The Other

This story is disturbing to the faint of heart, so proceed with caution.

The sun had long since descended to sleep, receding ever so slowly and preparing the world for the coming of night. The shadows had grown long, curled into clawed fingers as everything was draped in shadow. The day walkers of the cheery light had turned in for the night, hiding in their burrows for they were unwilling to deal with the terrors of the darkness. Animals that thrived in the black air had come to play, and they wandered the earth in search of something to feast upon.

The only fraction of the darkened world outside was seen through the thick glass of the only window in the room. Any light that filled the small dank space was from that of a candle, which flickered in the middle of a round wooden table. Sitting around the table were four people, all cloaked in black, their lips pursed in silence as they all sank back into their plush chairs.

They had come, wandering into the dank recesses of the house, their eyes travelling over the shadows waiting for the show to begin. As they gathered around the table, the hostess motioned for them all to join hands. As they did so, their fingers latched to one another, the woman started to speak. Her voice was low and smooth, and she closed her eyes as she bowed her head.

“I am speaking to the entity that resides in this house,” The woman said, turning her head this way and that, as if her closed eyes were watching something drift back and forth. “I call upon you to speak with us, tell us your story. What is it that you want here?”

As she spoke, the candle flickered. The small flame danced as if there were a breeze, but everyone in the room knew that all the windows had been locked tight.

The woman opened her eyes, looking around the dark depths of the room for something the rest of them could not see. She started to speak again, louder this time.

“I am speaking to the entity that resides in this house,” she said again, “I ask that you grace us with your presence.”

As the woman spoke, one of the others at the table shivered as something danced along the length of his spine. His hands gripped those of the others a little tighter, putting them on edge as the woman continued to speak.

“We know that you are there, and we ask that you try to communicate with us,” the woman said. “Show us that you can hear us!”

The man that shivered shook his head. “Well, I guess that is the end of that,” he chuckled nervously trying to pull his hand from hers.

“Do not break the circle!” The woman snapped. “You have no idea whether or not-“ and she was cut off as the candle flickered violently. They all froze, their eyes locked on the candle as slowly the flame started to shrink. Within a few seconds it had dwindled down to nothing more than a tiny tongue of fire before it fluttered and went out with a puff. As it did so, it sounded like someone had exhaled, pushing a raspy breath out of their lungs with finality.

The woman gazed around the room, her eyes scouring the shadows for something, anything, that would let her know something else was in the room with them. For a few moments after the candle went out, nothing happened, and the only thing in the room that threw any light was the tiny glowing ember on the tip of the string.

“I want to leave,” the man said, pulling harder at her hand this time. “This is not what I paid for.”

“Stop being such a yellow b*****d,” The man next to him snapped.

“Silence,” the woman said, her head bowed. Her eyes fluttered like butterflies under her eyelids. “He comes now.”

“Who-?” The man asked as the other silenced him with a hiss.

Suddenly, the last woman at the table, cocked her head to the side. The hostess opened her eyes, confusion dominating her face. Her head tipped up on her neck and as the other woman caught her gaze, the look on her face was swiftly replaced with horror.

As they all watched, the woman started to twitch, her bones creaking under her skin. Her head lolled backwards on her neck, and each of them could see that her eyes had rolled back into her skull. The gaze she fixed each of them with was white and unseeing, and she opened and closed her mouth, teeth clacking together loudly. The woman’s jaw fell slack, and a low groan escaped her lips, flooding over the table and filling them all with a deep dread. Then the people on both sides of her gasped as nails dug into their skin, biting hard enough to draw blood.

The woman’s head wrenched on her shoulders, turning to face the hostess before a guttural growl rattled in her chest. The hostess flinched as the nails dug deeper into her skin before she started to speak in a shaky voice.

“If this is the entity that resides in this house I command you to leave this vessel.”  She said, her voice shaking.

The woman did nothing, her black hair hanging down over her face.

The hostess spoke again, her voice resounding within the room as she repeated her demand.

“If this is the entity that resides in this house I command you to leave this vessel!”

The woman cocked her head to the side, and a smile spread across her lips. Red liquid started to seep between her teeth, staining the white a deep crimson. Her neck cracked again as her head snapped around, fixing the woman with an unseeing gaze as the woman started to speak.

“You have no control over me,” the woman said, her body twitching and creaking as her spine wrenched. “You made a mistake by coming here.”

The woman pulled up her head, her hair flicking back away from her face as she bared her teeth. The person that had been there a few mere moments before had vanished and they all recoiled as she showed her face. The green veins under her skin mottled her cheeks as they pushed up from underneath the surface. Her eyes were still locked on the back of her skull, but blood started to weep from the corners of her eyes, staining her face with streams of red. Her mouth was filled with crimson, and it dripped down her chin and onto her dress as she opened the red maw and started to laugh.

The voice that resonated from deep within her could never have been her own, because it was deeper than any males and was dripping with hate and fury. The noise filled the room, echoing malice over and over again as the woman tipped her head to the sky that she could not see. Then her head suddenly snapped back down, fixing the hostess with a glare before a smile perked along the edges of her lips.

“You are all going to die,” the woman hissed before she wrenched her hand out of the man’s next to her.

