The Voice Chapter One

    This was a book I started writing a few years ago but never finished this is a small part of it hope you enjoy it.

   Marching band practice had ended and a group of kids gathered setting in a circle on the curb waiting for their parents to arrive and take them home. Sarah and Chris best friends since 2nd grade were right in the middle of the group they were laughing and having a good time. On the outer edge of the group sat Patty just setting very quietly listening to the group looking so very out of place. Patty, Sarah and Chris had been very close friends about 3 years before but Patty had become very distant and had wild mood swings and seemed she wanted to be alone most of the time. Jenny and Chris noticed the change at fist but it was so gradual that soon they just accepted it as a fact, and after a while they drifted farther and farther apart until they rarely talked at all. Patty had changed so much over the last three years her appearance for one thing, she had once been very conscious of her appearance never a hair out of place and dressed very stylish. The past few years she came to school looking very disheveled drab clothing and her hair looked as if it had not been washed or combed in weeks. She shied from large groups where she once thrived at being the center of attention.

   All the other kids from band had been picked up by their parents leaving Patty sitting on the curb alone. The sky above had started to darken and a rumbling of thunder could be heard off in the distance. Patty sat alone clutching her books to her bosom and her head down staring at the ground watching some ants in a line following each other. She reached down and ran her fingers through the middle of the trail the ants were traveling changing the scent of the trail and thus confusing the ants. As she watched the ants started to bunch up and become confused with the loss of the trail scent they had been following. It seemed to mirror what was going on in her own life how she had been on a path that for some reason had been changed and thrown her into a confused state running in circles trying to get back to the path but the will or the scent was gone.  A flash of light and sound of lightning broke her out of the daze she had been in as the sky let lose with a down poor of rain. Patty sat not moving as the rain drenched her and sent a chill up her spine. She sat frozen as if she did not notice the rain at all and focused her attention on the ants.

   Patty had become so engrossed watching the ants scurrying around in the rain trying to find their way back to the original path she did not notice the car pull up in front of her. The window rolled down and a voice broke her trance, Get you ass in this car right now! the voice screamed at her. She rose slowly like an old person and as she did her books fell and scattered on the ground. As she tried to gather them before they got wet in the puddle that had formed on the ground the voice rang out again making her wince, you are so clumsy and worthless move your ass I do not have all day! Once in the car the voice kept at her about how stupid she was and the fact she was getting the seats all wet and how she was more of a bother than she was worth. Patty kept her head held low and tried to deflect the barrage of insults that spewed in her direction.

 As the voice went on and on the whole drive back to Patty's home Patty in her mind had gone to what she called her Nother World.  Her Nother World was a place she would go inside her mind when the life around her got to be too much. In the Nother World she was running in fields of clover in a pretty white dress and a slight breeze blew making her long hair trail behind her as she ran through the field twirling and spinning without a care in the world completely free of worries. The voice became only a buzzing in her head like the bees that flitted from one clump of clover to the next collecting the nectar from each flower. Just as she reach a small coral in the Nother World with a black horse she called Slate she was jolted back to reality with a hard slap across the face. The voice could be heard again invaded the Nother World and pulled her back, you stupid little bitch have you heard anything I have said to you? worthless  you are just worthless. Patty could feel the tears well up in her eyes and threaten to run down her cheek even though she fought them back one lone tear ran down her reddening cheek with the imprint of the hand that had delivered the slap. The voice came at her again belittling her making her feel so small (YOU ARE WEAK!) (POOR PATTY!) cry baby Patty.

   Once the voice was done grinding her into the ground she was told to go to her room the voice said I do not want to look at you anymore the sight of you sickens me. Patty ran up the stairs and dashed into her room and closed the door. As she closed the door behind her she placed her back against it and slid down to a seating position on the floor happy to have the thin wood door between her and the voice. Partly using her body as a barricade and feeling emotionally drained she sat there for some time. She could hear the voice yell out now and then but the thin door muffled the sound.

