Laura Ebert - Final Part - What Laura Called

Photo by Neil Rosentech / CC0

Read Part 4 of the story Here!

Note: This whole story took place in a small, remote village in Eastern Germany.

I was reluctant when I stood in front of Miss Meier's door. I knew this wouldn't go well, but I still wanted to talk to her.

When I finally rang the bell, the wrinkly old woman opened the door almost instantly. It was almost as if she'd been waiting behind it all along. She measured me with her hard, angry eyes before she mumbled something to herself. I was sure she knew exactly why I was here.

"Hello Miss Meier," I greeted her with my friendliest voice, "I'm here to ask you a few things about Laura."

As soon as the name was out, she threw the door in my face. Well, not like I expected anything else. I was about to yell something, but then I resorted to ringing the doorbell again. After I did so twice more, she ripped the door open and started to lay into me before I could so much as utter a word.

"I'm not going to tell you a damned thing about that wench, girl! Now go and beat it!"

She was about to close the door again, but before she could, I spoke up.

"I know about that night!" I blurted out. "The flower dance, the pagan stuff, the weird things, the blood and-"

"Good god, girl! Not another word! Fine, get in!"

With that, she reached out and pulled me inside. She had a quick look up and down the hallway before she closed the door.

"I can't believe it! I told you not to snoop around, and yet here you are! You silly girl, why did you have to look into it?"

"Because I want to know what happened! All this talk and all those rumors. No one knows a thing, yet you all...”

"And how did you find out about the dance? About what happened that night? Who told you? I might be old, but I'm not senile! Someone must've told you! Who? Was? It?"

While she spat those last words into my face, she rose her finger accusingly. At first I didn't want to tell her, but finally, I admitted how I found out all about it.

"That damned Lisa! And your mother, too! Margarete was always a bit dim, but so are you for putting your little nose into this! Well, but that's all there is to it! I saw nothing that night, nothing at all!"

"Is that so?" I started. "Then what would happen if I'd talk about it? I'm going to start this whole thing again. I'm going to tell everyone that I know there was no rape and that it was all your lies!"

At this, she actually laughed a bit. It was a rough, rusty sound that seemed to make its way up from deep inside of her body.

"Well, guess you're not exactly like your mother. Fine, then listen, but I dare you. If you tell anyone, I'll make sure you'll regret it."

This time her stare was more than angry. It was malignant, a promise that these last words weren't just empty threats. I couldn't help but nod right away.

"What that... what Laura did that night was sacrilegious, heretically and no, I'm not talking about that damned dance of hers. I'm talking about what she called here."

"What she... called here?"

"Everyone knew about her interests, her witchcraft, devil-worshiping, and her curses. That girl was always bad news, always! She should've never been allowed to take part in our fair. Yet those damned idiots spoke out for her. That's what they all get...”

"But what happened that night?"

"You're as impatient as they come aren't you, girl?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Pah. Then shut up and listen!"

"That night I was there, watching her little skit. It sounded harmless enough. The good old flower dance. And all those idiots believed her. Oh, I'd warned them and so did my husband. 'What's the worst that could happen' they all asked. 'So what if she's ruining her silly dance' they said. 'No one would be there anyway.' But I knew that wench had something else planned. I knew it! Not enough that she showed us that disgusting, hypnotic dance that entranced us all-"

"That's what mom said too! That everyone was in some sort of trance!"

"You want to hear what I have to say or not?"

This time I only nodded.

"When chaos broke out everyone run, everyone but my husband and me. At first, we'd only seen her cut herself, but then we saw something else. There was something on top of her. I wasn't able to make it out exactly. It thought it was a man, one of her many suitors, but it wasn't. It was almost a mixture of men and animal, but much, much worse. It was clawing at her, cutting her skin and pushing her to the ground. All the while that wench was screaming, but oh they got it all wrong. She wasn't screaming in pain, oh no, those were the screams of a whore, of pleasure! She screamed and moan as that thing was copulating with her! Once it was over though and that ungodly creature had gotten of her, there was something else. Between the blood, something else pushed its way out of her body! That thing, that thing must've...” she broke up, breathing heavily.

