Sins on Our Sleeves: Orevwa, Charlotte

Ms. Charlotte was in her usual ancient rocking chair facing her television, watching nothing in particular. As though the tv itself had fallen asleep and forgot to turn off, projecting its own dreams as they drifted from program to program every half hour. When she was younger – "how much younger?", she would ask, rhetorically, if she could. "My body? or my soul?" might yield varied responses, and would certainly give the impression her consciousness had checked out of this extended stay existence some time ago. But that wasn't true. For 98 years old she impressed people with her mental acuity. Well, whatever time it was, let's just say, "in those days", at night the TV broadcast would stop altogether, and function as a sort of nightlight of various kinds, depending on the station. Now, the witching hour is for different chants, different phrases, different spells, yet no less wicked.

But now the sun was beginning to turn the dawn red and Ms. Charlotte still sat there, in a staring contest with the sleep talking television.

Right on schedule, Loretta let herself in. She didn't bother knocking, she could hear the sound of the cranked up TV filling the small apartment.
"Good morning, Miss Charlotte!", Loretta greeted her, and hoped it was loud enough to announce her entry. She couldn't afford to startle any of her Residents, fragile as they were.
Good Lord, how much worse could her hearing get? Loretta thought to herself. She approached Ms. Charlotte from a wide angle, making sure there was plenty of opportunity to be noticed before she reached for the remote to turn the volume down. She noticed several candy wrappers on the ground next to the elderly lady and knelt down as she thought to herself, why do they give them this shit? I understand, they're old, but can't we give them some healthier treats? Loretta stuffed the wrappers in her pocket and, without looking, pointed the remote over her shoulder towards the tv and pressed the mute button. Oh well, nothing to be done 'bout it now, she snorted and lightly laughed, if I was her age I would do whatever the hell I wanted, too.
Loretta stood up and gave a big smile to Ms. Charlotte, then, as their eyes met.

"HAHA, that's true, I do whatever the hell I want", Ms. Charlotte blurted out in a raspy yet loud voice. Loretta, startled, flinched and nearly fell backwards, the sudden silence of the TV broken by the sudden speaking made her face tingle. She felt as though Ms. Charlotte threw the words at her like a glass of water.
"My goodness, Miss Fisher! Don't you startle me like that!" Loretta nervously laughed. Then shook her head and walked past to the lady's kitchenette, lightly touching her frail shoulder. As she threw the candy wrappers in the trash she froze. I must have said that out loud...
She glanced back at the normally talkative woman, now frozen still.

Loretta had been caring for the elderly 15 years in total, the last eight spent here at Hidden Oaks. She learned early on, you can't let your thoughts dwell on their odd behavior too long, it will mess with you. And if you watch any horror movie involving old folks, witches or ghosts ... forget about it, you'd think every sound you heard was a long lost lover, double-crossed sibling, or murdered business partner come to terrorize the living. She found the best thing to do is to talk out loud and just stay about your business. Don't sit and dwell on the peculiarities. Like when your cat or dog just start staring at a corner of the bedroom - every logical part of your brain wants to move on, but you know there's got to be something they're looking at.

"Don't tell me you stayed up all night watchin that tv, Miss Charlotte. Don't ya know it'll rot your brain?" She criss-crossed her way around the apartment, tending to various things. She finally met Ms. Charlotte's gaze again and they gave each other a smile, it felt warm and genuine. Then, the elder looked next to Loretta, not quite all the way back to the television, but in the space between. Her face softened, almost sadly, "I used to dance", she said.
Loretta furrowed her brow, but kept her smile, “aww well I wish I could have seen you dance, I’ll bet you were wonderful!” She stepped past her again to go clean some dishes as Ms. Charlotte continued.
“I used to dance like her.” She giggled.
“Like who?”
“Like her, don't you see? She was the best dancer in our school house”
The younger lady glanced at the tv, curious who she was talking about. But all she saw was a televangelist on it. She couldn't read his fast moving lips but he sure looked serious, and there was definitely nobody dancing. Her brow furrowed again, but couldn't keep her smile. Ms. Charlotte wasn't even looking at the tv anyway, still looking into the empty space.

"What is it, girl? what do you see? meow twice if it's an angel, six-hundred-and-sixty-six times if it's the Devil."

Loretta let out a heavy sigh, as she reluctantly asked the question she knew she didn’t want the answer to.
“What little girl, Miss Charlotte?”
The lady raised had both of her arms out, swinging around playfully to the beat of some song only she could hear.
“The girl in front of me ... can’t you see her? Isn’t she beautiful? We used to play together, across the street. We would sneak away, she was so nice. But Dad... he didn’t like ... " her arms grew heavy and her tone changed, "he was angry... colored people ... weren’t allowed... she was so sweet, we loved each other.”

Loretta's face was pale. The water in the sink continued to run as she stood there staring.
She’s just old, her memories are playing through in her head ... it’s nothing. You've experienced this stuff before. A chill ran down her spine as she fought to stay lighthearted. This felt different, thought. There was something there.

Please blink twice.

“She... she sounds like a sweet young lady” Loretta's voice cracked at the end. Tears started to form as she slowly side-stepped to the door. Not taking her eyes off the old lady.
I have to get out of here, she thought.
Ms. Charlotte's arms slowly dropped, and her head turned to face the escapee. The sadness had overwhelmed her eyes but her mouth widened into a smile, lower lip trembling ... the smile looked fake, frozen, like it was forced. She kept staring at Loretta. Quick rasps of breath came through as her mouth trembled, “d-d-duh...” she was trying to speak, “don’t ... d-d-don’t leave” her eyes didn’t blink. They began to get red and tear up from the cold air. The smile grew a little wider, stretching her skin and face, as though someone was pulling her skin back on either side. The skin of her eyelids were stretched and half closed, giving her a most disturbing visage.
“Ple-ease”, a rasp sputtered out of her strained and drooling lips and her head began to shake.
"I ... so ... sorry".
Loretta kept moving and almost reached the door. As truly terrified as she was, she wanted to comfort the elderly woman.
She tried to speak with conviction, “Miss Charlotte, it’s okay, I’m going to—"

The Reverend's hands shot forward toward his congregation, urging them to repent of their sins, turn from their evil ways. Ms. Charlotte's head spun around, facing away from the preacher and toward the running sink behind her. Her neck let out dull popping sounds and her head slumped behind her, now facing the ground as if in prayer. Her neck looked like a wrung out towel. Loretta could only see the side, but the smile was still frozen on her face.

She collapsed, unable to find breath to scream.