The wind howls outside my window. I lay awake in my bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the mournful sound. The darkness surrounding me is still - too still. I suck in a deep breath and a wall of cold air slams into me, burning my throat and lungs with its icy fire. I hold my breath, praying for it to pass, begging my heart to be still, to not make another sound. As always, my heart betrays me. It thuds against my ribs with a fury like no other, banging out an uneven beat of war, screaming my sudden fear to the heavens. Blood rushes in my ears, once more announcing the fact that I am alive, calling to the greedy spirits that still crave life.
Within seconds, the ghost materializes. I stare unblinking and not breathing, clinging to the notion that I still may be able to fool this spirit. The dead man sits at the foot of my bed, staring at his hands resting in his lap. I watch in fear as his head turns to look at me. His deep green eyes, once so full of life, bore into mine and his features suddenly become saddened. I let out a slow breath, my lungs now screaming for air, and study his face. He was handsome - no older than 25 - with prominent cheek bones and a sharp, angular jaw line. His body was strong and he wore a military uniform stained deep red around his chest.
My eyes shift to his hands as he slowly reaches out towards me. I yank my knees to my chest, clutching them tight as I try to escape my unwelcome visitor along with the frigid air that continues to burn my lungs. He pulls his hand back, eyes filled with shame and regret.
"Why are you here?" I manage to croak.
Those solemn eyes studied my face for many long, heart-stopping seconds before he finally asked, "Who am I?"
"I don't know who you are," I replied, hugging my knees tighter. "I've never seen you before in my life and I'd really rather that I weren't seeing you now."
If the ghost was offended, he didn't let on. Instead, he had been distracted by a misty figure beginning to form in the corner of the room. I gasped as the temperature dropped dramatically once more. I yanked the covers around me, trying to ward off the unearthly cold, and watched as a small boy appeared, his hazel eyes shifting wildly around the room before settling on my face.
"Can you help me?" he asked, his voice both strong yet filled with fear. "I'm lost. I can't find my family."
I felt my heart tug and ache, longing for the ability to hug the boy before me and tell him everything was alright, that I would bring him back to his family.
"I-" A lump formed in my throat and tears swelled in my eyes. What do you say to the spirit of an innocent child?
"Don't worry," the soldier replied for me, swiftly rising from my bed to kneel before the boy. "You're safe now, and so is your family."
The boy nodded, seeming to understand. The soldier reached out his hand and the boy took it, fear instantly vanishing from his eyes. I watched in awe as the two souls began to fade, melting into the air, sucking the cold away with it. I let out a deep sigh of relief and let my body sink back down into my bed.
As I began to drift into a restless sleep, the cold appeared once more. My eyes flew open and my body instinctively shot upright. A black mist had formed in the middle of the room, swirling and turning in on itself, moving inwards and back then around front again. Two glowing red eyes stared at me from the mist, intense and full of hate and hunger. I stared back into those eyes, frozen with fear, my breath caught in my throat, heart pounding out its horrified war beat once more. A face began to materialize. It was thin and gruesome, the bones protruding sharply with chunks of flesh dangling off. The jaw hung lopsided at an impossible angle, sliding back and forth and barring the sharp, rotted teeth. The face was neither male nor female, but completely demon. It was a deep gray, only a shade lighter than the mist, with only the eyes shinning brightly, reflecting the fires of Hell.
It reached a boney hand out to my from the mist, the flesh torn and hanging, the bone as gray as the face. The long, sharp fingers grabbed at the air as I shied away, pressing myself into the far corner. As the arm reached, the mist grew, swirling and expanding, engulfing everything it touched, winding its way toward me. I frantically tried to climb the wall as the mist and the hand grew ever closer. Within seconds, the ice of the hellish cloud hit me. I felt the hand grab hungrily at my arm, the nails piercing my skin, blood slowly dripping down my arm. I screamed as the black mass consumed me, wrapping around my body, finding its way into my lungs and eyes, burning with an icy fire, stealing my life.
-------------------------------------------
The mist faded as fast as it had appeared, leaving the room empty and untouched. The cold lingered and the scream echoed, a hollow sound bouncing to and fro, from wall to wall. No body moved, no heart beat. The human and the soul had vanished, carried away by the devil himself, back down to the pits of Hell.
