It was a night like any other night. A night she had done a million times before. She was alone again. Like usual. Searching to pull any kind of happy moment from another wasted day amongst the bottom rungs of another dark night. She hadn't done anything today again. Like so many other days before today. She spent most of the day sleeping. Just waking up to go to the bathroom and then back to sleep. She wasn't much a cook either, so she would just eat whatever was in the fridge. She usually just cut up raw carrots and lettuce. No cooking required. She was like a rabbit, she thought. Yeah, a lonely, pathetic rabbit who never left its cage. She did go antiquing from time to time. It was her only hobby. But she rarely found the motivation to do it anymore.
She did find a nice, quaint shop about a week ago at the edge of town. Hidden amongst a neighborhood. Pickman's curiosities and relics it was called. It looked like a little house on the outside. There were no other businesses around. It was nestled in between two larger homes. She had walked by, wandering through random neighborhoods as she did sometimes because she didn't have a car. One could have easily missed the place if not for a tiny sign sitting in the front lawn. Pickman's curiosities and relics. Please, do come in, it read. The front door was of amber and a heavy red oak. She turned the golden doorknob and as she pushed the door open, a little bell sitting above the door jingled. Announcing to the shop keeper that a prospective buyer had entered.
An old man sat behind a desk with an old fashioned register sitting beside him. He wore small clear glasses attached to a gold chain that hung loosely around his neck. She assumed it was for hanging his glasses on his chest when he took them off. He had a head full of grey hair and looked to be in his seventies or eighties. He was reading a book when he heard the jingle. He looked up from behind his book and tilted down his glasses and said in an old, kind tone, "hello, young lady, let me know if there is anything I can help you with," and just like that, went back to reading his book.
"Thank you," she replied and she began wandering the tightly packed aisles. There were shelves so packed with trinkets and oddities that there was no more space for any new things to fit. There were bookshelves filled with old dusty looking books. Glass display cases that held what looked like old mummified hands. Golden necklaces, talismans and the occasional silver bracelet.
So many new things she had never seen before. She meandered passed low sitting tables, heavy cabinets, mirrors, dishes and old artwork. The shop had an old world smell. Like wet wood and moss. It wasn't very bright inside. She wandered through like she was walking through a garden full of beautiful flowers. Letting the tips of her fingers gently brush everything.
She was enamored with the hidden history of every object. Every little trinket was perhaps even older than she was. Perhaps by decades, maybe even centuries. She loved the idea that she existed in the midst of so many old relics. Things that had seen so much. Much more than she had experienced in her entire life. These oddities and relics had been to so many parts of the world. Even this little golden ring she picked up. This has probably seen the sunsets in Italy, she thought, or the golden sandy shores of Greece. Or maybe it has been laying for centuries at the bottom of the sea, seeing all manner of sea creatures no human as ever seen. The possibilities were endless. And she loved all of it.
She navigated through the twist and turns of the labyrinth like aisles until she reached the very back of the shop. And there she saw it. A cute, silver, amulet necklace. It had a thin silver chain and the amulet itself opened up where you could put two small pictures inside. It was empty though. There were no pictures there now. She didn't have anyone to put in there anyway. But she did really like it. When she picked it up, she instantly felt a connection to the amulet. She needed to have it. It was beautiful.
She carefully turned it over searching for a price tag. She inspected the engravings on the front and back. They looked like flowery patterns and swirls. It felt nice to touch.. But there was nothing attached to the amulet or the silver chain telling her how much it cost. She made her way back to the front of the shop to where the old man was sitting.
"Excuse me sir," she said in almost a scared whisper. She got nervous when she talked to people. She had a stutter growing up that she worked really hard to get rid of but it sometimes came out when she got nervous. "H-how much for this?" she continued as she handed the old man the amulet necklace. He grabbed one end of his glasses and held them as he inspected the necklace.
"Oh, this is beautiful," he said in his old man voice. "Let's see, lets see here, hmmm," he continued as he looked around it, also searching for a price tag that was not there. How strange, he thought, he put price tags on everything in that shop himself. Perhaps he missed one. He would have to appraise it in the moment or else he could lose a potential buyer. There hadn't been much business for such a long time. So he did his best to come up with a good price. "There doesn't seem to be a price," he said, "let's see," he continued as he walked behind a computer screen. He pretended to research prices from a database that didn't exist. She wouldn't know. She couldn't see the computer screen. He was just clicking random links and folders, just giving himself enough time to figure out a price he liked but also one she would pay.
"How about forty dollars?" he finally said.
