Shower Of Blood

There are reasons why you do not shine light on shadows...

The monotonous steps of her feet echoed the empty street. A cloud moved in front of the moon with haste while she walked faster down the road. She never walked this way, the reasons apparent enough; evil dogs barking at her, old people standing in the bright lit rooms with only a silhouette looking at her like she was the evil, and the feeling of a thousand eyes on her, following her every step. The moon appeared; the street lit again from the heavens above. The only sound for the moment was her feet, clicking over the hardened concrete. She stiffened as the road continued deeper into Farir Street. The homes became more weathered, the people standing on their porches increased and the feeling the eyes on her did not fade as she hoped. This was the furthest she had come.

                Her footsteps stopped abruptly. She inhaled the cold-wet night air into her lungs and almost choked. The gate opened with a speed equal to a snail. The sound that the gate made encouraged foul emotions of dread into her mind. Images of the previous... She closed her eyes, but this only worsened the situation. She saw his face, her breathing increased, the gate stopped. She opened her eyes to get his image out of her mind, she couldn’t see him! Not at this hour while she was alone. ‘No!’ The sound only travelled about five meters before it faded into the chaos of the nightly noises. ‘No,’ this time a whisper formed over her lips. The sound came forth as if she knew it was too late, the images entered her mind, the demons came. The gate moved without the touch of her hand. Her senses awakened, the footsteps of something moved behind her, the sound of a couple thrusting in the alley, the sound of a coffee pot steaming, and all the other noises she heard constantly. Her hands moved to her ears, to cover the sounds. The attempt was futile; she stopped halfway because she knew like every other night, it was in her head.

                A single tear drop rolled down her cheek, leaving behind a black line. The tears followed the first one, streaming down her face. She stood in the middle of the gateway, her footprints engraved where she stood every night, a place of solace.

                ‘Darling, are you alright?’

                The voice was a delicate and soft embrace to her ears. A soft but wrinkled hand took her in. The tears dried up and she rubbed her eyes vigorously to hide the fact that she cried. She was shy. She turned her gaze to the face of the voice but only saw a blur through her misty eyes.

‘Let us go in, it is cold outside,’ the voice was still as comforting as her embrace. The two bodies continued over the gravel path towards the wooden door. A noise familiar to Emily woke her out of her momentary comatose. She fumbled with the keys of the door, but after a search she found it: the blue ones. The turn was hastily. A certain stuffy feeling came over her as she closed the door, but this was normal to her.

                ‘Where is the kitchen dear? I can make you some sugar water for the shock.’

The idea that a stranger entered her home never entered her mind. She only smiled at the old lady. Her vision returned, and the first thing she saw was the weather-beaten face of the old lady that stood in the middle of the kitchen. A smile erupted over her face as she looked in Emily’s eyes. Emily moved to the wall and switched on the lights of the house. A scream filled the room, a terrified scream of pain.

                ‘No! Put the lights…’ It was too late. The old late evaporated in thin air, her body a mere black smoke that rose from the floor. She looked at it with horror; her eyes could not cope with reality. She fell to her knees and remained in this position. The mass of black smoke did not fade away; it hung in the air as if it had a life of its own. A glimpse of light was reflected off something like an eye in the shadowy mist. Emily of course did not see this as she was still in a state of shock when the old lady just disappeared. A dull silence fell over the room; the light became an enemy as it only evoked terror in Emily’s already fried mind. Nothing seemed to awaken the comatose Emily. The entity, the black smoke, rose from the floor and moved toward her. It moved with ease over the white floor leaving behind black dust that fell off it. Before it came near Emily’s shock engulfed body, it evaporated further into nothing. The only sound was the dull buzz from the overhanging kitchen light. Emily barely breathed.

                In the room behind the stiffened body stood an old ‘Grand Father Clock’ ticking away every second until it hit the 11 o’clock number. The automated bird flew out of its cage and made eleven mechanical whoops. This unlocked the poor Emily; she fell to the ground and hit her nose on the floor. She stood up from the floor, still traumatized by the past happenings. A single line of blood descended from her nose and touched her upper lip.

                ‘F-f**k,’ her voice was soft and it was barely audible.

She tried to stand up, and succeeded. The same image ran through her mind, over and over and over. Black smoke, the old lady, the smile. She couldn’t close her eyes; this only sharpened the already horrifying images. Her slow walking turned into a haste walk to the shower. With quick turns of the knobs, a strong surging of water fell down on her naked body. She dared to close her eyes. Water ran down her hair over the curves of her body. Black bags formed almost immediately around her eyes.

