The Other World (Short Horror Stories)

Altimahtei

Fortapt Sjel.. my.. my name is.. Fortapt Sjel.. Ahhrg this pain, the never ending pain, like somebody has a grip on the inside of my head.. like a hand is resting on my brain.. from.. the darkest corners of Altimahtei he.. uhh I will explain whats happened, my story, my warning.

It started yesterday, when Markand was  still alive.. yea, when Markand.. uhh I lived, no, I live in Mumbai, with my mother, just my mother.. I’ve lived here all my life, I dont have much of a life, not many friends, not that it matters. My closest friends were Markand and his sister Hajeet, Mehra. Yesterday, it was yesterday we were walking home, we lived quite close to eachother and tended to take the back street path on the way home from our daily activities, to escape the urban chaos that is Mumbai, India. I felt something knawing at me, something wasn’t right. Sure enough it wasn’t long before found a young boy alone, he was badly injured, he was only wearing rags around his waist. There was something about him, that ragged jet black hair and his pure grey eyes, that seemed menacing, but, thats not what caught our attention. The massive scars and open wound across his chest was what unsettled us.. Markand was the first to run over to the blood-covered boy, to try and help him up, only met with resistance from the kid. I remember Hajeet crying, covering her mouth when we caught sight of his ribs poking out of the flesh wound, we all knew we had to get help soon if this boy was to live. but as Markand tried to pick the boy up, the child grabbed his collar and pulled himself upto markand’s face. He had a sense of authority in the way he spoke to Markand, he spoke with the voice of a man. He warned us of a danger, an evil. He told us he had limited time, that his name was Svenhallen, that he had been running, travelling through space and time for centuries, to escape an evil, escape the shadows from Altimahtei.

I thought this kid was crazy, but something about his brief tale was believable, no natural animal could inflict those wounds he had. Markand, clearly not wanting to waste precious time this kid had left, went to pick Svenhallen up and take him somewhere for medical treatment, screaming with an inhuman voice, Svenhellen threw red dust into Markands face and ran off down the alleyway leaving Markand yelling, clutching his face, screaming in pain. I made a dash for the kid, who was running faster then any of us could have thought. The air started heating up, within a matter of seconds the air around me started to burn, everything became distorted and my legs just gave way, I fell, hard.. My head felt as if a train had hit it, I felt disoriented, by the time I came to my senses and looked up, Svenhallen had dissapeared where he had been 20 seconds ago.

By the time I made it back to the slleyway where I had left the Mehra siblings, Hajeet had sat Markand up by the alley wall, his face was completely burned.. I dont know what that boy threw into his face but it must have been toxic.. I helped Hajeet carry Markand home, his eyes were red and blood was leaking down his cheeks, I was worried, something was definitely wrong with Markand, he had fallen in and out of consciousness several time on the journey home. Mrs Mehra sent me away as soon as we got to their house, she didn’t even give us time to explain what happened.. I didn’t know what Hajeet was going to say to her mother but the truth probably would only cause disbelief.

Ill never forget the worry I had as I walked home, everything passed so quickly, I couldn’t think right, everything was a blur. Until that night..

A sharp noise woke me up, I checked my clock, it was 1 in the morning. “Who the hell rings at this time in the morning?” I thought as I got up to answer the phone, just in the corner of my eye I swear I saw someone outside moving. Ignoring it because we lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment, I answered the phone.

“Fortapt? Fortapt!?” I winced as I recognised the loud voice shouting at me,

“Hajeet what is it? Is Markand alright?” I replied, a silence on the other end of the phone which felt like a life time before Hajeet had the courage to say anything