The Unknown Series

ISSUE 4: NECROMANCER. PART 6.

#THE_UNKNOWN (A series of short horrifying tales)
   
Author: Sam Freddy
   
Issue 4: NECROMANCER.
   
Part 6
   
    Thunder struck right after Dorothy’s threat hit us both. It was pure horror watching her approach us with eyes that now lacked irises, and a face that housed weird black marks.
   
    “What’s going on?” I couldn’t take my eyes off her, even though Sewa owned that question. “What’s wrong with her?”
   
    “I’m not sure, but I think she’s been possessed.” Sewa backed up, dragging me along. “Something must’ve taken control of her in our absence.”
   
    “But how?”
   
    “Fear,” Sewa said. “Demons work with fear and consent. They don’t come to you unless they sense fear or you grant them access. I think she must’ve let it in through fear.”
   
    “God, we should’ve just left when she complained earlier.” I said, regretting our initial decision. “What do we do now?”
   
    “I don’t know.”
   
    Mel’s screaming stopped with another thunderclap. It died just when it began to rain outside. Still moving back, with my eyes locked on Dorothy, I said, “Mom? Dad? Shania? This has got to stop, right now! I know you’re all in there, and I demand you leave this innocent woman alone!”
   
    “Save it,” Adesewa advised. “I already told you before we got here that whatever you encountered back home wasn’t your family. This is plain demonic possession, and whatever’s responsible for it must’ve been what you saw at home. It, or they’re just using your family as camouflage. They won’t listen to you.”
   
    “God,” I muttered, colliding with the wall behind with Sewa. “How did I get myself into this mess?”
   
    “Worry about getting out of here instead,” Sewa pulled me towards the door, while Dorothy approached, snarling, leaving a trail of blood from the tainted knife.
   
    As we attempted to exit the room, she lunged at us ferociously and screamed out, causing us to bail impulsively. Fatefully, we made it out unscratched and Sewa locked the door with the key, breathing haggardly. So was I.
   
    “That was close,” I mumbled, grateful for the narrow escape. “Thank you.”
   
    Sewa nodded, her mood tense.
   
    “So, what now?”
   
    “We have to leave this place right away.”
   
    “And go where?”
   
    “To the old lady,” Sewa said, pocketing the key. “We have no choice.”
   
    “Okay, but what about Dorothy? Are we just gonna leave her in there?”
   
    “I’m afraid so. She’s trapped in the room, so all we’ll do is lock the house and come back for her later, hopefully with a cure.”
   
    I frowned. “I don’t support that.”
   
    “You got a better idea?”
   
    “Well,” I reasoned, “how about we call the cops before we leave, and tell them that there’s a distressed woman in here who needs urgent help?”
   
    “You can’t be serious,” Sewa disliked the idea, offering me a weird look. “You seem not to understand the gravity of what we’re dealing with, Sam. We have to keep this low-key and handle it on our own. We don’t need any third-party intervention, as long as I’m concerned.”
   
    Speaking of third-parties, a sudden knock at the door interrupted the moment. My chest tightened, bearing a strange sense of foreboding about the intruder. Sewa felt the same way, I could tell by her actions.
   
    “Be quiet, don’t say anything,” she said, pressing her index finger against her lips, and I bobbed my head responsively.
   
    We listened closely for another sound, despite the noise from the rain, but nothing came.
   
    “Hello? Everything alright in there?” a man’s voice hollered, cutting through the noise. “I heard some noise from my yard and thought I should stop by, Miss Dorathy.”
   
    I’d never been more relieved in my life. Hearing somebody else’s voice amidst this chaos just came as a ray of hope for us, and I was thankful that Dorothy had stopped screaming because since we ran out, she’d been pulling the doorknob and screaming like hell. Strangely, she was quiet now, to my relief. At least it’d create a better atmosphere between us and the stranger.
   
    Once again, the man knocked, calling out Dorothy’s name.
   
    “What do we do?”
   
    “We let him in,” Sewa walked straight to the door and peeked through the peephole. “I know him. Met him once. He looks trustworthy. Maybe he can help us.”
   
    “So much for not needing a third-party aid,” I said, causing her to scoff. “Open the door, let’s see whom we’re dealing with.”
   
