Lie to me once more

Lie to me once more by Ebehireme Matilda Masade.

Juniper was startled awake from her sleep. She didn't know what had woken her up but it must have been really loud because she was a deep sleeper.

Juniper adjusted her eyes to see her dark surroundings better. She was in her room. This was funny because she didn't remember going to bed. In fact, she couldn't remember the events that took place up till that very moment.

"Strange." she thought aloud. Strange indeed.

She got out of bed and started her morning chores. As she worked, she greeted each neighbor she came across. There were about eight people living in the house, each person owning a room. That was just how they lived. Occasionally, they would share rooms with each other because they had grown close.

In the compound, there were two houses. The first occupied by Juniper and her neighbors and the second, empty. There was a myth that the compound was haunted and housed demonic creatures.

" Poppycock!" Juniper said and rolled her eyes. She didn't believe in demons or spirits. Myths were silly.

" What are you thinking about again?" Delilah asked.

Delilah was Juniper's best friend in the whole world. She lived in one of the rooms with her aunt Julie. She was a really beautiful girl. Juniper admired her a lot because of her natural curly hair and her curvaceous figure.

" I was just thinking about that stupid myth." Juniper replied.

"Mm-hmm." She hummed. "Anyway, can I help with your clothes?" She asked.

Juniper was currently standing in her mess of a room arranging her clothes. She couldn't stop thinking about that house. She could end the silly rumors.

"You know what?" Juniper asked Delilah.

" No, I don't know and I don't want to know." Delilah quipped.

" Hear me out. Tonight. You. Me. Sneak. Into. The. Other. House." Juniper said slowly so Delilah could understand.

"Hear me out. N. O." Delilah said.

"It will be fun. And we can finally end the rumor. Don't you want more people in the house. That silly rumor is stopping people from coming to live here." Juniper analyzed.

"You have a mischievous glint in your eye." Delilah points out. " Fine, I'll come with you to keep an eye on you."

" Thanks Lilah. Love you." Juniper said while grinning widely.

"Sure."

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Delilah asked for the hundredth time.

"Yes. Now give me a boost" Juniper said, getting irritated by Delilah's jittery nature.

As Delilah crouched down to give Juniper a boost, a cool breeze whizzed by covering her exposed arms in goosebumps. Then they heard a creaking noise and quickly snapped their heads towards the direction of the sound. It was just the fence's gate creaking open.

" I guess the door was open." Delilah said, chuckling nervously.

" That's odd. The gate is always closed." Juniper said because she remembered the gate was usually bound with padlocks. It was also odd that she remembered that because she couldn't recall anything else from her previous encounters with the gate.

"So you mean that you've been here before?!" Delilah yelled.

"Shh… I think so. Come on" Juniper said and urged Delilah towards the fence's gate.

The surrounding field of the supposed haunted house was wilted and murky. It smelled of moss and dead plants. They could hardly see where there were going because this side of the compound appeared darker. The house itself looked horrid as it was covered in climbing plants and the paint on it almost washed out completely. It looked haunted alright.

"I don't feel good about this." Delilah complained once more.

" Look, we can leave as soon as we have a look around that corner." Juniper said.

" Fine."

They approached the suspicious corner, dead leaves crunching under their slippers. Then they heard words in the breeze.

"I hear whispering!" Delilah whisper-yelled.

" I know. I hear it too. Let's take a look. Carefully."

They got to the corner and peeped stealthily and came face-to-face with something more horrid.

Juniper had never screamed so hard in her life. She rushed past the fence and into her own compound. She entered her room and locked the door breathing heavily as she still couldn't wrap her head around what had just happened.

"Where have you been?" A voice asked.

Juniper turned around startled by the voice and found aunt Julie seated on her bed.

"I- I lost Delilah". Juniper said.

" What do you mean you lost her?" Aunt Julie asked.

Juniper started gasping and wheezing, trying to get air into her lungs. She was having a panic attack. Aunt Julie rushed to her side as Juniper fell down with a thud.

"Juni, breathe. Look at me. Breathe." Aunt Julie said slowly to calm Juniper down.

" I'm okay. I'm okay." Juniper repeated as she slowed down her breathing.

"Juni. Where is Delilah and where have you been?" Aunt Julie asked.

Juniper blinked twice as she recalled what had happened just five minutes ago.

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" See… nothing is here." Juniper said.

All that was around the corner was an awkwardly bent rotting tree. The smell of dead plants was stronger here.

"Phew. Let's go back home." Delilah said relieved that there was nothing here.

"Okay."

Juniper had just turned around when Delilah was yanked back.

"Ahh!!" Delilah screamed.

Juniper turned around to help her when something yanked her back too. Delilah pushed Juniper out of the grasp of the unseen. Juniper landed on the mossy ground and groaned in pain. Delilah was also on the ground a foot in front of her.

" Delilah! Are you okay?" Juniper said as she helped Delilah stand.

Delilah's eyes were closed and her breathing was irregular. Juniper noticed that she was also cold to touch. Something was definitely wrong.

" Has anyone ever told you how stupid you are?" Delilah said with a voice that was obviously too deep to be her own. Delilah chuckled deeply like a villain and finally opened her eyes.

