Infinite Possibilities

Fourth Birth

Start Again?

...

        Carey awoke again to the familiar room, but she felt off. Something felt wrong. She felt like this had already happened before, but she wrote it off as deja vu. Maria set harmlessly on the bed, and Carey had the sudden urge to check if the candle she always has on hand was still there. She looked at the wooden desk and sighed contently when she saw the candle unbroken. Carey hummed, standing up and looking curiously around her familiar room. 
        The sun was beginning to rise, as she could see the golden and rose-colored rays peeking out from in between the large pine trees in the nearby forest. Carey stepped up to her desk and smiled as she looked out of her window, spotting the small greenhouse where her family housed different types of plants and flowers. She stepped back and turned towards her door, opening it slightly and looking around to make sure no one else was awake. Carey then tiptoed out, her cat hopping off the bed and trotting after her. 
        She didn't bother to put on any shoes and ran down the stone steps, heading towards the large door that was both the entrance and exit for the house. Carey slipped through the doorway, leaving it open just long enough for Maria to slip through with her. She wasted no time in running through her family's yard and over to the greenhouse. The greenhouse was a little off, she noted. She didn't realize that the sides of the greenhouse now housed a dark-colored and rotten-smelling, what looked like, mold. Carey looked down at a lump in the ground and dug her fingers in the dirt, knowing that this was where her father, a botanist, hid the key to the greenhouse. She pulled out the silver, slightly rusted, key and jammed it into the keyhole, which was the only sturdy-looking thing on the flimsy, translucent door. 
        Carey stepped in, feeling the stray dirt on her bare feet, and breathed in the smell of the plants surrounding her. She caught the strong scent of mint and walked through to another adjoining room, where she knew the mint resided. Inside this new room, was a medium-sized fountain, where her father got water for the plants. Maria perched on the side of the fountain, now and then dipping her black paw inside the cold water. Carey bent to smell the pleasant scent of the mint and a tapping noise caught her attention. She quickly turned, only to see her normal surroundings, nothing seemed out of place. The tapping continued. Carey glanced at the fountain, thinking that it was the dripping water, but it wasn't running yet. 
        Now that she heard it more clearly, the tapping noise sounded as if it was on concrete. It stopped for a few seconds; then continued. Carey backed up, looking up at the transparent ceiling, thinking that it had possibly begun raining. The tapping grew louder. She snapped her gaze back to the translucent door. Behind the door, she could see the blurry silhouette of a large, hunched over, possibly crawling, figure. What caught her eye the most was the large claws that protruded from its gnarled hands, that, now and then, tapped the ground, emitting the water-like noise. 
        It turned what looked like its head towards the door, staring straight at her. The tapping stopped. It didn't move an inch as it locked eyes with her, and Carey froze, knowing that her only escape was through that very door. The tapping begun again, and she watched as the biggest claw on its right hand moved up and down, tapping gently on the stone floor. It moved, turning its body to completely face the door. It lifted its hand, lightly touching the flimsy door and curling its claws inward, beginning to scratch on it. A strong, familiar scent suddenly overtook her. Its hand left a dark-colored, rotten-smelling residue smeared on the door. It was then that Carey realized what she had seen on the outside of the greenhouse wasn't mold; it was blood. 
        The creature stood on its hind legs, extending one of its arms toward the handle of the door and laying the other one on the ground, beginning that obnoxious tapping again. The handle rattled. Carey glanced at the fountain, realizing that Maria had run off. The door slowly creaked open, little by little, until it was barely wide enough for it to stick its hairless, pale head into the small gap. Its sunken eyes trained on her, it dragged its other hand across the ground, emitting a loud scraping noise, like metal on a plate. 
        Carey stepped back tripped over a shovel that had just happened to be behind her. The creature opened the door completely, walking slowly in, all the while tapping the ground. It looked around the room, seemingly not noticing her. Carey crawled backwards, scraping the shovel against the stone floor. Its gaze immediately snapped to her, but the creature didn't take action immediately. It rested its hands on the rim of the fountain, tapped, and placed its hands back on the ground. It then turned its head ever so slowly back to Carey, opening its mouth and letting its long, rotting tongue fall out. 
        The creature suddenly lurched forward, wrapping its long claws around her hair and roughly smashing her against the rim of the fountain, causing some of the water inside to ripple. It screeched, and, before Carey could scream, it plunged her head underneath the water, wrapping its other hand around her head to be sure she couldn't struggle out of its grip. 
        Maria peeked out from behind the thick foliage she hid in, watching as Carey's form went limp. She cautiously moved, taking great care in not rustling the leaves of the plants. The creature let go of Carey's body, relaxing itself as it backed up. The tapping started again as it began to rain.