She didn't like that price and the old man could see it on her face. He acted quickly and said, "But how about for you..." rubbing his chin, "twenty dollars?"
She liked that price much better and smiled. "I'll take it," she said before he changed his mind.
"Great!" the old man replied. "I'll bag it up for you."
He grabbed a brown paper bag and a small case for the necklace and placed it inside the bag. He folded the top neatly and handed it to her with two hands.
****
That was a week ago. The amulet necklace lay sitting on top of her dresser now, in front of a large mirror that also sat atop. She hadn't really gone outside since then. Except for work or to get groceries, she had stayed inside. Nighttime was when she felt most comfortable anyway. But she didn't really like going out when it was dark. The world was asleep and even though she was still inside, she felt no one would notice her at night. She listened to everything with headphones on and watched TV with headphones on. She didn't bother anyone. She was a quiet tenant. Never disturbed anyone. But tonight was different. Tonight, she didn't feel as invisible as she usually felt. Almost like something was watching her.
She didn't notice at first, but as she watched television with her headphones on, things were moving around her. Things that shouldn't be moving. Things that usually stay in place after you set them down. An empty glass in the kitchen was sliding slightly across the counter without her noticing. Some pens rolled on the desk next to the wall. Strange things were happening and she didn't notice any of it.
She was watching her show while eating some popcorn from a bowl when she finally had to get up to go pee, so she paused her show, took off her headphones and went to the bathroom. It was while she was washing her hands that she noticed her hair brush wasn't where she remembered leaving it. Weird, she thought. Maybe she just didn't remember moving it. In either case, she paid no mind to it. She sat back down and grabbed her headphones but before putting them back on, she looked strangely at the television. It looked crooked. At just the slightest angle. Like it was tilted to one side. Has she never noticed that before? How could she never notice that? It wasn't crooked by very much but it was enough to notice and now that she had noticed it, she couldn't unsee it. She got up and inspected the television stand. It was level. Seemed normal. She then leaned her head behind the TV, examined the sides, slid her hand up and down the border of the screen. Everything looked fine. But why did it look crooked? She couldn't watch her show until she fixed this issue. She decided she was going to get some paper towels to place underneath the TV stand so that the picture would look level again. It was an odd thing to stress over but it was something she couldn't let go.
She went to the kitchen and noticed the empty glass on the counter. Did I leave this right here, she thought. Hmm, whatever. She grabbed some paper towels and folded them carefully. She went back to the TV and lifted one side very gently and slid the folded paper towels underneath. That should do it, she said to herself. She stood back and took a quick look at the TV. Perfect. Okay, much better. She turned around and sat back down on the couch and just as she was about to put her headphones back on she saw that the TV was crooked again. What the hell, she thought. I just saw it, it wasn't crooked. I just fixed the damn thing. She rubbed her eyes. Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe it's time to go to bed, she thought.
She wouldn't notice it at the time but the picture frames sitting on the shelves behind her were moving very slightly while she was rubbing her eyes, trying to figure out her TV situation. She looked at the TV and it was now tilted slightly to the left because of the paper towels she had placed underneath. She removed them from under the TV and set the TV back down. It wasn't crooked anymore. It never was. Her eyes were playing tricks on her. I think it might be time to go to bed, she thought. She stood up and as she did she felt a little nauseous. So she sat back down. Oh no, did I eat something bad, she thought immediately. Was it the lettuce I ate earlier? I had heard there was a recall on lettuce. Was it contaminated, she wondered. She sat for a moment, hoping it would go away soon and just then out of the corner of her eye she saw the small lamp on the desk slide. It wasn't a far distance that it moved but she certainly saw it move. She was sure of it. She got up and walked toward the lamp and it was sitting slightly crooked. So it wasn't just her imagination. She stared at it. She pushed it back in alignment with the rest of the desk. She tried to figure out how it had moved. Maybe she had rats. She got shivers thinking about a rat scurrying across the floor by her bare feet. God I hope not, she thought. But maybe there Was a rat and it tugged on the cord that led to the power outlet. She took a step back and looked underneath the desk. There was nothing there.
She started to get a cold shiver that ran up her spine. She decided to go lay in bed. How did that lamp move, she kept thinking. And slowly an eeriness began to creep into her mind. Like a slow moving fog coming off the hills. It seemed to fill the room. She started turning off all the lights but kept one on in the living room. Tonight, she didn't feel completely comfortable sleeping in complete darkness. She laid down and pulled the blanket over her legs. She looked at the picture hanging on the wall beside her closet. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't believe it. It was also crooked. It gave her shivers all across her body. Get a grip Jessica, she told herself. She was letting her intrusive thoughts get the better of her. She closed her eyes and dragged both her hands down her face as she let out a few long, dry breaths of air. Inhale. Exhale. In...hale. Foooo. Ex...hale. Foooo. She took a few deep breaths and opened her eyes. She was feeling better and then she looked at the picture again. It wasn't crooked anymore. Was she seeing things? Had her depression and isolation finally make something crack inside her mind. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before.
