The Subliminal Reality

Suspense Stories | Oct 4, 2011 | 6 min read
168 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
Suspense Stories

The Subliminal Reality

My car made a loud screech as it entered the driveway. I didn't bother because who would I disturb as I lived alone and I had, since the unfortunate event. As I picked up my bag, something caught the corner of my eye, something I thought was a moving shadow against the living room drapes. I slowly walked up to the portico and hunted for my keys. I convinced myself that it was just a figment of my imagination and there could not have been anyone in the house. As the keys turned in the keyhole, my heart began to pound. The house was silent. All I could hear was the click-clack of my own heels.  I tried to locate the switch board but I could sense my hands trembling. Something rustled but I could see nothing in the pitch darkness. As soon as the room lit up…

"SURPRISE!!", they shrieked.

"Holy shit!! You scared the crap out of me.", I yelled as I tried to subdue the fearful look on my face and replace it with the hint of excitement which was now creeping within me.

I turn 21 today, 13th December 2007, and as much as I loved my friends throwing me a party to cheer me up, I still missed him, my brother, Tyler. He was sent away to psychiatric ward in January 2006 on the account of claiming to see dead people in the house, the very house I have now been an occupant of for almost five years. As much as I loved my brother, I had this nagging feeling that he would get dangerous to be around if this persisted. So I had to have him put away.

I remember him waking up in middle of the night and talking to absolutely no one. Whenever I had asked him, I had got the same answer. "It's him, sis. Can't you see? He has come to visit me from the beyond. I see him and he needs me." The matter had become a pressing concern for me. He would be found staring at the ceiling and muttering to himself. I remember an incident when he had claimed he would travel to the graveyard because "they" needed him.

It was not easy letting him go and neither did things end well for him because of his state of mind. Over the months, reports came in from the hospital of how he has been talking to himself. One night he had claimed to have been flung across his room by an unknown power. After hearing this scenario I had decided to go visit him even though I had a feeling that I would be the last person he would want to see.

I remember the day I visited him, 3rd March 2011, the hospital was a dingy place. I had wondered how the mentally sick are supposed to get better in a place as claustrophobic as this. As I nervously moved to the corner room in which my brother was supposedly put to be healed, I got this fuzzy feeling in my stomach because I was entirely clueless as to what I would possibly say to him. But the sight that I beheld before me had astonished me, as the door opened.

My brother was there in corner of the room. His back was turned towards me. As soon as the room lit up I saw the words sprawled across the wall in what seemed like blood to me. Those very words which he had often said to me and what had made me send him here, "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE". The nurse left me alone.

"Tyler, did you write this?", I remember saying to him. "Oh! Please say something. At least look at me." I said with tears trickling down my cheeks.

That was when he had turned towards me and I saw his blood shot eyes. There were scars all over his face and his lips were a faint colour of blue. He crawled towards me as if he had no legs. His look pierced right through me. I had a strange sensation in my throat. Words no longer came to me. My throat was parched; I was scared when I saw him. He grabbed me by my legs. "Save me", he said. "Please!"

My eyes caught the sight of his palms; his fingers had been chewed off. I could no longer feel my legs, a nauseating feeling overcame me.  Screaming, I left the building, terrified by the horror that I had been succumbed to. That was the last I saw of him in such a state.

Six months after that Tyler was brought home, in the month of September. He never talked to anyone, just spent hours in his room besides the one window which stared at an empty wasteland across our house. This went on for days. He did not speak to me or step out of the house. I did not interfere until it started to bother me. I went to his room one night to check on him and there he was in the similar position beside the window. I tapped on his shoulder and he turned. His expression was dead. I asked him, "What are you looking at?"

He blankly stared back at me. And finally after days he uttered these words. "If I told you would you believe me?"

"Of course! Just talk to me."

"What do you see in that wasteland?"

"Nothing.", I answered him.

"You are lying, little sister. You are choosing not to look. You may have believed that I was crazy because I see dead people. But you are just like me. You just are not ready to accept it yet." He came very close as he said this. His breath felt ice cold against my face.

"Wh- What do you mean?"

I had started to tremble now. He gave a wry smile and jumped off the window. A chill ran down my spine as I let out a shriek. My brother had attempted suicide right before my eyes. I stood there frozen not knowing what to do. I finally picked up the phone and hit 911.

"Please send an ambulance. My brother just jumped off the window… Yes… That's right… the 6th floor… Yes.. Please hurry."

As I eagerly waited for the police and ambulance to arrive, I decided against looking at his body. Few minutes later, I heard the screaming sirens. I sat on the edge of my bed biting my nails. The bell rang finally. It was the police.

"Miss Jeniffer?"

"Yes, officer. How is my brother?"

"Miss, we found no body on the ground floor."

"What are you talking about? My brother jumped off the window right before my eyes."

"Are you the sister of Mr. Tyler Jones? The man who was admitted to Beverly Hospital for the Mentally Ill? "

"Yes. He was released last month. He is the one who just committed suicide."

The officers exchanged a weird look. "Ma'am, your brother passed away on 5th March 2011. Do you not know that?"

I stood there, frozen. I could hear nothing anymore, all I could think about was what my brother had said before he vanished from the window, what my brother had said, "You are choosing not to look. You may have believed that I was crazy because I see dead people. But you are just like me…"

SONAL PANDEY

https://www.facebook.com/sonalpandey01

 

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Reviews

Nikki Jul 28, 2012

Awesome story.

André Apr 4, 2012

Wow, never expected that at the end. Very good ending and a well written story...

Sonal Pandey Oct 7, 2011

hehe.. thank you :)

Kanika Oct 7, 2011

sonal what a heart pounding story you've written. WOW is the word. :)

Anikhet Oct 6, 2011

Good one...

Sonal Pandey Oct 4, 2011

Thank you Sir :)

Jagrit Oct 4, 2011

Again a very good story Sonal... really liked it... :)

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