Experiment in Terror 05 On Demon Wings Read Online Free PDF Page A

familiar in the “d’uh, she’s my mother
    and has been for 23 years” kind of familiar, but that “I’ve
    seen someone lately who looks like her” kind of way. Of
    course, in my pain-riddled mind, I couldn’t begin to imagine
    who that could be.
    She wrestled two ibuprofens out of the container and
    handed them to me. “This should help with the pain; it might
    take a while though.”
    I took the pil s with a grateful smile and drank a heap of
    water to wash them down, hoping they wouldn’t come back
    up again. It was strange that I was so nauseous earlier and
    wasn’t now. Strange that the meat smel fol owed me into
    the club. I shuddered at the thought of the woman I saw.
    “Are you cold?” my mother asked, tucking the blanket
    around me tightly.
    I wasn’t; in fact, I’d been especial y warm lately, but I
    smiled and nodded anyway. It sounds sad but my mother
    rarely doted on me, so sick or not, I was going to get as
    much attention from her as I could.
    “You haven’t been wel for some time,” she said gently,
    and patted my arm. “I know you’re going through a rough
    time, but things wil get better. You’l get a better job and
    you’l find love with someone good. You’l find your way,
    pumpkin.”
    My mother was being uncommonly nice. I frowned at her,
    trying to figure out what her deal was, but she paid no
    attention. She straightened up and clapped her hands
    together. “I’l put on some chicken noodle soup for you.”
    “Lipton,” I croaked after her as she left the room. “Or
    else I’l have to pick out those gross chicken chunks.”
    After she left, I gritted my teeth until my jaw began to hurt
    and eventual y drifted off to sleep. I was soon awakened by
    a presence nearby. Ada must have been back in the room
    with me.
    “Did you find the hot water bottle?” I mumbled into my
    pil ow, not wanting to move or open my eyes.
    I heard the door shut and felt Ada’s presence move
    toward me. She stopped at the foot of the bed.
    Stopped.
    And waited.
    I could hear her breathing; it was low and ragged, like
    her lungs were fil ed with loose stones.
    “Ada?” I asked again. “What are you doing?”
    When she didn’t respond, I opened my eyes and raised
    my head in her direction.
    There was no one there.
    The door was closed but Ada wasn’t in my room. I was
    alone.
    The back of my neck was enveloped in icy prickles. I had
    just heard someone, heard them breathing as clear as day.
    “Hel o?” I asked timidly, my voice sounding extra smal .
    There was this indescribable feeling around me, my
    bedroom blanketed by a heavy, eerie vibe. Everything
    looked normal, except the air near the lamp in the corner
    seemed to bend and warp, like a sheet of moving plastic.
    I rubbed my eyes and sat up slowly. I tried to focus on the
    anomaly until my eyes adjusted and everything looked fine
    again.
    “Ada,” I said loudly, hoping she’d hear me wherever she
    was in the house. “Did you close my door?”
    I waited for a response, waited to hear the breathing
    again. I held my own breath.
    The doorbel rang, its clang causing my heart to seize. I
    gasped, surprised and thoroughly spooked.
    It rang again.
    And again.
    Then stopped.
    My alarm clock on my bedside table said it was 11:42 at
    night. Who on earth was ringing our doorbel at this hour?
    Was it Ash?
    Rebecca?
    Someone… else ?
    I felt a tightness in my chest at that last thought and
    careful y eased myself out of the bed and over to the
    window. I peered though it onto the driveway below. The
    motion detector lights weren’t on and I couldn’t see a car or
    anyone out there. I listened, hearing the front door open and
    my mother saying “hel o?” into a darkness that didn’t
    answer back.
    There was a single knock at my own door. I cried out, my
    heart hammering wildly, and spun around to see a shadow
    sliding underneath the door and into my room.
    “Ada?”
    Another knock. My door shook from its singular impact.
    “Mom?” Now my