Juniper gasped as she noticed that Delilah's once chocolate brown eyes were now deep obsidian irises that were swimming in a swirling dark purple. Juniper pushed away from Delilah shocked.

"What's wrong Juniper? Why don't you give me a hug?" Delilah said as she leaped towards Juniper.

Juniper quickly dodged Delilah and ran towards her house.

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"What do you mean you left Delilah in that demonic place? What have you done Juniper?!" Aunt Julie yelled.

"I didn't mean to. I was just curious. What's wrong with that?" Juniper said.

"You left my niece in a demonic house and you still have the audacity to not feel regret towards your actions." She yelled.

"I don't know what you want me to do about it!" Juniper yelled. Just then, Aunt Julia collapsed.

Everyone knew she was a drama queen. Juniper had really gotten herself into trouble now. She had lost her best friend to demons. It even sounded stupid.

Juniper heard the voice again, just outside her door. The voice that Delilah's original voice had transitioned into. Juniper decided to take a peek. No one was in the hallway so she followed the voice. Juniper was anything but afraid. Anxious, yes. Curious, definitely but not afraid.

She followed the voice to an open door. She peeked through the crack in the door and saw Delilah standing before her mom(Juniper's mom), rubbing her chest in a circular rotation while whispering some incantations that Juniper couldn't make out.

"What the heck was going on?" Juniper thought as she sobbed silently.

Juniper watched as Delilah did this to all the neighbors before Delilah finally approached Juniper's room. Juniper locked the door tightly and dragged aunt Julie towards her bed. Aunt Julie was still passed out. Juniper needed to think of a plan. She could run out of the compound and call someone in another house. Juniper nodded to herself and decided to do just that.

Juniper peeked out of her door and sneaked towards the front door of the house. All the turned neighbors slept probably saving their strength to finish her off because none of them were in sight.

She ran to the gate and tried to open it but it burned her skin. Her hands were red and burnt. Juniper sucked in a breath and tried again. It burnt her again and so did the surrounding walls of the compound.

She ran back to her room, locked the door and started full out ugly sobbing. She curled herself into a ball on the floor of her room.There was only so much crazy one could endure in one day. Her friend became a demon lord who turned her mom and neighbors into demon-zombie-minions and it was all her fault. This all felt surreal and real at the same time. Could she possibly be hallucinating?

Just then, her door was being pounded down. Aunt Julie woke up with a start.

" They are here." Juniper told Aunt Julie.

Aunt Julie got up from the bed and marched to the door.

" What the heck do you think you are doing?" Juniper asked. Now she was definitely afraid of being turned into a demon-minion.

" I'm getting my niece back." Aunt Julie stated firmly.

"No!!" Juniper yelled but it was too late. Aunt Julie had already opened the door. The minions filed in and parted a way for Delilah to pass.

" Delilah?" Aunt Julie asked, clearly shocked by the color of her eyes.

Delilah approached her and repeated the same process carried out on the others. Aunt Julie gasped as her eyes turned too.

" Are you ready? Its your turn." Delilah said in her raspy voice.

" No! No! I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Juniper said as she was totally frightened now.

"Stupid child. Don't you know your actions affect the lives of those around you?!" Delilah bellowed.

" I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Juniper said.

Then it came to her. This wasn't real. Nothing like this would happen in real life. It was too fantastical. Juniper grinned and started slapping herself hard.

" Wake up! Wake up!" She kept yelling as she continued slapping herself.

Just before light blinded her, Delilah laughed and said something Juniper didn't catch.

" You can't escape the inevitable Juniper."

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Juniper blinked rapidly as the bright morning light shone down on her eyelids. She smiled. It was a dream. When she looked down,she gasped in shock. She was in a tub filled with crimson colored water. Her wrists throbbed suddenly as well as her head. A razor covered in blood sat on a table beside her. She had tried to take her life the night before. The question was: why?

Suddenly, the events of the day before poured into Juniper's mind like a dam. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She gripped her hair and tugged at it trying to get the splitting headache she was feeling out of her head. Her hands throbbed with every tug.

The dream was all a lie. She didn't live in a house like that. She lived in an apartment by herself. Her mom lived in a home for old people. She had no best friend named Delilah. She had no friends at all. She was just a lonely accountant who gave up on love because of her time-consuming job. She got fired the day before. Hence, her present state.

"I have to see my therapist." she thought as she bandaged her arms. The whole situation was quite funny to Juniper and she laughed anytime she thought about the dream.

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"How do you feel after everything?" Tina asked.

"Great." Juniper said monotonically.

"Are you sure?" She urged.

Tina was a great therapist but sometimes she irritated Juniper. A lot.

" Look. Tina, I'm great. Honest." Juniper said.

" I'm just saying because that was a rather unusual dream."

"I know."

"Just please don't try to take your life again. Talk to me. I'm always available." Tina said.

"It was a mistake… I think." Juniper said, shocking Tina.

"Even after all that happened, I somehow still yearn for my unconscious mind to lie to me once more " Juniper said with a mischievous glint in her eye.