The Ghostly Figure

So there I was in the middle of a good night sleep when I had this nightmare. For me it was almost a standard bad dream where I was being chased by a supernatural creature of some kind. The creature this time happened to be a classic ghost. You know, the kind that looks like a guy wearing a white sheet.

I remember running and running to get away. But no matter how fast I went, the ghost was at least as fast as I was! The dream seemed to go on for ages. It's rough when you are so afraid and you just can't seem to get away from that fear. But in the end the dream finally faded, and I was back in normal sleep.

But soon after, I was dreaming again. I dreamed I was lying in my own bed asleep. I dreamed that I awoke and opened my eyes to see a terrifying figure hovering over me. The figure was about seven feet tall, much too thin to be human, and was wearing a long white sheet! The ghost was back! It terrified me so much that I instantly and finally awoke from my sleep.

Now I was really awake, lying there and a little bit afraid to open my eyes. I told myself that it had all been nothing but a bad dream, but I knew that it had seemed so real. The only thing to do was open my eyes to reassure myself that there was no ghost there.

I opened my eyes, and the ghost was still there! It was less that a second when the ghost swooped down towards me! I closed my eyes tightly and my hands reflexively flew up in front of me for protection! But nothing came.

I laid there in that exact position for what seemed like hours. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard that I thought I was going to die! I could actually feel the strong, solid beating with my hands! Ba bump, ba bump, ba bump! I was too afraid to look once more.

I let the time pass some more until my heart slowed enough to where I thought the ghost might not give me a heart attack. finally, I opened my eyes once more. The ghost was gone. It was as if it were never there at all.

I quickly got out of bed and checked the entire room for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing at all, except my own terrified reflection in the mirror. I never saw the ghost again after that, but I have always wondered if that last part was real or just a very real dream. I guess I'll never know.

Mr. Sunshine's Dilemma

The odd little man was seeing the strange images again. He had told them when he was in the mental institution that he no longer saw them, but that was a lie so they would let him out. He thought about it now that he was free, and realized his statement was actually partially true. At the time, he didn't see the little oddities as much as he used to because he had learned to ignore them, but now they were back stronger than ever.

Just a little while ago as he had looked up at a painting on the wall of his small apartment, it began to do some very strange and disturbing things. It was the image of a woman. He began to notice that it was moving; swaying gently from side to side. The colors began to swirl and get darker. The woman looked down at him and began to speak. "Come a little closer, Mr. Sunshine," she said in a teasing, but almost seductive manner as her clothing and skin began to melt away. Mr. Sunshine was the name the workers in the mental institution had begun calling him to make fun of him.

He watched in a silent demented interest as each layer oozed from the woman until she was only a skeleton, still beckoning to him. Any fear he might have didn't last long because he knew it was just an illusion that his fractured mind had created. This was how it happened on almost every occasion; inanimate objects giving him a horror show. He was mostly used to it after all this time. He knew that he wasn't really quite sane. But knowing was enough for him to want to be free of institutional confinement. He could function just fine in society as long as he ignored these horrible visions. And he couldn't let anyone else know what he saw.

But now there was a new problem. He was watching the news on television when an urgent report came in. It was straight out of a horror movie. The anchorman claimed the dead were walking and eating human flesh! They even showed footage! This wasn't the kind of craziness that had happened to him before, so he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. His insanity had always been very consistent. It was always the inanimate! This new event was very different. Was this real?

So he decided to change the channels and find out if there was more. Sure enough, on the next channel they were showing shambling zombies chasing screaming people, and the news person was on the verge of panic. She said the zombies were overrunning the city! The woman continued on, saying everyone should take cover in their homes.

His twisted mind didn't know what to make of this new development. He wondered if this was just a new aspect of his insanity or if it was the outside world that was going crazy. He wasn't sure at all if this was something he should ignore, or if he should prepare to defend himself. If it was real he would have to protect himself from flesh eating zombies. But what to do if it was only his own warped imagination?

He thought about the rifle he had secretly bought a few days ago, and he wondered what he should do. What should he do!!!

The Bedroom Window

You turn out the light and lay down for a good night sleep. You never suspect what might be there, lurking and waiting. What would you do if you knew that it was only a few steps away? Something watching your every move.

Do you feel its eyes on you? Where do you think it is? What is it? Are you all alone? Heh, you're not scared. Things like the supernatural have never bothered you. Shadowy figures never held any interest in your thoughts. After all, you're an adult now. You can drift off to a good night sleep without any fear of the night.

But wait! You are startled from your sleep by a sound at the window! Do you dare go and check? Go ahead. Pull back the curtains and look out. What will you find there? Will there be a face looking back in at you? Or will you be met by an intense darkness that hides the things that exist in the night?

How will you do it? Will you rip the curtain back as quick as you can to fool yourself into thinking you have no fear? What kind of shock will that bring when you so suddenly meet it face to face. Or will you pull the curtain back slowly to see it little by little? Maybe then it will know you're coming and prepare something especially hideous for you.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and do it. Do it! Look out your bedroom window. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones.

