Ineffable Plan

The next morning I suddenly woke up with a sinking feeling. I was sweating profusely and I could barely breathe. I groaned slightly and shielded my eyes from the almost blinding light. After a moment I became aware of the light pressure on my stomach.

I screamed as I stared up at Mary who was straddling me and holding a very sharp wooden stake above her head. I made a move to get out from under her and in one fluid motion Mary was on the floor and I had scrambled out of bed and was trying to open my room door. It was locked and in my nervous state I was having trouble opening it. I looked briefly at Mary and noticed her huddled over on the floor. There was blood on the carpet and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. She was getting up again and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her recovering form. My head whipped back to the door when I heard a banging from outside.

“Jus, are you ok?” I heard James’ voice.

I finally undid the lock with rushed trembling fingers and pushed past James as Mary was about to lunge at me. He grabbed her as she tried to run past him and I ran into living room ducking behind Chris.

“What the hell is going on?” Chris asked as he stared at Mary’s bloodied face while she tried desperately and furiously to get out of James’ grasp.

“She tried to kill me!” I screamed from behind Chris. He had taken a protective stance in front of me once he noticed the ferocity in Mary’s eyes. His hands reached behind him motioning for me to get closer to his back and I willingly did so.

“What’s going on?” Amber mumbled as she dragged herself out of her room. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Mary being retained by James. She was still putting up a fight. There were little droplets off blood dripping onto the linoleum floor. James had attempted to put some distance between Mary and I and moved her into the kitchen.

“She tried to kill me!” I yelled again and Amber’s head whipped around to look at me. Her expression quickly changed from confusion to worry.

“Are you ok?” She asked walking towards me. I moved closer to Chris and pressed my face into his back. He had his arms behind him and wrapped awkwardly around me.

“For fuck’s sake, why all the screaming?” Phin had finally emerged from his room. Now everyone was here. Once he took in the situation he stood where he was. No one moved but everyone kept shooting glances at each other. ‘Tense’ can’t even begin to describe the feeling in the room.

Suddenly a glass mug whizzed past Amber’s head and crashed into the wall behind Chris and I.

“Shit!” I heard James yell. I looked away from the wall and the shattered glass. James moved forward and grasped at Mary as she got out of his grip. She was barreling towards me and if it hadn’t been for Chris’s quick reflex she would have stabbed me. I hadn’t even noticed she still had the stake in her hand until I saw Chris wrestle it away from her and throw it to Phin.

Once again the room was frozen except for the wiggling Mary. Chris had her pinned on the floor with her hands pressed above her head. I was sure that if the circumstances weren’t so serious, Phin would have been more than happy to exploit the position they were in. I was slightly impressed with his surprising self control.

“Phin, take Justine to your room and make sure she’s ok. We’ll get Mary under control,” James commanded before looking over at a shocked Amber. “You can go with them, Amb.”

“I’m fine. I’ll help you guys.” She shook her head. “You okay, Jus?”

I nodded as Phin wrapped his arms around me and started leading me towards his room.

“I can’t believe that just happened.” I heard Amber whisper to herself as Phin closed the bedroom door.