   Patty gathered her strength and arose from the spot she had been and walked over to the open window. She was still soaked from the rain and could feel a bit of a chill as she closed the window. Then she spotted the rain on the floor from the open window and felt an overwhelming fear come over her as she ran to get something to clean up the water that had gathered on the floor under the open window from the rain. Whew she thought good thing she caught that before the voice noticed it. As she cleaned up the last of the water she glanced out the window to see Chris and her Mother pull up in front of their house that sat directly across the street. They must have gone shopping on their way home from band practice and they had a lot of groceries she could see in the back of the mini van.  She could not hear their conversation but they were smiling and laughing as they unloaded the packages and took them into the house. Patty stood in the window and watched as  they hurriedly emptied the last of the packages from the van trying not to get wet from the rain and watched as door shut behind them leaving the neighbor hood looking as though it was abandoned. Not a soul was on the side walk nor did a car come from either direction as if the rain had washed all the human inhabitants from view. Patty stood in the window for a long time staring at the closed door of Chris's house. She remembered at one time she had been in and out of that house many times and was welcome there.

   Soon it was becoming dark and she could see lights coming on in the windows of the houses up and down the street the rain had stopped and people were moving about again some hauling the trash to the curb and there was a person going by on a bike. Patty had been staring so hard at the closed door of Chris's house she had barely noticed the people coming out of hiding from the rain.

   Patty felt a shiver come over her and she realized she was still in the rain soaked clothing as she turned from the window to find something to change into. She peeled off the wet clothes and dug in her closet digging out a sweat outfit and put it on. The sweat outfit seemed comforting and warm and for the first time in days she felt a small bit of joy and an almost safeness like a child wrapped in a warm blanket straight out of the clothing dryer. The sweat outfit was a left over from her former life when she was on the track team that life seemed like so so many years ago now. The Voice had said track was a waste of time and the Voice said there was no time to be hauling her sorry ass around to this or that so the voice told her to pick one school activity and Patty had chosen Band. She had given up Volleyball Track and a few other clubs all things she loved but at the time band seemed more important because both Chris and Sarah were in band. She had chosen band over the rest so she could spend time with her best friends. Funny how that choice would eventually cause her to lose her friendship with them both.   

   Patty could hear the footsteps of the voice coming up the stairs and she rushed around the room to tidy it up before the voice reached the top of the stairs. Patty sat on her bed and opened her school books and waited for the door of her room to open. With much relief she heard the footsteps of the Voice pass her door and go down the hallway then the sound of a slamming door. Patty waited for a while then went to the door of her room and slowly opened it and crept down the steps to the kitchen to get something to eat. The house looked as if it had not been cleaned in days piles of dishes in the sink dirty clothing piled in clumps on the floor half eaten food on plates setting all over the place. Patty trying to be as quite as possible started to clean up the mess thinking to her self why she even bothered because it would look the same the next day when she came home from school. But she cleaned just the same so as not to give the Voice another reason to attack her.

   As Patty cleaned she picked up a plate and tears welled up in her eyes as she held it in her hand. The plate was one of the few items left from her old life the one she lived just a few years ago. The plate had been part of a set her father had bought her mother for Christmas one year. The plates had happy farm scenes on them of a farmer in a field a woman taking bread from an oven etc, they were blue with a white background. Patty's Mom had kept them in a china cabinet and only used them on holidays or special occasions. The china cabinet was long gone with most of her mothers belongings discarded by the Voice. The the voice had broken most of the set one night while in a rage tipping over the china cabinet so only a few remained. Patty at one time had smuggled a few pieces up to her room and hidden them to have something of her mother to remember her by a cup and saucer and a sugar bowl that had survived the night of rage and the toppling over of the china cabinet but the voice had found them and smashed them into tiny pieces all over her bedroom floor.