    Sewa granted my wish, and we came face to face with a fat white man in a black raincoat and muddy boots, whose facial expression screamed surprise on seeing us.
   
    “Who are you people?” He said, eyes squinted, reaching for his strapped Glock on impulse.
   
    My heart paused.
   
    “Whoa, whoa, slow down, Jerry,” Sewa cautioned with raised hands, stepping into the light on the porch. “It’s me, Sewa. See?”
   
    More eye-squinting produced a shocked realization from Jerry, his face ecstatic. “Whoa, Sewa, it’s really you,” he said, leaving the gun. “Sorry, the light’s intensity and my bad eyesight played me.”
   
    “It’s fine, Jerry.” Sewa put her hands down, sighing. “I’m glad you’re here.”
   
    Jerry smirked, now looking at me. “Who’s your buddy?”
   
    “Oh, that’s Sam.” Sewa introduced, gesticulating. “Sam, meet Jerry, a next-door neighbor and a good hunter.”
   
    “Sup, dude?” Jerry greeted with a thumbs-up, and I acknowledged him with a simple, “Hey.”
   
    “You guys look bummed out,” Jerry observed. “What’s going on? I heard someone screaming before. Was that you?”
   
    “Well, no, but…”
   
    “Wait, where’s Miss Dorothy?” He interrupted Sewa, growing suspicious.
   
    Scratching her neck anxiously in a bid to articulate her words, lo and behold, Sewa was silenced by Dorothy’s sudden appearance behind Jerry. I gasped loudly, astounded by her eerie frame that towered Jerry so well, creating an ominous air.
   
    “What’s wrong with you guys?” Jerry grimaced, confused. “What’s with the look? And where’s Miss Dorathy?”
   
    “I’m right behind you,” her voice echoed in a sing-song manner, seizing Jerry’s attention. And the moment he looked back, afraid, Dorothy grabbed his head and snapped his neck hard.
   
    Jerry dropped dead immediately, disfigured and wasted.
   
    “Oh, no! Run! Go inside!” Sewa shouted, retreating into the house, but I stayed back instead for something.
   
    “Sam, what’re you doing? Come in!” Sewa called out, tempted to lock the door, but I stood still and glared the demon in the eye, in-between fear. It snarled horribly, showing its dominance over me, but one quick move from me solidified my smartness over it. It wasn’t an easy task grabbing the handgun in Jerry’s holster with a deadly demon on my tail, but I did, and now I was back inside with Sewa after running like hell.
   
    “What the hell was that about?” Sewa shut the door and yelled at me, almost ripping her hair out. “Are you crazy?”
   
    Catching my breath while bending with both hands on my knees, I said, “I guess I am.”
   
    “God, you’re impossible!” She grumbled and hissed, even though, deep down, I knew she was proud of me. She just wasn’t totally cool with me pulling off random stunts like that. “Oh, my God, there’s a dead guy outside, Sam!”
   
    Sewa’s sudden realization awakened mine, reminding me of the graphic image of Jerry’s cold death. “Relax,” I said regardless, “just be calm.”
   
    “Sam, there’s a dead man outside, for heaven’s sake, and you expect me to be calm?” Sewa griped, freaking out. “Do you realize how extremely complicated this has become? We could end up in jail for something we didn’t do, for your information!”
   
    “Sewa, quiet down.” I said, noticing something.
   
    “Sam, I’m not joking. This is serious!” She rambled on. “What’re you even doing with that thing? You could implicate us both! You aren’t planning to shoot her or anything, are you?”
   
    “Sewa, shush!” I straightened up, having a bad feeling about the background silence outside, save for the rain’s noise. “Have you noticed anything?”
   
    Sewa dragged a deep breath, asking, “Like what?”
   
    “Like Dorathy’s strange silence,” I explained, reaching for the peephole. “She hasn’t tried to barge into the house since we came in, which is odd. And I can’t even see her outside anymore.”
   
    “Let me see,” Sewa looked too, feeling endangered, while I stepped aside, monitoring the windows and the passageway. “It’s true. She’s not out there.”
   
    “See?” I said, self-conscious. “Clearly, whatever’s in her body isn’t as dumb as we thought. It’s calculative and smart, playing with strategy, which begs the question . . .”
   
