4338.214.7 | Expelled

"Get out!" The scream tore from my throat, raw and primal, as I lurched away from Serena's touch. My hands scrambled against the slick shower wall, seeking purchase, seeking escape from this nightmare that had materialised in my most vulnerable moment. Water cascaded around us, steam rising like a spectre in the harsh bathroom light.

Grabbing the nearest towel, I flung it at her face while snatching another to wrap around myself. My movements were frantic, uncoordinated, driven by pure instinct and terror. "How dare you!" My voice cracked, hysteria rising like bile in my throat. "How bloody dare you!"

Serena caught the towel with an unsettling grace, holding it almost contemplatively against her chest. Her dark hair clung to her shoulders in wet rivulets, making her look younger, more vulnerable - and somehow more terrifying for it.

"You're upset," she said softly, that same gentle tone she used in class when reading Shakespeare's sonnets. "I understand. It's been a difficult night."

"Difficult?" I barked out a laugh that bordered on hysterical. "You're in my house. In my bathroom. You're my student, for God's sake!" The absurdity of having to state these obvious facts made my head spin. "How did you get in here?"

Her smile was serene, almost indulgent. "I've had a key for months. Ever since that day you let me borrow your drama texts." She wrapped the towel around herself with deliberate slowness. "You really should be more careful with your belongings, Mrs. Triffett. Jenny. My Jenny."

The use of my first name sent a shiver down my spine. "Don't," I warned, backing towards the bathroom door. "Don't you dare call me that."

"But it's your name," she insisted, taking a step forward. "The name Nial calls you. Called you." The slight emphasis on the past tense made my blood run cold.

"What have you done?" The question escaped me in a whisper. "What do you know about Nial?"

"He wasn't good for you," Serena said, her voice taking on an edge I'd never heard before. "He didn't understand you like I do. The way you light up when discussing theatre, how your hands move when you're explaining stage direction." She took another step closer. "How you sing lullabies to Sammy when he has nightmares."

My heart stopped. "You've been watching us? In our home?"

"Watching over you," she corrected, as if the distinction was crucial. "Protecting you. Sammy's night terrors started getting worse, did you notice? Around the same time Nial began staying late at work, making all those secret phone calls."

The implications of her words hit me like a physical blow. Six months. Sammy's increasing anxiety, his reluctance to sleep alone, the way he'd wake screaming about shadows in his room... "You've been in my son's room?"

"Our son," Serena said with that same gentle smile. "He likes it when I sing to him. The same songs you use, but he says I do the voices better."

The room tilted dangerously. I grabbed the doorframe to steady myself, bile rising in my throat. "You're sick," I managed to choke out. "You need help."

Her expression darkened. "I'm not sick. I'm the only one who truly sees you, who understands what you need." She moved closer, water dripping from her hair onto the tile floor. "Did you think I wouldn't notice the way you looked at me in class? How you always chose my scenes to workshop, always found time for extra rehearsals?"

"I was doing my job!" The words exploded from me. "You were a talented student who needed guidance. Nothing more!"

"Lies," she hissed, her mask of serenity cracking. "You're lying to yourself, just like you lied about being happy with Nial. But I fixed that. I made it so we could be together."

Horror crawled up my spine. "What did you do to my husband?"

"What I had to." Her voice was almost childlike now. "He was in the way. But now we can be a proper family. You, me, Sammy..." She reached out to touch my face. "I've taken care of everything."

Something in me snapped. With strength born of terror and maternal rage, I shoved her away. Her feet slipped on the wet tile, and she went down hard, her head cracking against the edge of the bathtub. The sound was sickeningly solid.

For a moment, neither of us moved. Serena lay sprawled on the floor, a thin line of blood trickling from her hairline. Her eyes, when they met mine, were wide with hurt and confusion.

"You're just like him," she whispered, touching her fingers to the blood. "You're hurting me, just like he did when he caught me in Sammy's room."

The implications of her words sent fresh horror coursing through me. "Get out," I commanded, my voice shaking. "Get the fuck out of my house right now, or I swear to God..."

She rose slowly, clutching her towel around her. "You'll understand eventually," she said, that eerie serenity returning to her face despite the blood staining her temple. "When you're ready to accept what we mean to each other. What we could be."

"If you've hurt Nial..." The threat died in my throat as she smiled - that same sweet, disturbing smile she'd given me in class just yesterday.

"I'll come back when you're feeling more reasonable," she said, gathering her clothes. "Give Sammy a kiss for me. He'll be asking where his 'night-time friend' has gone."

The scream that built in my chest never made it past my lips. I could only watch, paralysed, as she dressed and walked away, her footsteps echoing through my house as if she owned it. The sound of the front door closing was both a relief and a new kind of terror.

She had a key. She'd been watching us, entering our home, touching my child. And somewhere out there, my husband...

My legs gave way, and I slid down the bathroom wall, the cool tile grounding me in this new reality. The shower was still running, steam filling the room like fog, but I barely noticed. My mind was racing, connecting dots I should have seen months ago.

Serena's obsession hadn't just destroyed my life - it might have destroyed Nial's too. And now she was out there, watching, waiting, while somewhere in the darkness, a black creature crouched over its prey, and Sharon's warning echoed in my head: "Keep your mouth shut. We were never there."

I hugged my knees to my chest, shivering despite the steam. The night pressed in around me, full of monsters both human and otherwise. And I had no idea which ones had taken my husband.