[Dark Kitten]

Synopsis: A young woman is haunted by her past and needs release.

Author's Note: This story is based on a dream my boyfriend had that was especially vivid and clear in his mind when he woke up.

Darkness


"Just please be there when I do it. I would be too scared to do it alone."

Her eyes shone with earnest and she really did look frightened to me. I knew what she had been going through the last few months and she looked terrible for it. Her normally beautiful face was haggard and drawn into a deep scowl and the long hair that she normally kept so neat was carelessly pulled into a tight ponytail with straggling pieces drifting across her face. Her lips looked cracked and her skin was pale as porcelain. The worst was her eyes; the bright cobalt of her eyes was faded to more of a steel grey, and they seemed to see without really seeing anything.

She wasn't eating or sleeping enough and when she did sleep she dreamt awful things that woke her instantly in tears and chills. I had been trying my best to help her and I even made her go to the doctor but nothing was helping and the doctor had given up and suggested a psychiatrist. She refused to go. She was haunted with past experiences; her childhood had been one of fear and destitution rather than of love and happiness. I knew her past had been horrible for her, and I was beginning to think that it had finally gotten the best of her. She certainly looked bested as she stood in front of me begging me to help her with what she seemed to think might be able to cure her once and for all.

I thought it was a silly idea at first, I didn't believe in the occult and that's what I considered this to be. I agreed to meet her at her old house; she said it would work best there because the house held so many of her bad memories. I parked my car in front and walked up onto the front porch, carefully avoiding the obviously rotten boards. When I opened the door my first thought was that I had arrived before her because the house was still and dark.

Then I heard the scraping across the floor, a sound like an ancient door groaning in protest at being opened after many years. I quickly trotted up the two flights of stairs, stopping at the top landing for only a second to get my bearing as to which direction the noise was coming from. Turning to the right and moving a few feet down the hall I pushed open a door and found what looked to be an old bedroom. Before I could get a better look, however, she grunted at me to close the door and as I did so the room was quickly incased in darkness. She had been pushing an old metal frame bed across the room, and now had it situated directly under the room's dirty, one and only window. She sat quietly on it, holding a black sheet.

"Tack this up over the window." She said it so quietly I wasn't sure I heard her.

Then she looked up, repeated herself and held the sheet towards me. I walked across the room hesitantly because, though it was only a small room, I couldn't see anything between me and her. I managed to make it to the bed without tripping and I gently took the sheet from her hands which, once released, immediately dropped with a loud smack back onto her thighs. I climbed onto the bed and stood behind her. Taking the tacks she handed up, I pushed the corners of the sheet into the corners of the window, sealing the darkness into the room.

I quickly realized that the sheet wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole window and there was a strip of light that still entered from outside. Carefully stepping back off the bed I saw her lean over to the floor and pick up something.

She cradled the black candle in her arms for a few seconds looking almost amusingly like a small girl playing with a doll. Then she pushed herself over onto one hip and stuck her hand into her pocket, pulling out a book of matches. She snapped one off and pulled it between the two sides of cardboard as she pinched in with her thumb and forefinger. It instantly flared up with a snap and a hiss then settled into a steady burning. She shifted the candle into one hand and the match into the other and then touched the latter to the first. It took a little coaxing but the candle caught the flame and she waved the match to put it out, dropping it mindlessly onto the floor. I thought about mentioning the fire hazard but then thought better of it just before it came out of my mouth.

She had been sitting there staring into the candle for so long that I thought she had fallen asleep with her eyes open when suddenly she started and let out a small moan. She once again reached to the floor, this time bringing up four pairs of handcuffs; I didn't ask where she had gotten them from. She clicked first one pair onto her ankles and then the other onto her wrists, making sure they were tight as could be and pulling to ensure her hands couldn't slip out. Then she swung her legs up onto the bed and stretched out like she was lying down to sleep. She wordlessly held the other pairs of handcuffs out to me and I linked the middle of the pair joining her wrists to a steel rail of the bed's headboard. I did the same with the other pair, securing her ankles to the footboard. When I finished and stepped back she gave a few experimental tugs to make certain everything was snug and secure. When she first told me about what she planned on doing she had said that chaining herself down was necessary to her safety and mine. I didn't believe that she would hurt me, she never had before, but here in this room I began to believe that anything could happen.

