R/Nosleep (Get Spooked)

It's All Coming To An End (Suburbia Part 15)

By u/firesidechats451

"Welcome, Strangefellow."

I furrowed my brow in confusion, wondering what the hag meant. To my surprise, Francesca answered.

"How do you know me?"

The hag's voice grated, sending chills down my spine with every syllable. "I've been around a long time, child. Any time a plan goes to rot, there's like as not a Strangefellow involved."

The hag grinned, her mouth stretching until it threatened to split her face.

"But I've got a deal for you. I'll let you and your little friend leave this place without harm, never looking back."

"You'd just keep kidnapping people." Francesca was stoic, as though speaking to an ancient monster was something she did every day. "Things like you, you're never satisfied."

The hag shrugged, her twig-like hands spreading in a helpless gesture. "It is my nature. Do you judge the wolf when he ravages the lamb?"

"You're not meant to be here." Francesca raised the crystal, its light shining golden on her face. "If you agree to return to your own world, I'll spare you."

"Bartering now, are we?" The hag bent over us, and I'd never felt so small. I clung tightly to Francesca's hand, trying not to hyperventilate. "Well, I have an offer for you, Strangefellow. Leave this place, and allow me my humble scraps . . .

" . . . and I will tell you how to break your family's curse."

For a few moments, silence lay thick in the cavern. I felt like a mere observer, like the audience in a movie theater, unsure what was about to happen and helpless to intervene.

"What would you know about a family curse?" Francesca's tone was dismissive and just as in control as ever. But her hand trembled slightly in mine.

"I know you're desperate to end it." The hag tilted her head, and tilted, and tilted, until she was looking at us upside-down. "I know you've searched for centuries, and found nothing. But I have the answer you seek."

"How on earth would you find that?"

"I have my ways. Didn't you say I'm not of this world?"

Francesca was silent. A part of me feared she'd take the bargain. I didn't know anything about this "family curse," but it had to be bad, right? It had to be the reason Francesca left such a seemingly loving family.

"Well?" said the hag, twisting over us, her eyes like bottomless pools. "Will you damn your family for eternity? Or will you let me and mine be?"

When Francesca answered, her voice was strained. "I'm not much for justice. Maybe at one time, I would've let you be." She raised her head, and her eyes blazed. She radiated power, and the sight sent a thrill through me. "But you had the gall to hurt the person I love most in the world. I offered you one chance at mercy, and you spat it back in my face. Now, you'll face my wrath!"

Francesca held the citrine high, the light blazing white in the desolate cavern.

The hag hissed, withdrawing into her nest. "You've chosen poorly, little Strangefellow," she said. All around us, the darkness closed in, so deep it seemed to have physical weight. "You have no idea what true wrath is!"

The darkness writhed, forming faces that twisted in horrendous ways, mouths elongated. The faces flickered around us, moving too quickly to see clearly, and though there was no sound, I swear I heard a chorus of screams echoing in the back of my mind.

"Kate." Francesca adjusted her grip on my hand. "It's now or never. Think of something happy!"

I tried. I really did. I started with coffee, like Francesca had suggested. I already had the image in my mind, and I tried to make it feel real. But something was off—the memories were distant, like I was watching a movie. I moved to pastries, trying to recreate the texture of warm croissants, the buttery flavor with a hint of bitter chocolate. But I couldn't keep hold of the taste.