“No!” The hostess shrieked, pulling her own hand away as the woman leapt out of her seat and onto the man next to her. A bellow escaped his lips as the woman tipped his chair over backwards, an animalistic howl pouring from her lungs. Her fingers instantly went to his eyes and he grabbed at her, trying to wrench her away before she plunged her nails into the fragile orbs in his skull. His scream increased in pitch as her fingers dug into his eye sockets, pulling strands of mangled tissue from them as she wrenched backwards.

The man howled as she stepped over him, clawing at his sightless eyes as she leapt up onto the table. The candle tipped onto its side and fell to the floor, scattering hot wax onto the carpet.  She crouched like a gargoyle, her head swivelling on her neck. The man that was left skittered back in his chair in an attempt to put distance between them. The woman turned and leapt off the table, her body hanging in the air for a fraction of a second before she was upon him like a rabid animal. Her teeth clamped down, snagging a piece of the flesh on his face before she ripped her head back pulling it free. The man screamed, blood spurting from the wound as the woman chewed, her mouth open, letting the liquid and mangled flesh dribble down her chin.

She darted forwards again, her teeth finding the side of his neck and he punched at her. His blows thudded on her skin, snapping the tender bone beneath it but the woman just snarled and clamped down harder with her teeth. Wrenching her head from side to side like a dog, she tore his arteries free from his neck, spilling a wave of hot blood over him and onto the floor. The air was still filled with screams as the man gurgled, clutching at the fatal wound before the woman smiled. Her finger pressed against the middle of his forehead, and she slowly tipped him off the back of the chair.

His body hit the floor, writhing in paroxysms of agony as his heart pushed the blood out of his ragged flesh. A gurgle bubbled in his mouth, dribbling liquid over his chin before he fell still. The other man was still on the floor, his mouth open in a horrified scream, but she wasn’t going to finish him off.

Not yet.

The woman stood, her arms draped by her sides and her head cocked to the side. Ever so slowly, the turned, her feet sliding on the carpet, before she was finally facing the only other woman in the room. Blood hit the carpet, silenced by the screams that filled the room as she slowly took a step forwards.

“You don’t have to do this,” The hostess sputtered, finally rising from her chair. Her hand was on her face, covering the sheen of red that has been splattered there.  

The woman took another step forwards.

“I can help you find peace,” The hostess said, raising her hands in front of her body, trying to ward the other woman off. “You just have to let her go.”

The woman took another step forwards.

The man that had been screaming had fallen silent.

The hostess stepped back, darting around the chair as the other woman drew nearer. “I command you to leave this place,” The hostess said, her voice betraying her fear.

The woman took another stop forwards. Her limbs clicked every time that she moved and her neck was bent at a dangerous angle. Suddenly she stopped, her foot sliding to a stop on the carpet before she gurgled low in her throat. Her body wrenched in place, her spine contorting to unnatural positions as her bones snapped. Her knees twisted, pulling ligament from bone as she fell to the floor. She flopped on the carpet like a dying fish, gasping ragged breaths as blood and bile poured from her mouth.

“Help me,” the woman choked, her voice normal. “help me.”

Then she screamed as her spine jerked, as if she were on a hook, pulling her up off of the ground by the small of her back. The woman bellowed with pain and terror as she was lifted upwards, her arms and legs hanging broken and useless at her sides.

“Help me!” the woman wailed, tears stained red flowing down her face. Her voice poured from her mouth, rising into an ear shattering scream that rattled the windows. The furniture of the room started to rattle, before shifting away from her. Legs scratched against wood, and suddenly the furniture was flung against the walls, cracking and splintering to the floor. The hostess ducked, but the leg of the table clipped her shoulder, spinning her in place before she fell hard to her knees.

The woman continued to scream, rising and falling like the waves of the sea as the windows exploded inwards raining glass down upon them. Whatever shards did not imbed into flesh skittered on the floor to be lost in the carpet.

The hostess slowly stood, cradling her wounded arm with the other as she hobbled in place.

“I command you to leave this vessel!” The woman bellowed over the noise, pointing at the woman as she thrashed in her invisible bonds.

“I command you to leave this vessel!” she yelled again, and everything suddenly drew to a grinding halt. The noise ceased, and for a fraction of a second all that could he heard was the wind as it trickled in through the window.

  Then the woman moved one last time as her neck cracked on her shoulders, snapping her neck loudly. Whatever was holding her released, dropping her body to the floor with a thud.  

The hostess remained still for a moment, shivering as the cold wind filled the room. Both of the men that had arrived were dead, their blood pooled around them on the floor. The woman’s twisted remains were curled on the floor like a broken baby, and ever so slowly the hostess picked her way across the floor to go to her.

The woman didn’t move or breathe, and the hostess knelt down next to her. Her fingers found the side of the woman’s throat feeling for a pulse but she felt nothing. The woman’s face had returned to how it had been before, and she almost looked peaceful on death. Bowing her head, tears started to roll down her cheeks as she looked at the chaos that she had created.

“I am so sorry,” the woman said, using her good arm to close the dead woman’s eyes. “This was not supposed to happen.”

She dropped her head and sobbed for her loss, before she froze as the sound of someone exhaling tickled her ears. She slowly opened her eyes.

The gaze of the woman stared back, as a smile trickled across her lips.

 

Author's Note

So as I have said before, I did read this over a couple times but there is always a chance that I may have missed something. So you all are free to comment on my grammar is that is what you wish. Also, I had a lot of fun writing this story and I hope that you all enjoy it as well.