A/N: I've become very big with Edgar Allen Poe's work not too long ago, and I've decided to write a one-shot horror. If you've read my other stuff, you may think how weird it is that I'm doing this. I'd just like to let you know that this isn't the last of my horror writing escapades. Sometime, after summer break, I'm going to write a multi-chaptered horror based on my favorite Poe story.
IF YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND ANY "SYMBOLISM" OF THIS STORY, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND AND I'LL TRY TO EXPLAIN IT TO YOU.
Anyway, enjoy.
Most of the people I have tried telling this story to have never believed me or thought I was crazy. They only thought that what I went through happened in stories or movies. Even my own closest friends wouldn't believe me when I told them what was going on. While one would tell me I was hallucinating from something, the others would laugh at me and think that I was trying to joke with them.
What had happened to cause these events in the first place was still unknown to me. Nothing I had done could have caused these things to happen. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least.
Still, she continued to haunt me at night. When I would be brushing my teeth in my bathroom, I would see her in the bathroom mirror. Her mangled hair would drop down in front of her shoulders, covering most of her face but barely showing a pair of angry eyes. She was hunched over, as if she had had some kind of spinal problem and could not stand straight. Blood was splattered all over her skin, especially her face, which sat upon a twisted neck that was constantly bent towards the left, bent forward just like her back.
Had the reader correctly pictured the painting I just created, they might know how terrified I was. The room would seem to drop several degrees, as ice crystals would start to develop on the bathroom mirror. A freezing fog would cover the floor, chilling my bare legs and feet.
Again, had you pictured this correctly, you would want to try and run away from the bathroom and go somewhere else, trying to take your mind off of the situation. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I could not move from that very spot. My eyes would not take themselves off of the mangled figure.
However, after an exact minute, she would disappear, and everything around me would return to normal. The cold would leave, and the frozen bathroom mirror would become fogged again, and the icy fog would disappear, revealing the floor once again.
It was at this time that I could notice I could move again, and I immediately ran to tell my friends about the incident. One of my friends, as I have said before, told me that I was probably hallucinating and told me to not worry about it, as it might have been something that I had eaten that was contaminated or expired. The others laughed, saying that I "had them going for a second" or that I was very imaginative.
Now, I did try to relax, and I did laugh with the others at my own nervousness. Yet no matter how hard I would try to ignore her, I would always be frightened by her ghastly appearance. I would be lying in bed, and I would be able to see her standing in one of the corners of my room, hunched over and neck bent to the side. Her blood-splattered skin would sicken me, and oh! how could one forget the piercing eyes, just visible behind that mangled hair?
Any warmth of my room would be replaced by the cold air, freezing my bedroom windows and floor. But still, a minute would pass, and she and the cold air would vanish.
My visitor would come at the same time every night, bringing the chill with her. She had come enough to where I would no longer be horrified by her appearance. My blood had adapted as well, as I no longer got cold by the chill she would bring. And, like she had many times before, she would disappear after precisely a minute.
It was on the night of December 19, however, that she began to bring something else with her. Before she disappeared, she would talk to me. She wouldn't say much, however. But still, she would whisper… Something that would cause me to shiver more than the cold she had brought with her.
"Remember…"
It was funny to believe that a word as simple as that could strike so much fear into my heart. Maybe it was just the way that she spoke it to me. All I knew was that I was terrified. Every night she would come and whisper this simple, three syllable word, and my reaction would always be the same: fearful.
Years had come and gone, and still she managed to make her trip. Time had not affected her appearance, as she still had the same piercing eyes and figure as she had the first night she appeared, fifty years ago.
Many things have happened since the last visit I have told you about. I graduated from a fine college in Minneapolis and had become a leading engineer. I had always wanted to stay in the city that I loved, but when I was 17 my friends had broken up, and the memories that were in that city were too painful for me to bear. And so, I moved to Minneapolis.
I never married. Even though I was dating, I was afraid that I could never marry the girl, as I was afraid that she would come and do something.
Yes. Even though I had moved from my hometown, she had managed to continue to haunt me. I was twenty-seven then, and every night, for nearly 4380 days she had come and gone, whispering the hideous word to me every time.
As I have told, I had a girlfriend. Her name was Dana, a girl from Georgia whom I had met up with in college in the year I graduated. Like I said, we were never married, but I was madly in love with her, and she was madly in love with me.
On occasion we would extend our dates, such as taking a walk through the park or go canoeing in the park's lake. Yet no matter where we were on such nights, she would still come.
"Remember…"
Though I didn't want to, I looked over to the girl with fear in my eyes. What if somebody saw her? Could this be the time to prove that I am seeing her?
"Is something the matter?" Dana would ask. I would always shrug it off, waiting for our next date to show her the girl that had haunted me for so many years.
Then, one night, I had my chance to show Dana. I would tell her to wait with me in my room. She would always ask why, but I would never tell her.
She appeared, and I quickly grabbed Dana and pointed. "There!" I would shout as she whispered her word anddisappeared. "Do you see her?"
