Hello! :)
This is a horror one shot I'd written a while ago but without a conclusion. This came to me while I was watching the movie 'Conjuring' for the third time. That and the serious lack of horror stories in VA achieve inspired me to write this little story.
I know it's not anywhere near scary but be warned. It's not for the faint-hearted :D
I hope you enjoy it :)
Rose...
The sound of a door slamming shut roused me from the trance like sleep I'd succumbed to while sitting at my desk.
"Rose," whispered a voice in my ear. "Rose..."
I felt a strange chill seep through my body at that sound. A light shiver traveled down my spine as I desperately tried to open my eyes.
"Roza..." The voice crooned again.
With a great struggle, I threw off the weight that seemed to have settled on my eyelids. Blinking, I took in my surroundings.
I was still at my desk, my face resting on the open book that I'd attempted to read before dozing off. The room was pitch dark except for a sliver of light shining through a gap between the curtains.
A strange but weirdly familiar chill clung to me as I clumsily stood up, trying to make sense of what was happening.
I'd heard a voice calling me.
I'd heard the sound of a door being slammed.
But I couldn't see anything.
Tripping over my feet, I hurried over to switch on the light; all the while assuring myself that I was okay, that everything was fine.
But in the dark of the night, that promise seemed empty and cold.
Cold.
Why was it so cold?
I heaved a sigh of relief when I found the light switch.
I flicked it on.
But the room remained dark.
'As dark as the depths of hell,' my mythology professor, Alberta Petrov would say. 'All hope abandon, ye who enter in!'
Forcing out the lines of Dante's poem that were echoing in my mind, I scrabbled around the table to find the switch of the small lamp I kept on it.
It was only when a dim light illuminated my surroundings that I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
But my relief was short lived.
The room got even spookier, if that was possible.
The small lamp didn't help much. The soft, dim light of the lamp illuminated some parts of the room while darkening the others. Light seemed to war with darkness and it looked like the darkness was winning.
There was something grim, something sinister in the shadows. Something that light couldn't touch...
Scolding myself for imagining things, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
There's nothing to be afraid of, Rose.
Nodding to myself, I searched for my phone in the pile of books at my desk. As soon as I unlocked the phone, screen flickered and died.
But I'd caught a glimpse of the time.
It was sharp 3.00 in the morning.
3 a.m.
The hour of demons and evil spirits as Alberta often said.
Cursing the lady to hell, I tried to take stock of the situation.
My parents were out of the state and I was alone.
Alone in a massive manor with the nearest neighbor at least two miles away.
Alone with a dead cell phone.
Alone and spooked.
Alone at 3 a.m.
Alone when-
A loud bang echoed through the house making my jump.
Heart racing, I extracted my torch from one of the drawers and slowly approached the door of my room.
I had to investigate the sound.
Yes, I know I shouldn't. I've watched more than two dozen horror movies where people get killed because they'd set out to explore some noise they'd heard.
I've screamed at the characters who took it upon themselves to 'investigate' the sounds. I've always rationalized that I'd stay put if I ever found myself in such situations.
Now that I did, I know what the characters must have felt.
It's next to impossible to not look for the sources of the unexplained sounds.
Apart from natural curiosity, there's this tendency to assure ourselves that the noise was nothing.
That we had nothing to fear.
We set out to explore because we want reassurance.
It could just be the wind...or the cat.
Never mind the fact that I hated cats. The Mazur family has never provided a home for cats.
Heart thudding in my chest, I slowly pushed open the door and shone the torch down the hallway.
Nothing.
Just then, a small grunt reached my ears.
Taking a step into the hallway, I cleared my throat. "Who's there?"
I cursed myself when my voice came out softly, far from the confident tone I'd wanted.
Nothing answered me except a rustle.
The same grunt was heard again.
It seemed to come from the floor below.
Gulping, I shone the torch in all directions before slowly approaching the stairs.
When I reached the top of the stairs, goosebumps erupted on my skin.
The wide windows of the enormous living room were thrown open.
The snow white curtains bellowed in the biting cold wind, wildly fighting against their restraints.
Rubbing my free hand over the arm holding the torch, I took one step down.
The wind whistled, the sound piercing the air.
The light of the torch caught the massive painting hung above the fireplace.
The painting of my family.
