Paranormal Short Story – A letter from a friend
Photo credit: mxruben from morguefile.com
My Story is not worth sharing. This is just a recollection of a letter from an old friend. He went missing after he went on a solitary trip as he had taken up writing as a new hobby. He wasn’t found and was assumed dead by the investigators but after a month of his disappearance something really strange happened. A mysterious package arrived at my doorsteps containing a few pages of writing that looked like my friend’s. I won’t go into any further details but this is all I found and the narration below are exactly in his own words.
“It was a few years back when I was on a Solitary retreat. It was a little town far from the busy and tiresome city life. I rented a large room, far up Broadway, in fairly large old building. I had rented the upper floor of the building which had been under dust and cob webs for a long time.
I rented this place because for some reason it felt like I had been here before, but I don’t recall coming to this house or even this town before. As steeped in my living quarters for the first I felt like as if I had disturbed the natural order there. A chill ran down my spines, I turned a dark angle of the stairway and an invisible cob wed touched my face and I shuddered as one who had encountered a demon face to face. I was relieved when I finally reached my room leaving the darkness and the musty smell of fear behind. I had arranged this “me” time for myself as I was planning on venturing into the vast world of literature and I needed some “inspiration”, and getting away from the distractions of city life I hoped I might stumble upon some ideas.
The room was relatively old fashioned and there was no touch of the 21st century. A cheery fire was burning in the fireplace and I sat down before it with a pen and my notebook in hand expecting to draft a few ideas for my story. I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head but I couldn’t recall when I hurt myself. I felt a comforting sense of relief as I sat there recalling old scenes and summoning half-forgotten faces out of the mist of the past. As I had wandered into my thoughts the shrieking of the winds outside grew softer and the beating of the rain diminished to a tranquil patter, and one by one the noises outside subsided until there was utter silence.
The fire had burned low, and I was overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness. I got up to undress, moving on tip toe around the room. I felt I would wake somebody up if I made any noise, somebody who had been asleep here for a long time. I crept slowly in bed and covered myself with the blanket that gave me a mild sense of protection, and I lay there listening to the sound of the wind and the rain till I was asleep.
I don’t remember how long I slept, but soon I found myself wide awake. Everything was still and I could hear my heartbeat. Suddenly my blankets began slipping away towards the foot of my bed as if someone was gently pulling them. I could not speak nor could I move, still the blankets slipped away until my chest was almost uncovered. Then with a slight effort of courage I pulled the blanket over my head. I waited and listened, my mind was still trying to recover from what had happened.
Again the steady pull began, once again my blanket slipped till my chest was uncovered and I with feeble strength brought the blanket back over my head. I groaned. An answering groan came from the foot of the bed. Little drops of sweat stood upon my forehead, I was more dead than alive. I tried to come up with many a rational explanations to what was happening, but my mind was preoccupied. Suddenly I heard a heavy footstep in my room. But the foot step was moving away from me, I heard it approach the door and move into the dark corridors with moving any bolt or lock. I could hear faint creaks from the wooden hallway floor as the sound slowly faded away till there was nothing but silence.
When the excitement had calmed, I said to myself “This must be a dream – a dreadful horrifying nightmare”. And so I lay there thinking and convincing myself it was just a dream or a nightmare and nothing else. I got up and struck a light and found the lock on the door as I had left them. I felt a sense of relief and a soothing laugh rippled from my lips. I took my cigarettes and lit one and sat in front of the fire, which was somewhat comforting after what had happened. As I was just about to smoke, when – down went the cigarette from my nerveless fingers, the blood forsook my cheeks, my breathing was cut short to a gasp! In the ashes on the hearth, side by side my very own footprint, was another one, so vast in size that mine felt like an infants compared to that. I had a visitor in my room, and the sound of the footstep was explained.
I put out the light and returned to bed shaking with fear. I had no idea what had just seen, but the fact that made it worse was that I was awake and this was not a dream. My body was too tired and I was almost asleep when I heard a loud thud again. There was someone, or something, in the hallway outside. I could hear footsteps approaching my door and then stop. My heart was beating faster than ever. I laid there still for about an hour more and when I realized that the silence had reigned again I decided to look outside in the hallway. I gathered some courage took a lit candle in my hand and slowly moved towards the door, trying not to make any sound.
I gently unlocked the bolts and locks and slowly pulled the door open, the door creaked and rush of cold wind rushed into the room. The hallway was lifeless as it was before, the light from the candle was very dim and I could barely see anything, I tired moving towards the stairs carefully so that I won’t make too much noise. When I was almost near the staircase I heard a loud thud behind me. My heart skipped a beat, somehow shocked and horrified I turned around, and there was nothing but darkness, there was an evil presence in the house and the image of the giant footstep came up in my mind. I felt like my sanity was leaving me and I was losing a grip of myself. My legs were shaky and I could move, I could hear a faint sound a laughter that a middle aged woman, the sound of the laughter got loud slowly accompanied by soft footsteps and the creaking of the wooden floor. The candle went out with a rush of cold wind that came out of nowhere. The sound grew louder and louder and it felt like as if someone was standing right there in front of me, I couldn’t see anything but I could sense a paranormal presence. I tried getting up with the little strength and courage I had but suddenly something hit me hard on the back of my head. I fell on the floor and I don’t recall what happened after that.
I set out for my little vacation and headed towards the place I rented. I rented a large room, far up Broadway, in fairly large old building. I had rented the upper floor of the building and it felt like I had a close connection to this place I have never been before…”
The writing ended.
Ps: The location of the house and the name of the respective persons are being kept anonymous.
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