The Chants (Short)

The Chants

It was a dark and cold winter morning, and the snow had been falling for hours on end, covering the small town of Millfield in a thick white blanket. Sarah was new in town and had rented a small cottage, away from the noisy downtown area, for a few weeks. She had planned to get some much-needed rest and finish writing her horror novel.

As night fell, she lit a fire in the fireplace and settled down on the couch, wrapped in a warm blanket, with her laptop. She was typing away when she heard a distant chanting noise coming from outside. At first, she tried to ignore it, thinking it was perhaps the snow plow, but the sound grew louder, accompanied by a low humming sound.

Sarah opened the curtains a bit and peered outside but saw nothing but darkness and snow. The noise continued, causing her growing anxiety. She tried to shake off the feeling by working on her novel, but her mind kept wandering back to the strange chanting sound.

After half an hour of increasing frustration, Sarah got up from the sofa, put on her coat, and ventured out into the chilly darkness. She followed the sound through the snow and finally arrived at a small clearing in the woods. A group of figures wearing white robes stood around a large fire, chanting something she couldn't understand.

As she approached them, the chanting grew louder and more intense. The figures suddenly turned to face her, staring blankly at her with lifeless eyes. Sarah felt a chill run down her spine, but before she could turn around and run, they started to move towards her.

As they approached, Sarah noticed that something was off about them - their movements were odd, and their faces were twisted into an unnatural expression. She started to back away, but they continued to close in on her, their chanting growing louder.

Sarah turned to run and tripped in the snow. Before she could get up, the figures were upon her. She felt their cold, lifeless hands closing around her neck as everything went dark.

When she woke up, she was back in her cottage, the fire burning low, and her laptop open on the coffee table. Sarah sat up, gasping for air, her heart racing as she realized it had all been a dream.

But something wasn't right. She reached for her neck and, to her horror, found that it was covered in bruises. Sarah shuddered as she realized that the nightmare had felt too real, too unsettling for it to be just a dream.

She tried to push the thought out of her mind and continued to work on her novel, but she never ventured out into the woods again. And every night, as Sarah lay in her bed, the chanting sound would return, and the figures in white robes would haunt her dreams, never letting her rest in peace.

(I hope you enjoyed this short horror story. Please leave your thoughts in the comments and stay alert for more stories)