The Birthday Party

The darkness was absolute. All she knew was a feeling of confinement. She could not move, and she could not breathe. There was the smell of damp rancid earth permeating the air. Then she awoke. Carina laid in her bed for a long time, staring into the half-light of a new day that was only just dawning. It was the same dream with the same feeling of absolute terror in which she felt no escape. Where did it come from and what did it mean? She could hear the birds beginning their morning song outside. Those beautiful little birds. She knew every one of them and had given them all a name. The mist lifted from the mountain and the moisture of the night would soon turn into the freshness of the day.

Carina leaned out of the window and watched a truck pull up in front of the porch. Her father had a short conversation with the driver and a trunk was loaded onto a carriage. The veranda roof prevented her from seeing where it was taken, and she became curious. She wondered if it had anything to do with her upcoming eighteenth birthday. She knew something was going to happen, there seemed to be an excitement in the air. Her father had seemed very quiet and happy lately as if he was planning something special. She decided not to mention it.

Melrose was a quiet town just at the gateway to the Flinders Ranges. It was nestled peacefully at the foot of Mount Remarkable which had become a popular stop for people travelling to Wilpena Pound. Although Carina loved her father’s family home the thought of it one day becoming hers made her feel uneasy, she was not sure this was where she wanted to settle. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden and at the age of five her mother was diagnosed with cancer and died shortly after. There was nothing left to hold her father in Sweden and he decided they should move back to his original home country Australia. Melrose was a friendly town where everybody knew each other, and this new life and culture helped her to quell the grief for her mother.

Carina invited some friends for a pre-birthday party a few days before the event. Her boyfriend Robert came from the nearby town Wilmington and helped her with the preparations. On the day of the party everything looked perfect, and she could feel the excitement rising inside her before the guests arrived. The music was loud, people were dancing, there was laughter and conversation, and the party was going well. Carina noticed Robert in the corner talking to a blond girl she had not seen before. It was unusual to see a stranger amongst her friends. Perhaps she was a tourist. She was very beautiful with long blond hair and glowing white teeth that seemed to sparkle when she smiled. There was something familiar about the girl, but Carina could not place her. When she got Robert alone, she asked who she was.

 “I don’t know.” Robert shrugged his shoulders.

“What do you mean you don’t know. You just talked to her!”

“She didn’t say anything. I asked her name and where she was from. She just murmured something I could not hear.”

Carina looked over at her.

“Honestly, she never said anything. I don’t think she can talk. She’s kind of weird. She could be a gate crasher,” he laughed. “It’s cool, the more the merrier.”

“I’ll talk to her later.” Carina said.

“And you keep away from her, right” she added with a long look at Robert.

Nobody saw the girl leave. She had disappeared as quickly as she had arrived and nobody seemed to notice.

“I told you there was nothing to be worried about,” Robert said. “Like I said, probably just a gate crasher. Anyway, I have something to tell you. My auntie brought back something for you from Italy. I am seeing her in a few days so I will bring it over on your birthday.”

“Can you tell me what it is?”

Robert always picked nice things for her and the thought of something coming all the way from Italy made her even more curious.

“I am not going to tell you anything,” he teased. “I think you will like it though.”

Carina watched the afternoon fog rolling down from the mountain. The thick green undergrowth thrived in these frequent clouds of mist, and she could almost hear the drops falling from the leaves. The air became damp, and her room suddenly felt cold.

 It was her birthday and Robert would be here soon. There was a knock on the door.

“Robert,” she thought as she turned the handle.

Her father stood in the hallway smiling at her.

“I have a surprise for you. You must come down to the basement.”

She grabbed her white cardigan and followed him down the staircase to the cellar. Her eyes adjusting to the darkness. Why had he never fixed the light on the staircase? He sounded excited. It was dark in the room, and it took some time before she could see the trunk against the wall.

 “I will have to fix that dam light sometime,” he murmured.

She heard the door lock behind them and watched his silhouette against the wall. Fear gripped her and a strange foreboding came over her. This was not what she had expected, and she did not like the tone in his voice.

“Go on, have a look.”

The smell of moist earth came over her as she approached the trunk. What was it about that smell she recognized? That rancid stale smell that permeated the air and made her feel she could not breathe. She knew it from somewhere, sometime long ago. Her father stood beside her and handed her a big key.

“Go on, open it.”

