Patches of grass thrown into the air as the limping abomination stomped the ground with all its weight. A faint grunt echoed in the quiet, cold air.
The glowing red eyes danced around the twilight like a pair of sparks coming out of a bonfire.
It was coming for me.
“Fuck fuck fuck, what do I do?” I screamed.
In the previous life threatening situation it was resignation and acceptance that flowed through my body. Now it was fear and despair.
I had gotten too far to die now, fighting was out of the question, I was too tired to keep on running, besides I don’t even know if I could outrun that thing.
“You have to hide.” Said Audrey from what seemed like right next to me.
“What? Where? If he finds me I’m fucking dead.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll help you.” Reassured Austin from behind me.
“Fuck my life.”
I started looking around for a good hiding spot, the rooms around the first floor had all kinds of furniture in them. I opened each room and realized they had all the same layout: Bed, table, wardrobe, toilet. They were fancier holding cells.
“God help me.” I prayed as I got inside the wardrobe of the fourth room, the one just before 505.
The room was already dark but as I closed the doors of the wardrobe it somehow got even darker. I took deep and slow breaths to calm myself. I needed to be as quiet as possible and hyperventilation would not have helped. My mind went blank, nothing but what was happening in the moment mattered anymore.
After what must have been two minutes the all too familiar heavy footsteps broke the silence of the house. I heard the main door snap under the force of the monster’s claws.
It was pissed.
I tracked it through the house with my ears. It was hard not to, the grunts of rage and the unrelenting search brought about harrowing sounds that belonged nowhere but in a horror movie. Woodwork cracking, glass shattering, furniture crashing to the ground.
That thing smelled blood and was not in a mood to play hide and seek. I imagined the bottom floor to be a wasteland by now; the sort of post-apocalyptic landscapes that a tornado leaves in its wake. The thought of the first floor being next in line crossed my mind but was immediately shut down by the sheer concentration I needed to not explode into a fully fledged panic attack.
The abomination made its way back towards the entrance, loud thumps accompanying every step; then he turned to the stairs.
Disturbing stomps highlighted every step that lead upstairs; I imagined the unrelenting lumbering malforming every tread like it did the first time it came up.
The same routine began again.
Fits of rage destroyed the door to the first room, tiny little pieces falling onto the ground like shrapnel from an artillery shell.
Deafening roars of disappointment accompanied each unsuccessful hunt for me.
Then the second and third room.
It became clear to me at that point that it was not interested in wasting time trying to find me; the destruction it brought only meant one thing. It doesn’t matter where you are, you’re going down with the ship.
This was it, my turn.
As I expected for yet another loud crack I was met with the slow creak of the door gently opening. It somehow startled me more than the previous sounds; I questioned for a moment whether someone else had opened it, someone less threatening, more normal.
That thought was quickly erased by the revolting putrid stench that invaded my nostrils, I only ever smelled it once before. It moved with caution, with purpose. This time it was looking, not just destroying.
I heard the bed frame get lifted into the air and then back down, again, gently. The table was also moved away with a skin crawling screeching sound.
I felt the heat of its breath break through the doors of the wardrobe, the light of its glowing red eyes filtering through the cracks.
I closed my eyes.
BANG.
A heavy thud came from the other side of the floor; I opened my eyes, it immediately reacted to it, turning its attention toward that direction and letting go of a soft grunt.
“Saved by the bell.” I thought.
Not quite.
It quickly pivoted back to the wardrobe, the white smile meeting my gaze through the keyhole.
It raised its claw and in a single sweep it snapped the top half off, the rest falling down on its side along with me.
A roar of excitement filled the room.
I crawled out of the wreckage and sprinted towards the door.
A second later and I would have been crushed under the leg of the abomination that shattered the rest of the wardrobe into a thousand splinters.
I made it out of the room and headed for the stairs. I made it about five feet before I tripped on the Persian carpet under the mural.
I desperately crawled away.
As the inevitable footsteps approached behind me, I turned to look death square in the face.
The looming figure stood above me high and mighty, the human smile greeting me, its dark red eyes peering into my soul, the foul smell threatening to empty my bowels; the bright light coming from room 505 highlighting every grotesque feature of its body.
It raised its claws in the air, ready to make a mist out of me, I surrendered myself.
That’s when two figures appeared out of nowhere, each one grabbing the monster’s arms, stopping him with seemingly superhuman strength.
I quickly recognized both.
Audrey was on the left, holding the raised up claws ready to smite me.
Her long beautiful copper hair was the first thing I noticed, running down to her hips. A vibrant mesmerizing pair of green eyes looked back at me, the plump red lips holding a cigarette were distorted into a struggling grimace, freckles all over her nose.
Austin was on the right, keeping the other arm from moving. Short blonde hair coupled well with the pair of glacial blue eyes that stared at me. He wasn’t smiling anymore, nor did he have a frown. A confident expression characterized his face; a face that looked too young to love and too old to cry.
