The Nurse

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

Alma stared out at the little flame in the distance. Why would anyone be way out there? She wondered.

Alma started to get lost in the flame's hypnotic movement. The longer she stared the harder it was to look away. Darkness blurred at the edges of her vision, it was as if the candle created its own black hole, sucking in everything around it. Alma felt herself being drawn in as well, her spirit heading to an unknown fate.

Alma was snatched back to reality by a terrible gasping coming from the bed behind her.

Her client June was writhing on her bed, fighting for air. Her tiny 93-year-old frame managed to violently shake the heavy medical bed. Thank goodness for the safety rails or she would have been on the floor. Alma had been June’s live-in nurse for two years, but she had never seen anything like this.

Alma rushed to her side. “June. It’s ok, slowly now, slowly, let the air come in.”

Crouching down by June’s face, Alma looked into her eyes to see her pupils but froze at the absolute terror in June’s eyes. June was still violently shaking and Alma was shocked by the strength June’s frail body was able to produce.

“It’s ok June, I’ve got you, I’ve got you.” Alma repeated over and over as she prepared a dose of Lorazepam.

After the injection, June writhing slowly ceased, and she drifted into a drug induced fog.

June had been bedridden since before Alma was hired on as her nurse, and June’s lucid moments were very few and far between. Mostly she just muttered to herself or lay in a semi-conscious state, it was rare for her to get really upset about something.

Frankly it was one of the best jobs Alma had ever had, watching over a quiet, non-verbal patient was a dream after some of her former clients. And though she had never had a real conversation with June, Alma liked to pretend that they would have gotten along well.

Alma jotted down a quick report of the incident and then she texted June’s children with the details of what had just taken place.

They were in the home somewhere, but it was a large place, and June’s two grown children had their own separate space for them and their families.

It was impressive that they all still lived together, and to the outside world they presented themselves as a very tightknit family, but Alma had lived with them for long enough to know that it was co-dependency that kept them all there. Far removed from the town, hidden away in the hills.

“How is she?” June’s son Mark stood in the doorway.

He was the youngest of the two siblings, and the only one who visited his mother with any regularity.

“Better now, I haven’t seen her in such a state before.” Alma spoke as slowly and clearly as she could, because she knew June’s family often didn’t understand her Filipino accent.

Mark came and sat next to his mother, she seemed to be sleeping now, but he took her limp hand into his own and gently spoke to her.

“Mom are you ok now? What was bothering you?”

June’s eyes fluttered open, now glazed with the drug flooding through her system, she looked away from her son to the window.

Alma wanted to give them privacy but knew she needed to stay in the room, so she walked to the window and gazed out into the growing darkness.

The candle flickering in the distance pulled her in once more.

“Who is out there?” She forgot herself and asked the question out loud.

Mark came over and looked to where she pointed.

“It must be the twins.” Referring to his sister Carrie’s teenagers. “I’ll talk to them. It’s disrespectful to be lighting any kind of fire in the place where mom’s family died.”

Disrespectful was a frequent attitude for those kids, Alma thought. She was so grateful for the opportunities in life that had let her become a nurse instead of a nanny for the spoiled children of wealthy families.

“I don’t know why mom always insisted on keeping that cabin standing.” Mark thought out loud.

Cabin wasn’t the right word to describe it, Alma thought, it was way too large, but everything is relative and since everything the Bennet family did was large, the ‘cabin’ was as well. Alma would occasionally go walking on the trail past it. It was basically in ruins, the part of the building that was made of stone was still standing. Half scorched, it was still an impressive looking structure.

“What happened there?” Alma asked, she had heard bits and pieces over the years, but no one had told her directly.

“Mom’s grandfather went berserk and killed her parents and everyone really, except for mom, and then he set the cabin on fire."

Alma looked over to June, imagining the horror the little girl went through.

"Carrie’s having it torn down anyway.” Mark continued. “I think they’ve actually started doing some of the demo. Now that mom can’t say otherwise.”

As if on cue June began to moan in her bed. A low cry that sounded like a “No” to Alma.

Mark went back to his mom but Alma noticed the far away candle flicker, and then it disappeared, just as the lights in June’s room blinked out.