Our faces looked eerie under the glare of my flashlight.
But I felt a little emboldened by the painting.
Seeing familiar faces; remembering your loved ones does that to you.
Strengthening my resolve, I walked down the stairs swiftly.
Just as my right foot rested on the last step of the staircase, a slow...painful creak echoed through the house.
At the same time, a flash of white shone at the far end of the room.
Shocked, I clung to the banister as another draft swept through the room.
There was no white streak anymore.
Nothing except me, my flashlight and the cold, howling wind in the large, empty room.
At least, that's what I thought before a low, throaty chuckle reverberated across the room.
My breath came out in a gasp.
The dark chuckle seemed to echo through the very hollows of my bones.
"Who's there?" I shouted desperately.
The frigid chuckle died out as quickly as it'd come.
Shaking like a leaf, I exhaled noisily, trying to grasp on to the last shreds of courage.
I knew this was no case of robbery. My house was well protected, made secure by the most modern and latest technology.
The only option left was-paranormal?!
I've never believed in ghosts. But at this point, I was willing to believe it.
I was willing to believe anything.
Now, I had two options. Run back to my room and lock myself in there or get the hell out of the house.
Despite my behavior tonight, I prided myself on being brave.
I was not weak. I hated weakness.
But this was out of ordinary.
Ghosts were out of my forte.
Just as this thought passed through my mind, another chuckle pierced the glacial air.
The same, low and throaty chuckle which seemed to rise out of the floors and walls.
The chuckle stopped just as abruptly.
My heart stuttered, then picked up the pace and started running frantically.
"Scared, love?" came the cold voice.
I looked around hopelessly, more distressed and scared than I've ever been in my life.
"Who are you?" I whispered into the night. "What do you want?"
"Oh, Roza." The voice seemed to sigh. "I want you, of course."
Roza?
Roza!
"Dimitri?" I called, warmth shooting up through my body at the sound of his name even though I didn't understand what was going on.
I was answered with a cold laughter that seemed to further lower the temperature.
"Dimitri!" I called again, desperation etched in every syllable.
No answer.
An eerie stillness settled in the room.
Slowly, unsteadily, I walked over to the front door.
But before I could push it open, a huge current of energy rippled though the room and the door blasted out, the hinges creaking and groaning under the application of a mysterious force.
I shrieked as icy cold wind howled, entering the house with a force that knocked me over.
Despair filled me as I lay on the ground, exhausted.
I didn't want to deal with this, whatever 'this' was. I was tired, aching and fed of being scared.
With renewed determination, I rose to my feet in time to see a translucent form drifting away.
Was that real?
Was any of this real?
The flashes, the howls, the voice.
The voice belonging to my Dimitri.
Dimitri, the love of my life.
Dimitri, the guy I'd lost to an accident two years ago?
Nothing made sense anymore...
A tinkling sound reached my ears at that moment.
The wind chimes clashed against each other, tinkling merrily against the wind.
The old armchair in the patio groaned and then started swinging slowly, almost as if it were occupied by a person.
A whisper traveled through the chilly air: "Roza.."
A cry of anguish left my lips as I wrapped my arms around myself.
"Help me, Roza!"
Tears falling down from my eyes, I ran.
I ran towards the sound.
Agony and despair seemed to ooze out of my heart but I didn't stop running.
Dimitri was in danger.
Dimitri needed help.
Help? Wasn't he dead?
I didn't know. What I knew was I had to reach him...
Panting, I realized that my feet had carried me over to the left side of the manor.
I now stood in front of the pond that I'd spent countless hours fishing and playing around with Dimitri.
Ghostly echoes of our laughter from ages long past filled the air. Ripples rose on the surface of the pond and the air grew heavier under the weight of heavy and nearly opaque fog.
Shrieks of bats accompanied the ghoulish laughter. Added to the mix was the pounding sound that seemed to come from somewhere deep within the earth.
The low, throaty chuckle was clear in the midst of this cacophony.
"Stop it!" I cried, sinking to the ground under the sheer force of desperation mixed with fright.
I was petrified beyond belief. At the same time, a mad longing for Dimitri consumed me.
I wanted this to end! I wanted everything to end!
I wanted Dimitri.
As I watched, the translucent water of the pond started swirling in itself, unaided by the wind.
