Suspense Short Story – The Traveler
Photo credit: chelle from morguefile.com
Renee woke up, flustered. She had another nightmare. It was the fifth time this week. She reached for a shelf and groped around for her spectacles. She grabbed it and slipped it onto her nose.
She washed her face in her toilet and shuffled downstairs.
“Why so low, honey?” her mother asked affectionately as Renee entered the kitchen. She plopped herself on a wooden chair and answered, “I had a nightmare again, Mother. The dreams keep repeating. It’s always a man dressed in a black shroud. And he’s waving at me as though he wants to tell me something.”
Renee’s mother looked up for a second then continued preparing scrambled eggs. “Just ignore it,” she soothed, “It will probably go away.”
Renee sighed heavily. How could she tell her mother that the person behind the hooded shroud was her father who had died four years ago in a terrible car accident.
Her mother served Renee some scrambled eggs and interrupted her train of thought. She ate her breakfast slowly.
Renee just finished her meal when the school bus pulled up outside her house. She dropped her dirty dishes into the kitchen sink and grabbed her schoolbag. Renee waved goodbye as she entered.
Twelve hours later…
Renee turned her bedroom lights off and settled into her bed, sweating. She dreaded the time when she had to meet the man in the shroud. Her father.
* * *
Renee stood in the midst of a thick fog. Her eyes darted around nervously. Suddenly, the fog lifted and she saw a figure draped with a black shroud. She panicked and ran in the opposite direction but the figure moved nearer still.
A loud voice boomed from the figure. “Renee! Stop running and listen to what I am about to tell you.” She slowed down and stopped. “Listen, I am a time traveler and as your father I shall tell you this. Your mother…” and his voice faltered, “… she is about to die.”
Renee listened boggle-eyed. “NO! It cannot be!”. She refused to accept the fact that her mother-her only parent-was about to abandon her. “My child, stop crying. She will die, but you can change her fate. I shall show you what will happen to her.
The desolate land which Renee stood on quickly transformed into her mother’s bedroom. She glanced at the clock that hung on a wall in the room. It was 1.45 a.m. in the morning. She could her the sounds of her front door locks pinging. Soft footsteps followed almost immediately. A tanned man pushed the door in the room open. He was wearing a black shirt and matching trousers. A balaclava was pulled over his head.
He took a step towards the bed, grinning evilly. The man pulled out a small revolver and aimed it at the vulnerable woman in bed. “NO!” screamed Renee as a gunshot rang through the air. The bullet moved in seemingly slow motion. The room dissolved as the bullet struck its target.
Renee kneeled on the floor, crying unstoppably. “My dear, there is so much you could do.” The man comforted as her dream faded. “Goodbye.”
Renee woke up, tears in her eyes. Determination surged through her body. Throughout the day, the girl anxiously glanced at her watch. The minutes passed so ever slowly. Renee greeted her mother goodnight and lay in her bed, waiting for the fated time to approach. Seconds became minutes and minutes became hours.
Fifteen minutes before the fated time, Renee crept downstairs and armed herself with a sharp kitchen knife. She snuck upstairs and crouched behind the door. Again, she heard locks pinging and footsteps thudding on the stairs. The moment the burglar pushed open the door, Renee attacked. She took her assailant by surprise and both bodies went to the floor. A terrible struggle ensued.
Renee cut her opponent on the arms and face several times and just when she thought she was going to win, the man pulled the trigger of his revolver. The bullet penetrated her chest and pierced her lungs.
Her breathing shallowed and her vision blurred. With her last ounce of strength, Renee drove the knife through her assailant’s stomach. He went limp and sprawled on the floor. Renee, too, dropped to the floor. She smiled as her heart beat for the last time.
__THE END__