There was a sound in the dark, almost like a tap running. It was June sucking air in through her teeth. It was a truly awful noise. Thankfully the lights blinked back on, but the sound June made went on and on.

“Well, I guess that’s the noise she makes now.” Mark said a bit cavalierly, but why should he really care, it was Alma who would get to listen to it.

After Mark left Alma pondered June’s sleeping form. Back home in the Philippines no one would have gone against their parent to destroy a place that the elder found sacred, even a place of loss, like the cabin.

Alma went to June’s bedside and gently ran her fingers through June’s hair. June always relaxed when she did that. Right now it calmed Alma more than June. Alma watched the grey curls part beneath the pressure of her hands, maybe it was just because she now knew June's tragic past, but she felt a change in the air…. Something ominous.

There was movement in Alma’s periphery. A little quiet figure. It was Mark’s 6-year-old daughter Maya. She had become a regular visitor and Alma always loved their time. Alma wasn’t sure if it was herself Maya came to see or simply a curiosity on the child’s part to see her old grandmother.

"Hello Sweetheart." Alma said pleasently. "Come to see Granny?"

Maya shook her head a little and walked forward as if she was being forced to complete a chore. Alma noticed then that Maya was holding an unlit candle down by her side. Maya walked past Alma into the room and put it on the windowsill.

“Granny wants this.” Maya said simply and left the room.

Alma opted not to question that weirdness, it was late and the last hour had been tiring. She went through her evening checklist and went across the hall to her room. She had a baby monitor with a camera to watch over June in the night. Alma turned up the volume in case June had another episode, and decided to leave both their doors open so she didn’t miss anything the monitor might not catch.

Alma laid down in her bed and did her best to clear her mind of the day. Hours later she was startled out of her sleep. Alma didn’t know why she woke up, but June must have made a noise. She grabbed the monitor and stared for a moment, not able to comprehend what the screen was showing her.

June wasn’t in her bed.

June must have fallen out, though Alma couldn’t see her anywhere in the camera frame. She rushed into June’s room, but slid to a halt on the polished wood floors.

June was sitting in the chair across the room. It was dark and Alma couldn’t see her face, only her silhouette against the window at the end of the room.

“How on earth did you get over there?” Alma couldn’t help but ask.

June didn’t answer, though Alma didn’t expect her to, and as she moved closer to June to bring her back to her bed, she saw the candle Maya brought was now burning.

Alma felt oddly nervous touching June, even though she had touched and cleaned every part of this woman for years. All of a sudden, it just didn’t feel like June.

Shaking off the feeling as ridiculous Alma pulled over the wheelchair and manuvered June back to the bed. Once June was settled, Alma briskly walked over to the candle and blew it out. It was dangerous to have an open flame, particularly if June was suddenly mobile.

June’s head twisted at her and made the irritating sucking sound. Her eyes followed Alma as Alma walked through the room and out into hers.

Alma tried to go back to sleep but June wouldn't stop making that damn noise.

The next day Alma tried to tell Carrie and Mark about their mother’s miraculous ability to move again but they clearly thought Alma was dreaming or making it all up.

And it was hard to believe since June was back to laying on the bed without a hint of any new abilities.

Alma went through the motions of her day and tried to move on from the night before, despite a feeling in the pit of her stomach she just couldn’t shake.

That night it took Alma a long time to fall asleep. She stared at the shadows on the ceiling until her eyes closed of their own accord.

Alma was jolted awake again by a sound she couldn’t place. She laid there in her bed listening, slowly becoming aware of a soft noise. It was breathing. Something was in her room! It skittered fast across the floor. It didn’t move like a human, but it was too large to be anything else.

Alma knew it was right below her beside the bed. Then the sucking sound pierced the darkness. She coudn't bring herself to look over the side and instead clutched her bed covers in a death grip as if they were any kind of protection.

“Please June, go away please.” Alma whispered. She was so lost in her fear she couldn't even speak English.

“No.” June’s eerie voice whispered back.

Except she said “Hindi” in perfect Filipino.

With that Alma knew that June had become something else. Something absolutely terrifying.

Alma tried to stop the tears, to stay quiet but her sobs still burst out. She cried for herself and for the little old lady she didn’t really know, but loved just the same.