    “How did she escape from the room?”
   
    “Exactly.” I affirmed, locking eyes with Sewa. “Come on.”
   
    We rushed to Dorothy’s room just to find a wide-open window with heavy wind and droplets of rain drifting in. Quickly, I shut it and looked at Sewa, who seemed exhausted already.
   
    “Of course, the window!” I smacked my face in cognizance. “It’s big enough to pass through. Why didn’t I think of that?”
   
    Instead of uttering a word, Sewa just stayed still, gazing at something else intensely. I’d barely wrapped my head around her odd behavior when she knelt before Mel’s corpse, not minding if she got stained by the thick pool of blood.
   
    She caressed the dead dog’s head, clearly emotionally attached to it. I couldn’t blame her, though. She’d known Dorothy for a while and loved her dog the same way, so a minute or two to process the whirlwind of emotions swarming her mind wasn’t a bad idea.
   
    Unfortunately, the universe had other plans for us. One loud thunderbolt and an extra flash of lightning revealed a presence outside the window, watching us with killer motives.
   
    “Oh, my God!” Sewa screamed, jerking up fast. “She’s back!”
   
    “Shit!” I cussed, glancing at the Glock I held, having no clue how to operate it. Then I spotted something else. “Quick—” I pointed, “—the wardrobe!”
   
    Adesewa caught my drift and hurried there with me, and together, we lifted the heavy wardrobe on a countdown of three and barricaded the window with it, preventing Dorothy from entering here.
   
    “Come on, we have to leave now!” I exclaimed, storming out of the room with Sewa. We’d barely gotten anywhere when the lights started flickering, meddling with our fears.
   
    “This is not good,” Sewa stopped, looking around, pulling her phone from her pocket.
   
    “Why’re you stopping? What’re you doing?”
   
    “The lights can go out any time soon,” she said, “and even if we attempt to run to the necromancer’s shop, we won’t make it that far without help, not with this rainstorm. And there are no taxis around here, so I’ll have to call my personal taxi man to come pick us up, if he can.”
   
    “Okay,” I looked back at Dorothy’s door, which had been locked on our way out. “Just hurry up.”
   
    Sewa nodded and said “Damn!” loudly on seeing her phone.
   
    “What?” I asked, alarmed.
   
    “There’s no reception. Damn!”
   
    “That’s fine, just use mine instead.” I brought mine out and pressed the power button. “Shit! It’s the same thing here.”
   
    The lights continued fluctuating, worsening by the minute.
   
    “The universe sure has a fun way of screwing us up,” I sighed, disappointed. “Wait, what about Dorothy’s home phone?”
   
    “Oh, yes, yes.” Sewa said ecstatically, heading to the living room, but a sudden crack from one of the windows petrified us. “What’s that?”
   
    “I don’t know.” I said, frightened. “Oh, no, it’s her again,” a bigger shock grabbed me as the sight of Dorothy’s hand smashing through the window registered fast.
   
    “Is there any other way out of here?” I turned to Sewa, desperately.
   
    “None that I know of,” she replied sharply, “but, wait, the basement!”
   
    “There’s a basement?”
   
    “Yeah, come on!” She ran through the passageway and turned left into a storage room, while I followed. On getting there, Sewa stopped before a wooden door, breathed in and gave me a complex look.
   
    “What?”
   
    “Here’s the tricky part,” she announced, her hands shaking. “The basement is right inside there, downstairs, in the dark.”
   
    “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I facepalmed, provoked. “Could this day get any worse?”
   
    “I’m afraid so,” she grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight. “Last time I was here, the lights in the basement were faulty, and Dorothy said she’d fix them, but knowing her, I doubt that big time. So, if I were you, I’d activate my flashlight now.”
   
    Grumbling, I did so, and after bobbing our heads mutually, we pushed the door open and stepped into the dark basement. Together, we fastened the locks behind to restrict Dorothy’s entrance, then proceeded down the creaking stairs with our guards high.
   
    “This place gives me the creeps,” I said, pointing my flashlight around, spotting cobwebs and rats loitering unceremoniously. “Yuck.”
   