   Patty gathered her thoughts wiping the tears from her eyes and returned to cleaning the house in silence trying not to make a sound. Once everything was picked up and the house looked clean once again Patty went into the kitchen to make herself something to eat. She opened the refrigerator to find it almost empty except for a few half empty wine bottles  a few beer cans and four Styrofoam boxes of half eaten molding take out. Patty closed the fridge door and went to the cabinet that housed the food the Voice allowed her to eat only to find it also empty. This was no surprise to Patty she had come to expect this sort of thing. She looked through the other cabinets to see if she could find something to eat that would not upset the Voice if she ate it. She found some old stale cookies in the cookie jar on top of the microwave and just as she started to put one in her mouth she felt a presence looming behind her and she shuddered.

   Patty felt someone grab her arm and pull it knocking the stale cookie out of her hand and making her drop the cookie jar on the tile floor breaking it into what seemed a thousand pieces. The voice started screaming about how Patty was eating too much food and how sloppy the house was. The cookie jar was now spread out in broken pieces over the floor Patty had just mopped and cleaned. The Voice got louder and was now right in Patty's ear. Look at what you have done I clean all day and you mess up my clean floor you worthless little bitch. Patty felt a hand on the back of her head forcing her down so she could view the mess she made then Patty felt the  full weight of the Voices body was on her pushing her face down on the tile floor. The Voice was smashing her face into the floor and grinding the broken cookies and the pieces of the cookie jar into the side of her face. Patty felt a red hot rage rise within herself and she pushed the voice off of her with such force the voice landed flat on its back with a thud and toppled over the small breakfast table making a load noise as it hit the floor on its side. As the table hit the floor everything that had been atop of it spewed across the floor clanging and banging as it spread out over the tile. The Voice lay there for some time but then recovered and before Patty new what was happening the Voice lunged at her grabbing a hand full of her hair and started banging her head on the tile floor.

   That red hot rage in Patty returned but this time ten fold it seemed to come from her toes and worked its way up to her head. She felt a rush of heat come to her cheeks and her eyes blurred with anger. As the Voice was slamming her head into the tile Patty reached to find something to defend her self with as the Voice was much bigger than her in size and try as she might she could not get the Voice off of her. Patty felt something cold in her hand and she swung it towards the Voice it made a slush sound and the Voice let up on its grip and let out a gurgling sound as the Voice pulled its hand away Patty could see a sizable clump of her own hair still clutched in the Voices hand much of it pulled out by the roots. The Voice tried to stand only making it to its knees and then started flailing its hands around like one of those tube men car lots use for advertising at grand openings. The Voice seemed to be trying to reach its back. The Voice turned away from Patty still on its knees and that's when Patty saw the Knife in the Voices back and the red blood soaking into its house robe. The Voice let out a gurgling sound as if it was trying to say something then fell on its back forcing the knife farther into its back as it hit the floor. Patty sat exhausted with her back against the wall her rear end on the floor and her legs sprawled out on the cold tile trying to make sense of what her eyes were seeing. She became frozen unable to even blink as the blood from the Voice started to ooze out over the off white tile floor the grout lines becoming rivers of blood running towards her bare foot slowly at first then like a flood the blood rushed across the floor getting closer to her. She found the strength to move her leg just before the large pool of blood reached her.  Everything suddenly went black and Patty felt as if she was falling down down down into a black hole.

    Patty awoke to the sound of her alarm clock beep! beep! beep! she got out of bed and hurriedly put her clothes on grabbed her school books and slowly opened her door wanting to get out of the house before the Voice woke up. She quietly went down the steps and out the front door closing it behind her and thinking how happy she was that the Voice was not up yet. Patty walked to school feeling a bit happier today for some reason she could not understand why but it was like a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders.. The day at school was uneventful for the most part and as the last hour came around Patty felt that old familiar dread and the fact she would soon have to go home and face the Voice again.


