Serlick

An attempt at an open ending, short horror story by a beginner.

Serlick was roaming through the corridors, which looked much like the corridors of his school. But these were different, these corridors packed way more screams and frights rather than simply looking for bullies 'round the corners. For these weren't the corridors of a school (or any other worldly building for that matter).

These were the corridors of Hell.

As he moved ahead, he could feel the unwelcoming, hot breeze ,wafting through this never-ending maze, scald his back.

He could hear the voices screaming, moaning, pleading to be let out (but who escapes “rightful punishment”, as cruel as it may be) coming from places he didn't want to think existed. These were the corridors of his own mind, presenting all its sorrows, fears and unfulfilled desires in the form of one gigantic hell.

Thankfully, his "reverie" was broken by the angry sound of Ms. Sally Ratcliffe, his class teacher. "Mr. Harlow, may I ask you about the dreams you are making up in the middle of Math Class? I'm afraid sending you to detention again (just like yesterday or the day before or before that or.........) will be the only option I would have left, to curb this daydreaming habit of yours."

Serlick Harlow, a 10- year old, had discovered this ability of his, to look at the negativity within peoples’ minds ,in the form of a maze, at a much younger age though it did take him some time to recognise what he was observing. He also realised that he needed some "external" source to break his concentration and snap him out of his (nightmare) “reverie”.

Serlick pulled himself together and looked around, as if he had been sleeping with his eyes open (NOT daydreaming, no siree, THIS was not how a 10 year old boy was supposed to daydream). He saw the giggling faces of his classmates staring at him, the whitewashed walls of the classroom, the bright light around him, the sun shining through the window, until his gaze finally settled on the angry face of Ms. Ratcliffe as she stared at him. His mind slowly registered the scolding delivered and his expression changed from one of confusion to that of fear.

Serlick hated detention, not because of the usual reasons (these things had ceased to hold any significance for him a long time back, because of their repetitive nature) but because there would no other factor to prevent him from looking at someone and peering into his mind, his sorrows, his pains and feeling them as his own.

He offered the usual apology Ms. Ratcliffe had become so familiar with, "Mere words.", she thought, "This mischief needs to be curbed at a young age."
❧

And so, Serlick sat in the detention room, looking at Ms. Sally Ratcliffe, trying to look away so he wouldn't drift into.............................and went off into her “mind- hell” (that's what he called had started calling them) even before the thought could complete itself.

This place was not half as bad as some hellholes he had ventured into, there were no screams here, but there definitely were some sad moans saying something about 'students' behaviour' and 'low salary'. They were not very loud but still, Serlick wasn't too enthused about checking out what they really were saying in greater detail. He knew it would only add to the screams in his own mind - hell which was already pretty packed because of all the sorrows he had seen others feel.

He ventured further in. "What else can I do?", he thought to himself," No one seems to be trying to snap me out of it. Besides, this hell is much better than most hells I've been through. The sounds over here were much calmer and seemingly insignificant. Although there definitely was something else, he could feel it, but then chalked it up to his expectations of finding something gruesome in here, too. He realised that Ms Ratcliffe must have lived quite an ordinary life, not having received more than her share of temporary sorrows and joys.

Sally Ratcliffe looked up and was suddenly taken aback by the way this young boy's empty eyes were staring at her, as if he was conducting a full X-Ray of her head. Her thoughts raced "This is not ordinary day dreaming, there's something wrong with this boy. I'll ask his parents to consult a psychotherapist as soon as possible.”

She screamed at him to ‘snap out of it’, but it didn't work, wherever this boy was, he was completely lost there. She shrieked at him and shook his body, and he was back. Sally had brought him back, but she instantly wished she hadn't. He had gone pale. The look on his face was nothing like it had been in the classroom. Then, he had looked confused, as if he had just woken up. But THIS, this was the look of extreme terror, a pair of eyes aghast with God knows what amount of fear and dread, were staring at her. His mouth agape, horror writ large on this 10- year old's face. Lots of things can scare the hell out of a kid, but right now, it looked like something extraordinarily terrifying had scared the kid out of hell.

Serlick was horrified, terrified and afraid, not that the feeling of being afraid was new to him. This boy had ventured unknowingly into some of the darkest mind-hells and had come out scared of all he had seen or felt, but it was now that he found out, that a much higher form of terror did exist. He knew. He was experiencing it.

For he had realised that the feeling, that something was wrong in there, was NOT baseless.

BUT

That "something", could not have been attributed to such epic proportions by a young boy.

He had just found the darkest, most shattering and gut - wrenching scream of them all, hidden deep within Ms. Sally's mind.

Author's Note

I am a beginner, any advice would be appreciated

Reviews

[Neil P]

I'm not qualified to give advice, i'm also a beginner, but I enjoyed what you did here. I liked the open ended cliff hanger and the description of the mind mazes. A good story! :D