HAUNTING MEMORIES.

                                 
They catch me unawares. They gather like the ominous dark clouds, eerie, prophesying impending doom. They threaten to come in torrents, wanting to break free from the shackles to which they have been bound for a long time. The gush of them crisscrossing and intervening with each other, a rush that is going to drown me. They have been repressed and buried deep within, locked and cast away. Now, they are surfacing like a serpent uncoiling itself ready to strike any moment.

I am chilled to the bone and the wind outside is not the reason. And yet, I am perspiring, soaked to skin. The storm outside is causing the old house to rattle and creak. The storm within is making my teeth chatter.

Damn! Damn! Damn! Why did I let Lucy to talk me into coming to this old place? I needed years of therapy after getting out of this dump and now this. "You have to face your demons. You own the place. Let us go there once and salvage what is left of the family; before you put it up for sale" Lucy had argued. Now, I try to call out to her. All I can manage is a hoarse whisper. Try as I might, I am not able to move a limb. Fear has gripped me! I am stuck to my bed as a bug. Then I hear him.

The lullaby he sang. The way he brushed my hair with his fingers. The way he kissed me...the touches....the violation, years of abuse. 

I had run away from this, from the mental and physical torture. I thought I had outgrown these memories. I thought they would not touch me, much less harm me...after all I had managed the art of blocking them. I am so wrong. Everyone has memories to cherish, but my memories, they are back with an vengeance to haunt me for life!

This is a work of fiction...for The Mag.