I faded into the nightmare #Horror #Fiction #Suspense

Author: Swati Mohandas

“No, don’t kill him” , I mumbled.

Thump!!

I saw his body lying splattered in a pool of blood. The boy was thrown from the eighteenth floor by his father.

I shrieked, “Nooooo” and woke up gasping for breath.

I had a nightmare in which Annabelle, the terrifying porcelain doll who had cursed the father to kill his son.

I glanced at my younger brother who was sleeping soundly. I checked the time. It was 02:15 AM. I was sweating profusely so I headed to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. I passed my parents bedroom, they were sleeping too. Even though I was shaken up I didn’t think of waking them because as a teenager, I was old enough to handle a nightmare on my own. I decided to tell them about it in the morning though.

I drank water, splashed a little on my face and headed back to my bedroom, when suddenly I noticed Annabelle sitting on the sofa. I froze. She had the most menacing look I had ever seen. The forced smile and big, round, unblinking eyes glimmered in the moonlight which creeped me out.

I quickly switched the light on and to my surprise, the doll wasn’t there.

Poof! 

She had vanished into thin air. I looked around but saw nothing. Maybe the darkness, coupled with my nightmare was playing tricks on my mind. I assured myself somehow and crawled back into bed.

I slept soundly for the rest of the night and woke up to the chirping sound of birds. As I was tidying up my bed, I saw a note kept under my pillow. 

To my horror, it was written in the same manner Annabelle always wrote in the movies when she wanted a ‘soul’  for herself. Terrified, I dropped it and backed up against the wall. The note read ‘Miss me?’

Scared, I looked at my brother’s bed, he wasn’t there so I ran out of the room, calling out to my mother, “Mom? Mom, where are you? Johnny? Dad?”

There was dead silence all around. The house was empty.

Where did everyone go, without telling me? I wondered.

Crashhh!!

A deafening sound filled the house. I ran in the living room, strangely enough the chandelier had fallen on our coffee table, and its glass pieces were strewn all over the floor.

Leo, our golden retriever began to bark and whimper at the same time and ran out of the house.

I picked up the telephone to call my parents. I began to dial…. 98505……????

I went blank as I couldn’t recall their number. Gosh! What was happening?

I couldn’t stay in the house any longer, so I ran to Mr and Mrs. Smith’s house, our neighbours. I rang their doorbell and banged my fists on their door. But there wasn’t any response. This was quite puzzling as they usually spend their mornings at home.

Wondering where to go or what to do next, I thought of going to the nearby church. I was sure to find some help there.

I hurriedly ran out of the building; the morning sky had a grey and cloudy overcast which was even more surprising as we were in the middle of summertime and suddenly it began to heavily pour.

I was soaking wet, but didn’t stop as I was in a hurry to reach the church. As luck would have it, I saw my mother and Johnny.

But wait a minute! Why were they

standing near the gate of St. Mary’s cemetery?

Perplexed, I ran in their direction. I hugged my mother, but she didn’t hug me back neither she looked at me. I could see that tears were streaming down her cheeks. “MOM! What happened, mom?” I yelled. No response.

So many thoughts crossed my mind. I caught hold of Johnny who was crying inconsolably in the arms of Aunt Maria, “Hey, what happened? Why are you crying? Where is dad?”  Even he didn’t seem to notice me.

I looked around. Our relatives were there. The Smiths were also there. My mind was getting muddled up with disturbing thoughts.

At that moment, on the other side of the hearse-van I saw my father standing. As I was approaching him, my eyes fell on his handcuffed wrists. One of the three policemen was holding my father by his arm.

Before I could reach to my father, someone opened the back door of the hearse – van and a coffin was pulled out. I glanced to see who was in it. And I was horrified. 

I felt dizzy. My head began to spin. I couldn’t believe my eyes….

I was the one in the coffin! I was dead. It wasn’t a nightmare I had last night. The boy lying in that pool of blood was none other than me. 

My father was under the curse of Annabelle, the evil-spirited doll who had possessed him and made him kill me.

About the Author:

I am a Philosophy graduate and a certified computer professional from Mumbai and based in Pune with my family from the last 2 decades.

Literature always fancied me. I pen down short stories, blogs, poems and has forayed into freelance content writing. I even published an award-winning book of collected poems titled ‘Myriad Whispers’ which is available on Amazon.

When not writing, I enjoy listening to music, exploring the outdoors and scanning local bookstores.