When The Darkness Wins

When The Darkness Wins - 1

Chapter 1- Goodbyes

 I was staring at the ceiling of this old house. What was so new about it? What was so good about it? I had no idea. Tears started welling up in my eyes, as I recalled the day I had come to this wretched house. I wished  I could die.
-I watched intensely at my old house..as if it were warning me and calling me back..I stared at the windows for a minute..they seemed as if they were crying..with water pouring down, and pleading with me to stay. I looked over to the yard.."A real beauty is is" I said in remorse. I had to leave this house. Ever since I was a kid, I had been living in this house. I walked my first steps here. I drew my first drawing here. I had my tantrums here. All of my memories, always traced back to this house. But, somehow, I never felt any attachment with it. I felt as if it was no longer what I needed, for now, it was an old rusty house, begging me to stay. I sneaked one last glimpse at it before turning away, a sting of guilt in my heart.I could only stare outside, as the people ran by..the buildings flashed, while sitting in a car, silently weeping. That house had a big piece of me. Instant regret filled my heart as we pulled onto the driveway of a "better house". "This better be worth it." I mutter under my breath.There was something weird about this house. Yet, it was normal. A well painted house, and strong fence, clean windows, a paved lawn..but then my eyes caught a red blob on the lawn. It looked a shade of brown, so I approached it.In my old house, the lawn was green and the grass was healthy. But here..it seemed like the grass was distressed. I touched a blade of grass, and the green paint came off.This lawn had never been maintained for. I decided to grab some fertilizers and tools. But before that, I had to deal with some idiot who had sprayed the grass brown instead of green...but why was it in a certain patch of area? I continued to walk towards the bloc, and soon, it dawned on me that it was not brown, it was red. I was horrified. It could be blood. I started to back away. I called the house owner and asked him to immediately come over. I was screaming, frantically, that I was scammed, and given a murder-sealed house. But he portrayed me as the fool, by simple calling it a dry patch of grass, in which they had dropped the red paint while moving their stuff out. But I did not believe himSoon, an ear splitting scream came from my house. My face lost all of it's color, and I was frozen. I stood there, shocked. I did not want to go inside. But I still went inside. I thought I was hallucinating, because of the earlier incident, and dismissed it as a fluke. But the doubt remained. The fear remained.An hour passed. Every minute felt like a torture. The house was obnoxiously silent. After that blood chilling scream, all of my senses were active. I was expecting a heap of dead bodies in the cupboard when I finally shook myself out of the dilemma. But it was just a pile of dirt." I can't believe that the previous owners were so dirty...it looked dazzling from outside.." Suddenly, the red splotches came back to my mind. I shuddered.Mr Radley and Mrs Radley were the previous owners. Mr Radley was accused of killing his wife, when she went missing. But her body was never found, and Mr Radley was acquitted. A short while after that, he went missing too.For three days, my life was as normal as it could be. Nothing weird, and no blood chilling screams. "Maybe this house isn't too bad." I say, hopefully, for this house cost me a fortune.Then, all of a sudden, I got an eerie feeling about this place. A feeling I could not shake off. The kind of feeling that sends chills down your spine...The kind that leaves you alert for the whole day.

