STAY AFRAID (A Horror Anthology)

#6 - The Amulet

The old Mr. Damian sat quietly on his chair, sipping his late evening coffee while staring at the wall clock facing him. His chair gave him enough comfort for the night; its upholstery, soft enough to ease his aching spine. How difficult it is to get old alone, he thought. Taking another sip of coffee, he heard two knocks on the door. He turned his gaze towards the bolted door and wondered who it could be at this hour. It was already fifteen minutes past eleven in the evening, and he wasn't expecting any guess tonight, more someone who would go his way at this worrying time of the night. The trail going to his home is not easy, and the weather tonight was not as good as everyone thought it would be. There's a typhoon forecasted earlier by the weatherman who he thought looked more pleasing with a gray tie. It's been how many months since he secluded himself inside his grim house? He could not remember. He tried to get away from the noise of the town and the prying eyes of the townspeople who may have occasionally kept grudges towards him when he was still working at a law firm. And for those months that he made himself aloof, he hadn't received any single news from what's happening in their little, gloomy town. He sighed after another two knocks, put his coffee down and walked towards the door. Twisting the knob, he asked who it was. No one answered. When he finally opened the door, he saw Mrs. Flores who lives in the outskirts of their town (his former co-employee at a bankrupted law firm), looking bright and bubbly as she'd always been, as far as he could remember. When was the last time I've seen her? A year ago? He asked himself.

"It's soon to rain, Gilda. What brought you here?" he asked the old lady and offered her to come inside.

The old lady ushered herself inside following Mr. Damian towards the living room. He turned his old Victorian chandelier on and quickly the yellow light flooded the room. He turned to the old lady who was now getting something out from her pocket. He was waiting for her to finally get what she was getting from her pocket, but it was taking like forever so he thought of offering a cup of coffee. But, the old lady quickly flashed a dangling object in front of him. It looked like a golden necklace but there was a big amulet dangling from it. Its size was rather unusual for a necklace, so he thought it might be a different thing.

"Oh, Harold, this is good news," cried Mrs. Flores in pure exuberance, holding the item in front of Mr. Damian.

"What do you mean, Gilda?" he motioned the lady to sit down, and she did. The two of them sat down facing each other under the Victorian chandelier he bought from London ten years ago.

The lady smiled at her once again, and played with the object in her hands.

"This is an amulet given to me by my great, great grandfather. I just remembered about this when I thought about Elizabeth," she answered, placing the amulet on the table between them. Its gold lace shone brightly and this actually caught Mr. Damian's interest. "It's been how many years now, Harold? Are you okay living alone?"

He could not answer the visitor directly after hearing his late wife's name. It was still hard for him to hear that name and not remember the times when she was still alive. During these years, pneumonia was still a notorious illness, and his wife wasn't strong enough to endure this and succumbed to the hands of death.

"I'm okay, Gilda. Thanks for asking. George is constantly sending me letters, somehow lessening the loneliness I'm feeling," he answered.

"How's he by the way?" the old lady asked.

"He's fine. The latest letter told me he's in Argentina. The ship they're on docked in Buenos Aires for maintenance," he answered, thinking about his son's condition at the moment. Maybe he's still on the ship, working for his medicines.

"So, anyway," Gilda started, looking as excited as she first was when he opened the door earlier. "This is the Udjat Eye amulet. My late great, great grandfather once told my father that this amulet has protective powers. And can also bring back someone from the dead."