A house for my home - Part 3

Short story based on one of my dreams.

The mystery man was standing at the head of a circle created from people. Even Peter was standing in the circle. All those people’s eyes, they looked so lifeless, so … dead. The humming I heard before came from them; they were all humming the same melody, all in the same tone. The man however was singing, he used his voice to create this very deep, almost hypnotizing sound. None of this seemed real, I thought I was having a nightmare and I would soon wake up, but sadly enough, I had to discover that I was wide awake. No one could feel this pain in a dream, it was all to lively, to realistic.

Those people were watching me, as if I was an intruder, woke up too early, saw things I wasn’t supposed to see. And I couldn’t believe that my husband was just standing there, like a puppet, he didn’t even move to come and check if I was ok, he just stood there. The humming continued, but the man stopped singing. All of them turned their heads and started to gaze towards to ceiling. Humming, and humming, louder, more intense, humming, gazing at the ceiling, their eyes fixed as if someone glued them in that position. I slowly got up, looked towards the ceiling, and yet again, I couldn’t grasp what I saw. It was as if the ceiling became liquid, slowly transforming in what appeared to be a big black hole. The whole ceiling was black, although I could see the night sky mixed into it. There was this awful wind, almost like a hurricane, and if I didn’t know better I would’ve sworn it was destroying the roof. But instead of destroying it, it just mingled in, forming a tornado which reached far up into the sky. The furniture started moving, vases fell on the ground, chairs got sucked up in the black hole, but those people didn’t seem to care. They kept on humming, but now it was a faster rhythm, you could almost say that the faster they hummed, the worse this weather thing became. I couldn’t stand it anymore, and ran towards Peter.

‘Hunny, we have to go! Please come with me! I don’t want to leave you here!’ I said as I pulled Peter’s arm to drag him out of that crazy bunch. He didn’t really seem to notice I was standing there, he was paralyzed, humming and staring at what used to be the ceiling. I pulled his arm really hard, and managed to drag him out of the circle.

‘What …. What is happening? Where am I?’ was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

‘I have no time to explain dear, we have to get out of here, NOW!’

I grabbed his hand and started running. The mystery man noticed that I broke the circle by dragging peter out, and he started singing again. A dark, evil tainted noise came out of his mouth. All of a sudden all those people were watching us, as we were trying to get out. Peter was still confused, like he just woke up from some kind of sedation. Their eyes changed, and the circle disappeared. All those people were now following us, trying to prevent us from getting outside.

As we passed by the kitchen table, I quickly grabbed my purse that was, thank god, still standing there. Still running, I tried to find my car keys, and my cell phone. I couldn’t stop to look behind, I knew that those people were following us, I just ran and ran, almost squashing Peter’s hand as I dragged him with me. We managed to get outside, ran towards the car, and as by miracle, Peter seemed to understand that something was very wrong here, and we had to get away.

‘Give me the keys, I’ll drive!’ he said. And I didn’t argue, as he is better at manoeuvring than me. We got into the car, and saw this bunch of people coming towards us. Peter put the car in rear, pushed the pedal, and drove away as quickly as he could.

We drove and drove, it seemed to last for hours, but we wanted to make sure we were far enough from … well … from those … crazy people. Peter drove into an off road lane, and stopped the car.

‘I think we are safe here, at least for a little while. What … what exactly happened there?’ he asked me, staring out of the window, trying to remember for himself. I tried to explain him, told him all I knew, but that didn’t quite cover all of the things that happened in there. I hoped that he would remember, but he didn’t.

‘Did you see that sky?’ I asked. ‘I mean, it was just located around that house…as if…I don’t know…’

‘Yes I saw it. Actually, … I don’t know what I saw…’ he replied with a tiny voice.

We just sat there, staring, trying to relax and calm down.  But there it was again…

‘Do you hear that??’ I asked, frantically looking around in the dark.

‘Do I hear what?’

‘That … humming.’

‘What humming?’

‘That irritating, deafening humming!’ I covered my ears in order to shut out that sound, but it didn’t work.

‘I hear no …’

*BANG* *BANG*

‘Whaaaaaaa’ I couldn’t help but screaming, seeing that dirty, beggar looking like man, holding an axe in his hands, trying to ‘remodel’ our car.

‘Holy crap!’ Peter said as he quickly turned on the car and drove backwards as fast as he could.

‘Jeezes, these people don’t give up, do they??’ The humming sound started to disappear as we drove further away.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked, scared as hell.

‘Nowhere.’

‘What do you mean, NOWHERE?’ I sounded a bit more angry than I wanted, but that was not at all the answer I expected.

‘Nothing.’ His voice sounded empty, it had no intonation what so ever, it literally freaked me out.

‘Hunny … you’re scaring me!’

No answer … nothing at all! I tried to look into his eyes, but he refused to turn his head, he just gazed at the road. All of a sudden he took a turn, into this dark lane.

‘Why are we stopping? What is the matter with you?’ As I asked the question, he turned his head. His eyes were pitch-black, and he had the same look as he had standing in that circle. He just stared at me, and stared, and then he got out of the car. He started walking towards nowhere, as if he knew where he was going, but all I could see was a dark lane surrounded by trees.

‘Hunny … don’t leave me here! What are you doing?’ I didn’t dare to get out of the car, yet I was afraid to stay in it all alone. I saw him walking, further and further, until I didn’t see him at all. Instead, I saw a bunch of people, holding knifes in their hands, their eyes, black as night.

I got out of the car, and started running towards the crowd. I had to find him, I had to make him remember! The crowd was dense, and I tried to push my way through. I felt the knives cutting right through me, my arms were bleeding, my legs were bleeding, but I didn’t stop. I saw him, standing there, and I hoped that if I could reach him, hold him, he would remember and get me out of here. I could have easily drove away with the car, I could have tried to get away, and leave him behind. But … I couldn’t leave him there.

The blood was dripping off me, I was covered in it, I could taste it in my mouth, the sweet, iron taste. I felt my power slipping away as each drop of blood left my body, but I kept on trying to reach him. It felt like I had walked forever, until I suddenly realised I was standing still, amongst these people. They kept on cutting me, not one spot of my body was spared.

I was about to just give in,  but then I saw Peter coming my way. He had a woman with him, she was holding his hand. As he reached me, the crowd stopped cutting me, and backed away.

‘Hunny…’ even speaking was difficult, it hurt, and the blood was preventing me from making decent sentences.

‘He isn’t yours anymore you b***h. He belongs to us now!’ The woman had dark red hair, her eyes were white, as if she was blind. She was dressed in these medieval clothes, for all I knew, she could have just stepped out of a movie…

‘Hunny …’ I tried to make him remember, I hoped that my voice would wake him up …

‘Finish it!’ she said, as she walked away, Peter following her as a dog.

Those people came towards me again, and I didn’t have the strength to move, to resist …

They bend over me, like vultures, ready to rip my flesh off my bones…

‘I … love you …’ I said, as I gave in to the crowd. I remember him looking backwards…looking into my eyes, with this gaze, but deep inside I could see he was trying to say:

‘I’m sorry’

 

Reviews

[TL Boehm]

wow I am surprised that this piece has not gotten a few reviews yet but that's the way the Cafe is sometimes. Most times.
I found this chilling - surreal. you definitely captured the nightmare quality of the piece. Well done.