Short Story: A Cape Of Crimson (Old Version)

Short Story: A Cape Of Crimson

     There was once a young boy wandering an empty school after dark. Every time he tried to look for an exit, he would end back in the spot that he started in. Every time he tried to run up the stairs, he would end up back on the first floor even though he could've sworn he was on the third. This kept on repeating until the boy heard a faint noise. At first he just shrugged it off, for he thought he was just paranoid. Though as the noise got louder, he began to realize that the noise was footsteps! He then ran into the nearest classroom, locked the door, and hid under one of the many desks. The footsteps got louder and louder until suddenly, they just stopped...right in front of the door. There was then a loud banging on the door that seemed to last forever. When it stopped, the air froze with it. The young boy had heard nothing else, so he worked up his courage... and opened the door. What the boy had seen was utterly horrific. It was a middle-aged woman, on the ground, lying in a pool of her own blood. For some reason or another, the boy thought she looked strangely familiar. As he was trying to figure out why, he suddenly felt something on his shoulder. It was a hand with a knife in it's grasp! He slowly looked up to see the man who was holding it. The man was wearing a mask of darkness, with cold green eyes full of hatred. The man noticed the young boy was staring at him. He swung his other arm... and everything went pitch black.

     The boy woke up with a start, drenched in his sweat. It seems that it was only a nightmare, a bad one, but nonetheless a nightmare. The boy got up to get him a glass of cold water. As he approached the kitchen door, he was greeted by a loud BANG! Thinking back to his dream, he decided to not open the door. He instead ran up the stairs, and to his parents room. "Mom? Dad? I had a nightmare and I'm scared," said the young boy. After no reply, the boy walked in and sat on his mom's side of the bed. The young boy had then, out of nowhere, felt something wet on his feet. As he looked down, he saw a cape of crimson surrounding the same woman from his dreams. As he stared at her longer, unable to speak, it had finally clicked as to why she looked so familiar... it was his mother! He then noticed the same man as before, standing near the corner of the room. The man had said, " Now you too, carry the burden of your dead, lying, cheating, mother.Soon though, it will only be you and your little, now broken head." The young boy looked at the man's left hand and saw the knife he had used on his dear mother. The boy broke down into tears of guilt, and grief. In the midst of his tears, he slowly began fading into the darkness.

     Now, you are probably questioning what you've just read. What you just read was a young, eight year-old boy's, never-ending hallucination. His mind was broken after a supposed robbery went sour. The young boy witnessed the man stabbing his mother in the stomach multiple times. The man was taken into custody by police after being found in his apartment. In his interrogation he admitted to killing the boy's mother and saying the infamous that now haunt the young boy's mind. He never said why he did it or if he had any remorse, but from what we can tell, he didn't have any.