She got up to go get a glass of water. Once she got into the kitchen she noticed the empty glass from before had been moved again. Did she move it last time? She couldn't remember. She must have. She didn't want to believe the other explanation. She grabbed the Brita filtered water pitcher from the fridge and grabbed a fresh new glass from the cupboard. She poured her water and headed back to bed. As she walked away she could hear a soft sliding sound behind her. She stopped immediately. She slowly turned her head around while holding her breath. She waited. The apartment was dark except for the single light she left on. She listened for the soft, sliding sound again. There it was! Something was moving in the kitchen. Oh god, I hope it's not a rat, she immediately thought. She slowly walked back with her eyes vigilant to any movement or for anything out of place. What was she looking for? She didn't know. She stared intently into the dark kitchen. There! The empty glass. It moved. It slid across the counter. She turned on the light. It didn't slide far but it definitely moved. And actually, it's still moving. What...the....hell, she said out loud as she watched the empty glass sliding. Nothing she could see was causing the glass to move. What was going on? She went to grab her phone to record what she was seeing and as she turned on the screen, there was a face of an old woman screaming with a painful look on her face. With her teeth spread apart, yellow and decaying. She dropped her phone. What the fuck was that? She stood silently for a few moments trying to understand what she just saw. Her lockscreen usually had some anime character on it, she knows, she carefully chooses them to put as her wallpaper.
Someone must have hacked her phone, she thought. Oh no, she might need to do a factory reset on her phone. She slowly picked up her phone and hesitated for a moment before turning on her screen again. It was back to normal. Her anime character was still there and the time and date read correctly. Or did it. The time was correct but where the day should show said, "Festering, 66, 1408." What the hell did that mean? She rubbed her eyes with her fingers and opened them again and the date now said "Torture, 25, 1211." She rubbed them again and again it said something different. It read "You're going to burn." She turned the screen off and tossed the phone on the couch. What the hell was going on? Was someone fucking with her? Maybe it was that nauseous feeling from earlier. Maybe she got some kind of food poisoning and now she was hallucinating. She didn't see what she saw. No way. And the empty glass, that also wasn't moving either.
Just then, a loud crashing sound startled her. It was the sound of glass shattering behind her. She turned around quickly and went to the kitchen. There it was, on the floor in a million glass shards. The empty glass that certainly wasn't moving before. But if it wasn't moving, then how did it end up on the floor, shattered. She stared at the pieces for a few moments. Dread and fear began to take over. That eeriness that filled the room before had begun to seep into her emotions. She didn't feel like she was alone anymore. There felt to be some kind of presence in the apartment now, with her. Something didn't feel right. There was only silence lingering in the air as she slowly looked around the apartment. She wanted to see if anything else weird was happening.
She wouldn't notice this at the time, but a growing shadow had begun to grow darker in the upper corner of the kitchen. It had been there the whole time but she never thought to examine it closer. The apartment was dark. It was nighttime. There was shadows everywhere. She thought nothing of it at the time.
As she scanned the walls and shelves for anything out of the ordinary, the phone began to ring. It said Mom on the caller i.d. It was late. Why was her mom calling her. She picked it up and hesitantly answered it.
"Hello?" she answered in an impatient tone.
"Hey. I didn't wake you did I?"
"No, no, no. I was awake," she said rubbing her eyes again. "What's up?"
"What are you doing? Watching your show?"
"I was but then I was getting ready for bed."
"Oh, okay."
"Hey mom..." she started.
"Yeah?"
"Have you..." she continued before stopping herself. She didn't want to get into a conversation about the weird things that were happening. Especially with her mom. She would only make it worse. It would only make everything scarier. Plus, what could her mom tell her anyway. They weren't that close. Which is why it was weird she was calling so late. It must be important, she thought. "Is something wrong mom?"
"Wrong? No, nothing's wrong...it's just that," she said before trailing off and saying nothing.
Jessica again wouldn't notice but the shadow that had been growing in the kitchen had now moved to where the desk was. It had slid underneath looking like any other normal shadow would.
"What mom? What's wrong?" she asked growing more impatient.
"It's just that...is anything weird going on right now for you?"