"What was that... thing?"

"Girl, I don't know what it was, and I don't want to know!"

"But what happened afterward? What did these things do?"

I got another angry stare and snapped my mouth shut in an instant.

"They vanished. Just like that, they were gone. All the shadows retreated as well, and only Laura Ebert was left. She was on the ground, panting and moaning before passing out. At this moment I hoped, no I prayed that she'd be dead. That this damned woman was gone and she'd never be able to anything like that ever again. But of course she was alive! While I stood there, do you know what I thought? Do you know what went through my mind!?"

"N-no?"

"It would only be a few seconds," she said with the most hideous smile I'd ever seen in my whole life.

"It would only take a few seconds, and it would all be over. But my husband, my God have him dear, he pulled me off her. He screamed at me to not defile myself. I shouldn't commit the worst of sins because of this godforsaken whore of the devil!"

I opened my mouth but wasn't able to say a thing. I could almost see the hatred emanating from her.

"And then they brought dis drunk husband of hers over, and he took his wife home! I couldn't believe it!"

"They didn't call an ambulance? What about the blood?"

"Hah! Of course not! One look at her and you knew she was almost completely unhurt! It made no sense, her body should've been torn to a bleeding, shredded mess, yet she was completely fine! The only thing you could still see where the marks my hands had left on her neck."

"She should've died that night," she yelled out, "and I wish, I wish I'd have gone through with it!"

The old woman was shaking by now. I was so utterly disgusted by her, but it was soon over, and she let herself fall into her reading chair.

"You know girl, this used to be a nice and happy village. But because of her, because of that night, it all changed! The only one to blame is that whore! She had to mess with those things! You know, everyone says she got what she deserved, everyone, but she didn't. She should've died that night! For what she did to our small town, she shouldn't have gotten away so easily. Losing her mind, being out there, screaming and cursing, it's not enough. We don't deserve to see her out there every day. She still mocking us now. That's what she does, taunting us! Even now she's keeping up her damned games. It's because of her that all those bad things happened! All because of her!"

"Bad things?"

"You're really as blind as your mother! Did you ever wonder why my husband died only weeks after the fair? Where did that pneumonia come from that took old Ursula and Libby a week later? That father of yours too! You think that accident was normal? It's all because of Laura Ebert. What do you think made me look like this? This damned disease that's eating away at my body and slowly turning my insides into mush? That's all her doing! That's her revenge, her curse! She tainted not only me, no, she tainted all of us! This whole village is corrupted and defiled!"

Right then her eyes focused on me, and for a moment I saw the hint of a smile on her face.

"And she defiled you too."

I shuddered at her words. At first, I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but then I remembered something else. Something I'd wondered about ever from the start.

"Then why all this talk about rape?"

"Because it's easier! Everyone knows she was promiscuous! Even during her school days! No one wants to remember what actually happened! No one wants to talk about it! And no one wants to talk about those things that now lurk in the shadows during the night! But you just had to dig, didn't you? You just had to know!"

"Things out... there?"

This time the smile on her face didn't disappear.

"Oh, I know you noticed them, girl. I know you've felt them staring at you. I can read it on your face, and I can feel them around you. And I know that you'll suffer like the rest of us!"

With that, the insane old woman started cackling in front of me. "She got you too, you dumb, silly girl!"

It was at this moment I had enough. This whole damned village was insane. I left and went home as fast as I could.

After that day I followed the promise I'd given my mother and didn't bother with Laura anymore.

I wish this would be the end of my story. I wish that after I learned all that I was able to move on and get back to my normal life.

