The knife gleamed bright enough to catch my attention first.
It sat in a small pool of dark, red blood on the table next to a party hat.
I thought I had known what I would find on the evening of my birthday when I had accidentally read the group chat on my sister's phone where she and my parents had been planning my surprise birthday. What had actually surprised me was the fact that my sister had voluntarily planned this surprise. She was usually a sulky, unhappy person to be around. But this was definitely new. I had even practised my surprised reactions when they would switch on the lights and yell, "Surprise!" solely for her benefit.
But the scene that greeted me in my living room made me feel like ice was flowing through my veins instead of blood. My mind was numb. I collapsed on the floor, the contents of my bag spilling over.
My first instinct was to pinch myself to check if I was having one of those nightmares I had been having the past week. When the spectacle remained unwavering I knew this was happening in real-time. Those nightmares had felt so real that I had a very strong premonition, something was coming for me.
Both my parents lay next to the sofa, unmoving. They were tied up and gagged, a small puddle of blood pooled nearby. From my vantage point, I couldn't see my sister. With shaky legs, I stood up and peered farther into the room. That was when I heard the whimpering.
It was my sister huddled up in the corner. Her hunched shoulder quivered as she sobbed softly.
"Joy?" I called out softly. My own voice had a tremor.
She looked up suddenly, startled; as if she had just noticed my presence. Her red-rimmed eyes found mine and she started sobbing again,
"I-I'm s-sorry, she m-made me d-do it," she barely choked out, standing up slowly.
"What are you talking about? Who made you do what?" I demanded my own knees almost buckling at her appearance.
Her hair was dishevelled and she had purple bruises on her forehead and arms. Her shirt was coloured crimson with huge bloodstains. I noticed the small cut in her arm causing a stream of blood to drip down at her bare feet.
"S-she said she would k-kill everyone if I didn't do what s-she asked..." she said almost maniacally.
"Who!?" I cried frantically.
Her eyes focused on me suddenly and with a trembling hand, she pointed towards the kitchen. I swivelled my gaze in that direction and that was when I saw her.
My heart stopped beating for a second and I knew in an instant that this was the figure that had been haunting my dreams for the past week.
It was dark in the house but enough moonlight filtered in through the windows for me to make out her appearance. Her matted, tangled locks flowed down past her hips and covered half her grotesque face. Her skin looked like it had melted to form the scarred mass that covered her lips. Her nose was long and hung over where her lips would have been. One of her eyes stared right at me with a malignant gleam of anticipation.
Her tattered black robe swayed slightly in the gentle breeze. She held a chalice that looked so old that it must have been a relic. She raised the chalice and took a step in my direction
I stumbled trying to back up and put as much space between us as I could but there was nowhere else to go. My back hit the wall and before I could let out another scream or run out to get help Joy called out to me in a panic,
"Don't!" she sobbed, "If you take another step, she is going to kill us all."
"What does she want?" I asked desperately.
"Blood..." echoed a raspy, disembodied voice. It was a voice that had grown rusty with disuse and desiccation.
I whirled towards her but she hadn't moved her lips or the place where her lips were supposed to be.
"You heard her, didn't you?" Joy asked.
"Yes."
"Take that knife on the table and cut yourself so she can take your blood," Joy instructed on her behalf, "Stand in the circle drawn around the table while you do it."
"I will do as you say, let my family go. You got what you wanted from them. Let them get medical help," I spoke to her.
She turned to Joy and nodded imperceptibly.
"Go!" I said urgently and stepped up to the table with the knife on it. The knife, on closer inspection, looked to be as old as the chalice. The handle was worn almost to the tang but the blade gleamed to perfection like someone had taken the time to polish away the rust that must have inevitably formed on such an old blade.
Joy was busy trying to untie and ungag our parents. I just prayed they hadn't bled out yet.
The figure floated eerily and stood opposite me across the table. Cutting your own self is more difficult than it seems, even with a knife this sharp. The adrenaline coursing through my veins dulled the pain and soon there was a steady stream of blood.
She placed the chalice on the table and I took a deep breath and knew what I had to do. There was something that I needed to try. I glanced at how Joy was doing. She was trying to rouse my mother who was slowly stirring. I let my blood drip into the chalice and surreptitiously dipped the tip in the blood already in there.
And then in one motion, faster than I had ever moved in my life I plunged the knife in the creature's chest.
The shriek it uttered was unlike a sound I had heard before. Blinding light poured through every crevice in her body as she collapsed outside the intricate circle around the table and disappeared in a dark mist. The force from this knocked me down a few feet away.
I heard Joy scream. I turned to her and tried to be as comforting as I could,
"It's okay. I think she is gone now."
But instead of calming down, Joy gave me a look of such vehement malice that I stood there baffled.
"You absolute idiot!" she yelled.
My mother opened her eyes and mumbled something incoherent, then she glanced around and her expression turned to one of utter horror. She tried to scramble away from ... Joy.
"You just can't, for once, do what you are told to. You just have to be the hero and save the day. I have been slaving for a week," she went on.
"Y-you?" I said horrified as the realization that my little sister was behind all this struck me full force.
"Y-yes m-me," she mocked me and then sighed, "I'll just have to summon more Vostynes."
"But why?" I asked.
She didn't answer for a second and then started relighting the candles around the table.
"Why? Because I can," she said, "And because I want more than what this life has to offer."
She redrew the intricate circle with chalk she had in her pocket.
"Money, fame, power and," she paused to look at me, "immortality."
My mother was crying and trying to wake my father up, calling out his name. The adrenaline was wearing down so my arm was on fire. The blood loss was making me woozy and my tailbone throbbed. I tried to crawl towards her.
"I can't let you do this," I said desperately trying to stand up.
"Let me?" she laughed incredulously, "You are powerless here, sister."
She placed the chalice and the knife on the table and looked up,
"You know what sister?" she sneered, "You could have made it out of this alive, all of you. We could have gone our separate ways. But you just had to ruin everything. Now I will make sure you don't."
She started to chant and I stumbled to where she was standing. I tried to enter the circle she had redrawn but a sort of force field repelled me.
"Joy!" I cried, "Please don't." I begged her.
She ignored me and finished her ritual.
Everything went still and she gave me one last malicious smile before the same piercing shriek filled the room. I covered my ears as the shriek multiplied. I saw several figures emerge from the floor within the circle. Three figures stood around Joy as she seemed triumphant at her success. But it soon changed to a horrified, frantic expression.
"Revenge," they chanted in unison in the same disembodied, raspy voice.
One of them placed a hand on Joy's head and she screamed before falling on her knees.
I banged at the invisible walls trying to find a way in.
There was none.
I watched in horror as they surrounded her and sucked her life force away. Then the ground swallowed them back in and they left taking Joy's body with them.