A Light From Above

“Then I began to see, I just needed to believe in me.”

KISS – I

~

Many years had gone by in the boy’s life, and he was now a young man. He had lost most of his confidence after the demon hag had so convincingly threatened his mother’s life. And now, several years later, nothing in his life ever seemed to go right for him. The hag’s evil oppression seemed to be slowly destroying him.

He no longer wondered what he was going to do about the evil visitations or any of his other problems. He just accepted that they were never going to end. The hag never followed up on the threats to his family, and the young man knew that she really didn’t need to anyway. He felt as if he was already beaten and there was no longer any hope for him whatsoever. He was tired. He was tired of everything.

The hag had recently come back out of his dreams to terrorize him in the waking world once again. The young man knew that her power was growing stronger, and it meant that this was now the darkest time of his life. After washing his hands in the bathroom sink, he looked up into the mirror almost expecting to see the hag looking back at him, but he only saw his own sad face.

He was remembering his recent discovery that years ago his aunt had buried a Ouija board in the basement of the house he now lived in. His mother had always told him and his siblings to stay away from Ouija boards because they were evil. The young man wished they could dig it up and get rid of it, but there was really no hope of ever finding it. He had the strangest feeling that it had a strong connection to the hag.

With that thought he shook himself out of his daydream, then opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the kitchen. He had only taken a few steps towards the living room when he heard the low ominous humming that he had heard so many other times. It was the sound that announced the hag’s coming. Within a second the lights dimmed down to nothing and he felt a strong pull towards the back door. She was back there!

A terror that he was being pulled toward an eternal hell immediately overwhelmed the young man. He immediately went to his hands and knees trying to claw his way towards the living room as he had feebly done so many times before. So many times. It never seemed to end. As he slowly crawled, trying to overcome the strange pull, he wondered if this would keep happening for the rest of his life. He was so tired of this. And he knew that his destination held no safety for him. What was the use in this?

It was about the time that he got about a foot from the doorway to the living room that his defeated thoughts changed in a small way. He was tired of all of this. Tired of the evil games. Tired of so much fear. He knew this would never end, so he wondered why he was fleeing in terror? He was a man! He wasn’t going to face this on his knees any longer! With that thought, he leaped to his feet and spun around! He was going to face his fears!

Now facing the back of the house with all fear forgotten, in a fit of righteous anger he began to march purposefully towards the back door to confront the waiting demon. And then, as if it was always supposed to happen, after only a few steps toward his destination something miraculous happened!

It was as if time had slowed to a crawl. A sparkling bluish white light poured down from above and into the young man through the top of his head. With that light came a knowledge and power the likes no other human being could have ever known. The young man at once felt as if he knew everything! Happiness and joy now filled every part of him. He knew his anger, contrary to what he had always been taught, was right now a very good thing. And he also knew exactly what he had to do now.

The glorious blue-white light now filled and surrounded him so much that it radiated out from every part of him and ate away the darkness beyond. He resumed his purposeful march to the back door and the darkness beyond in the back room where he knew the demonic hag now hid. Quickly reaching the door, he threw it open and took a firm step into the darkness!

The young man now filled with the fury from a lifetime of torture looked into the darkness where he knew the hag was hiding. There in the farthest corner of the pitch black darkness of the room he found the hag. She was crouched down in terror against the wall; the same position she had terrified his little sister into so many years ago. He felt her overwhelming fear of him oozing out from her like a dark fog. It came up against his powerful light of good and overwhelmed into nothingness. The young man knew in that moment that he could destroy this evil creature with only a touch, but he also knew that what he was to do now would be far more effective.

The young man looked directly into the face of the hag and declared, “EVIL DEMON! YOU PITIFUL WORTHLESS VERMIN! YOU ARE NOTHING! YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE! YOU NEVER DID! I CAST YOU OUT! GO BACK TO THE HELL FROM WHENCE YOU CAME! NEVER BOTHER ME OR ANY MEMBER OF MY FAMILY EVER AGAIN! YOU MAY NOT RETURN TO THIS WORLD EVER AGAIN! YOU ARE NOW BANISHED FOREVER FROM THIS EARTH! GO NOW AND NEVER RETURN!”

As the last of his words jumped from his lips, the darkness in the room began to lift, and the light that illuminated him now shined into every corner. There was no sign of the hag. She was gone, and he knew in the deepest part of his heart that she would never return. The young man had finally faced his fears, and he had won! He felt a triumph that he had never known before in his young life. He knew the hag would bother him no more. He never had to be afraid again, because he was free! As he turned to go tell his family, he realized he was now feeling a sense of great relief because his lifelong ordeal was over. It was finally over!

The End

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A Threat Of Death

“Don’t close your eyes, don’t sing your last lullaby.”

Kix – Don’t Close Your Eyes

~

Several years had passed now since the demonic hag had come to the front door and frightened the children. The boy was now in his middle teen years and closer to being an adult than he was the very little boy that the hag had first visited. The visits had never stopped, but something about that front door incident had changed things.

