May's Workshop Stories

A Trip to Remember

Warning: Some spoilers for the book Cell by Stephen King. I tried to keep it to a minimum and change up a few things but I thought I should warn you nevertheless. 

She had always loved reading books, especially those of Stephen King. However, she never wanted to visit the world of one of his books as they were terrifying enough to keep anyone at bay.

However, one hot summer day, everything changed for Stella.

The day started like any other. She went to her favorite library to read yet another Stephen King book instead of hanging out with her friends who were not really there for her when she needed them. They were only there when they needed her help and never by her side when she needed someone's support.

As she got absorbed in one of the zombie books, which always managed to captivate her, she lost all track of time. She didn't even notice twilight slowly sneaking over the city. It felt like seconds had passed, but already the librarian told her they would be closing up.

It wasn't the same old librarian she remembered, but Stella didn't think anything of it. Maybe she missed a shift change or something. Either way, it didn't matter to her as it meant that she would have to go outside and once again face the real world.

Going through the door felt a bit unusual. It made Stella slightly dizzy and unsteady on her legs, but she thought nothing of it. She put it down to not having eaten anything for a few hours and continued down the unusually empty streets.

"What am I wearing?" Stella asked herself when she caught a glimpse of her unusual clothing in the hotel window.

She didn't remember putting on that particular combination as it was a bit too serious for her taste. It was far too mature for her preferences. Furthermore, the pants suit was utterly boring, not something Stella would have chosen. What was worse, it was dirty and stained with something red. She couldn't remember for the life of her how she had already managed to stain the clothes she didn't even remember putting on.

"What is that?" Stella muttered as she tried to determine the origin of the stain by sniffing it.

The metallic scent and its general stickiness told her something that she couldn't have guessed in her wildest dreams.

It was blood.

Stella's clothes were splattered in blood, and she looked like a mess. Her long dark hair was in knots and flying around in every direction. Furthermore, her big brown eyes were huge as they stared at the image of herself reflected on the glass surface. She could hardly believe that the dirty, bloodstained woman standing before her was she.

It made absolutely no sense, but it didn't make it any less real.

Stella was about to move away from the nightmarish reflection when she saw something behind her that made her heart rise in her throat.

Her eyes stared in bewilderment.

In the reflection, she could see a zombie shuffling towards her with hunger visible in its dead eyes. It was missing a hand, and a part of its face was hanging on a thread. However, it didn't make it any less capable of eating her flesh.

Stella's whole body was shaking as her brain was working a mile a minute, thinking how to defend herself, or at least find a place to hide in. Yet, being faced with the growling otherworldliness of the approaching danger, Stella was left clueless. Even moving her body sounded like too much to ask of her shell-shocked mind.

"Come on, get in! Why are you just staring at it! You can't stare it to death!" a voice yelled as a hand appeared from inside the hotel door and pulled her in.