A college student harbors a dark secret when she brings her boyfriend and three friends to a house harboring an evil entity.
A short horror story with a taste of twisted, psychological thriller and plot twists.
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Who's ready for a POV switch?
Content warnings: slightly detailed attempted suicide flashback, brief gore
I stare mindlessly at the screen in front of me, the words blurring together into one mush of incomprehensible gibberish. The night is quiet, which is paradise on campus every time that happens. But tonight, it feels weird. Unnerving even.
My reflection stares back at me, or rather whatever I can see of the tired girl with bags under her eyes. I slump forward and bury my face in my hands, leaving behind dim spots in the corners of my vision as I glance back up. The essay is due in a few hours, and I've only written one page so far. One page out of fifteen.
Rolling my neck around, the sounds of cracking joints disturbing the eerie silence, I push back my chair and stand. I shuffle toward the kitchen and turn on the stove before plopping a pan on top and pouring water into it. I wait for a couple minutes until it boils. Grabbing the coffee bag from the counter, I scoop out a couple spoons of the grounded beans. Just a few.
A sudden chill contaminates the room. The lights flicker a few times. Goosebumps crawl across my skin like tiny spiders as the hair on the back of my neck stands up. Whispers float all around me. A sense of dread sinks in my stomach like an anchor. I stop breathing. The only sound I hear is the pounding of my own heart, increasing in tempo every second. Thump, thump, thump. Then my heart freezes as a smell I've only sensed that Hallow's Eve night invades the air.
The stench of death and darkness.
I whirl around, only to find the vacant part of the dorm empty. Pain hits my heart when I look at the empty space where my former roommate and best friend would be either reading, writing on Wattpad, or gaming at this time. The college quarters are never full, so I have been able to live alone in my dorm aside from a few visits from my partner. And I preferred it that way, as I was not ready to let go. Despite what my therapist has been trying to drill into my head.
The strange surroundings dissipate. It's nothing. I imagined those whispers, that's all. I am up at three AM. Of course I'll begin to hear things that aren't there.
With a shaky sigh, I return my attention to the coffee. It has started to boil toward the top of the saucepan, the aroma of fresh coffee floating through the tiny kitchen. I pour the wide awake potion into the cup and turn off the stove before setting the pan back on. Cupping the mug with both hands to warm them up, I turn.
And drop the cup, the sounds of shattering porcelain cutting through the previous silence. Drops of hot liquid splash against my bare ankles, but my brain ignores them when it's focused on the dark figure lounging in my dead best friend's chair. The lights die, leaving the room in partial darkness thanks to the full moon streaming through the open window. I can't make out their features, whether it's because they're in the shadows or my brain is failing to process anything.
