Hallway

Suspense Stories | Jun 5, 2012 | 6 min read
24 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
I remember when I used to stare into space. Stare into nothing, exactly. The silvery stars and sliver of moonlight all there uncased in a sapphire sky, but it never held my attention the way staring at shadows did. I used to get this feeling that I wasn't alone. After coming inside from a long night out, or just sitting outside and pondering upon our sky's past of stars we see now; I'd have to come inside, climb up the stairs, and walk down the hallway. The first room on the left was mine, despite the fact that it never truly felt as my own. More like, a temporary space until my mother decided to move us to somewhere more appealing. My mother's room was a few steps down and to the right; my sister's being the last on the left. I grew up here. Most people find their childhood homes to be filled with a certain safety, a feeling of great assurance that nothing bad, or not greatly terrifying could happen here. I could say otherwise. Especially for one characteristic that bothers me to this day, one that never really left me despite fading memories of everything else. The hallway, it was…distracting. If most lights were off in our house, and I'd have to exit my room to do something, I'd have this feeling that sort of had a combination of being watched and the sensation of a direct person standing there, from behind me. It happened every night. Even sometimes, during the day, if I was ever home alone I'd have that same feeling despite the clear daylight distinguishing any shadows. What was even more disturbing was the fact that, while I was more comfortable walking in dark alleys alone or deserted streets, that damn hallway was even more foreboding than anything else I've encountered. The atmosphere was intimidating. As if I was being followed by something dreadful. Like a ghost, but I know the feeling of one could only be compared to as a mild dread. When standing in the hallway, it was a hot and cold feeling sliding and grabbing hold of me from within and incasing me; almost as if trying to envelope or consume me. I used to want to turn around, to confirm my fears to be just blunt paranoia from an overactive imagination, but I would stop myself… I didn't want to know if something was there. I didn't want to know if there was actually something spilling from the shadows to taunt my psyche and send me into a daunting fever of stop, stare, and run. I also knew that if I did look back, I'd focus my gaze intently upon the dark until I'd reach the safety of my room or kitchen where light could save me. I never took my eyes off of it, not for a second; for the fear that something might grab hold of me if my guard were to be down. Just the light alone held a great comfort for me; just being able to know that I could see what was around me, and not hiding if there ever was…something. After a few years this feeling, this…fear, I forgot about it entirely after moving in with my aunt for a summer. Where upon my return home, I ascended the steps in front of me, and turned to my right. I knew my mother and younger sister were still in the car, unloading a few bags while expecting me to hurry back outside to help. I gazed at the foyer and then the hallway… that fucking hallway. It was completely dark except for the few lights barely shining in from windows and doorway. I set my bag down and raised my hand to flick the switch that would smother the obscurity with illumination. Then, that's when I felt it. That immense aching from behind, the twinge and pulling that drove me insane. I stood there frozen. It was closer, and stinging every pore and nerve tip on my body with an agony that made me want to flee. My heart pulsated on my tongue, dragging itself out from its safe cage and up my throat; choking me. That constant thrumming sound pierced and filled my ears until I thought I might go deaf. My eyes burned from staring into the dark to long. I felt a whisper of a breeze on my shoulder, and I closed my eyes. I heard my mother's voice, but it seemed miles away. It had me, and it wasn't letting go. I didn't turn around, not giving into my morbid curiosity or its wishes. I heard a slight scoring sound that echoed from the hallways forever walls. It grew in sound, in which to my estimation, might have been coming ever closer. I sensed a something, perhaps a hand, inches away from my face… the air of it boring into me, making me completely unsteady and nauseated. I could not move forward nor backwards, or even fight back. You can't fight something you can't see, much less be able to know how to defend yourself against such attacker. A lone tear escaped my eye and I suffered four, long draping extensions ease on my face. Corroded skin and broken nails found me. Not mine, not human. Instantly I felt a great tugging feeling from deep inside me, and then… abyss consumed me. I was locked within dreams and dreams of mysterious shadows. There was never any light in them. Just the uncertainty of blackness. I awoke in a white room, with white walls, in a white bed. A steady beeping noise held me, and consumed my attention. Concentrating on that lone noise and willing myself to escape out of the coma like dreams I've been entrapped in. I attempted to open my eyes again after the previous attempt gave no detail but blurred color. I finally focused on my eyes on the vision in front of me. The image was my mother and sister staring in from a window. I raised my hand giving them some signal that I was awake, alive, and fine; to no avail my mother stepped back and sobbed. My sister stared at me. Simply the look plastered on her face was enough to crush me. Was I...was I dead? I looked down at myself, and basked at what she must have been staring at all along. I didn't have a shadow, not that I could see one. Oh and sight? No… no I couldn't see anything in color anymore, just blacks and whites. My skin, it looked dead and slightly decayed. As if I was alive for merely another's entertainment. My sister pressed her hands against the window, and I sat up slightly. I moved to get out of the bed I was in, and trudged over to the window on unsteady feet. I was close enough to see my reflection, oh God, my reflection. I touched my sister's hands with mine, and she smiled. Light filled my vision and it swam in black again. I was out before I felt myself hit the floor. I awoke in my room after what seemed like years and years of darkness. I could see again. I was back to…what you can say is normal. My sister isn't quite the same anymore. She asks me about the hallway, and why she hears the shadows whisper things to her. Or possibly why my shadow is gone. I don't know the answer to any of those questions. But one day, she asked me why I was still here. I just looked at her and said in a voice that was and wasn't mine "I'm always here; watching and waiting…just don't turn your back on me Sis. Or I'll have to find some other way to find you, okay?" She looked at me and nodded. As if she really understood. After a time I faded into the darkness I feared. Soon after my mother died, my sister followed my footsteps. She walked into the hallway, but she did one thing I never did. She turned and faced the dark. I never saw her again.

Tags:

  
Report This Story
Notice (8): Undefined index: User [APP/View/stories/story.ctp, line 227]
Notice (8): Trying to access array offset on value of type null [APP/View/stories/story.ctp, line 227]

Recommendations

Reviews

Jun 7, 2012

Your story scared me. I've never seen a what . . . seven hundred word, one paragraph story? Try breaking the story up with power first sentences. Grammar and spelling looks good. Good luck. Thank you. :)

Ivy Aug 3, 2012

On Word it was seperated.... strange that it's not on here. Maybe I have to double space that. Thank you for the comment and I'm glad you enjoyed :)

Velma golden Jun 6, 2012

scary, but good

Ivy Aug 3, 2012

Thank you :)

Download the Short Story Lovers App

Read and write stories anytime, anywhere with the Short Story Lovers app