   She went to her locker and gathered her books for homework and started the walk home. Upon turning the corner just down from her house she noticed the car was not in the driveway this was strange because the Voice never went anywhere and was usually passed out by this time or just stirring from the hang over from the night before.  Patty walked slowly bidding her time and somewhat enjoying the warmth of the sun. Soon much too soon she found herself slipping the key into the front door of the house turning the knob and opening the door thinking to her self what new hell awaits me today? It was very quite inside no TV blaring soap operas from the front room as was usual and as she went up the stairs she glanced back noticing the house was still clean from the night before. She went to her room and shut the door wondering were the Voice had gone not in a worried way but more of a relief that she did not have to deal with it.

   Patty did her home work and then tiptoed down the steps to check out why things were so quiet. There was no one to be found in the house she looked everywhere and was sort of surprised and relieved to not find anyone. It seemed a bit eery as the Voice always seemed to be there looming around every corner. The Voice is not here I can take a shower she thought to her self but I better hurry in case the Voice returns. The Voice did not allow Patty to use the shower or bathtub on the 2nd floor and she was only allowed to use the toilet on the first floor. The first floor had just a toilet and a sink so she did all her bathing with a wash cloth and washed her hair in the sink when and if she could get passed the Voice to do so more often than not she skipped bathing and hid in her room. It had been forever since she was able to shower at home or take a long soak in the bath.  

   Patty had intended to just take a quick shower but ended up filling the bathtub and climbing in to take a nice soak. She had just gotten in the bath when she heard a sound she sprang out of the tub and ran down the hall to her room. Standing in her room fear washed over her as she realized she had left the tub full of water. She stood silent for a long time frozen in one spot listening to hear if she could hear the Voice.An eery silence was all that could be heard and the tick tick tick of her clock next to her bed. Patty stood frozen for a long time listening but no movement could be heard. At last she broke from her frozen state and went back down the hall and climbed into the tub. After a nice soak she dried off and crept down the stairs to the kitchen to forage for some food. She was starving and her stomach was grumbling. She flicked on the light in the kitchen and as she did it was like a bolt of lightning struck and some strange images of the Voice laying on the floor popped into her head.

 
   Patty shook her head and rubbed her eyes she felt dizzy and braced herself in the kitchen doorway. I must be hungrier than I thought she said almost out loud looking intensely at the spot on the floor she had just seen or thought she had seen the Voice laying when she turned on the light but there was nothing there.  Patty noticed that the kitchen was spotless as she passed through the doorway she had been bracing herself in cleaner than she had seen it in a long time. She opened the fridge to find it clean all the molded food gone and in its place there was an abundance of food there was fresh fruit,sandwich meats,cheeses.milk,juice more food than she had seen in that fridge for years. She found a fresh loaf of bread near the toaster and hurriedly twisted the tie off and took out two pieces of bread. She quickly made herself a sandwich and pored a glass of milk. She then added water to the milk jug to make it look like there had been none taken then put everything back in its place so the Voice would not notice she had taken anything. She gathered the sandwich turned out the light and hurried quietly up the stares and into her room. As soon as the door was shut she ate the sandwich like a starving animal almost choking herself gulping it down. She was so very hungry but also did not want to be caught with the ill gotten goods. Patty did her homework in silence as she always did but something was different on this night there was no movement or yelling or loud TV for background noise just sweet silence.



   After she finished the last of her milk she hid the glass in a dresser drawer under some clothes thinking to her self I better not forget that or the Voice will be sure to find it. Patty then slipped into bed and in no time fell fast asleep. A sound woke her from her slumber and as she awoke she glanced at the alarm and noticed it was two in the morning. She lay there half awake listening to hear what the noise was that had awakened her. No sounds once again just the tick tick tick of the bedside clock.  Something is wrong she thought and then laughed to her self thinking not so much wrong strange maybe but not wrong. It seemed right to have quiet for a change no yelling or stumbling around noises coming from down stairs, yes it seemed so right. Patty lay back down and went back to sleep.