The Cure

She walked up to the porch and stood in front of the majestic, wooden door with the huge golden door knocker. She looked up, scanning the house. There were numerous windows and suddenly her eyes met a face at one of the windows. It retreated immediately but Ricki noticed the pale whiteness and the unnerving toothless grin.

She rattled the knocker and after sometime a sound was heard at the other end. The door opened with a long lasting creak. A very old woman stood in front. She walked out with a wide, welcoming smile.

"Hello dear," she half whispered in a croacky voice.

"Hello," Ricki responded. "I'm sorry but I was wondering if I could get a place to stay for tonight?" The lady's smile widened.

"Oh of course honey. Come on in. I'm Miss Wisner." Ricki walked in and the lady closed the door behind her carefully eyeing the surroundings. As Ricki walked in the lady quickly followed behind.

"Do you have any fears? Phobias?" she suddenly asked. Ricki was taken aback with the random query. Not wanting to be rude she said "I'm afraid of water."

"Ooops!" she exclaimed in a childish manner and gave an inhuman laugh. Almost sadistic. Ricki gave an inquiring glance. "The old Mistress of the house, she had a procedure designed for curing phobias. She called it 'The Cure'. The house has a lot of secrets." She stopped abruptly and turned towards Ricki. "Why don't you take a bath?" she said and pointed towards a door. "I'll give you a change of clothes."

Ricki smiled and walked in the bathroom. The first thing she noticed made her weak and fearful. In front of her was a bathtub filled with water. She preferred taking a shower than using the tub. Water filled anywhere made Ricki afraid. However she decided to not embarrass herself and got in the bathtub.

It was fine the first five minutes or so. But suddenly a pull made Ricki sit up. Again a tug pulled her back in. She struggled inside the tub splashing water all around. Her face was now inside the water, and she could make out a hazy figure towering above her. She reached out, her hands desperately grasping for something. The figure just stood, motionless.

Finally the invisible force let go and Ricki sat up gasping for breath. Rushing out of the tub she out on her clothes in a hurry. The figure was gone. And strangely she was surrounded by water tanks. Her heartbeat was above normal and she started walking backwards. The floor under her became unsteady and before she realised she gravitated some feet below.

Faintly aware she sat up feebly. A sound made her look around and she drew back hurriedly to see water filling up her cabin from pipes all around.

"Welcome to The Cure," a demonic voice boomed as an unnerving toothless grin on a pale white face stood watching.

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Hey there! So that's my entry for Phobia. I had to edit so much and it's very abrupt but that's all I could do with 500 words. I hope it's not terrible. This is my first contest entry so be kind.

Please read, vote and comment. Your support is greatly appreciated. Also do definitely check out the music in the video above. It's creepy for sure.

Love, Alexis.

(Word count:491)