The Room | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Room | Previous Challenge Entry
By Markeala Dotson
07/21/09
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It had been ten years since Tina had stepped foot into her grandmothers house. Yet, somehow it seemed no time had passed at all. The porcelain greyhound still stood guard in the foyer by the stairway. To the right still hung the woven mosaic of a middle eastern marketplace. To left was a sofa table that held sliver and bronze framed pictures of Tina the day of her graduation, along with pictures of her deceased parents and her older brother and uncle. How nostalgic it was for her to see these pictures of bitter sweet memories. Pictures of those who she loved dearly and those who caused her such great torment. Yet she knew she had to face the her tormentors and the house of her nightmares.

With anxiety she determined to bypass entering the yellow kitchen overlooking the man made pond. She bypassed entering the formal living room with the antique grandfather clock along with it’s host of archaic fixtures.

Entering the dinning room she almost smiled. The memory of hosting parties for her imaginary friends. She thought of how she would pull out her grandmothers china, crystal, silver and linen. She thought of the elegant parties she would put on for her guest. She looked at the chairs thinking of the dear imaginary friends that sat in each one. Her only source of comfort and joy in the cryptic house.

Finally she new it was time. Time to visit the room for which she had come. Looking down the narrow hall she felt her heart beat quicken. Suddenly her hands felt clammy. Then standing before the door she took a deep breath. Then she reached out. Turning the knob slowly to the left she pushed inward.

Through blurred vision she saw it. The bed of affliction. The bed on which her brother and uncle took turns rapping her night after night. It started on her thirteenth birthday and lasted until the night before graduation. She could still see the dent on the wall from her kicking to free herself. She noticed the bandana on the desk that was used gag her to muffle her cries. She glanced to the closet door still off the hinges. Done to prevent her from attempting to hide in the closet. She hated the room. In the naiveté of her mind she cursed the day she turned thirteen. The years before adolescence were so sweet.

Tina sat in the middle of the floor and sobbed. Grieving for the death of her parents. Releasing the resentment of being raised by a senile grandmother. Grieving the death of her grandmother. Releasing the hatred toward her brother and uncle. After what seemed a eternity she stood and took one more look around the room. “It’s over” she heard His voice tell her. She was no longer trapped in time. No longer trapped in a time when her cries where ignored, where her screams where muffled, and she ceased to live. Time was beginning to move. The teenage years were over. The years of torment had come to an end. She never intended to return to the house again. Closing the door behind her she knew she was no longer that girl. Everything had changed.

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