They were both wearing long white dresses, decorated with golden motifs of flowers and stars. They were so white it seemed like they were glowing; almost blinding.
The monster struggled; I could feel its surprise and astonishment at what was happening, the once mighty harbingers of death and destruction were rendered useless and immobile by a pair of kids. It pushed and pulled and roared and fought, to no avail; the firm grip the two saviors had would not budge an inch.
I wept tears of joy, looking up at them like some kind of idols; I saved them and they saved me in return.
Suddenly, something coming from Audrey’s dress dropped to the ground onto the carpet.
She looked back at me once more. She didn’t say a word, just a slight nod that floated between respect and command.
I looked down at it while the abomination thrashed around like a kid throwing a tantrum, unable to conclude anything despite its unbelievable strength.
It was a lighter; a zippo to be exact.
I reached for it and grabbed it, in that moment I felt possessed. My mind went blank, command over my body crumbled and a strange and intrusive thought weighed on my shoulders; I was feeling like a stalked prey.
I instinctively lit up the zippo, sparks ignited the flame that rose strong and fierce. I looked down at the carpet, then back up at the monster.
Calmly, I let my arm fall down to the ground.
The fibers that were visible on the surface of the carpet immediately caught fire, generating a chain reaction that soon spread to the other parts of the Persian nylon.
I gained back control over my body, the overwhelming urge had been satisfied and I didn’t mind its consequences.
I crawled away from the carpet that was soon engulfed in flames; my two friends standing firm on it, maintaining their post along with the unwelcomed guest.
As the flames reached them I could finally hear the pain of the abomination; its hooves heating up, its fur burning, its skin melting.
Audrey and Austin didn’t flinch, the flames engulfed them too but to no effect.
Their skin remained smooth and soft looking, their dresses clean and intact; their resolve unwavered.
I started laughing, hysterically laughing.
The stress and adrenaline of the moment released into an exhilarating mood, it felt like I was high on weed, maybe I had inhaled too much of the smoke pouring out of the burning carped, I don’t know.
Something about defeating evil felt amazing; that was it, the motherfucker would burn to a crisp, I would be able to get out and finally go back to my life.
I laughed and laughed like I had never laughed before.
I felt invincible, I had conquered life; my fears were shattered, my doubts a distant problem.
What a spectacle it was, watching that thing burn, be consumed by a righteous fire. Its screams filling my ears and its pain filling my eyes.
It wasn’t a fantasy, it was real.
As the fur was burned into ash and the flames had completely engulfed the creature, reaching the very top of its horns, the skin began to melt away, dripping into the burning inferno under it, fueling the fire.
It dripped and dripped and dripped, faster and more with each second that passed until entire chunks of its flesh began to slide away.
The hooves crumbled away into a thousand pieces, the hairy chest dropped like a bodybag onto the floor, the face melted away like a consumed candle.
So did its arms, falling onto the floor at the speed of light.
Audrey and Austin were left hanging, their hands grasped nothing but smoke and sparks.
As the whole grotesque body fell lifeless to the ground, the two remaining pawns looked at each other, proud of their achievement, ready to begin again.
I laughed the whole time as my body was finally able to relax and release the stress, despite the burning inferno that laid in front of my eyes and that would soon expand to the whole building.
Suddenly a figure emerged from the ashes like a triumphant phoenix. Breaking from the burning shell a silhouette charged at me with unimaginable speed, the only feature I could see was…
A bright white smile.
The humanoid lunged at me and grabbed me by the throat, I wasn’t laughing anymore.
The charred body that sprung from within the monster was a featureless dark entity.
Cracks opened on its face where the eyes should have been, revealing a burning inferno within them.
The smile cracked open.
“I told you, smoke always gets in your eyes.”
barked at me a distorted, amplified voice.
I couldn’t breathe anymore, the combination of the smoke filling up the room and the burning hot hands choking me was slowly but surely signing my death certificate.
Audrey and Austin rushed to help me immediately, appearing before me on each side of the assailant. They quickly grabbed him to get him off of me but to no avail.
Much like the monster’s grip, it wouldn’t budge.
The situation became even more hopeless as the fire spread throughout the building, quickly catching on wooden tiles and pieces of the furniture that had been destroyed by the fits of rage of the abomination.
If I wasn’t gonna die by asphyxiation, I was going to burn alive.
The mixture of the smoke in my eyes and the unrelenting gasping for air made my eyes an unredeemable mess. Tears spilled everywhere desperately trying to comfort the irritation.
My vision was getting blurry, my conscience slipping.
“Hold on!” kept on repeating Audrey and Austin.
Their pleads slowly drifting into the distance.
Sweat and tears came out of every pore, dripping down to my neck into the enemy’s hands.
As I laid there between life and death a sudden relief shook my body.
The tension on my throat eased out and the weight on top of me scaled back.
My hands reached for my eyes in a hopeless attempt at regaining some of my vision.
Screams of pain echoed all around.
“Wake up Angela.”
“Wake up!”
I slowly gained consciousness again just to be exposed to the horror in front of me.
