I do not know from whenst it came, but there has been a stench in the air lately. At night it fills my nostrils as I try to ease my pounding heart. I have been frightened without reason. I leave a light on shining over my body so that I never sleep in the dark. Sometimes I leave the tellie on, but only when I am not afraid that something will come through it. Yes, I have been extremely superstitious of late. Refusing to leave the house after midnight, and if I am forced to do it, I enter with my back to the door, so as to see any unwanted creature willing to follow me. But the stench is really freaking me out.
It smells like old, rotten cabbage mixed with rotten eggs, the smell of a dead animal, decaying in the sun, but this is at night. I keep on looking over my shoulder, keep on imagining that I hear something scratching on the ground. I have told myself over and over again that I am only imagining this, but you can't reason with an overactive imagination. I hate staying alone.
It was as I was drifting off that I heard the noise. Breathing! Somewhere in the house, getting closer. I kept my eyes shut tight. I kept my breathing even. I am only dreaming, I am only dreaming. But the breathing got louder, till it was just above me. Just above my face, I could feel the heat scorching the hairs on my face. I could smell the rotten stench again, almost curdling in my stomach.The breathing came closer and I kept my eyes shut! Please Lord, let this be a dream! Please Lord, deliver me from this evil! And then a pained howl almost deafened me. I knew now I was gonna die. This was the end. What creature would leave a meal like me alone? All nice and juicy, fattened around the breasts and the legs and the tummy. I am sure he can smell the fat surrounding the liver and the stomach, not forgetting the heart. I was his meal.
I tried to stop breathing and then I screamed as nails clawed my back to shreds. I could feel the blood seeping from me. I just thought this was the end when teeth bit into my shoulder! Deep, to the bone, I could feel the enamel tearing my flesh and I heard my collarbone break just before I lost consciousness.
I awoke with a deafening drum in my head. I remember it all now! I must be dead. I opened my eyes slowly. I was still in my room. The sun has already risen. The wind was playfully opening and closing the curtains. A screeching noise kept on making the pounding in my head worse. My alarm! It' s my alarm! I must have been dreaming last night! Thank God for small mercies! I felt a stabbing pain as I lifted my arm to switch off the alarm. I groaned and felt dizzy due to the pain. As I opened my eyes again I saw the blood. All over my sheet, all over my shoulder and then I tasted the stench again. And I turned around and looked into the eyes of the beast. Bloodcurdling red eyes, menacingly piercing my mind and a scream died on my lips. I blinked, and it was gone. No more beast, no more stench, only the pain in my shoulder and on my back and the blood all over the sheets. I lost consciousness again.
I woke again with the ringing of the phone.
"Where the bloody hell are you! It is almost twelve o' clock! This is your last warning! Next time I will fire..."
And the phone fell out of my hand as I saw the blood all over the sheet, all over my arm. The pain was gone. Dazed I walked to the mirror. I saw deep gashes in my back healing within seconds. The bitemarks and open torned flesh on my shoulder dissapeared within seconds. All that was left behind was my pale face and bloodshot red eyes. I looked... disturbed. Blood was clotted in my hair and on my arms and back. I turned towards my bed and saw snakes crawling all over my sheet. Slithering, writhing on the bed, all over the bloody marks. The wind lifted my curtain and as the sun hit my sheet, they dissapeared. The snakes and the blood was gone. Only a pale disturbed woman with clotted blood on the head, back and arm was left behind. Was I going stark raving mad?
| 
Email this Short story
| 
Add to reading list
