10.

Everyone who comes through the doors of the shelter in need of help is important as too are those who give up their time willingly and freely to ensure all things move on as best as possible though every once in a while, there is someone who stands out. There doesn't necessarily need to be something unique or especially odd for that person to stand out and they could either be part of the establishment or have be aided by it. Sometimes it is just there are ever so slight nuances these people have that makes them ... unique, other times it is something else entirely, something a finger cannot be placed upon.

Majella Smith was one such person who stood out and Florence Reardon could not place exactly why that should be. There could be no way that Florence could have known just how unique Majella really was and is at such a time Majella had an ever so brief stay at the shelter and there was little or no time at all for either Florence or Majella to get to know the other. There was something about the teenage girl's persona that really took for Florence.

Yeah, a moment or many moments of trauma is what had Majella walking the streets in a heavy daze so the real girl would not have had any time to regain herself or to really show herself at that shelter. There was a sister and a dad who came for her and something about years of separation. There was something Majella had said about a sister, another sister perhaps, a sister in danger. Florence never got to find out about that.

No return visit to that shelter followed during those couple of weeks after the brief stay, in fact there was no follow up scheduled at all. Majella may have been returned to family though Florence had that need to know. A need to know was never so strong in others who have departed the shelter; indeed, follow up is routine and many do receive some sort of follow up attention. For Majella nothing had been organized however Florence had Majella on her mind so much that she felt it more than necessary to make follow up a priority.

Of course, for many who do come to the shelter in need there are follow on plans made wherever possible for them when they do move on. With the circumstances surrounding Majella, no such follow on plans were made. The plus however in that was that she was with family and surely all will be fine for her from here on in. Still Florence found it difficult not to think of that girl. Everyone is special but why this girl in particular? Two short weeks it is gone by and even with that being what it is perhaps a short unannounced visit could be made.

At the shelter too, before the Smith family left, Majella's sister Lisa left a contact address partly to show that they had somewhere to go and partly so that if contact would be needed to be made for whatever reason such a thing would become necessary. Florence arrived at the address full of nervous energy, why she should feel this way she had no idea. Perhaps arriving because of feeling and out of curiosity rather than with an actual reason provided some cause as to why she feels as she does.

A similar kind of energy within the walls of the Smith home was also about to be felt. When the knock to the door came Majella jumped. She, her father and her sister were all home at this moment though Majella was the closest to the front door and by quite the margin too. Who is it that is calling in this moment? What could they want? These questions were a cause of fear for Majella especially with what occurred on the bus the first day Majella had been brought to this home.

Among the nine daughters Satan had spawned, Majella was always going to be the least predictable; she was and is a bit of an anomaly. Why this is, is something which cannot even be thought of yet let alone be asked. With the other eight girls, Darkness had made himself known to each of them while they were young enough not to know any better. With Majella, despite often being near to her, he chose to come to her for the first time when she was sixteen years of age and such a visit in this moment is only two weeks old.

Tom and Lisa experienced that visit too and all three remaining members of the Smith family had no idea of what to expect next. When would Darkness come again and what would he want? He had made his power clear and that is for sure. So, when a knock to the door of a much smaller family home than the one Majella knew came, Majella felt the fear.

Taken from her family, spending three years locked away, subjected to horror no person, never mind a teenager, should ever be subjected to, how it was she managed to get away from that place and with all that followed, Majella has many reason to feel fear. Her eldest sister is dead, her remaining sister and her father have both been through so much, Majella would rather attend to the knock at the door than go take her father and sister away from their current locations especially if the possibility of a need for aid may not exist.

Slowly but surely Majella moved to the door. If it were another visit from Darkness then there would be no need for a knock at a door, he would simply do whatever it is he wants to do. This in itself gives Majella a cause to calm herself. The calm would not last. As soon as she reached for the door, even before she would make contact with it, she would he hit by a number of flashes. These flashes would be unlike anything she has ever experienced before.

Darkness, panic, blood, and death, so much blood, all over and over and in many ways, she has had many a vision before, visions of people meeting an end but nothing as distorted or as violent as this. Even the visions Darkness had sent her way were unlike what she is experiencing now. The visions, being as brief as they are, are also out of sync. She cannot decipher them, and they come to her as such a jolt that it knocks her to the ground.

Just as she was about to fall, Majella managed to unlock the door. On the outside of the door Florence heard a shriek followed by a thud and as she heard this, she notices the door move ever so slightly. Wondering as to if aid might be required beyond the door, Florence pushes it open ever so slightly and ever so slowly. In this too Majella fears some sort of attack or something of the likes is imminent but at that she cannot be sure that anything is imminent.

It's not long before Majella and Florence see one another and indeed Florence wants to be of aid. Aiding others is in her nature.

'Are you alright?' Florence asks stretching out a hand to help Majella up off the ground.

'You ...' Majella simply says. 'It's you ...' the newest visions are making sense now.

'Ah, hi I am Florence ... from the lady's shelter ...'

'I know who you are, I remember', Majella begins to get up. Maybe she has some sort of pre warning system within somewhere for it is more apparent now the reason for her to have felt fear. 'He is going to kill you and there is nothing we can do about it.'

'Excuse me?'

'Darkness, he will kill you. If one attempt fails, he will keep on trying until he is successful ...'