As I sat up helped by my two friends, the first image that appeared into my line of sight was the dark silhouette kneeling in pain.
His hands had begun to melt away, this time for good; sizzling like meat on a grill, wet like a fish out of water.
The fire was consuming everything in its path, quickly spreading towards the stairs and, eventually, the bottom floor.
“You have to go Angela, you have to get out.”
I rose to my feet in a stumbling and unbalanced manner, sustained by the sheer will to survive and the lack of rationality.
The whole structure was collapsing, the roof was quickly crumbling and the heat became unbearable.
As I made my way over to the stairs, I looked back, like I had done many times before.
Audrey and Austin looked back at me, untouched by the chaos around them; their arms lifted in the air in a friendly goodbye, a gesture they had tried countless times but that never worked as intended.
Behind them the kneeling figure screamed in rage, defeated; the surroundings collapsed in on him, sealing his fate, the final nail in the coffin was the big wall on which the mural sat. It too finally fell down, burying everything along with it.
I stumbled down the stairs and out the main entrance.
Bruised and battered I limped along the main dirt road, now finally illuminated by the burning Shining that was crumbling behind me.
Halfway through, distant sounds of sirens cut through the crackling of the fire and the howls of burning wood; a pair of red and blue lights were heading towards me at speed.
They stopped just in front of me.
“Miss, are you alright? Do you need medical attention?” a voice reached out to me.
I collapsed on the ground, exhausted.
As the policeman called for backup and an ambulance, my eyes slowly closed. The Shining collapsing into a big burning fireball was the last thing I saw before losing consciousness.
I woke up the next day.
“Good morning Miss Angela, my name is Anna, how are you feeling?”
I was feeling comfortable, I was in a warm and soft hospital bed and the sun was shining all around me.
“Wh-Where am I?” my voice was weak and raspy, I struggled to speak and my vision was blurry, out of focus.
“You’re in good care, do you remember what happened?” asked the nurse.
“Yes-yeah, the Shining it…burned down…am I okay?”
“Yes, you only had minor injuries, mostly to your lungs and eyes due to the smoke and some superficial physical injuries, certainly nothing to worry about, you must rest however.”
“I will, trust me.”
“Good, oh and by the way, I think you made a new friend, we just couldn’t keep him away from you.” The nurse pointed at the foot of the bed.
I peeked over to it and saw a black circle; it quickly moved closer towards me and I could finally see it clearly, it was Berry, greeting me with a soft meow.
“We patched him up too best we could, you should probably get him to a vet, just in case.”
“Thanks, I think I’ll take care of him, don’t worry.” I smiled.
I spent a couple more days at the hospital, most of them sleeping and resting as much as possible. Berry stayed with me the whole time, he was injured as well, likely from the fight with old man Michael or…whoever that was.
He was missing part of his ear and a scar across his right eye. He looks badass if you ask me; he saved my life in more than one occasion, the least I could do was promise him the gift of a comfortable, long life indoors; filled with love, treats and cozy beds.
On the day of my release the police came looking for answers, they naturally had to open an investigation into what happened and I was really the only suspect. A couple of detectives came around, boring as hell, nothing but empty suits. I fed them a bullshit story that I went out to camp in the woods and got lost during the storm, ended at the Shining and got out once I saw the flames.
They bought it, nobody cared about that old decrepit building. Naturally they found nothing in the rubbles, no bodies, no monsters not even any furniture; as far as the world is concerned, the Shining was and always has been an old abandoned house.
I asked them about old man Michael, I wasn’t scared of the truth, I had been through worse. They said they knew nothing about it and that there’s never been any other houses in that area, not surprising but also not expected. It didn’t matter, it was all over, I could finally go back to my life or rather to building one.
I treated it as a fresh start, leave everything behind, begin again. If there’s one thing I learned from all of this, is that finding the strength to keep going, that’s not the hard part.
It’s letting go.
I went back home and sort of fell into a dull, boring life. I guess everything became boring after what I went through but I recognized the beauty of the slow life. The nice thing was that I got to keep the money the job offered, so that was good.
I could count on a new sense of purpose, that whole experience…that’s how I like to call it; it offered me a new look at life, it profoundly changed me and the things I believe in. If you’re asking yourself if I started believing in God, the answer is no, God is still dead to me. But that doesn’t mean there’s nobody out there, that nobody is watching over us from somewhere.
I believe in something beyond this earth, it can be good and it can be bad but if there’s one thing I’m sure of is that It’s love that keeps us together, a lot more than hate. In a world full of uncertainty and misery it’s nice to know that, in the end, there is light in the darkness.
It’s been a few months since what happened and very little has changed. I got a new tattoo, can you guess what it is?
It’s a little firefly.
Other than that I have been enjoying the summer with Berry, turns out he really likes watching me play videogames and loves to eat Bologna.
You may be asking yourself what prompted me to write all of this if I have been handling it well.
Today I got some mail.
One of them was an envelope with no return address.
Inside, was a small, black pawn.