Oh sure, the hag was still coming to the boy, but the terrifying visits were now in his dreams instead of the waking world. The boy guessed early on that her failure at the front door must have weakened her in some way. He just wished he knew how it was done. Maybe this was the way to finally get rid of her altogether.

The fact that she was now only in his dreams was no relief. Oh, far from it. The hag’s threats and evil promises made him as afraid as ever in the waking world because, even though she wasn’t in the waking world now, she knew things and seemed to be able to affect things there. But even though this torment seemed to be never ending, the boy was glad it was only in his dreams now.

The problem though was that he still had to go to sleep at night. The boy never tried to stay awake because there was no use. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that a person had to sleep sometimes. So now while he was in bed, even though the fear and worry were causing him to have trouble getting to sleep, he eventually would drift off to face the inevitable. The nightmare of the hag.

He found himself in a basement. It wasn’t his house. The boy looked around at this familiar place that he had never seen before, and knew he was in a dream. He also knew what was there waiting for him. He tried to find a way out, but there was only the stairs leading up, and they were somehow blocked by an invisible barrier. There was only one direction to go; to the back of the basement.

That’s where he found her, sitting in a big chair and surrounded by a dull light, waiting expectantly for him with a cruel grin on her face. “Don’t ever think you can escape,” she said in a mocking tone. “I always know where you are and what you’re doing. Come forward, boy!"

The boy knew there was nothing to do but to move towards the hag. But not too close. It was a compromise he had discovered long ago. He could appease her anger without giving in completely. He could never give in to that unasked question she always had. “Just say yes, boy. Then it will all be over with. You know you want to end it,” she told him.

The boy did want it to end, but not in the way she intended. He knew that giving in would be the worst thing he or any person could ever do. He wasn’t exactly sure why that was, but he knew it no matter how much she tried to hide just what would happen, or what that question was.

After a pause, the hag glared at him and abruptly said, “This little game is becoming tiring. It’s time I taught you a lesson in what I will do if you don’t give in to me. You know I can hurt your family, don’t you? I’ve been kind to you so far. Do you know that? Now I’m going to show you that I can make you pay for your hesitations.”

As soon as those words were out of the hag’s evil mouth the air just to the right of the boy began to shimmer and distort. Slowly an image of a person began to form in that spot. As it coalesced, the boy was shocked to find out that the image was now his mother! There was something different about her though. She didn’t appear to be quite really there. It was as if the boy was seeing her on a movie screen because she didn’t seem quite three dimensional, and her color was a little dull.

The boy tried to talk to the image of his mother, but even though she moved like a normal person, she didn’t seem to know he was there. Still, the boy knew this was not just some doppelganger; this shadow image somehow really represented his mom. The boy wondered what this was all about.

“I’m going to kill her,” the hag announced to the boy in a matter of fact tone of voice. “That should make you understand my power over you, dog!” Then there was a flash of red and yellow around the image of the boy’s mother, similar to a the way a match looks at the moment it has been struck. With that, his mother fell to the floor, dead in every appearance.

“NOOOO,” the boy screamed. He quickly knelt beside his mom to see if there was any way of saving her, but he knew there was no hope. The boy looked up at the hag and said, “Bring her back! You have to bring her back! Please!”

The hag gave an evil sounding chuckle and said to the boy, “Oh, she’s not really dead. Yet! This is just part of a demonstration to show you that I can really do it. You thought I was weakened, but I’ll show you that I’m as strong as ever, and I can hurt any one of your family if you don’t do as I say. And don’t you think this demonstration is over! This is just a dream right now. Just wait until you see the results of this.” Then the hag began to laugh.

As the boy looked on in horror at the evil hag, the image of his mother regained consciousness. Soon she was back on her feet. The hag looked straight at the boy and said pointedly, “Leave this dream! Take your mother and go! You will answer the question the way I want you to when I ask, because you will know my power!”

The boy found himself laying in the dark in his own bed. This had been the worst encounter with the hag yet, and it was because he truly believed her this time. He had no reason to doubt she could do this. The boy was terrified. He wasn’t able to get back to sleep that morning, and he went through the rest of the day tired, but wide awake and just glad this latest incident was over.

When the boy got home from school that day, he was greeted by his father, but his mother wasn’t there. Something had happened. His father told him that his mother had to be taken to the hospital. She was okay now, but it had been a precarious situation. She had, for some reason, had a seizure. When they got her to the hospital, her heart had stopped. It was all the oddest thing, but she was okay now. They could find nothing else wrong.

The boy’s dad explained that she would have to stay in the hospital for a few more days under observation to make sure she was really fine. But he made it clear that after they determine there’s nothing else wrong, she can come home. He said the doctors claim to understand the problem and think it’s all over.

The boy knew the real problem. The hag did this to her. And when his mother got back home the boy was very protective of her, staying by her side as much as he could, even though he knew he could do nothing. But eventually as time moved on things had to return to normal, even though the boy knew the hag might abruptly strike again at any time. He wondered if there was anything he could ever do.

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