Amongst the fractured, fearful souls of Moerae House, my name is a hesitant whisper, faded in time, upon the lips of the lost.

To hear my testimony, you must wander through the listless echoes of silence, and there you will discover my voice, concealed within eternal conflict.  Between innocence and guilt.

My name was Sam Thomas, let the truth be my valediction.

I left my mother whilst still a child.  Of our parting, I recalled not the contours of her face, but the tears of sorrow, which fell freely from deep green eyes.  Occasionally I glimpsed those eyes in the reflection of a young woman, hidden from the world.

Within the labyrinth of Morae House, sparse rooms offered shelter or imprisonment to the dispossessed.  The high ceiling of my room lifted the oppression of the four walls.  The solid oak door, a gateway to an uncertain world, opposed the moonlit bay window.  Many hours had ebbed away as I gazed, mesmerised, through the glass at the hills, which crept down towards the lake.  With them they brought forth a torrential river, which invaded the calm expanse of water, drawing up a curtain of mist, obscuring the treacherous weir beyond.  Without warning, the waters met and cascaded over the ledge in a violent crescendo

Comfort and hope strove to survive behind closed doors.  I found my strength in a silent companion.  Her name was Zoe.  Together, we endured the endless days in Moerae House.  In the summer we explored the gardens, although no words passed her lips, she portrayed enthusiasm and fascination for all things governed by the seasons.  We collected flowers to dry and press between the blank pages of a diary, to remind ourselves of warmth in the depths of winter.  I cherished her visits and on this chilly evening, the heavy door to my room lay open as I anticipated her arrival.

Alas, Zoe would not be my only visitor on this night. Lurking in the unlit recesses of the room, something stirred.  Anticipation, mutated into abject terror, as another made her presence felt.  Laboured breathing emanated from the shadows, malice oozed forth and crept silently into the very air, quickening my pulse.  My skin crawled as sweat slithered down my spine and dread seeped into every pore of my being.  Selina had come to call.

For every friend there is a foe.  Selina was my nemesis.  A merciless tormentor, cruel, sadistic and unpredictable.  A constant intruder on my serenity.  I feared her presence more than the consuming darkness of the night.  As always I became paralysed by her malevolence.

Zoe greeted a familiar face as she entered the room. Oblivious at first to Selina’s presence, she crossed to the window and placed a gift, a dried Hydrangea flower upon the sill.  Emerging from the shadows, an abhorrent shape scuttled onto the bed.  Vertebrae cracked as its spine arched, contorted limbs, claw-like, curled themselves tightly under its body, as its feline physicality swayed menacingly back and forth.  Beguiled by the view from the window, Zoe remained unaware of the sinister threat, which crouched unnaturally behind her.  Tiny plumes of her breath formed as mist against the chill of the glass, obscuring the hideous reflection of Selina.

Turning to speak my name, Zoe stared straight into the leering face of a monster, so close was Selina, that the reeking breath that escaped her snarling lips engulfed my innocent friend.  Zoe’s horror struck face searched the creature’s eyes for mercy, but found none in the emerald whirlpools of deceit. Selina leapt forward, plunging her teeth into Zoe’s throat, the claw-like limbs uncurled, nails gouged flesh and horror unfolded.  Zoe’s arms flailed helplessly, but greeted only thin air, as Selina’s superior strength savaged her prey remorselessly.  The air hung heavy with the stench of blood, which splattered against the stark walls.  My friend’s frantic cries briefly pierced the air, before descending into choking, gurgling rasps as Selina’s teeth obliterated flesh and sinew.  As Zoe’s limp, lifeless form collapsed grotesquely to the floor, my lucidity returned.

The window shattered against the force of my weight, as the shrieks of a wounded animal violated the night.  Agonised screams, stemmed not from the shards of glass, which tore into my body, but from the terror that pierced my very soul.  The biting cold snatched the breath from my throat, as I struggled to free myself from the Ivy that impeded my flight.  Bile mingled with the harsh metallic taste in my mouth, as fear threatened to engulf me.

The elements conspired to keep a captive, as Mother Nature released her rage. The roar of the weir was lost amid the howl of the wind.  Horizontal rain lashed my flesh and saturated my gown, leaving my body swathed in a bloodied shroud.  The sickening image of Zoe’s mutilated corpse haunted my vision, as I stumbled blindly upon the sodden, uneven ground.  Suddenly I sensed Selina, only a heartbeat away.  I fought the impending paralysis with all the fortitude I possessed.

Clarity was an illusive visitor amongst the lost, but her fleeting presence illuminated the darkness that night.  There would be no absolution. No sanctuary.  I would never be free from the horror that was Selina.  She was the hungered evil that would consume all that was good.

Selina struggled to suppress her prey, but her grip could not restrain the newly fortified strength of my will.  Strange sounds emerged from miss-shapen lips, as muscle twisted and threatened to tear against Selina’s onslaught.  I forced forward, with each step I enticed Selina towards the turbulent waters beyond.

Without light to guide me I relied upon a memory.  I recalled the Birch tree, which grew precariously upon the riverbank; it’s wizened branches stretched tantalizingly across the weir.

Selina’s nails tore raw wounds along my body as she launched yet another attack.  I feared my resilience would abandon me.  Nearing exhaustion, I collapsed heavily against something solid.  Searing pain penetrated my ribs, as rough, wet bark splintered into my side.  The roar of the weir was now audible above the wind.  Crawling like an animal, I slithered in filth towards the inevitable.  Selina’s demonic shrieks filled the air, as a seething mass of inhumanity resisted its fate.

A hideous writhing form plunged into the icy water.  The wretched being struggled against a powerful, overwhelming torrent, which drove air from lungs and warmth from limbs.  Primal instinct prevailed as Selina’s hand desperately broke the surface and latched onto a branch of the Birch   In search of redemption, I prized away her fingers, as two halves of one soul locked together in a fatal embrace.  Momentarily, I glimpsed peace, as I became one with the darkness.