vaginal intercourse with her, it was a lot worse when I tried to resist…”

Owen felt seriously ill as the memories threatened to overwhelm him. Kitty caught him by the arm, steadying him and guided him through a door near the iron staircase. She bolted the door beside them. To Owen’s astonishment, she was crying. The tears splashed down her face. The room had small, high windows, made of a thick greenish glass. The moonlight passing through the glass cast an eerie greenish light over Kitty’s face. “I can remember her face… covered with that freaky green mask. How she shrieked at me…” he shuddered, remembering her lips locked savagely on his and how she pinned him down and raped him… He plumped down on a wooden bench that lay beside him.

“You do remember all. And it was all horrific,” said Kitty through her sobs, her voice trembling.

The images were hitting Owen thick and fast and everything he recalled stung him anew. How his assailant had forced him to go at it again and again so that he was like a squeezed orange… That green face and red hair filled his vision and he could not fight her off.

“I can’t stand it!” wailed Kitty in anguish. “I must confess. I did it! It was all me!”