It was irregular, but it felt natural. The whispers. The faces. The dreams, and the hallucinations. I couldn't place my finger on when it started, but it certainly hasn't ended.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, struggling to keep my eyes open. They would arrive soon. I wasn't prepared, but what could I do in this circumstance? My reflection had a pair of bags under it's eyes, begging me to get some rest.
A sigh escaped my mouth as I released my grip on the key I was grasping, letting it fall down the drain. My lack of sleep could be blamed on the visitors. They're the ones keeping me up at night, but guilt and remorse do not plague their lost bodies.
Their stories haunted me, their memories driving my relatives away. Fate had chosen me. Tonight could be the night. I swallowed the bile that was rising up my throat, gripping the sides of my sink with my trembling hands. The doorbell rang, sounding once. Then twice. My vision was redirected to a dark abyss as I closed my eyes, holding my breath.
My lungs started to burn, a feeling that brought great irritation to my body. I opened my eyes, seeing through someone else's instead of my own. I saw my porch, lit up by the bright white lamp I had installed a few weeks prior. It looked empty, deserted almost, but I knew something wasn't right. Nothing was.
"No!" I cried out, gripping my head as I shook side to side. "I can't, I just can't!"
A suffocating feeling creepy upon me as soon as I let my confession escape my lips, whispers murmuring in my ears, coming and going too fast to fully make them out.
I fell to my knees, praying to any deity that would listen, in hopes of my mental anguish ending.
I felt the rows of icy hands grab me, pushing and pulling my limbs. I felt no warmth or moisture, just sharp drought.
The tears that had streamed out of my eyes once before had ran dry, leaving me with the tasteless agony of defeat.
I awoke again to find myself at the door, a situation that left me clueless to when I had passed out in the first place.
The doorbell rang again. Once, then twice. I grasped the handle, knowing that the vision of what was outside wouldn't be accurate to what I would see now.
Letting my body take what would possibly be the last breath, I opened the door.
She was there, a shade of skin tinted red, her skull shape, her eyes. Her lips and her legs. I had arrived, and she was here to receive me.
Written: Oct 13, 14, 26 (2022)
Uploaded: Oct ~28, 2022
This piece was hand counted to be under 500 words, though over 291 words.
YOU ARE READING
Dpsdps55's Miscellaneous Works
Short StoryAn archive of Miscellaneous Works created and/or written by Dpsdps55. Works here are usually unaffiliated with ongoing or previous stories written by Dpsdps55, and act as stand-alone projects or one-shots.
