The Narrative Nexus 7: The Boy in the House

Zap! A streak of lightning cracked the obsidian sky. Torrents of frigid water cascaded from the heavens, causing my saturated clothes to cling to my perspiring body. A blanket of darkness suffocated me as I stared at the abandoned house.

The building seemed to suck in sources of light and transform these into phantoms of darkness. An aura of malevolence and merciless death prevailed. As I watched helplessly, an invisible thread pulled me towards the wooden door. As I entered, fear wrapped its icy fingers around my head. I walked along a corridor leading to various rooms. A broken vase stood in the corner of one room with cockroaches and spiders scuttling around it. Random items of clothing and shoes lay scattered across the floor. Then one thing caught my eye, a photo-frame on the wall.

I grasped the frame, and tugged it off the wall. It was a picture of a teenage girl playing with a toddler in the park. Their father appeared to be grilling vegetables while the mother was taking out plates. As I was about to replace it, I noticed writing on the wall where the photo once stood. Curious, I examined the message. It appeared to be written in red ink but was actually blood.

‘My name is Emma; I used to live here until strange things started to happen. I could hear creaks and screams during the night, and sometimes there are nefarious voices speaking in my head. One day I heard a scream from my parents’ room. They went to sleep there a few hours ago. When I went there, I could not see them. They had vanished. This mystery remains unsolved. Just then, I felt a chilling wind howl through the room. I felt possessed and mysteriously started to bleed from the ears, nose and eyes. I ran for the door but left this message for anybody who visits this place. Please take care of my little brother. He is two years old and has no one to look after him’.

A wave of terror and devastation swept over me. Fleeing from the house would probably be the sanest approach to the situation, but I could not leave Emma’s little brother behind. I walked down the corridor and stopped at a wide-open door. Inside was a human, a baby boy.

I sprinted towards him. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was drooling blood. He was not breathing, and I could not feel a pulse or his heartbeat. I knew I could not resuscitate him, or bring him back. He was dead and I cannot change that. Unexpectedly, he grunted, and then spoke.

“You will die,” he groaned in an enchanted voice, “you will get killed. It will destroy your soul and you will go insane.

“I will never be healed. I was abandoned. I was betrayed. My family left me. This will happen to you too.” The child jumped at me, his overgrown nails stabbing at my skin. Vivid blood spilt down my body. I looked into the baby’s eyes. They were vibrant shades of indigo. Finally, he went limp, his body falling into a heap on the floor.

His eyes went back to a normal shade of brown. While I stared at him, screams reverberated through my mind. I pressed my temples and tried to push the sounds to the back of my mind. The voices just got louder and ripped my mind open. My vision started to blur, and I fell to my knees. The pain became excruciating and very soon, I passed out.