She frowned her face. Why was she asking that? How could she possibly think that? "What?" she replied.
"Like, is there like, how do you say...paranormal things happening in your apartment?"
"Why would you ask that mom?"
"I just get those feelings sometimes. You know the feelings I used to get when you lived here. Do you remember?"
"Yeah, I remember mom and I remember how scary you could get too when you would tell us the devil was in the walls."
"They were mija, they were. I was only trying to protect my children."
"Protect? Ha. And what is it now mom? Are the devils in my walls? Are you warning me about some kind of evil thing?" she said as all her childhood rage began to pour out. She had left that home. And she left for good reasons. Her mom was always too superstitious to get any kind of motherly comfort from her. Always felt like she just wanted to have control over her and her brothers and sister. She didn't really care if they were okay. She only cared if she was in control. When bad things or just bad luck happened to her, she would blame other people for it and would wish them harm. She even once saw her mom doing witchcraft in her bedroom. At least that's what she thought it was.
She had heard whispering and weird sounding words one night being repeated over and over and over again. So she got up from bed and headed towards her mother's bedroom. Her door was slightly open and she saw her mom on her knees, with her hands together above her head with a thin silver chain wrapped around both her wrists, tying them together. She had dozens of candles lit in front of a mirror. Her mom had her head facing the ground, rocking back and forth, whispering weird things. She looked into the mirror from the small slice of space from the open door and to this day she swears she saw a shadowy figure in the reflection.
"I don't know mija, I just sort of all of a sudden had a bad feeling and needed to call you. To see if everything was alright."
"Yeah mom, everything is alright," she said even though the weird things happening made it not alright. The frustrations she felt toward her mom overtook any scared feeling she had. Maybe that was good thing. It got her mind off the strangeness that was going on.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes mom. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay mija."
And she hung up the phone. She was frustrated but didn't understand why she was so annoyed by the phone call. She almost couldn't control the negative emotions she was feeling. She took a few moments to calm down and started to think about it. That was a strange coincidence that she would call this late asking if anything weird was happening. Because there was weird things happening. Shit, the fact that her mom called and asked that was also a weird thing.
She took a breath and went to the dark, unlit bathroom and reached for the light switch but nothing was there. She searched for it in the darkness rubbing her hand on the wall but something felt wrong. The wall felt like skin. Like an old person's skin. She pulled her hand away quickly. What's happening, she thought. She rubbed her eyes again and gently slapped her face. Get a grip. Get a grip. She again reached for the light switch and it was exactly where it was every. single. time. She turned the light on and went to the sink to wash her face.
She didn't notice as she went to bend down to splash cold water on her face that her reflection did not bend down with her. Instead it only moved its eyes following her as she bent down over the sink and stared.
When she stood up again, she grabbed the small towel hanging next to the sink. She covered her entire face and took a few deep breaths. Everything is okay. Everything is okay, she repeated to herself. The paranoia was beginning to take hold but she kept fighting to not lose this battle. She pulled the towel off her face and looked at her reflection. Was it smirking? Was her reflection giving her the tiniest of smiles or was she, herself smiling and didn't notice? I don't see that, she told herself closing her eyes. But she did. She wasn't going to validate it though by saying it was real. It wasn't. It couldn't be. She shook her head and chose to ignore it. She was about to leave the bathroom and turn off the light when she decided she would leave it on. She looked around the living room with now, wide frightened eyes. She didn't know what she was looking for. She turned and headed to the bedroom before stopping. She was absolutely sure, well as sure as she could be in her present state of mind that there was no knife sitting on the kitchen counter before. Why would she pull one out? She didn't. Why was it sitting there though? She stared at it as she slowly took a few steps towards it. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her neck. It felt like it was about to burst through her ribcage. Her eyes wide and throbbing. How could this knife be here? Something wasn't right. Yes. Finally, she admitted it to herself. This wasn't right. Something otherworldly was going on. Everything felt wrong. There was something alien here.
Panic began to fill her lungs. It felt like she was drowning. Her eyes began to dart around the room as panic made her see crawling things on her arms. Spider looking things. She swiped them away but they didn't fly off. No matter how hard she tried. She screamed as she could feel little crawly things all over her body. She shook her head wildly, swinging her arms and hair every which way. And then nothing. They were gone. Like nothing had happened. She took a moment to compose herself. She took five or six deep breaths. Hold it together, she thought. She went to the bedroom and looked out the window just to make sure the world was still there and wasn't also doing weird things. That's when she noticed a soft, silver gleam of light in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and noticed that it was the silver amulet necklace sitting atop her dresser, the one she had bought at the antique shop. It was glittering the light from outside. She went to pick it up and stopped in horror. In the mirror, she saw a shadowy figure standing behind her. She turned around but there was nothing standing there but then much to her horror, there was a shadow lingering on the far wall. She stood frozen in fear. She didn't know what she was looking at. It was darker than any of the other shadows. It swallowed any light it touched. It was the deepest, darkest black she had ever seen. She stood frozen in fear, getting sucked in by the darkness. Falling into a trance like state. And just then, her phone rang from the living room. It took her out of her trance and she ran to the living room and answered. It was her mom again.
