4 Scary Stories for the Dying Season

The Cage

I can hear them...

They're coming...

And I'm terrified.

I sit here alone in a cage, only darkness surrounds me now. I have no recollection of how I got here, or how long I've been here, but I do know one thing... I'm scared. The darkness is slowly seeping into me, I can feel the anxiety pouring into my head.

My mind is no longer safe.

I reach out my hands to touch the cage, and quickly drawback. It's freezing, and now that I've noticed it, I am too. I sit here in silence and wrap my arms around my knees, shivering as I start to lose hope quickly. What if I can never leave? I try to shout for help, but only a pathetic whisper escapes my frozen lips. I swallow and find that my throat is desert dry. 

I can no longer speak.

The sound of my failed attempt must have been louder than I thought because now I could hear something from beyond the darkness. Long nails, no... claws tap and scrape the ground, but it's not just one set... It's thousands. My heart starts racing, and my breathing quickens. What's out there beyond my vision? What can I not see, but only fear? I start to feel it now, thousands of eyes piercing my skin, as I hear lips fold back over fangs. The snarls become deafening, and I know that these things only have one thing on their mind... Eating me alive. My pulse is racing as I scream in agony, trying to rip these frozen iron bars apart, failed attempts to escape this certain fate. I extend my arm to reach the top of the cage, hoping to find a key or something that can set me free. But in my failed attempts I see them... My eyes widen with pure fear. These things surrounding me... They belong to me. They taunt me and rip me to shreds every waking moment. 

These are my demons.

Every skeleton in my closet, every ounce of depression, fear, OCD, or even paranoia that I've felt is here, and they're ready to crush me. My heart beats faster, as I look around with bulging eyes. I can't breathe anymore, I can't speak, and my mind is no longer safe. I am nothing short of dead. They start to close in slowly, inching towards me to stimulate my fear, because they know it only makes them grow. As they come closer, the darkness falls from them, they're huge. Yellow bulging eyes, dark red skin, long grotesque claws, yellow fangs drenched in blood.

My blood.

The reality is, I've been dead. Long gone, a slave to these monsters. They've already eaten my body alive. Forcing me to slice my skin in long vertical strides, and bleed the blood they love to taste. These demons have already killed me, my spirit is just stuck now. Surrounded by them, I realize one thing, I'm trapped. This cage was never meant to be opened. This cage was meant to keep me here forever, and I'm the one who created it, I'm the one who put me in here, I'm the one who wants to kill me, not these demons. I'm trapped in the forefront of my mind, my soul never leaving, and why? Why would I wish such harm upon myself? Why would I long for my demise? Well, the answer is simple.

Because I'm filled with hatred for my skin and the soul that inhabits it, and I'm a glutton for punishment.