    I’d never seen so much stuff jam-packed in a house before. Everywhere I looked, dusty furniture and dirty old items welcomed me. It was as though nobody ever came down here for occasional sanitation.
   
    Surprisingly, Sewa dusted a wooden bench with her palm and sat on it, sighing relievedly. “Finally, I can have a break.”
   
    I observed her mood, noting her tiredness. “Yeah, all that running around sure tells on you,” I said, looking elsewhere. “Oh, sweet heavens!”
   
    “Huh?”
   
    “Look what I found,” I picked a rechargeable lamp on top of a cabinet and raised it, smiling. “Talk about a timely heavenly rescue. Let’s just hope it works.”
   
    Apparently, my hope paid off, and I couldn’t have been more glad to hang the lamp on a nail on the wall, letting the light brighten a considerable fraction of the basement. I felt relaxed, safer, but it could be better, hence my decision to smoke a cigarette now.
   
    “What are you doing?” Sewa questioned, watching me light up the cigar between my lips.
   
    “Fellowshipping?” I sounded petty, selfish, and I knew it.
   
    “Samuel, what the hell?” She arose, coughing, sending me the deadliest glare ever seen. “Even in my presence? Is that how addicted you are? Have you no shame?”
   
    “Chill out,” I shrugged, taking a drag from the cigar. “You’re being overly dramatic.”
   
    I shouldn’t have said that, I knew right away with the dim light’s exposure on half of Sewa’s face, revealing her coldest look, the other half covered by the darkness.
   
    “What did you say?” Sewa came into the light, coming to me, about to burst into flames. “I’m being what?”
   
    “I didn’t say anything.” I swallowed hard, all tensed up. “Sorry.”
   
    “Samuel, all this trouble for you and you still undermine my efforts?” She stood before me and slapped sense into me, sending the cigar flying off my mouth. “You ingrate!”
   
    Now, for the record, I’d been slapped dozens of times before by the school bullies in my sixth grade, but none compared to this. Sewa’s slap hit me different, triggered an automatic factory reset in me that stirred instant shame and had me looking down, unable to speak.
   
    She repeatedly mashed the cigar on the floor, tilting my face up to square hers. “Look, Sam, you need to get your head straight for good! This whole thing isn’t worth it, because–”
   
    Every word she said hence faded out as I zoned out to the sound of something in the fireplace. Sewa kept talking, scolding me ferociously, while my ears stayed peeled for strange sounds.
   
    “Sam? Are you even listening to a word I’m saying?”
   
    I didn’t speak, thereby prompting her to trail my gaze.
   
    “What’re you looking at? Did you see anything?”
   
    “Listen.” I said quietly, pointing at the hearth. “There’s something in there.”
   
    “Something indeed,” she scoffed. “Is this another trick to avoid my advice?”
   
    “Sewa, seriously, just listen.” I insisted, hearing the sounds clearer.
   
    Sewa grouchily heeded my warning, keeping her ears out for oddities too. She let go of me and stepped aside, while I grabbed the lamp and walked over to the fireplace, gripping the gun in my belt cautiously.
   
    I bent down, flashed the light up and looked up the chimney, just to get the shock of my life that had me shouting, “Shit, shit, shit,” as I staggered back to my feet. “Dorothy’s crawling down the chimney!” I announced, earning myself a soul-piercing snarl from the possessed lady who’d just landed here, crawling her way out, and fast.
   
    “What the hell? How did she find us?” Sewa panicked, shivering in my peripheral vision, but I was too busy pointing the gun and lamp at Dorothy to answer that.
   
    “You people make me sick!” The distorted voices that sounded like a legion of demons in Dorothy said, crawling to us. “How long do you think you can run from me?”
   
    “Sam, do not shoot.” Sewa said, hiding behind me. “She’s possessed, not zombified.”
   
    “Really? What do you suggest we do, then? Wait and be killed?”
   
    “Not every fight requires violence,” she replied, leaving my back, pointing her dangling rosary at the creeping entity. “It is written in the book of Ephesians chapter six verse twelve: ‘For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers…’; therefore, I command you demon to return to the depths of hell where you belong, in the name of Jesus!”
   
    Dorothy stopped moving, eyebrows furrowed, eyes without irises focused on Sewa, laughing maniacally. “Okay, so I assume this is the part where I start screaming and wailing, rolling all over the floor in agony?”
   