The candle sat on the floor beside the bed where she had set it when she began putting on the restraints. It was the only light in the room but at the same time it seemed to do no more then cast enough light to see the flame itself. You couldn't see it on the walls, the bed, her body... nothing. Besides that there was only a tiny amount of light coming in from the window. The strip of light from the window was now laying diagonally across her face, highlighting her right eye, the tip of her nose and the left side of her mouth. The absolute darkness that shrouded the rest of the room was like no darkness I had ever experienced before. The room was completely black, the kind of black that's very unnatural; I felt like it was eating at my skin, or maybe my very life. It was so pure, so black, and so evil.

She rolled her head then to face me and after staring directly into my eyes for a few moments she transferred her gaze to the candle on the floor.

"Once this candle goes out," she whispered, but loudly enough that I heard clearly what she was saying, "I could be anyone, or anything inside me." With that said the candle began to flicker as if on cue.

Once, maybe twice, it jumped and then it went out completely. I just stood there watching, not knowing what I was expecting but waiting for something to happen. At first I thought nothing had changed but then I began to feel the presence in the room. The black that was so still and heavy in the room before gained a shifting quality. A kind of movement that you sensed was there but your eyes couldn't quite pick out. I thought I felt a touch on my neck but when I spun around there was nothing. I frantically searched the darkness for some
explanation of what I had felt but could gain nothing from it; it held its secrets close.

Just then I heard the bed start to creak and squeal behind me, the handcuffs' chains rattling and clinging against the rails. I turned back to her, trying to ignore the eerie feeling of the thing behind me; trying to beat down the childish fears that were rising within me. The shadowy outline of her body was moving back and forth and she was letting out tiny groans with each turn. It started as an almost gentle motion, but then in mere seconds she began to thrash about so hard I was terrified she would break her arms and legs which were still held solidly into place by the chains. Her quiet groaning turned to all-out bloodcurdling screams, the kind of screams that once heard never really stop echoing in your head, even long after they have stopped. She slammed violently in the bed, twisting and turning and wrenching at the restraints that held her. Without thinking I jumped onto the bed, straddling her and was almost thrown off in the process. I grabbed her arms just below the wrists trying to keep her from cutting herself, all the while calling her name. I leaned into her, trying to get the shaking to stop and I felt her body convulse towards me as if she were attacking me. Her teeth grazed my shoulder as I barely managed to pull away just before she bit me, I refused to let go of her arms though, despite her constant pleas of "let go".

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. She stopped moving altogether but glancing down at her showed she was very much conscious; her eyes were wide open and she was staring at me. In her current position the strip of light once again crossed her face and as her lips moved I could see very little of the rest of her face as it was once again shrouded in that damned darkness. She looked as if she was trying with all her being to tell me something, I concentrated on the wordless motions of her mouth but I had no understanding of the message. Her eyes slowly closed and her lips stopped moving, I felt a wave of panic leap through my body and I whispered her name. Her eyes snapped open and my first feeling of relief was soon brought to an abrupt halt when she spoke.

"She's not in there anymore."

The voice was hers but at the same time it was nothing like her voice. The eye that I could see highlighted by the window was one of stone and depth and pure evil. This wasn't the woman I loved anymore. I was held, rooted in fear and confusion as the eye searched my face, I had no doubt that It could see in this darkness. I thought it may try to attack me again but there was nothing I could do, I was held in its gaze just as tightly as it was held to the bed. The eye's probing plunged into what felt like my very soul, leaving my whole body cold and shivering, but still I couldn't move. I felt raped, tormented and wickedly ravaged; the abuse I felt flooding into me was like nothing I had ever imagined. When at last I could stand it no more, I flung myself off of it and fell screaming and crying to the floor. The only words I could think to utter were "Stop, please no more."

It laughed and replied, "That's what she said. You are just like her; weak and stupid."

I knew then that this thing had been living inside her for a very long time, tormenting her, abusing her, just like she had been abused as a child. It had created inside her its own private darkness just like the one in this room. I doubted now that there had been much of her left even before this ritual, she was more of a hollowed out shell, possessed and controlled by the creature of pain inside. The candle ritual was supposed to free the demons inside her and get rid of them, she had said, but I think now that she knew what would really happen. I think she was giving up, that she didn't want to struggle against it anymore, a kind of mental suicide. She let the creature take her over and finally devour her completely so her pain would stop at last.

