Tu+Linh

ANOTHER HORROR STORY… By TU LINH

I felt something, something near by. I just couldn’t see. It was too dark to see anything in this crappy old house, but tonight, tonight was the full moon. The appearance of it, something really scared the hell out of me. It was that awkward feeling that makes your stomach hurt. Well of course it’s because I was hungry then, very hungry. In fact, I was starving, and this uneasy feeling was swarming over me.

I thought I would start to panic in just a few seconds, but I was too scared, too scared and exhausted to even do so. I hear noises, squeaky noises at the back of my head. I froze at that very moment, that important twist in every horror story where I should’ve panicked and ran. I don’t know where or how but all I wanted was to free myself from this haunted place, desperately. Instead, I froze. To my relief it was only just a big, hairy rat rushing through the broken wooden floor that brought up the tainted and disgusting smell of a rotten plum somewhere. I felt nauseous, but what a relief I thought to myself. What I didn’t know, was there really was something behind me, and it has been there the whole time, watching my every move.

I sat there in silence as the tree kept tapping on the window, the intense scratching sounded like sharp fingernails that are constantly scratching on the wooden floor. I sat there, perfectly still where I watched a little ray of light, growing from the street light through the dark, murky window… Later on that night, I tried to catch some sleep but all I could think of was how I was stuck here, in this scary house. //I found a note that morning, stuck between the door of my apartment a//  //nd it had the smell of lavender, my favourite flower. It said “There is a surprise for you at the two-story house near the train rail. Come and see!” It was my birthday. I thought the girls organized a surprise party for me. With a smile, I continued my routine for the day and when I finished work, I drove straight there, where I saw the old two-storey house.//

// It surrounded with tall grasses and bush, and it was windy and cold. You could see the beauty of this house even though time has destroyed many parts of it. It felt strangely familiar. Half of the stairs up to the door had been broken, the glass of the right window probably was shattered, leaving only some sharp points. It swung making squawking like the sound of a bird. On the second floor, the top has fallen down already. Columns were covered with tree roots and branches around point to the sky like sharp nails of a witch. All the windows were open widely like eyes gazing at me, gave me this quiver. When I approached the doorknob, just about to turn it and open. I heard someone shambling through. I thought it was one of the girls trying to find a hiding place, about to surprise me. I waited for a few seconds and turned the door knob. // // It slowly open, moved inch by inch. My heart almost flew out. As soon as I opened the front door, I could sense the appearance of someone or something in there about to jump and grab me. I knew it wasn’t the girls, they wouldn’t have done this to scare me. It was dark inside, the little faint light from the street busted in, made the shadow of me, a tall version of me, which stood still at the door. There was this odd smell of old wood and butter of the age of hundreds years old, mixed with a bit smell of some dead creature, sickening me. I could taste the disgust of it in my mouth. Suddenly, I noticed some twinkling spot far inside of nowhere. Blame my curiousity, I wondered what it was. And just like that I entered the house, knowing this could cost my life. I gulped down a big, long breath. //

// I followed the twinkling spot somewhere in the dark. The door slammed. I turned my head around, frightened. I threw myself to the rusty, white door that had the smell of old and wet wood, and tried opening it. It was locked. I walked quiety and as careful as I could I had to keep an eye on my back at all times. I knew there was no way out, I just had to keep going… // That thing moved again. I could feel it in my bones. A cold breeze passed through me. I glimpsed back. My eyes were so used to the dark now, I could catch sight of a black shadow moving. I was sure it was a person. It had a crooked back. This time I was terrified seeing that I couldn’t move as long as I was stuck to this chair. I wriggled a little, trying desperately to escape…

// I found a stair, not with my eyes, but by the harsh kick I made myself. I try to figure out how to get upstairs to where the small spot was. I stepped up and continued going… // “Stop trying to escape, Ellen. You are making yourself exhausted.“ “Who are you? Why are you trapping me here. Let me go!” I shook hard on the chair, which made some squeaky sound. I could feel the phantom, moving closer to me, very closely. With the reflect of the full moon, I now see who that phantom really was… // A door was left opened. The sulphureous smell like rotten egg and dead fish that had been left for days, hit my nose, unpleasantly. I stood motionless for a while then staggered making some move toward the room… //

That phantom, that creepy phantom, whom had kept my custody, he was my great grandfather. I remembered, before that dreadful accident, when my father was alive a few years ago, he showed me a picture of my great grandfather, and the house of his childhood. He was a very strong man, strong and caring, until a week after the death of his wife, he had gone mad. Papa said great grandfather has to spend the last few years of his life in a mental hospital. He wanted to kill my grandfather, for he believed, my grandfather didn’t inherit his blood, and neither did my father.

“You are not my blood. Neither did your lovely grandfather. I don’t have to spare you a life.” The phantom whispered in to my ear. No breathe, it was a chilly puff of air. I shivered. There was a moment of unspoken words, but I dared myself to ask. “Why did you take me? Why are you doing this?” I spoke into the gloomy of the night. “It’s because of you, I could never move on. It’s because of your blood still living and passing on, I can’t be reborn. It’s because my son, who wasn’t… I have to destroy this dirty blood. Cannot let it pass on. I have to kill you. You are the last of this family, the very last!” He replied in a unruffled voice as cold as ice. “Why isn’t grandpa your son? You’ve created him. Why isn’t he your son? Why do you have to kill me?” Frightened, I knew I would have to stay calm. I knew I couldn’t just freak out. “Tell me!” I repeated.

// A stark landscape, I was amazed to see a floating candle light at the corner of the house. With a stealthy approach, I was grabbed and tied into a chair in thin air. I YELLED. “HELP ME! AAHH LET ME GO! PLEASE! LET ME…” The rope was tied too hard on me. I started bleeding… //

“Your bloody grandfather was not my son. My wife has cheated on me. She did not carry the baby of my blood. She carried a baby of someone else’s. She betrayed me. I had to take care of that thing my whole life, loved him, then to find he was not mine. “ The phantom roared i eded  n devastation. “You will pay for what she has done to me, for every single pain I’ve had to bare. You WILL!” The house shook hard with his cry. Werewolves somewhere were howling for him. The wind was so strong, the old house might have disappeared. I trembled, stared at him in panic. I couldn’t speak. I tried to yell out something but the sound came out of my throat wasn’t loud enough to go over his threatful voice. I squeezed my eyes. My ears burst. He transformed himself into a monster. He screeched louder. I wanted to cover my ears with my two hands. I was tied tighter and tighter as he grew fully into into   monster. A slimy blue, ugly monster with teeth as sharp as knife, and its smell was just awful.

The monster breathed into me a sickening mouthful of air. He grabbed my neck tensely, pushed me on the ground while I startled. I fought back as hard as I could. Trying to get the big gulp of air out of my throat and the cold hand, the freezing hand, choked me to death.

I looked into his eyes in my very last second to live. He succeeded what he has planned for a very long time. He went back to be a phantom, and stood up. He stood there with no movement, just looked at me motionless like he had before, looked at my grandfather and my father’s deaths. The phantom noticed something at the back of my neck, to find a birthmark, the birthmark same as his. He soon realized, he had killed his own family. He had murdered his own son, his grandson and me, his great granddaughter, the very last of his own blood.

The phantom laughed, laughed at what he has done, laugh ridiculously at himself as the sun slowly rose and vanished him into thin air… THE END