A low chuckle came from the demon inhabiting June’s body and to Alma’s everlasting relief she heard the soft thumping of the creature leaving her room.

Alma looked at the monitor and saw it enter June’s room. It started to climb into the bed but stopped, its head swiveled to the camera. Lightning fast it launched itself at the camera, Alma heard the loud thump against the wall as the viewer on the monitor went black.

The next day Alma sat by the window staring at June. June hadn’t woken all morning, but then she’d had a busy night. Alma went through the motions, it took her several attempts to touch the withered almost translucent skin. But once she did, the routines of the day took over. June’s heartbeat seemed stronger. Alma reluctantly coaxed her to wake up to eat, as she slipped the straw of the protein drink into June’s mouth, she could feel June’s eyes on her, but when she finally had the courage to look back, June was asleep.

That evening when Alma returned after her dinner break the candle was burning in the window ledge again. Alma stared at June's sleeping form for awhile, then pushing back her shoulders Alma walked over to the candle with a determined stride. Before she could second guess herself, she blew it out.

Or she tried.

And then tried again.

The flame didn’t even dance, it just burned straight. Even the wax didn’t seem to be melting.

What on earth was this thing? Alma turned looking for a glass of water to pour on it and jumped.

June was sitting up in bed, her dead eyes bored into Alma’s. Alma slowly backed up until she hit the wall. Once she had been too close to a cobra back home, and this felt exactly the same. Staring into the dark eyes of a preditor that followed her as she slid along the wall, making her way to the door.

How Alma fell asleep that night she would never know, but she woke up to a weight pressing on her chest.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark, and to understand that what she was seeing were the irises of June’s eyes pressed right up to hers.

Alma screamed, while June let out an evil cackle, still on top of her.

For far too long Alma's screams echoed through the cavernous house, until finally people started to pour into the room, but they offered no relief to Alma.

They didn’t even get June off her for the first few minutes. The whole family just took it as a miracle that June could walk again.

Maya was tucked in the corner, only Alma noticed her there, and the girl was the only one who shared Alma’s fear.

After several hours of pointless questions Alma was finally alone again, at least the camera monitor had been replaced so Alma could watch June once again from her own room. But it was very clear that she wasn't safe, and poor June, whatever had her in its grips needed to be destroyed.

Alma knew she must do something. But what? Could she bring June back? It was worth trying at least, she decided.

Once morning came and the sunlight gave Alma enough courage to go back into June’s room, Alma searched through the bedroom, while June lay in her deep day sleep. Trying to find any personal items that might help.

At the back of one of the dresser drawers was a beaten leather-bound book. Alma did a little hop for joy when she realized it was June’s childhood diary.

Alma gave herself a moment of prayer, to find her bravery, and then in her best American accent she began to read the diary aloud.

June just lay sleeping, but Alma was affected. The story of what June had gone through was so sadly terrible. In the worn pages of the diary June had begged God to bring back her father, mother and sisters, and when that prayer wasn’t answered she had asked to be released from the curse the candle had brought.

As the unanswered prayers turned the little girl's hope into ash, Alma saw that June found a power in herself, vowing that the evil would be trapped in the cabin and never allowed to escape.

Alma had always known there was something about June she loved and there it was. The strength in the young girl’s writing was so poignant, it broke Alma’s heart that June’s last and only wish had been ignored by her thoughtless children.

Alma didn’t know she was crying until a drop landed on the page.

A small sound broke through Alma’s tortured thoughts, June was awake, and it was June this time, Alma could see it in her eyes.

“Alma.” June whispered, her voice raspy from disuse.

Alma didn’t think June would know her name, so it was startling to hear it now. But not as much as the next words.

“Alma please kill me.”

Alma tried to answer but her own throat closed up.

“I can trap it. I can take it with me… But it must be now.” June’s voice was getting stronger

“June… I can’t.” Alma’s voice finally broke free.

“You must! You know what it can do. It’s going to kill you all, and it can. It has already killed my family once. We can’t let it happen again.”

Alma’s head shook with a no she couldn’t say, but it was herself she was trying to convince, because she knew June was right. It was the only way.