"Who?" asked Dana, looking around. "There's no one in here but us."
"She's gone now." I would then look to her and say, "You must not have seen her in time."
She would look at me with confused eyes.
Several nights later, things got intimate with me and Dana. That was our date for tonight, and I had forgotten all about my constant visitor. Dana's beautiful brown eyes had hypnotized me, and I was soon lost in her sweet perfume.
She had fallen asleep afterwards, which caused me to smile to myself. She was just as beautiful asleep as she was in the daylight.
"Remember…"
I turned over just in time, expecting to see her disappear. However, she was not in a corner or far away like she normally was. Instead, she was hunched right over me, her mangled hair brushing against my face. My eyes met with her angry ones, and I immediately felt myself loose control.
"DAMN YOU!" I shouted, getting up and grabbing the nearest thing next to me… a lamp on a nearby nightstand. I had had it with her appearing to me every night, and I knew that it was time to try and stop her. I hit the lamp on the nightstand, shattering it and leaving a broken shard in my hand… perfect for a weapon.
Just as I was about to stab the shard in the girl's heart, I heard Dana get up.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she shouted in shock. I looked at Dana, her frail figure being covered by the comforter. "ARE YOU CRAZY?"
"Didn't you see her?" I asked, noticing that the girl had disappeared. "She was just right here a second ago!"
"What are you talking about?" she asked, concerned. "You're acting… mental or something!"
"I AM NOT MENTAL!" I shouted, glaring daggers at my girlfriend.
"THEN WHY ARE…"
Before Dana could continue what she was saying, I cut her off by stabbing the shard in between her round breasts. Dana cried out in pain as her blood poured onto my wrist and arm. Hearing her scream, I pushed the shard in further, causing her pains to increase and her screams to become louder.
Dana laid flat on the bed, dead.
That was thirty-eight years ago. Now I live in a mental hospital, where people treat me like I'm some kind of nut. But I'm not crazy… I know I'm perfectly sane.
And every night at the exact same time, she comes and whispers that little word to me. I never slept in my padded prison, so I was never awakened by her. However, she wouldn't just disappear after she whispered her word like before. Instead, she would stay awhile, staring at me. Her one-minute appearance was turned into a five-minute one.
On the night of December 19, she did more than she had done before. She whispered her word and continued to stand there, just like the other nights before. But then, finally, she moved from her spot and slowly walked over to me. Now that she was actually in motion, I noticed that she had a limp on her left leg.
She continued to make her way over to me until she was right in front of me, looking down with those petrifying eyes. I looked up from the floor in fright, wondering what she was going to do.
Suddenly, she touched my forehead with one of her blood-stained hands.
…And then I remembered.
It had been during the winter of 2004. Jump City had been under a terrorist attack similar to that of 9/11. Silico, one of the countries most important companies, had been dive-bombed by plane on the day of December 19.
My friends and I had been assigned to go and save as many people from the building as possible, before it collapsed.
We were doing very well, in my opinion, because we had saved at least a hundred workers from the smoky building. However, one of the workers informed me that she was the president's secretary, and that the president of the company was still probably inside the building.
One of my friends and I ran together into the crumbling building, knowing that it was going to take some time getting all the way to the president's office. We reached it, however, and found him lying on the floor. Unconscious or dead, we couldn't tell.
I lifted the president over my shoulder, being thankful that I had such strength. Just as we were about to make our way out of the building, the building began to crumble faster.
"HELP!"
There was something wrong with my friend, but whatever it was, I didn't have time to figure out. If the company was going to continue to be important to America, I had to get the president out of the building. I continued to run with the president over my shoulder until I was outside, and watched in horror as the building finally came down…
…
The girl took her hand away from my forehead, and I stared up at her with wide eyes. It was amazing how I had forgotten about her so easily, like she had never been a part of my life.
"I'm sorry…" I said, on the verge of tears.
"You were supposed to be my friend…"
I finally broke down and put my face in my hands, too sad to look at the girl that had haunted me for all these years.
"I'm sorry!" I cried out in between sobs. "I'm sorry!"
I was a fool to not understand that it was her all along. It would have explained it… The blood, her hunched back, her bent up neck…
"Curse you…"
"Please! Starfire, forgive me!"
I looked up and could see Starfire vanishing before my eyes.
"STARFIRE! PLEASE! FORGIVE ME!"
The door to my prison burst open, revealing one of the ward's nurses. She rushed over to me.
"MR. DRAKE!" she shouted, kneeling in front of me. "MR. DRAKE, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!"
I grabbed hold of the nurse's shoulders and shook her. "KILL ME!" I shouted. "PLEASE, KILL ME! I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!"
"MR. DRAKE, CALM YOUSELF!"
"KILL ME! PLEASE! I WANT TO DIE!"
Though I wasn't looking at her, I knew that she was glaring at me with those hateful eyes from a corner of the room. Those eyes that were once filled with love and joy were now glaring at me, wishing for me to suffer.
I could hear the sound of rotting and dead flesh moving. Starfire, the girl that used to be my friend, was smiling at my misery.
Her wish had come true…