Cosmic Confluence

Chapter 6: night terrors

My entire body could not stop shaking after she told me everything that happened to her last night. I sat there on her bed in silence, just shaking, just thinking how unreal it felt for it to have come to this. Just knowing that Jaymie's story would stick in my mind forever. I didn't think I could forget a single part.

It went like this:

Yesterday after softball, Jaymie's dad picked her up like usual. She did her homework like usual, wasted time on her phone, had dinner, practiced ukulele. All like usual. By now it was eight-thirty and it was the usual time for her dad to go to a staff meeting on that day. Right before he was about to step out the front door he hollered,

"Jaymie."

"Yes?"

"You better have those fuckin' chores done when I get back. Don't mess around again, you hear?"

"Yes." All like usual.

Five minutes after he left was when it started.

Jaymie scrubbed at the dishes and set them to dry one by one, almost dropping a plate when the doorbell rang and her dog began to bark.

She wasn't the type of person to be paranoid about answering the door however, in this case, it was unsettling for a visitor to arrive at night with nobody else being home. Jaymie put the noisy dishes on pause in case it was anybody else other than a ding-ding-ditcher. Bolt continued to bark and Jaymie continued to wait. Her beloved pet ceased most of his defending but continued to growl every now and then as he sat at the doorway. Two minutes passed and Jaymie never heard another ring or even a knock at the front door, so she went back to doing the dishes as anyone else would.

And it seemed like a horrifying coincidence, when right as she picked up the rag again, Bolt began to bark madly. It felt like he was going rabid as he kept barking so aggressively and thrashing about at the doorway.

But when Bolt began to whine like something was hurting him, is when Jaymie realized there was something very wrong.

Thinking quick, the panicked girl rushed to the window looking out at their street. There, she felt like she could safely check what was going on out front.

And then her heart sank down into the hand of the devil where he squeezed it with all his might.

An abnormally tall, dark, shadowy figure stood at the door from the outside, staring straight at Jaymie who was peeking through the blinds.

Spasmodically she stepped away and nearly fell backwards. Bolt was still crying out like something was hurting him and barking like a feral dog. Hyperventilating now, Jaymie began to really panic.

She said it felt like she was dying. She said she thought that person was killing her dog, then they would get her too. She started to think of how to hide. She started to think of hiding under the bed or in the closet but then having the person discover her. Bolt kept letting out sharp whines and she thought about how she couldn't loose another friend.

Then in a blink, every sound stopped. Bolt stopped making sound and Jaymie stopped making sound.

The realization hit her.

Jaymie ran faster than she ever had back to the door with tears stinging behind her eyes. With cherished memories of Bolt flashing at 100 miles per hour. With a feeling like satan now had a hand around her soul, ready to crush it in the next second.

But Bolt was alive.

And the front door was open.

Crush it, he did.

Every possibility to what she missed hit her at once, pummelling her head with fear and fear only. Were they still outside? Had they left? Or were they in her house hiding now? Each big question had a very different solution and Jaymie hadn't a single ounce of courage left to follow through with any of them.

She stayed very quiet to listen for a clue. Outside it was just a soft wind that blew the trees, but in this unbelievable state of panic she had been dragged into, Jaymie swore it was the sound of them outside.

So without even thinking she scrambled to the door to shut it and lock it and block it in every way humanly possible. However when she got there, all her blood felt like it stopped flowing.

In the vast night sky there were hundreds of shadowy humanoid bodies floating perfectly still in the air.

Her mouth was agape and her eyes wide, staring at the sky like she was looking into the eyes of God. Jaymie began crying from how unfathomably terrifying this was. She was ready to snap, is what she told me; that if anything else were to happen she would scream like she was trying to be heard by the entire town.

And my God.

When her view of the unidentifiable-figured-scattered sky was obscured by something dark that suddenly moved right in front of her, her eyes instantly darted down and met on a man's face.

The man had long teeth.

Jaymie only saw him for a second before she screamed at the highest octave physically possible and shut the door so hard it shook the entire house. Dragging Bolt by his collar she bounded to her room where she locked her door, moved her bookcase in front of it and shut her curtains.

Like she had seen real hell, Jaymie could not stop crying, trembling, and hyperventilating as she wrapped her arms around Bolt's body. She shut her eyes tight and prayed even though she wasn't a very religious person. Once opening them, the silhouette of that man could be seen behind her drawn curtains. His face and hands were pressed against the glass in the most unsettling way.

She screamed again, maybe even louder than before.

"LEAVE ME ALONE, GO AWAY, GO AWAY, PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE AND GO AWAY!" Jaymie bawled, then screamed once again.

But suddenly, it was like maybe God had answered her cry for help. As when she blinked, the Man was gone.

And she never saw him again that night.

"Mary I'm not making this up, I wouldn't do that. You know I wouldn't lie like this to you. But I know I can't prove it. You just have to trust me. Please."

My eyes started to water and my face flushed without warning. I couldn't do this. I knew from the bottom of my heart, that curiosity will kill the cat but satisfaction will never bring it back. I felt so hopeless. I couldn't do this.

So I lied.