Story 1: The Lighthouse
There is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea that does not appear on any map. It cannot be seen from any other island, nor can any other land be seen from it. On this island is a lighthouse, rotting from age and sea water, which is never lit. There is nothing inside it, save for a spiraling staircase that leads to the top, and an ancient, dusty bookcase. The case is filled with unmarked books, bound in ancient leather, save for a single space. If you remove a book from the shelf, it will fling itself open in your hands, and the words inscribed in it shall start screaming to the air. You must wrestle the book closed and shove it back on the shelf, or the immortal evil contained within its pages shall break free, and you will be forced to take its place, with pages, ink and binding crafted from your own flesh and blood. However, if you bring the correct book to the island, and place it in the empty space, the lighthouse will light. As long as it is lit, the world shall enjoy an unending paradise, for all the evil in the world will be contained in the lighthouse. And while it is lit, nothing can go in or out.
The only problem is that you will be trapped for eternity in there with all the evil ever known or conceived, by man or god. The only way to escape...is to douse the light.
Story 2: Her Name
It wasn't a big deal at first, you know? It was just another story online, one you'd read in the comments of a YouTube video, designed to scaring you into posting it on eight other videos. You know the kind, where you die a horrible death or your crush will reject you if you don't spread the word? I didn't think anything of it at the time, but now it's the only thing I can think about. The comment started by saying that "she hasn't left me alone in days" and "by reading this, she'll come for you." I don't even remember the exact wording because it was late and I was tired and I'd seen a hundred other comments like it before.
I forgot all about it.
Until she started coming after me.
It started with little things. A flash in the corner of my vision, a strange shadow on the hallway floor. Then it got worse. I started to hear whispering when I was alone in the house, giggling, the sound of footsteps. I now know that she was teasing me. Sort of like how a cat will clamp its paw over a mouse's tail and bat at it before it kills it. Mirrors were the worst. She liked to stand just out of frame when I was brushing my hair, so when I shifted my head to get the other side, she would be there, standing next to the bookshelf, with her long, tangled hair, matted with blood, falling down her shoulders. And that grin.
Oh, God, that grin. Her teeth were always bloody. I was never sure if it was her blood, or… I don't even know. Every night, it seemed to get worse. I would see her on my way to class, in the rear view mirror of my car, dragging her talon-like fingernails across her own, rotting flesh as I stared in abject terror. For a while I put it off to sleep deprivation. Finals, you know? And then she came to me. It was late, so late it was technically early. I couldn't sleep because all I could hear was her giggling. I covered my face with the pillow and shut my eyes tight, when I felt something cold on my hand.
I was paralyzed with fear. It was sharp and it was cold and it was moving down my arm towards my elbow.
"Come out to play." She said in that lilting, upsetting voice I'd heard one too many times before.
I screamed and sat up, but she was gone. For the moment.
My biggest mistake was when I talked to her. I'd just stepped out of the shower and she was right there when I opened the curtains. I shrieked and stumbled back and she leaned down to me. "Why?" I asked.
"Why are you doing this?" She told me why. It was because I knew something about her. That altercation ended with a serious head injury that landed me in the hospital. That's where I am now.
I can't take this anymore. I'm just one person, it's too much. I know what I have to do. I think I always knew.
God, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.
Her name is Nora. She should be there soon.