“Now Alma.” June demanded.

Alma’s head shake turned to a reluctant nod, and tears freely flowed down her face. But the conviction they shared gave her the courage to grab one of the extra pillows surrounding June, but she hesitated, her hands trembling in the soft cotton. It was June with perfect resoluteness, who put her hands on top of Alma's, urging the pillow up over her own face.

Alma pressed down with all the strength she had and cried harder as she felt June's small soft hands, helping her to press down.

June’s body started to involuntarily twitch and writhe, but Alma was resolved now.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mark’s voice burst out.

He yanked Alma off the bed like she was a doll and threw her to the floor.

Mark pulled the pillow off his mother’s face and screamed for his family to come help him.

“You killed her?” He said in disbelief.

“She begged me.” Alma sobbed out, “It was the only way to trap the monster.”

“You are crazy.” He yelled.

“What’s happening?” Carrie asked, she and the rest of the family pressed into the room.

Alma didn’t hear any of the accusations and panicked debating. She could only look at little Maya and mouth how sorry she was.

“She’s still alive.” Carrie announced.

Alma looked in horror as June’s eyes opened and her head twisted with inhuman speed. She smiled a smile of pure evil at Alma and then looked to the candle.

“No.” Alma moaned out.

Mark lifted her off the floor with a bone shattering grip around her waist.

The last thing Alma saw before she was pulled out into the hallway, was the candle burning larger and brighter than ever.

Even though she knew it was hopeless she begged Mark with everything in her.

“Please. Please stop her, she’s evil, it’s the candle, you have to stop her.”

He didn’t even bother to respond. He dragged her down the long hallway, yelling at Maya to go to her room as they passed her. Mark continued dragging her all the way to the kitchen, shoved her into the pantry and wedged a chair under the doorknob.

“I’ll deal with you later.” He muttered before storming away back up the stairs.

Alma stood frozen in place, she was in shock that she had tried to kill June. It would have been worth going to jail if it had worked. There wouldn’t be another chance now.

She was jolted from her numb state by a chorus of screams. A roaring sound accompanied them, and it took Alma a moment to realize the sound was fire.

Panicked she tried to get the door open, but the chair held firm. Pressed against the panels she could see something through the narrow slats. It was Maya.

“Maya sweetheart.” She said as calmly as she could. “Can you move the chair honey?”

The screams grew louder and so did the cracks and booming sounds of the house giving way.

Maya starting whimpering.

“Maya! Open the door! I have to get you somewhere safe.”

That got through to her and the little girl started to pull at the chair, eventually knocking it to the floor. Alma didn’t hesitate. She burst out and snatched up Maya as she ran to the front door.

But when she got there the door wouldn’t open, Alma put Maya down and tried the door again…and again.

Maya made a small cry and clutched her arm as Alma heard the same repulsive sound that had haunted her for days.

Turning she saw June staring down at them from the second story landing. Alma stared back, not daring to take her eyes from the demon watching her.

Clutching Maya’s hand she begged with her own gaze for June, or the monster in her, to let them leave.

A sideways smirk nudged up the side of June’s mouth, and she made a sinister yet benevolent nod. The door unlatched and Alma reacted with lightening speed.

Dragging the child out into the air as the doors slammed shut behind them.

Alma picked up the crying child and ran until her lungs nearly burst, but she couldn’t get far enough away from the roar of the fire and the hideous demise of the Bennet family.

Hours later Alma sat with Maya on her lap, clutching the blanket the paramedics had wrapped them in. The firefighters had put out the flames and were beginning the gruesome task of searching for bodies.

Maya had corroborated Alma’s story, that somehow June had set a fire and attacked her family. Though it was an unbelievable tale, the proof was there smouldering in front of them, and the police had taken her at her word for now.

Alma sat dazed, letting Maya bury her face against her. Only a husk of the home was left, but the east side still stood virtually untouched.

Finally, the doors of the ambulance closed, and they started to drive down the lane. Alma made the little girl look at the house and the window that sat at the unburnt end. They both watched as a small flame flickered to life on the candle in the window.

When the house was no longer in view Alma forced Maya’s face back to her.

“Don’t ever forget that candle.”

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