‘God, what happened tonight?’ she asked in her quiet voice. It was the only thing she thought of doing. She wasn’t a religious woman of any kind, but the moment seemed right to pray to some higher power. Her eyes remained closed, shutting off the real world from her mind. The images of confusion about earlier were replaced by something comforting, like the caress of the old lady’s…

                Her eyes flew open; the old lady’s face was lit up in front of her. Her breathing increased drastically and all her energy and will power moved to the new agenda in her mind: get the old lady out of her head. The weathered smiling face horrified Emily. She heard herself searching for air. She stood back against the wall of the shower; her head became too heavy for her shoulders to bear. Her limp body slid down the wall, she sat up straight. Her heart raced with fear, but then out of nowhere it almost stopped. Her whole body felt an immense shock wave, and then she realised what happened.

                Black strands of something thicker than water ran down her face. Her eyes burned, but she could not close them. She heard the black stuff ooze out of the shower head. As she moved her head to gaze up, the black ooze stopped. Nothing came from it. Her eyes remained glued fix to the shower head. She heard a low rumbling in the pipes, like a hundred horses galloping closer and closer. Sweat ran down her head, and dried up immediately from the heat of her skin. The black ooze ran down her soft skin to the floor, she found herself sitting in it, but that was not on her mind. The noise became more clear and her gaze did not divert. She couldn’t move. Her body stiffened like earlier.

A burst of red water flew down onto her. Her eyes closed out of natural instinct but her arms could not keep it away. Her mouth opened to breathe, and with surprise she came to realize it was blood. Blood gushed out of the shower head. Puddles of blood formed around the black ooze and covered it after a couple of seconds. Emily choked on the blood; the salty iron taste revolting to her, her taste buds rebelled against the unnatural, but natural taste.

Moments passed, her body stiff with confusion, her mind froze on the moment the first spatter of blood gushed trough the head, she was in the same state as earlier. But this time she could not get out of it. Something entered her, a strange feeling came over her, she could not do anything to her body. It was limp, but she felt something in her mind, it was not her. It challenged her, it wanted to take over. She was weak, she told herself, but could she be so weak that she would lose possession over her own body? A struggle began in her head, it happened in a small black room in the back of her mind. The only light came from a small window in the back wall, but the outside wasn’t something to comfort her, the outside was an empty vast field of desert. Dead bodies lay still in the glooming white sand. The room blackened again, but this time permanent, this time forever. She tried to open her eyes �" her mind �" with all the might and energy in her body. She needed to open her eyes!

‘Go to hell!’ She managed to scream through the mouth full of blood. She spit the blood out with haste to breathe and to open her eyes. She sat in the middle of a puddle of blood when a single tear rolled down her face, the sign of victory and happiness. She survived it, she did not give in. She tried to stand up, but her eagerness to do so was too big, too much for her body. She smiled with victory in her heart, but she knew this was not over; this was but the second night. Her smile drained from her face and fear rose in her body as she looked at her face in the opposite wall of the shower. Blood covered her whole face, she couldn’t smile, but a sneer followed while she started to lick the blood.

Author's Note

Most of the story is unedited... so if you see something, point it out :) im planning to lengthen it, to make it more clear... this is just a part of the story...

Reviews

[Scytheriax]

There are some slight grammatical errors, but they can be cleaned up with another quick read-through. I have to say that I loved the ending. It was brilliant.
There are some parts that may need clarity, particularly in the middle of the story.
But otherwise, it's a great suspense piece.

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good opening chapter. A dark tale that took my attention and I wanted to read more. The storyline is scary and filled with mystery. I like the ending. A wild vision create by this excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Monica]

You have done very well so far! With a few grammatical errors...
You have great writing talent :) You are very imaginative! You use a lot of very descriptive words that create imagey for your readers...which you should have a lot of!!
Send me more!! :)

[Mathias Winters]

YES! Thank you for this!

It is VERY rare for me to actually read something online and be completely into what is happening in the story. You're right, there are some grammar errors, but man was this amazing. The writing feels superb, and it's captivating to read. It's like a style that pulls you in. I love that. The events are fantastic, and extremely mysterious, making me want to read more. Plus, it's original. Got to love originality.

The first thing that really pulled me in was the immediate conflict. Keep that. It's what made me want to keep reading. There was conflict throughout the entire story, and it just didn't end. (Which was awesome!)

You said you were going to lengthen this out, so do it. That's what it needs. It definitely needs to be longer. Just don't draw it out for the heck of it.

If I could give this more than 100, I would. I don't know why I'm so excited. This was the first thing online that I started reading just and couldn't stop. Just awesome!