I scrambled to my feet and backed out the door, my eyes never leaving the creature on the bed. It continued to stare silently back at me until I broke away and stumbled, half running and half falling, down the stairs. When I hit the bottom landing I stopped in my tracks, the haunting sound of her laughter filled my ears. It was a joyous laughing; there was no trace of hurt or fear. I closed my eyes and listened, as if trying to breath in that last little bit of her, to take it and keep it with me forever. As it faded away I once again began to walk toward the front door, this time with a new found sense of calm.

The last sound I heard come from that house was the rattling of chains drifting from a blacked-out window on the second floor and this was cut off by the closing of my car's door.

[DarkSou|]

I like how this story turned out, I can still see it in my mind as I read it. I'm intrested to see what everyone thinks about it.

[psycosis]

Very well written.....I like your style and Im not a big story reader

[foxblade]

Very nicely written, however, (yes, there's always a "However" to any story) There were some parts of the story that sent me drifting into la la land. The parts where the sentences were started with "I think" and "really". You could have replaced them with sure-fire feelings to bring out the tension a little more

Other than that, very nicely done.

[RedNeckUtopia]

I thought it was excellent....very descriptive. I'm actually quite impressed with some of the talent I've witnessed on this website!

[mistychick]

My favorite story so far!
I easily got into the storyline and enjoyed it.

[D'artagnan]

Just finished your story: well done, you realy should get help if these dreams keep up. however it was one of the best stories i've read in a while. thanks for sharing it.

[dingoxxx]

Awesome writing

[Ambrose]

Very cool. I was glued to the story. A couple horror films came to mind but I can't think of which; the point is, it was that good. I really like the part about the woman being handcuffed to the bed. You were able to create a tangible suspense when she entered the dark room and you didn't let up until she left. My only complaint is that I still don't who either of the women were.

Anyways, excellent storytelling. I bet your boyfriend was pretty spooked after the dream

[seebaruk]

Very well written, the descriptive elements were excellent. Has your bf ever taken Larium? I had it a couple of years back and I've had messed up dreams ever since! Great if you're a horror writer, not so good for a decent nights kip

[Syrah]

Very interesting. I like the descriptions. It was very visual to me. It's sad though. Very sad.

[Dark Kitten]

I like that Ambrose assumes the 1st person narrater is female... it was, in fact, male (its told from my boyfriends perspective, as he dreamed it, as he told it to me) but we almost always, as readers, identify the character with our own sex until told differently and I purposefully left it unidentified so that very thing would happen and the reader would be connected to the story in an intimate way, not as though imagining to be someone else. Also I think I meant for you to not know them really... it was like you were along for the ride for a very short amount of time, but at a very significant time in their lives. Given just enough background to understand the story but encouraged to make it up for yourself.
Laruim? I will look it up next time I need inspiration. lol. Thank you for your comment seebaruk.
Thanks Syrah for once again dragging up some past... This was the first thing I ever submitted to Storiesmania, actually the reason I found SM, while looking for a place to share this story once it was written (very feverishly in 1 day; so I wouldn't forget any of the details told to me) I stumbled upon the community and never really left ever again. Thank you for your comment as well, and I am glad it touched you in some way... this story is really a very emotional one, and even though as I read it now I see a million things I want to change (it being written before any real development as a writer occured) I wouldn't actually change anything about it, it holds a special place in my darkest of black souls.
Thanks all.
~DK

[shatteredsight]

Very well written! I couldn't stop reading to the end.

[Razor]

That is a well developed and written story. It has the feel of being resculpted countless times. The detail is vivid and haunting. The whole story sets a mood, but I can't quite place my finger on exactly what it is that does it. I will agree with fox. Don't be afraid to go to extremes with your words. This is a very strong piece they will fit better.

Good work, excellent read.

[Alaunus1221]

The descriptions of the story were the most vivid and fleshed out. Every sentence I read was filled with description about something and helped to heighten the story for me. Description and narration tied in well together and was by far this story's strength. I enjoyed it immensely.