Each night though I had trouble sleeping. Miss Meier's words were reverberating in my mind. The things out in the night were watching me, she'd said. As if to prove her right, I felt as if with each passing day, the night turned a tad bit darker.

What brought me to write this all down, weren't those feelings though. It was because of a run-in with Lisa a few days ago. She gave me a weak smile. After we'd exchanged greetings, I remembered the booklet she'd given to me.

"I almost forgot, thanks for bringing me that booklet! You told me Laura was weird, but it really was something else!"

"What booklet, Sophie?"

"The booklet Laura made for you. The one you dropped off at our mailbox."

"That one? Oh dear, but I never found it. I'm pretty sure I lost it a long time ago."

"But then," I started but broke up. I left Lisa standing in confusion and hurried home. I asked grandma who'd dropped it off, but she only said it was in the mailbox one morning. When mom returned home, I confronted her about it. She told me the same thing though. She'd gotten rid of the booklet soon after Laura gave it to her.

I was so confused. My mind became a vortex of all sorts of thoughts and ideas until a single one stuck out to me.

It didn't take me long to find her. She was out on one of the paths as usual. This time she noticed me right away. And like last time she smiled at me. When she saw my anger though, her expression turned into a wide grin. At that moment I knew I was right.

When Laura walked towards me, I didn't move. This time I didn't turn away. I was done being scared by this insane woman.

When she got closer though, I instinctively cringed back. A surge of fear like none before washed over me. Right then Laura's grin broke apart, and she started to laugh.

"You see it now, don't you little girl?"

I opened my mouth. "What did you," I started, but broke up when I did indeed see it.

I saw the disfigured, fleshy abomination that clung to Laura's shoulder. There was no face, just a gaping toothless maw, a dark hole in a grown-together heap of flesh. I screamed up in shock and disbelief. I stumbled back and fell on the ground.

At that moment I heard the thing. I heard it speak. Trying to describe its abominable voice would be impossible, but I knew its language. It was the same one that Laura had written her many verses, or better, her curses in.

I watched as Laura turned to it and whispered something back at it.

Then she looked back at me and burst out laughing again.

"I knew it! I knew it the day I saw you out there! You did it, didn't you? I got you, little girl. Just like Beatrice. You did it too, right? You read from my little booklet."

She turned back at the thing on her shoulder when it let out another gush of obscure words. "I know, I know, it all turned out exactly like you said it would."

"My little boy said you were a bit too enthusiastic. You read them all, didn't you? You went through the whole number of them, right? Can you see him? You can, right? You can see him, and you can feel him, too."

And at that moment, for only a second I felt something breathe down my neck. As I turned around though there was nothing there. I was a shivering, shaking mess and looked up at Laura in sheer terror. The thing on her shoulder was still there and as Laura had done before it now opened its maw to let out a gurgling laugh.

"Run home little girl, run like you did last time. But this time it won't do you any good. It won't! Even if you try to run away like Beatrice, it won't! He will get you!"

She still laughed and taunted me as I ran off, but when I was halfway home, I saw it. At the edge of Laura's energy place, back in the forest, I saw a giant, hulking figure. It was neither man nor animal, it was something much, much worse.

It's been almost a week since then, and things have gotten much worse. I don't go out anymore. It's because of the shades and shadows outside. I can see them follow me, reaching out for me and gathering around my window. So many times I felt this presence near me.

I know this thing, this devil, is taunting me, preying on me.

I looked up Beatrice. She moved away from this village years ago, but only a few months afterward she was found dead in her new apartment. The case was never solved.

By now I know that this dark figure is here. I know that it's watching me as I type. I can feel it's breath on my neck and I can hear it whisper into my ears. There's nothing I can do anymore.

I know now, what a mistake it was to look into all of this. I know that Laura Ebert had been out for revenge all along. Revenge on this whole damn village that had forsaken her.

Laura Ebert might have been a slut, she might have been a wench and a whore.

What she really is though is a trickster, a witch, and a devil worshiper.

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