Dark Tales and Flash Fun

CCTV Nightmares

Night terrors wrested Mary from a deep sleep. The dull, red LED display showed three o'clock, three o'clock in the afternoon. Should night terrors be around at this time of the day? A few minutes later, the alarm buzzed, just another normal start to a day on the late shift. She gave herself fifteen minutes to shake off the sleepiness and prepare mentally for the day ahead.

In her half-dozing state, little demons ravaged her mind, dredging up horrible, random incidents from her dreary, unhappy life. Today they seemed to be tormenting her with memories of her broken marriage. Broken marriage, broken heart, broken woman. In fact, there wasn't much about her life which wasn't broken.

The demons had been getting much more aggressive of late, so now she was even more thankful for her spiritual guardian who kept them at bay, mostly. Michael had been with her since early childhood. Of course she knew he wasn't a guardian angel, there was no such thing but up to now he'd kept her safe so why not call him an angel?

Michael swept into her mind and scattered the tormenting devils. With a clear head and more than just a little gratitude in her heart, she struggled out of bed. She showered and dressed, and tried to focus on the few positives there were in her life. At least she had her job. It gave her a reason to get out of bed. It provided what little self-respect she had left, along with a warm feeling that she was actually doing some good.

Over breakfast, the night demons returned. Where are you Michael? The little monsters taunted her with memories of her father's vile behaviour. He'd abused her every night since the day her mother had left. The pain and humiliation had been unbearable, but she'd bided her time, knowing she needed to be eighteen otherwise the authorities would have put her in care; a girl alone, a girl without a parent. So wait she did, suffering the nightly torment, until her eighteenth birthday.

An eye for an eye, the bible said. He'd taken her childhood, so she took his manhood. His cutthroat razor had done the job with consummate ease but it wasn't his throat she'd cut.

It was amazing what you could find out on the Internet; it told her that he'd bleed out, and he did, and she watched. And while she watched he'd screamed abuse at her and sworn he'd get revenge... even from beyond the grave.

Next week was the twentieth anniversary of his death. Twenty years since she'd dragged his pale, empty body to the basement. Twenty years since she'd buried him. Twenty years since anyone had seen him, and no one had cared because everyone believed her story that he'd just up and left, abandoning his daughter. It sounded like exactly the sort of thing this feckless, uncaring man would do.

Some vigorous housework cleared her mind again. Vacuuming, dusting, ironing and cooking were enough to blank anyone's mind. A bite of dinner and then it was time to make a move.

She set off on the short walk to work. Even when she was out of the house the demons weren't going to leave her alone today. They banged an old Doors song into her head... People Are Strange. The song resonated and repeated itself in her brain and made her feel distinctly uncomfortable. Was there actually menace in the people who passed her? Were they really staring at her? There certainly wasn't a friendly face to be seen anywhere. Michael, where are you?

The light was fading fast and there were a lot fewer normal people on the streets. It was too early for clubbers and revellers, too late for the daily exodus of commuters. There was still the occasional office worker rushing home for dinner after a spell of overtime, or the shopper who'd nipped out for a missing ingredient or cigarettes from the twenty-four hour corner shop.

Youths in hooded sweatshirts, and jeans which needed to be pulled up, began to appear, as if the darkness had stirred them from their pits. This was their time, this was when they owned the streets. In ones and twos they didn't bother her too much but larger groups made her nervous and always speeded her walking.