Susie

Sarah sipped her cup of chamomile tea, feet up on the sofa. ER was on, and the children were being quiet, a blessed moment of respite. Not that the girls were bad, but they were boisterous in the way that a two year old and a four year old could be when they delighted in each other’s company and mischief.

Things were difficult enough anyway since the separation and, like her ex-husband, she had just moved into a small flat. The area was nice enough, a flat in a Victorian villa as opposed to her ex’s new build apartment, but just not the same as the four bedroom house and garden they had relinquished. She had the children most of the time, as well as working part time, but she still enjoyed Friday afternoons with them, after picking them up from their father. It broke her heart sometimes when they parted each Friday lunchtime, but the continual arguments and bitterness had been too much to bear.

Sarah padded through to the bedroom to see what they were doing.

‘Playing with Susie.’ The oldest girl Hannah smiled and her eyes shone with amusement.

‘Susie our fwend,’ beamed the younger Amy.

‘Well, as long as you’re having fun,’ laughed Sarah. ‘Does your friend Susie want a cup of tea?’

‘Don’t be silly, Mummy,’ said Hannah. ‘She’s not alive.’

Well, that’s me told, thought Sarah as she slinked back to the living room.

Bath night was always fun. They would splash in bubbles, usually making a mess of the bathroom. Afterwards, Susie would wrap them in fluffy dressing gowns and leave them to choose story books, while she went into the kitchen to prepare supper, usually half a doughnut each with a glass of milk.

She was cutting the doughnut with a bread knife when she heard the conspiring whispers.

‘Susie says to do it like this…at the same time.’

Then, a loud thump and throaty gurgling from the bedroom. Sarah ran through, catching one of the milk glasses with her elbow. It shattered on the floor, splashing milk everywhere.

The girls dangled from the dressing gown cords, wrapped around their necks and tied to the bunk bed. Their eyes bulged desperately from red-blue faces, hands clawing at the constricting nooses and feet scrabbling desperately at the ground.

Sobbing in horror, Sarah slashed the cords and the girls collapsed to the ground. She pulled frantically at their necks and loosened the nooses.

‘Why did you do that! Why, oh why, oh why!’ She screamed as she hugged the girls close. Thankfully they were screaming as well, floods of tears, which meant they were unhurt.

They huddled together for some time until all three had calmed down.

Sarah sat the girls together and looked sternly at them.

‘Now girls,’ she asked, ‘why did you do that? That was a really really bad thing.’

‘Susie told us to do it,’ said Hannah.

‘Susie say do,’ said Amy, not wanting to be left out.

‘Don’t be silly, girls,’ said Sarah. ‘There’s no Susie here.’

‘Yes there is, Mummy,’ said Hannah. ‘Her name’s Susie Side. She said she did it years ago, and if we did it then we could play with her forever.’

Fear gripped Sarah’s spine. ‘What – ‘

The bedroom door slammed shut. The light bulb flared briefly and died. A cold wind rattled through the curtains.

Sarah grabbed the children and ran out of the bedroom, out of the flat, downstairs and out onto the wet pavement in her bare feet. She opened the car door and bundled them into their car seats.

‘Where are we going, Mummy?’ asked Hannah.

‘Where we go, Mama?’ asked Amy.

‘We’re going to see Daddy,’ said Susan, as she buckled the seatbelt. I’m not setting foot in that flat again.

She turned the ignition key and selected the reverse gear, glancing into the rear view mirror –

A swollen-purple face filled the mirror, eyes staring wildly, rictus grin gasping for air. A thrashing hand clawed at her hair.

She screamed.

This is just horrible! No redeeming features at all.