The key felt cold and uncomfortable in her hand, and she fumbled before she managed to find the keyhole on the side of the trunk. The lid opened with a clicking sound, and she heard her father move quickly towards the door.

The lid was heavy and now the smell of soil became stronger. She looked down into a trunk full of dirt.

“What is this about,” she demanded.

 “It is my gift for you. Just wait a minute.”

She stood quietly by the trunk staring into the casket through the dim light that came from the small yellow cracked side window above. Suddenly something moved under the soil, and she stepped back instinctively. She recoiled in horror, shaking, a cold shiver running down her spine. What had seemed like a joke at first had become a frightening reality and panic gripped her.

“Don’t be scared.” She heard her father’s voice speaking softly from the darkness.

“There is nothing to be afraid of.”

The sound of his voice made the situation worse. She was trembling uncontrollably now.

“Let me out of here!.” she screamed and ran towards the door.

“Please” she begged. “Open the door!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. This is your birthday gift, for you Carina, my beautiful daughter. One day you will thank me.”

She could hear herself screaming, something was moving in the trunk.

It was a figure, human, slowly moving in the fragmented light. It sat upright, dirt falling from its body writhing, trembling, the sound of gasping air. Carina watched stunned as it took the form of a woman.

Her father stretched out his hand.

“Don’t touch me! Get away from me! Let me out of here!”

“Shhhhh, be calm,” he said.

“I am afraid I can’t let you leave just yet.”

The voice was firm and strong, and the force of his grip hurt her arms as he prevented her from moving.

“She has come a long way, Carina, just for you!”

Carina, hysterical and uncontrollable crying, tried to wriggle out from her father’s grip but he was too strong, and she was unable to move.

“You are hurting me,” she cried.

“Calm down Carina!”

She stared in disbelief and shock at the figure in front of her. The woman was looking straight at her with intense blue eyes.

“This is your mother!”

The words echoed in the room, and she felt weak and frail. It was as if every ounce of strength in her had gone.

“Don’t you see, she has come back just as she was the day when I met her. She was eighteen then just like you are today, she has come back on your birthday.”

The woman straightened her head and her tangled dirt clustered blond hair fell down on her shoulders. Carina was shocked when she recognized her as the woman at the party. She even wore the same pale green lace dress, only now it was covered in dirt, whet and stained. Everything about her was pale. Her skin was almost translucent, glowing white and her arms were lean and thin. She looked frail, more bone than flesh and weak as if something had taken all the strength away from her and there was a deep sadness in her eyes. With each breath came a rasping sound and a rancid stale smell that was becoming stronger.

“She has been sleeping for a long time. She came back for you, as she said she would. Remember?”

Carina remembered her mother saying just before she died that she would come back for her one day. She was only five. She never believed it to be true.

“I went to Sweden as you know. I knew the place where your mother was laid to rest. We had a special arrangement to get her out of there.”

Her father paused and Carina felt his grip around her arms loosening a little.

“She has waited a long time but now we are a family again. You see Carina, we are different from other people. We have lived for a very, very long time and sometimes we need to rest before we return. She is weak now, but you can bring her strength back. She needs your blood, Carina; your mother needs you.”

Carina stared in front of her in disbelief. Before she knew it, she was pushed towards the trunk and she screamed as the woman grabbed her wrist, and bit deeply into her flesh. The last thing she remembered was seeing the sleeve of her white cardigan turn scarlet and feeling the pain in her neck beginning to move down towards the arm. Then once again like in her dream there was the rancid damp smell of earth permeating the room before everything went black.

Robert walked up the driveway. The old sheepdog followed slowly behind him. He was carrying a small box and he smiled to himself knowing how happy Carina would be when he gave it to her. Her father greeted him in the doorway.

“Come in Robert.”

The dog growled loudly and refused to move.

“What is the matter?” Robert tried to coax it to come up on the porch, but it clearly refused.

“Don’t worry about him. He can stay there, Come in.”

A woman appeared beside Carina’s father. The girl from the party.

“Come in” she said.

“We have been waiting for you.”

She grabbed him by the arm and nearly dragged him through the door. The smell came over him as soon as he stepped inside. It was the smell of damp rancid earth that permeated the air. The box fell to the ground, she saw the silver chain with the silver cross laying on the carpet. Her firm grip hardened as she made a hissing sound.

“How quaint I used to have one just like that,” she said. 

“Carina is down in the basement; she has been dying to see you.”