A Collection of Short Stories

6.66

Dan always had bad dreams. Almost everyday.

Usually his dreams were either about his mother dying in a car crash 2 months ago or his father getting shot by police officers. He would be trapped in the dream, paralysed and unable to do anything.

But what's so disturbing in those dreams was his parents whispering to him one phrase: " Beware of the time when the clock struck 66 minutes. "

Dan couldn't find any connection with 66 minutes. 66 minutes was equivalent to 1 hour and 5 minutes and 3960 seconds.

But nothing with his life. His work usually ends after 10 hours.

He thought of the number 666. He asked his math friend, who lived next door in his apartment. 666 was a natural number, a triangular number, palindromic number, sum of the squares of the first 7 primes numbers. Roman numeral: each alphabet appears once.

Nothing made sense to him.

He searched up the Internet, and saw something that interested him.

666 was the number associated with the devil.

Dan thought about that piece of information. 666 was an unlucky number.

Did his parents signed a pact with the devil? That's impossible. If they did, they would be either discussing necromancy ideas or doing crazy rituals in the house. That only happened in horror movies.

He told his boss that he was sick today, and he went back home early. He ate a rather bland dinner of canned beans and salads, before falling asleep on his bed after another episode of Games of Thrones.

This time, his dream was surprising. There were no more crashes and shooting, just darkness.

" Hello? " Dan said, his voice echoed through the endless darkness.

" Son. " a mysterious voice answered.

" Dad? Mum? " he felt unsure of what to say.

Suddenly the darkness dissolved into a new scene. He recognized the setting immediately. It was his childhood home at the hillside next to a park.

A woman was standing at the center of a circle drawn on the floor. He nearly sobbed at the sight of his mum. His mum still looked beautiful. With her dark woody hair and jet-black eyes, she looked like an angel, dressed in a white short dress.

She held a knife in her hand, it's metal gleaming under the illuminating light. She sliced the palm of her hand, and blood welled immediately. Dan gaped in horror as she dripped the blood in a cup of sweet smelling tea.

She raised the cup high up and said, " Hail Satan. "

Suddenly, the circle burst on fire, it's licking flames eager to burn her down. Dan tried to move, but he was paralysed.

A young handsome man stepped over the line of fire. He was wearing all black clothes and his eyes.

Oh his eyes.

It made Dan shuddered.

His eyes were continuously changing colors, from the bloodiest red to the ever green to the pale blue sky and back again.

The young man said, " Hello. "

His mother smiled and hugged him.

He dragged her upstairs, past Dan.

Then the dream changed.

Now Dan was seeing them again but at a abandoned coffee shop at the side of th street.

" Marry someone else. " the man said.

" Why? Am I.. " his mother's voice faltered.

" To pass on a son, marry someone else. " the man reassured her.

Before his mother said anything, Dan was wrenched out of the dream. He woke up, drenched in sweat and panting.

If that dream was true...

Was it true that he was the son of the Devil?

He looked at the clock beside his bed.

And saw the clock flashing 6:66.

He stared at the time with horror. He hitted the clock with his hand, not believing what he was seeing right now.

The time wasn't 6:66.

The clock showed the words DIE.

He could hear a curtain flap being pushed open. He also could hear the door opening.

Creak, creak, creak

Dan was paralysed with fear as his mother walked towards him.

But his mother was looking at him with bloodshot eyes and pale skin with veins jutting out of her skin. Her mouth opened and she smilex, showing him rows of sharp teeth. She was holding a sharp knife in her hand, which was rusted with blood.

Dan had no time to scream when she plunged the knife into his heart.

But he felt something stirred inside him, a mysterious feeling roaring at his mother.

And out came the Devil from Dan's body.

As Dan faded away into the dark.

---------------
The police found his body on his bloody bed with a pentagram etched on his body and words on the wall painted in blood.

THE DEVIL HAS COME. BEWARE.