Chapter-2 The Case

Day after day, I would get that eerie feeling. I just couldn't shake it off. It was not a scream. It was nothing I could hear or even see. Yet, I could feel that something was terribly wrong.I was feeling stuffed. I had no say here..something was bringing me to this horrid place, and I had no right to stop it."Maybe I'm just lonely" I say to myself, with signs of fear and sadnessThen, an idea pops into my mind. Maybe, I could get myself a roommate. I could not avoid this slumber, but then, maybe a friend could help me escape. I call up Chera. Chera has been my best friend for seven years. She is one of the most adventurous and friendly person I knew. I grinned when I recalled our first instance together. She was one hell of a dancer..but he best part?That day, her pleading eyes had convinced me to give this girl a chance. She had a great charm, so her pleading eyes always worked on me. I continued to smile, and decided to ring her in." Hey Chera! " I say with ecstasy"You dare say" hey" to me?" She says, almost growling" Chera..what's wrong?" I say, taken aback" I just got to know that you brought that old mansion. Are you out of your mind?" She screams " Chera, let's talk face to face. Can you come to my house?" I plead, desperate for a moment to explain" I'm already on my way." She says, and I could almost imagine her grinning from the other side of the phone.An hour later, Chera arrives.I am utterly pleased to have company, but her face had lost all of its color. She seemed shaken, and absolutely terrified, and I had never seen her so scared in my entire life. She was shuddering like a clock's hand, slowly, but in a horrific way. She was silent. She looked horrified enough, and her silence seemed to worry me even more..before her hands grabbed my neck."C-chera!" I say as I struggled to breatheThere was a devilish shine in her eyes, as if she had been waiting for this her entire life. This was not Chera. She had an iron grip on my throat, and I her eyes were...terrifying. The looks she gave to me, before tightening her grasp, were of absolute pleasure."C-Chera!" I mouthed at her, far too shocked to utter a wordSuddenly she let me go. Relief flooded over me, and I saw the life returning back to Chera. Her face turned pale, and her eyes were a shade of terror. This was my Chera."Chera...are you okay?" I say, but then, I start backing away from here."Wait..I-I don't know what I was doing... All I saw was that I was clenching your throat, and the fear in your eyes suddenly struck me, a-and.." She says, whilst stuttering, still in shock due to her actions." Chera..sit down for a second" I signal to a chair, before grabbing two glasses of water. I was puzzled. I was confused, but I was far too frightened to comfort her.Suddenly, a piercing scream made my blood go cold. Five days later.I was given a job offer. "Yeah I know..it's an exotic job..but it has an exotic pay too.." "Are you sure about that? I mean, pay is great, but do you really need to get yourself entangled in such a dangerous job?" Chera said, with uncertainty" I don't plan on staying long either. I just need to work a month, or maybe two, and I would be rich!" I say, with ecstasyThree days later, I got my first mission." Hey..uh, I don't really have any experience in such a field...yet I got this job?" I ask a senior." Oh I can see that you are bored. This job is given to the people who have no skill. Just a new policy" Syla says as she shrugs my question off.Then comes the case.A lady had a nasty divorce 15 years ago. Her husband had suicided right after the divorce, and she couldn't care less, but she started getting absurd warnings...from her husband?I asked her for the entire details, but she had a hint of uncertainty, and terror in her tone."Miss, please share all of the details, starting from the scratch."" I have this s-sheet that I wrote on. P-please help me" She says as she passes the envelope to me.Then, she left without a word."Mhmm..she lived in California with her husband..but then what is she doing in Columbia? People just love changing places." I mutter, clearly amused yet confused by the case.When I finished going through the case file, I was shaking with fear. This lady.. had a husband who was alive..but he was not. His dead body was still preserved in the laboratories, and he was dead...They had no kids.This case was deeper than I thought.I spotted Chera standing in the hallways. She had lost all of the color on her face, and she looked as if she had seen a ghost. She had surely heard us talking , and this case was no different from a ghost." Listen...please don't take this case, I beg you!" She pleaded.I found this suspicious, and rebutted." Well, I really find this case to be interesting, and I am not going to give it up" I sayShe grabs my hand, and she growls" Give it up yourself, or I will make you" This send shivers down my spine, as the previous event came rushing back.I decided to leave her there.As for the case, I mustered up the courage to visit their home in California. Chera has always been an exotic joker, so it's better if I ignore her. She'll be okay.But before I left for California, she came to bid me farewell, and she started crying. It was unusual, since I was returning in another day. I could sense that something was fishy with her, so I decided to watch her, since there was an hour before I had to leave. I grabbed a pair of sunglasses from a man in the washroom, and a coar from the person in the next stall ."I'll return them" I screamed after themChera, on the other hand, caused a havoc at the front desk, demanding a flight ticket, for my flight. She apparently had to reach there as quick as possible... This caused my thoughts to stir up. Why would she want to get to California? Soon, she managed to get a ticket, and when I was boarding, I tried finding her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Once I was on the plane, I found her on the very last seat. I remained silent. There had to be some reasons for this."Nothing better than a sponsored trip!" I say, unconcerned about the case.A ping of guilt crept in. I had accepted the case, and I must visit their home, at any cost.As I walked over to the given address, I could not stop my jaw from dropping in surprise. The house, was nowhere in sight, but instead of the house, there was a thick, green jungle. Yet, the gates stated the same address.So, I decided to ask around." Excuse me..does this jungle belong to Miss Catheria?" I asked, puzzled and shocked." Jungle? This is the largest house in our area. The jungles cover a big part of their land, but their house is right in the middle. Just follow the tracks." replied a shopkeeper, who was quite excited to see me.I then, decide to try and find the house. The doors were large and uninviting, and beyond them, there was nothing in sight but a green lush forest.The jungles were never-ending. All I could see were trees. There was no end to this parade of trees, and I was growing more frightened and tense with every step." Great, it's already dark." I mumbled in anger, already tired from having walked for thirty minutes.Soon, the house was in my sight. But it was dark, and the house was growing more and more creepy by each passing second. I could hear the shouts of stray dogs, and for me the sound was equivalent to a tiger.I still go in.I could not help the guilt that was clouding me, and I did not want to be a quitter.I cautiously approached the house, as I lifted the lock that was sealed." I should have thought of this before." I say, growing angrier with each passing minute.I angrily flung the lock back, and yet it does not budge."I must find a window." I say, determined to finish off this jobI started circling the house to find any entrances or openings, and just my luck that I found an open balcony..but just that it was eight feet above the ground...My life flashed before my eyes when I heard a deep, low voice behind me