    “Sewa, it’s not working.” I said, my hands trembling, especially the one with the gun.
   
    “Yeah, I can see that.” Sewa seemed lost, not confident in herself anymore. “In Jesus’ name, I–”
   
    “Oh, stop it already,” Dorothy rised slowly, her blonde hair pouring down her face. “I can smell your fear from miles away. That tiny little cross won’t save you this time.”
   
    “We have to run,” I said to Sewa, resisting the urge to shoot her friend. All it required was just one bullet to end this right now—if I aimed well enough—but I keyed into Sewa’s belief about no violence and decided not to hurt an innocent woman whose only crime was let fear get the best of her, allowing room for demonic possession.
   
    “The door, quick!” Sewa made for the door, pulling me along, but, suddenly, a big slanted sofa came from nowhere and blocked our way.
   
    We turned around to see Dorothy laughing evilly, haunting us for sport, entertained by our desperation. “You humans are pathetic,” she said, approaching us slowly, flipping her knife in the air. “Everything’s always about running for your kind. You run away from problems just to face even bigger ones. How long do you think you can hide from me?”
   
    “Dorothy, stand back,” I aimed for her leg. “Don’t make me do this.”
   
    “Sam!” Sewa called, worried. “Don’t shoot!”
   
    “I’m targeting her leg,” I said, glaring at Dorothy, whose pace quickened towards us.
   
    “It doesn’t matter, don’t hurt her.”
   
    “Well, she’ll hurt us if I don’t.” I put pressure on the trigger, and with one pull, a bullet flied in Dorothy’s direction, but missed its target.
   
    Angered by my attempt at shooting her, Dorothy leaped at me and pushed me down, biting my neck in the process. The lamp fell off my hand and rolled away, and I groaned out, trying to shoot her again, but she smacked the weapon off my hand and raised her knife to stab me.
   
    Sewa’s timely intervention saved my life. She slammed Dorothy’s head with the lamp so hard that she tumbled down, and then helped me up with her hand. Breathing hard and holding my neck, I picked the weapon and turned to Sewa. “We’ve gotta leave this place, but we can’t go through the door, so let’s try the chimney.”
   
    “Wait, what? How’re we going to do that?”
   
    “There’s a ladder that leads to the roof. I saw it when I looked before,” I said. “Or would you rather wait here?”
   
    “Who puts a ladder in a chimney?” She blurted, heading right to it. “Come on.”
   
    While Dorothy struggled to regain consciousness, we escaped into the chimney in haste. Sewa held the lamp tight, lighting the way up the ladder, and I followed behind, glancing back for Dorothy.
   
    It wasn’t long before she showed up, gnarling and scowling in pursuit, crawling on the wall like a spider. Spooked, I shot at her, but she dodged it with a quick jump across the wall.
   
    “Oh, my God, Sam!” Sewa screamed. “Stop shooting, for God’s sake!”
   
    “Oh, yeah, I’ll stop.” I yelled out, annoyed with Sewa’s overconsciousness. “It’s not like we have a demon on our tail or anything, right?”
   
    I understood her concern, but there was only so much I could handle with all this pressure. Besides, the gun had a silencer, so there was no way anyone could hear the gunshots (in addition to the noise from the rain), just in case she was worried about that too.
   
    If anything, I’d appreciate some help from the neighbors, but I doubted that anyone would hear us in all this commotion, so our fates were practically in our own hands, and I wasn’t willing to be lukewarm and get killed due to Sewa’s persuasion. Aiming properly, despite Dorothy’s speed in climbing towards us, I shot off her hand and sent her screaming and falling off the wall. I don’t know how it happened, but Dorothy’s left hand came right off and stuck itself to the wall, amidst the splash of blood, like it had a life of its own.
   
    “Jesus Christ!” Sewa screamed and stopped climbing to look down. “Sam, what did you do? What have you done?”
   
    “Keep moving!” I yelled back. “She’ll be okay!”
   
    “With such fall?” Sewa shot back. “With her hand off? What the hell?”
   
    In the middle of our argument, Dorothy’s hand started creeping up the wall, moving in a zig-zag pattern like a crab.
   