At times, however, the intricate description got a little overwhelming and interrupted the progression of the story. Though the circumstances of the story were unique, (using the candle as symbology of her internal flame,) but the setting was rather stock and perhaps a little cliche. My personal opinion on that is this will always be one of the pit falls in horror writing, especially short story. We always want to put our story in a 'spooky' place to heighten the action, but in the end: is it necessary to do so? I also understand that the setting is usually representative of the characters within, but a decayed house to convey a decayed character has been seen before.

Overall: I love the commentary on letting our past take us over. It is so hard for some, especially those with the toughest pasts, to grip with what has happened and make a change for a better future.

[Nero35]

I scrambled to my feet and backed out the door, my eyes never leaving the creature on the bed. It continued to stare silently back at me until I broke away and stumbled, half running and half falling, down the stairs. When I hit the bottom landing I stopped in my tracks, the haunting sound of her laughter filled my ears. It was a joyous laughing; there was no trace of hurt or fear. I closed my eyes and listened, as if trying to breath in that last little bit of her, to take it and keep it with me forever. As it faded away I once again began to walk toward the front door, this time with a new found sense of calm.

The last sound I heard come from that house was the rattling of chains drifting from a blacked-out window on the second floor and this was cut off by the closing of my car's door.

Your boyfriend must have been scared as shit. I like the amount of detail you put in your story that makes it so easy to picture in your mind. It also gives the reader a lot of room to play with the roles and make the characters their own in their head. You keep me stuck into the story but like others have said you sometimes will ramble on a lil bit amd drift away. But i swear to you this is the best story i have read in a long long time. Once again may god have mercy on your boyfriend. ha ha

[RosettaStoned07]

Holy shit...

That was all I could really gather in my brain after reading this story. I wasn't into it right away, but by the third paragraph or so, it caught my interest. I loved the imagery and how descriptive the details were.

Was the narrarator her boyfriend? Or just a friend? Whichever, I felt bad for him. It was almost as if he watched his friend or girlfriend die right in front of his eyes and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it except cry and ask the creature to stop. I put myself in his position and I made it so that I was there watching a girl that I loved do this to herself. It overwhelmed me. I feel bad for your boyfriend, haha.

Anyway, great story.

[Vorcla]

Well done. Very descriptive. I really didn't notice it dragging anywhere. When "she" opens her mouth and says, "She's not in here anymore," I had a very cinematic image in my mind (and I almost wet my pants!). Chilling. This would make a very nice segment of a horror anthology film.

[jaziz69]

It was a brilliant read, loved the description, however at one point i felt it got a bit too excessive (i think the point where she is lighting the candle) although you then 'reigned it in' so to speak, so nothing too major. Here are a few points that made me stop reading and i had to think about them:

"...and they seemed to see without really seeing anything." - Probably just me being me, but I didn't think this really worked. I know it's hard to describe that kind of vacant look in a different way, but the repetition here didn't really work for me and kind of stood out a bit.

"It was the only light in the room but at the same time it seemed to do no more then cast enough light to see the flame itself." - **than**

"I felt like it was eating at my skin, or maybe my very life" - the second description just felt a bit 'extreme' compared to the rest of the piece so far. It feels like a strong jump from the darkness "eating at my skin" (which i loved by the way) to it actually being life threatening. You could probably leave the second half of the sentence out.

I think the way you described the candle as seeming "to do no more then cast enough light to see the flame itself." was brilliant and really adds to that unnaturalness. It just connotes so much.

This sentence was the one that really hit off the tension for me; short, sweet, and chilling! "Once this candle goes out," she whispered, but loudly enough that I heard clearly what she was saying, "I could be anyone, or anything inside me." With that said the candle began to flicker as if on cue. Very inspiring.

"I turned back to her, trying to ignore the eerie feeling of the thing behind me; trying to beat down the childish fears that were rising within me" - The childish fears bit is brilliant, something everyone relates to and i think it is actually that feeling you get when you try to brush off something scary. I don't think you need to repeat "me" again at the end of the sentence; it feels a bit repetitive and i thought sounds better without. You could even slightly alter it of course, but the extra "me" sounds unnecessary.

Loved it overall, but i still think, as with any piece, there is room to make it exceptional, possibly directing your description towards the 'chill factor' (sorry for this vagueness!)
It's definitely a piece worth pursuing 'perfection' for though.

Great stuff, keep writing.