Step into the shadowy realm of "Poe's Nightmares," a mesmerizing collection of short stories and poetry penned by the enigmatic Lady Eckland. This anthology is a tribute to the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe, whose spectral whisper resonates...
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"I still wake some nights hearing the faint tap of her ghostly fingernails on the pane. Beckoning me to once more look into her hollow eyes that brim with so much rage and so many secrets from beyond the veil between worlds."
Inspired by the character Lenore from the Raven
It was the incessant tapping at her bedroom window that finally stirred Amber awake in the dead of night. She awoke with a start, disoriented in the darkness of her room. As her eyes adjusted, she scanned for the source of the tapping before dismissing it as tree branches blown by the wind.
She was drifting back to sleep when the tapping resumed, more insistent this time. Annoyed, Amber flung off her covers and approached the window, expecting to see an errant tree branch. But when she pulled back the curtains, there was nothing. Only the empty suburban street below, darkened houses lining the quiet block. A chill crept down Amber’s spine. She locked the window and retreated back to bed.
The next morning, Amber discovered an envelope had been slipped under her apartment door. Inside was a letter written in shaky handwriting:
"My dear niece Amber,
I hope this letter finds you well. I apologize for reaching out unexpectedly after all these years. But strange events recently have compelled me to warn you. For the past few weeks I have been tormented by the spirit of a young woman named Emily. I believe she is trying to send me a message from beyond the grave about her untimely death.
Emily has visited me every night, tapping at my window as I try restlessly to sleep. Her ghostly face appears outside my window, pleading and grief-stricken. She is trying to tell me something, I know it.
Perhaps I sound mad. But you must believe me. I fear Emily's ghost has now come to haunt you as well. You must leave that apartment at once. I urge you to come stay with me where I can protect you from her restless spirit before it is too late.
Please call me as soon as you are able.
With love, Your Uncle Mike
Amber lowered the letter, mind reeling. Her estranged uncle had always been eccentric, but ghosts? This was beyond bizarre. She flinched as last night’s tapping at her window suddenly came rushing back. A coincidence, surely. She hadn’t heard from Uncle Mike in years. Why reach out now about ghosts?
Over the next few days, Amber’s friends noticed she was acting strange and distant. She couldn’t get the letter out of her head. One night, she awoke to the tapping at her window again. Heart pounding, she cautiously peered out. In the darkness, she could just make out the ghostly silhouette of a woman’s face peering back at her.
Terrified, Amber stumbled backward, hyperventilating. It had to be some cruel prank. But no one could be outside a second-story window. That night the tapping continued relentlessly until Amber finally fell into a fitful sleep as dawn broke.
The next night Amber came home to find her apartment in disarray - Furniture skewed, belongings flung about. In her bedroom, the window was flung wide open, curtains billowing in the cold night air. Someone had clearly broken in.
Panicked, Amber fled the apartment to stay With her friend Jessie. When Jessie encouraged her to go to the police, Amber finally confessed everything - the letter, the tapping, the silhouette in the window. Jessie listened with concern but skepticism. She feared Amber was becoming delusional under the strain.
Against her better judgment, Jess sent Amber to stay with Uncle Mike while waiting to file a police report about the break-in. She hoped Mike could provide mental health support for Amber. Little did Jessie know the chilling revelations in store for Amber there...
****
Amber arrived at Uncle Mike’s remote farmhouse late at night. He welcomed her in, appearing disheveled and on edge. As they caught up over tea, Amber gently asked about the letter. Mike confirmed he had seen Emily's ghostly apparition outside his window and heard her faint tapping every night since his wife Maggie died a month ago.
At first he thought grief was making him delusional. But then paranormal things started happening around his house at night. He knew Emily’s ghost was trying to send a message about the secrets surrounding her death.
When the hauntings followed Amber, Mike feared Emily came to torment a member of his family as revenge for past wrongs done to her. Mike revealed that Emily was his half sister who died under mysterious circumstances as a teen. His father had covered up the details and sent Mike away so he never learned what happened.
As Amber pressed for more information, the teacups suddenly shattered on the table. The temperature dropped dramatically as Emily’s disembodied voice echoed through the room: “I was murdered...And now you must pay!”
The house began to violently shake as if struck by a tremor. Terror mounting, Amber fled upstairs only to discover Aunt Maggie’s decaying corpse laid out on the bed. She realized Mike had lost his grip with reality after Maggie died and did not understand she was truly gone. But what did this have to do with Emily’s murder?
She confronted Mike, demanding the truth. Under Amber’s intense questioning, Mike finally confessed in anguish that Maggie had revealed on her deathbed that she killed Emily in a jealous rage over an illicit affair decades ago. Mike's father helped her conceal Emily's body and make her death appear an accident while sending 9 year old Mike away so he didn't learn the truth.
Horrified by these dark family revelations, Amber fled into the stormy night seeking escape. But Emily’s enraged ghost pursued her across the farmland. The mystery of her death finally solved, Emily was ready to claim her revenge...
Her ghostly presence summoned a violent lightning storm as Amber raced for her car. Just as Emily's ghost materialized before her oozing rage, a lightning bolt struck a nearby tree, sending it crashing down upon Emily’s ghost in a violent explosion.
Amber froze in shock as Emily’s banshee-like wailing finally ceased, her spirit appearing to dissolve into the stormy wind. The supernatural events at long last ended that night. Later at the farmhouse, police found Mike raving incoherently about ghosts. He was institutionalized while authorities uncovered Aunt Maggie’s hidden remains.
Amber returned home still shaken by her brush with the sinister secrets and otherworldly revenge that had loomed over her family for decades. She never heard Emily's spectral taps at her window again, hoping her uncle's beloved but betrayed first wife could now truly rest in peace.