    “Sewa, move the hell up!”
   
    “Oh, my God!” Sewa resumed climbing immediately, almost reaching the chimney’s topmost level.
   
    Before I could blink, I felt something latching onto me and creeping up my leg. “What the–” I tried to shake it off, but its grip was firm as it moved faster. Next thing I knew, it jumped on my face and dipped one finger into my eye, just when Sewa pushed the top lid open.
   
    The strong wind and the rain started coming in at once, soaking us up amidst the horror. I shut my eyes tight, grunting, unable to cast the creepy hand off my face because my hands were occupied with holding the ladder and the Glock. Sewa, however, climbed onto the roof and screamed, “Sam, give me your hand, quick!”
   
    Although I couldn’t see a thing, I stretched my hand up and, luckily, Sewa received it and started pulling me up. Sensing our cooperation, the hand left my face, crept up our joint arms and swung at Sewa’s face, forcing her to leave me. I tripped on the ladder and almost fell off, due to its sudden wetness, but my quick reflexes saved me; I grabbed the concrete slab, climbed up and landed on the roof too.
   
    Before I could even catch my breath or help Sewa out with the scaly hand tormenting her, I spotted Dorothy climbing the ladder below with just one hand, the other bleeding but seeming to have no effect on her possessed body. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I said, rushing up to Sewa, and with forced bravery, I seized the hand from her face and dumped it down the chimney with its owner, shutting the crown up for good.
   
    Adesewa was sprawled on the roof in profound shock, so I asked if she was okay, hoping she’d hear me with all the noise. She nodded yes, so I lifted her up and said, “We have to leave here before she returns,” whilst looking around for an escape route. “There, at the ledge. Come on.”
   
    I held Sewa’s hand and led her to a frail ledge, which would make jumping off the roof easier for us. We had to thread slowly on the roof to avoid falling off because the whole thing was too slippery, and the constant lightning wasn’t helping issues at all, striking fear into us with each clap.
   
    Going first, I stood on the ledge and jumped to the ground, unscratched. I stood up and faced Sewa, who was next. “Come on, it’s your turn!” I said aloud. “Jump!”
   
    “I can’t!” She exclaimed frighteningly. “I’m scared of heights!”
   
    “I’m scared of a lot of things, too, but not tonight!” I replied, stretching my arms out. “You have to be strong, come on, you can do this.”
   
    “Will you catch me?” She looked terrified, more than she’d ever been.
   
    “I give you my word!” I assured her loudly, just when a certain noise started coming from the chimney, sounding like Dorothy trying to break through the closed lid. “Come on, Sewa, it’s now or never.”
   
    She redirected her gaze from the banging crown to me, and then used that as motivation to jump. As promised, I caught her in midair, our drenched bodies clashing with force while she shrieked and freaked out.
   
    “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I dropped her and watched her shut her eyes for a moment to breathe, before saying, “Come on, we gotta move.”
   
    “Not so fast!” The loudest thunder we’d heard tonight accompanied that voice, giving its source a grand appearance on the rooftop. “You both think you can escape my wrath? There’s no way anyone’s leaving here unless they die!”
   
    “Come on, run,” I dragged Sewa, attempting an escape, but Dorothy jumped down and mounted on her before we could move. Sewa struggled to push her off, but she was fixed, furious and unrelenting to be shaken. And that’s where I came in.
   
    As Dorothy raised her knife to harm Sewa, I gave a warning shot in the air and said, “Drop the knife, demon, or else…”
   
    “Or what? You’ll shoot me?” She turned her head to me, grinning. “We both know you aren’t built for that, boy.”
   
    “Don’t test me.” I warned. “Don’t.”
   
    “Alright, how’s this for a test, then?” She cackled and stuck her fingers into Sewa’s eyes, pressing them hard and evoking screams from her.
   
    “Stop! Stop!” I warned aloud, my finger on the trigger. “Don’t push me!”
   
    “Haha! Pathetic!” She continued her torture amid laughter, letting me watch Sewa in severe pain and leaving me with no choice but to do this:
   
    Pkewwffff! Pkewwffff!! Pkewwffff!!!
   
    Three direct shots to her head sent her crashing to the ground, dead, with black blood and maggots splattering all over the place.