Pale hands seemed to reach out of the water.
Reaching towards me...
Screaming, I shuffled backwards until my back hit a tree.
Another chuckle.
A movement right before my eyes caught my attention.
There was something swinging from the branches of the tree I was leaning against.
A corpse!
A corpse hanging upside down was swinging by a rope right before my eyes!
A loud, high pitched wail filled with stark terror and a desolate hopelessness reverberated through the grounds.
It took me a moment to understand that it was coming from me before the world turned black before my eyes.
I only realized that I'd been running when my foot caught something on the ground and I fell face first into the ground.
I clutched at the twigs on the ground as I fought to remain conscious.
Heavy footsteps reached my ears.
Moaning, I tried to push myself away from the sound.
The same cold chuckle reached my ears.
"No..." I groaned, fighting to get away.
At the very next second, there was a loud thud.
And a human voice.
A human!
"Help!" I tried to shout but it came out as a mumble.
A man's voice swore above me.
Someone turned my face away from the ground.
I caught a glimpse of a tall body before I knew no more.
I woke up on a bed decked in pure white sheets, in the middle of the night. A cold glow from a bedside lamp illuminated the small room I was in.
A room I'd never been in before.
My head felt heavy and my throat parched.
What on earth had happened to me?
More importantly...
Where was I?
But I couldn't think clearly. I felt trapped in a heavy daze, unable to make sense of anything.
My body ached all over as my mind fought desperately to remain conscious.
Water...I needed water.
Thankfully, a glass of water stood at a table next to the lone window.
Heaving a sigh, I pushed myself up from the bed and stumbled across the room to reach for the glass.
Supporting myself against the wall, I lifted the glass up to my mouth...
Only to drop it with a shriek when the door creaked.
The door opened slowly and a tall form, shrouded in the shadows, entered the room.
"Stay away from me!" I screamed at it.
The figure held up it's hand and stepped into the light.
"Dimitri?!"
My legs gave way and I dropped down abruptly to sit on the floor.
My mouth hung open as I fought to remember...something!
All I could remember was-
"You're supposed to be dead!" I croaked, gazing up at him.
The concerned expression on Dimitri's face melted to understanding.
Slowly, he crouched down in front of me.
He raised his hand as if he wanted to touch me but apparently thought better of it.
Sighing, he spoke softy: "I didn't die in that accident, Rose."
"But-but..."
His steady eyes burned into my subconscious.
Something clicked...
"Dimitri!" I gasped again, looking at him in horror. "I did it again, didn't I?"
"Hey, it's okay." Dimitri crooned, finally touching me. "Relapses happen. But I'll always be here to remind you that I'm very much alive."
His small touch sparked electricity, heating my body and filling my mind with a sense of calmness and clarity. Without any hesitation, I threw myself into his arms, sobbing in joy.
He was okay.
My Dimitri was fine.
I am okay.
I was at peace, here in Dimitri's arms.
Desperate for reassurance, I pushed myself up so that I could kiss him. I didn't want to let him go, ever. I devoured his mouth, his body, enjoying the sensation of being with him like this. I didn't want to know, didn't want to think about anything that wasn't Dimitri.
Sometime later, Dimitri shifted beneath me on the bed, brushing back my hair and pressing a kiss to my forehead. "You'll have to let me go, milaya. I need to use the washroom."
Reluctantly, I released my grip on him, pouting at the loss of contact.
Smiling brilliantly, Dimitri drew up the white silk sheet to cover my body and got out of the bed.
When he disappeared into the washroom, I felt myself growing restless again.
Desperate for Dimitri, I got up and threw on Dimitri's shirt which was lying on the floor.
Padding to the bathroom, I peaked inside, wanting to join him in case he'd decided to shower.
He hadn't.
Dimitri was standing in front of the sink with his back to me.
He seemed to be looking at the mirror above the sink.
As I watched, he chuckled slowly.
A deep chuckle...low, mysterious and absolutely terrifying.
AN: So, the question is: Do you believe Rose or not? :P
I'm sorry for the mistakes. I didn't really proof-read it. It could've been better but I don't have enough time to edit it, unfortunately.
I hope this left you with many questions instead of answers. The ending is up to you to interpret as you wish :D
Leave me a review and let me know if you liked it! :)