The Midnight Summons

This story is a submission to Kenny Penns "Frighten Me, Please?" Challenge october 2024. Read here, if you want to join!

October truly is the essence of autumn. The sun sets earlier and earlier, and the darkness grows thicker and thicker. Fog likes to creep around the trees in the evening, and the cold becomes more and more present.

It was on such an October evening that I was on my way home from visiting a friend on the other side of town. We had talked for quite a while, and time had slipped away from me, making it later than I was comfortable with.

I just had to walk the short stretch down a gravel road that runs behind the church and cemetery, leading to my street. A part of this stretch, just before reaching the cemetery, is lined with trees on both sides, forming almost a tunnel with their crowns. At this time of year, and at this hour of the day, it is pitch black.

I had my flashlight in hand, and its beam caught the fog’s tendrils reaching between the trees. I felt a slight chill, for the sky was clear, and the wind howled icily through the bars of the cemetery gate ahead.

I shivered, and my pace quickened beyond my normal stride.

Suddenly, the flashlight died. The light vanished, and for a few moments, I saw nothing. I stopped abruptly. I strained my eyes to the limit, and my hearing seemed to sharpen to an extreme degree.

Was there someone in the darkness ahead? I waited, hoping to catch even the faintest glimpse, staring into the void where the tunnel of trees ended.

Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the darkness, and that’s when I saw her. In the middle of the road, at the tunnel’s exit. Tall, dark, with her hands on her hips, hat on her head, defiantly waiting.

No doubt about who she was waiting for. Me. I moved toward her with slow, cautious steps to avoid stumbling. I was certain that if I fell, she would pounce on me immediately.

My heart pounded in my chest with fear.

Where had she come from, and how could she see in this dark, foggy weather that I was right here on the road?

It must be a ghost from the cemetery, one that had dared to venture beyond the sacred ground. Or perhaps one of the poor souls not buried within the cemetery walls but outside due to suicide.

I didn’t want to approach her, but I was trapped; I couldn’t do otherwise. My body did not obey my commands—something else was controlling my movements.

Now, she laughed loudly and mockingly at me. Or was it the neighbor's dog barking? I couldn’t tell the difference.

I stopped. Something coiled around my right ankle. I kicked out, only to hear a hissing sound. I was certain now; it had to be a witch, for witches have cats, black cats with glowing orange eyes. Although I hadn’t seen any—yet.

I took a few more steps. Now I was only a few meters from her when my legs stopped again.

With a snap of her fingers, pairs of cat eyes suddenly lit up on both sides of the road, glowing a piercing orange. The cats were screaming:

Don't just stand there! Seize him! Punish him!

The giant woman in front of me now held a torch, its flickering light illuminating her sickly pale face in the darkness. The blue eyes of the deer flickered further out in the field.

I saw her thick dark hair beneath the large hat, and she wore a long black coat. I was spellbound by her, without will.

Then, she began to speak. My blood froze. Her voice was deep—the deepest male voice I had ever heard. I was confused.

“You who walk on my road at night must pay with your life,” she said.

I tensed every muscle, wanting to run, but the cat eyes had now formed a circle around us. The cats purred sweetly as they circled us.

The man-witch reached for me and grasped my throat. I couldn’t lift my arms in defense. I was locked in an immovable shell.

“You must pay now. Are you ready to meet the Lord of Darkness?”

“Nooo!” screamed my innermost self. “You don’t decide my fate and my life!” I fought back.

At that moment, the church clock struck twelve—midnight.

“You’re mistaken; it’s the hour of destiny now!” said the creature before me.

I felt something fly around me—bats swooping down and veering sharply away. I was sure they would soon start tearing the flesh from my face.

“Why?” came a voice that sounded like mine. I must have finally voiced the question most pressing on my mind, the attempt to understand this madness on an otherwise ordinary Thursday evening in late October.

I never received an answer from the giant woman with the deep voice. Darkness engulfed me.

I saw only a faint light at the end of the tree tunnel. Then it grew brighter and brighter. Out of it came angels, swinging on golden wings.

“The Lord of Darkness shall not have you, nor shall the Lord of Light. Now return to your body and awaken,” they sang to the sound of harps.

I opened my eyes. There were doctors and nurses around me. A paramedic explained that I had been found beside the transformer station on the small road behind the church in my hometown, apparently in cardiac arrest. A local couple had performed CPR and saved my life.