Chapter 3

"Havin' some trouble detective?" Chera said, in a smug tone."Oh god, Chera...Why?""Uhuh..you are in California..and I am your partner in crime to expose a crime!." She said, in a cheerful tone, but right after, she started scanning the perimeter.I was not happy. Nor sad. Just confused..."I don't need your help. Just go away." I say, "Oh is that the case? Sure!" Chera said, as she walked down the trail, but immediately took a right turn, into the forests. Where was she going?This was weird of her. But maybe she felt that I was in danger? Her feelings were justified..but...I decided to focus on the house. I tried to find an opening, but the house was sealed shut.Soon, I thought I would be spending the night in the lawn of that house, because climbing inside proved to be impossible. Until, I spotted a tree right beside the open balcony. An open treasure. I started climbing that tree like a monkey. I had a lot of trees to climb on in my childhood, so this was piece of cake for me. In no time, I was inside the house.I regretted not bringing a flashlight along. Then, I spotted a flashlight in the balcony. It was working, but it was hidden in the nooks of the wall, as if someone had intentionally hidden it there for me.I shuddered at that thought.The flashlight was working obscurely well. I could feel that something was off. It was in the balcony...as if someone knew I would try to use the balcony to get in. And the cells..it clicked in my mind. I decided to check the cells. They always have a manufacturing date on them.I opened the inner casing of the cells. There were two cells, but the manufacturing date was scraped off.Weird, I thought.I decided not to think much of the flashlight, and advanced inside. As I was swaying the flashlight from one side to another, I noticed a red splotch. "Eh it's just paint..I heard that guy liked painting." I said, clearly too casual.But it was not paint.It was blood.And it was fresh.I was frozen. My limbs refused to move ahead, and I started shivering. My mind was clouding, and I could not think.The realization dawned on me that there had been another murder here.And the culprit was not far away.I decided to hide. I shuffled underneath the bed, scared to make a noise before dawn. The blood was right next to the bed, and as if it was death itself, it was slowly marching towards me.Suddenly I heard loud, thumping footsteps.Someone was here.I grasped my mouth, unable to react. I did not know what to do next. I was hiding in a vulnerable spot, and the next pool of blood would be mine.Ugly thoughts filled my mind. The footsteps were nearing, and I was extremely vulnerable.I wished that I would have called Chera back. She must be thinking that I'm so full of myself.Suddenly, the door flung open and someone..a few someones barged in. These people..they were talking about something..." Are you kidding me? You saw two people here, and you didn't shoot them down?""I saw them exit, so I didn't shoot 'em. I mean, we have already killed enough.""Both of you, are idiots. We have to bury the truth, and if even one of them has the slightest idea of what happened, we are dead. "A cold breeze gushed by and the men stared in horror." I told you to keep the house locked!" It was getting harder to recognize their voices. There were three people, and they had guns in their hands. I shrunk, and put a hand to my mouth."You can't even do one thing right."And then, they suddenly closed the window.I was relieved that they didn't lock it, for that was my only way out.I was excited. Finally, I can get out, but my eyes fell onto the blood trickling towards me. I jumped back in surprise and hit my head onto the bed frame. The three men stopped in their tracks. Suddenly, the sound of pinging bullets filled my mind. But they came from outside.The three men left in a hurry, and I finally came out.The sun was rising and the blood was still fresh. The puddle of blood was creeping underneath the bed, so I made my way out. I quickly looked out of the window. There was nobody. The coast was clear. I carefully, stepped onto the balcony, and started climbing the tress. I had the get out of here. Horrid images of a murder filled my mind. I started climbing down the trees. But there was a problem...