"Mom! Mom!" she said crying. "There is something wrong happening here. It isn't right. It's all wrong mom!"
But she got no answer. "Mom?" she said softly. "Are you there mom?"
"Jesssssica...is that you?" she said sounding like she was half asleep.
"Mom? What's wrong?"
"Jesssssica....." she said taking a long pause before asking, "Where am I?"
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"I don't...recognize this place," she said in a groggy sleepy voice.
"Mom, where are you? I'm coming to get you."
"I don't...know," she replied in a slow slur. "I don't...feel right," she said. "I'm thirsty."
"Mom, what's happening?"
"They're hurting me, Jessica."
"Who mom? Who's hurting you?"
"I don't know...it's dark here...I don't know where I am..." then a loud shriek came out of the phone hurting her ear and then a staticky voice. A foreign voice began to talk.
"You want to see it! I'll show you! Twenty four and six! You want to see it! I'll show you! Twenty five and seven! Do you want to go to heaven. Oh no, sorry, instead you will be dead. And to hell you will go and you will burn. Twenty six and six! It's the beast! You want to see it! I'll show you!"
She listened in horror. There was a growing terror in her bones from not what it was saying but of the sound of this voice. It had a metallic, static sound to it. It wasn't human. It was emptiness. It was something not of this world. It was something that should not be here. It wasn't the voice of a person. It was the sound of the dread in the room. The sound of the eeriness she felt drowning inside of her, it was the all the horror and terror she felt this night being poured into this voice. It was the voice of a demon. And it was coming from the amulet necklace. She knew it. She knew it in her soul. She could feel a presence attached to it and it was pouring out of it. Pouring out of the walls and floors. Growing from the shadows. It wanted to be here. But it wasn't completely here, not yet. She knew that. But it was coming and it was hungry and she knew she was dinner.
She had to get out of there. She dropped the phone but could still hear that horrible voice screaming. "You want to see it! I'll show you! Even if you leave, you will never leave. Try to hide and it will find you. Twenty two and ten. All your family is dead."
With every ounce of strength she began walking to the door. It was like something was holding her in place. Not letting her move. She could only very slowly take one step at a time. And right before her eyes, the apartment began to melt. The walls began to sag and curve. The ceiling sagged like a thick glob and the floor stuck to her feet. The front door started to bend in unnatural ways. She pulled all her strength to take another step towards the door before it melted away. She took one heavy step after another. All her pictures had transformed, they had demonic faces in them. Some had animals eating children. Mouths appeared in the walls, smiling with yellow sharp teeth. Round shadow things with ten legs moved around the ground. The pictures of herself now showed strange naked women with bleeding eyes and grinning cannibal teeth. The apartment was collapsing on itself. She needed to get out.
What she didn't realize however, was that she wasn't actually walking toward the door. She was really walking to the kitchen where the knife had been sitting on the counter. She had grabbed it and had begun slicking her wrists. Blood had begun pouring out of her as she collapsed to the floor. Around her was just a normal apartment. It wasn't melting. There was no demonic voices screaming. Nothing was moving. It was just a girl bleeding out from her wrists.
***
She had awoken in the hospital connected to machines. Her wrists hurt and she could barely breath. She looked around the room and saw a nurse come in, "Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in the ICU. You're fine. Everything is okay. Just stay calm. You're lucky to be alive."
Many months later, it was explained to her that her neighbors had broken open her door because they could hear deathly screaming coming from inside. Like a bloody murder was happening. They had found her bleeding out on the kitchen floor. They had saved her life. She has since moved out of that apartment and gave back the amulet necklace to the antique shop.
She can still hear that hollow inhuman voice screaming from the phone. She swears it was all real. It still haunts her dreams and her waking moments. And in all those weeks she spent recovering in the hospital, not once did her mom come visit. She didn't know it at the time but she came to find out that was because her mom had died that same night. She had also cut her own wrists and bled out. Though, no one came through her door. It would be days before anyone would find her.
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