5 Minute Horror: Lady in White

[Please note that this story may be triggering for some readers.]

Marie opened the window blinds warily and scanned the fields opposite the house, nervousness etched into the creases on her brow. She looked to the tall dark trees framing the tilled field then towards the back corner, where untouched wilderness spread out. Fog clung to the edges, but Marie could sense that nothing of note was out there. Yet. Her hand came to rest on her swollen belly, and she felt a kick beneath the skin. She sighed.

“Everything all right, hun?” her husband, Anthony, asked as he sauntered into the kitchen, wearing a worn tank top and boxers.

“Yeah.” But her voice sounded strained, as if she wanted to say more.

Anthony cocked his head, brown hair falling over his tired eyes. “Is it her again?”

Marie didn’t want to think about it—about her—but she couldn’t help it. She thought about the life growing inside her. Throughout her life, Marie had seen then predicted events that occurred. Spotting the transparent man on the corner where her brother had gotten killed in an accident. Hearing the grinding of chair legs in the attic where a friend of the family had hung himself. Now she was seeing a lady in white with long black hair out in the middle of the field. She would stare at the house ceaselessly. At Marie.

And the baby in her womb would stop kicking.

“Marie?”

Hearing the concern in Anthony’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. Marie’s head snapped up, and she forced a smile.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

“Do you want me to stay home today?” he asked, wrapping her up in his arms as best he could with her belly between them. “We could go to that diner you like. Maybe to the movies?”

“No, it’s fine. Save your time off for when Bobby gets here,” she returned.

“Can’t wait to meet him.” Stooping low, Anthony kissed Marie’s bump and repeated, “Can’t wait to meet you, Bobby.” Then he stood straight and started to exit the kitchen. “I’m going to take a shower, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Marie watched him vanish into the dark living room then glanced back outside. Swathed in the golden rays of the new day, standing in the middle of the field, was the lady in white. Biting her lip, Marie went over to the kitchen window and shut the blinds.

*

Three months later, Marie plucked her keys off the hook by the door. She looked to the tortie cat sitting by the kitchen table, tail swishing, then to the quiet house. Although it was getting close to Bobby’s due date, she was antsy and needed to burn off some energy.

“I’ll be back soon,” she told the cat. “Don’t claw the couch while I’m gone.”

The cat blinked its amber eyes and donned an expression that meant it was absolutely going to shred cushions during her absence.

Shutting the back door behind her, Marie stepped into the heat of an August day. Cicadas were whirring, birds were tittering, and the eggplant growing in the field were starting to ripen. She started down the stone driveway but halted, spotting a stranger amongst the vegetation. The lady in white stood motionless, her flowing white dress caught in the breeze, and her black hair whipping around her shoulders. Yet, she didn’t seem to feel the heat, for she was expressionless and pale.

Marie took another step forward. Part of her wanted to confront the lady, to ask why she continued to appear, but she didn’t dare. Just as Marie was about to continue heading towards the road, the lady in white moved, raising a slender arm. She pointed right at Marie then slightly lower, to her 38 week bump.

The baby that had been pounding against Marie’s ribs moments before went still.

“Something is wrong with my baby,” Marie repeated again on the phone to the receptionist of the obstetrician’s office. “I haven’t felt him move in hours.”

“Have you tried exercise or a sugary snack?”

“Yes. He hasn’t moved.”

The receptionist let out an exasperated sigh. “Go to the hospital. Dr. Silverstein will meet your here.”

Marie did as she was told. She left a note for her husband on the kitchen counter, right by the small calendar marked August 9, 1989, and then got into her car. She clenched the steering wheel and glared at the lady in white. The car let out a grating sound as the engine reluctantly turned over. Then she slowly drove up the driveway, eyeing the woman and the way her dark eyes followed the vehicle up the stone driveway.

The sensation of being watched stayed with Marie the entire drive to the hospital. She checked in, walked to labor and delivery, and was immediately set up for an ultrasound. Laying on the seat, Marie felt her skin crawl as her thoughts filled with the lady in white and her sinister gaze. She shuddered then realized that the doctor and nurse were silent.

“I was right, wasn’t I? Something’s wrong with him.”

Dr. Silverstein hung his head. “Marie, I’m terribly sorry, but your baby’s gone. We’re going to have to induce and see if you can deliver him as soon as possible.”

The stillness in her womb was enough to make her heart palpitate. “What do you mean ‘he’s gone’? He was perfectly healthy!”

“Look here. See that? That’s a clot in the umbilical cord…”

Marie gazed into the screen in front of her, not seeing the quiet image of a dead fetus but her reflection. On the hospital bed, surrounded in white, dressed in a scratchy white gown, her dark hair loose around her shoulders, she could barely recognize herself. Then she let out a wail, realizing who the lady in white had been all along.

—

Thank you for reading! Lady in White is loosely based off real events that happened to my mother prior to delivering a stillborn son, who would have been my older brother. If you enjoyed this 5 Minute Horror, let me know in the comments. And if you’d like to support my creativity by plying me with caffeine, consider sending me a tip on Ko-Fi.