DAYMARE 6: Mince for Peace

I couldn't stop myself from being paranoid. Every day, every afternoon, every night, I feel like someone is watching my room.

Do I have a stalker? If yes, then who? Who is the person who has too much time on their hands to observe me and write my daily routine into an online story? I am not even an interesting person to begin with.

What about spiritual stuff that is beyond scientific explanation? Ghosts aren't real, are they?

I want to ignore this stuff, but it keeps coming to me.

I feel more relaxed every time I watch horror movies. The heck do I care if I'm haunted? I would still watch horror movies.

I have also read chapter 4 of ‘Curiosity Kills’. The story was a bit different, but it was still there that the protagonist started feeling paranormal activities, just like me. But the protagonist was trying to ignore them despite being curious, just like me.

It's the weekend and I've been at school for more than a month. After Riegel told me some sort of a threat last week, I just laughed at him. He even had the urge to make fun of me about what I saw in the faculty room, even though I was shaking with fear. He has the power of a school president, and I am just a muse, but he doesn’t have the right to mock me.

I turned on my laptop and clicked my all-time favorite horror movie. This one will be a bloody one!

I switched off the light. My laptop was propped on the pillow, and I sat cross-legged on the bed. A tub of pink, strawberry-flavored popcorn rested on my thigh, while a large, iced tea is on the small table beside me. With the room dark, the tension and thrill felt sharper like I was sitting in my own little private cinema.

"Go on! Kill that one!” I yelled.

I am more biased towards the killer than the hero being killed. I simply hate weak protagonists, so I prefer badass antagonists.

I grabbed two more popcorn when I felt a wet substance on my fingers.

"Is the flavoring melting?" I whispered to myself.

I shrugged.

"Ooops,"

I clicked the touchpad to rewind one of my favorite scenes. When I got back, there was a wet substance on the touchpad of my laptop. It must be my saliva. I took a tissue and wiped it while my eyes were focused on the screen.

I kept eating popcorn until I felt my lips wet. Am I drooling while I eat? What a hassle. I wiped my mouth with a tissue. I ate popcorn again when I felt my mouth was wet again. I took another tissue and wiped my mouth when I wondered why the saliva from my mouth is red. I snatched one of the used tissues from the pile, and there it was… dark, glistening streaks of red smeared into the tissue paper.

I got up.

T-The popcorn… is no longer pink-colored strawberry flavor… It’s bleeding red!

I reached for the iced tea, thinking a sip might calm me,
but the dark brown liquid had turned a deep, pulsing red… blood.
It overflowed from the glass. The thick and warm blood spills over the rim and drips onto the floor in slow splatters.

I wiped my mouth with my hand, and I saw a red liquid on the back of my hand.

This is mad!

I ran closer to the switch to turn on the lights, but it didn’t work.

It’s dark in my room with only a light source from my laptop. I was frightened when the fluorescent light above let out a sharp hiss and began to flicker. I tried to move the curtain sideways to have more lighting when a broken bleeding hand clung to it.

“Wha!”

I stumbled to the door, grabbed the knob, and twisted hard… it’s locked!

“Let me out!”

My terror spiked as the spilled, ice-cold, bloody tea crept across the floor and touched my feet.

"Help!"

I banged on the door.

Mommy and Daddy just left, so I was the only one at home. This is what I'm saying, it’s hard when there are no neighbors nearby.

"Bwahahaha!!!"

A chill shot through me when I heard a sinister laughter. I spun around—no one was there. I was alone. Then I saw it… the laughter was coming from my laptop screen.

On my laptop screen was the killer from the movie,
the immortal monster that devours the weak-hearted humans.
It stared straight at me as it tossed aside the corpse it had been about to feast on. Behind it hung bodies, stitched into the cave’s ceiling like grotesque trophies. Blood dripped from its mouth. Its lifeless eyes locked on mine. It was coming closer to me.

I couldn't step back anymore because the door was closed. It held out its right hand and…

I-I'm choking

It lifted me off the ground. Its grip was crushing my throat, cutting off my breath. The monster was supposed to be just on the screen, but its hands were choking me here, in real life.

I tried reaching out to its arms and scratched it to let go, but there were no hands in sight.

"H-help… help m-me…"

For the last time, I asked for help even though I knew no one would help me.

I clung to my final breath. Darkness snuck at the edges of my vision. My head spun, growing heavy, and my eyes blurred into nothingness.

***

“Miss Gern! Hey, Hestral Gern, wake up!”

"*coughs*"

I gasped and sat up from lying on the floor. I felt that someone was rubbing my back.

How long have I been out sleeping?

"W-What happened to me?" trembling, I said while looking at my surroundings. I’m still in my bedroom.

"What happened to you? Why are you lying on the floor?"

"I-I don't know either... How did you-Ah!"

I looked back at the person I was talking to. I saw Riegel looking concerned and surprised at the same time. He was wearing a gray T-shirt and denim shorts.

"Hey, what happened to you? Are you alright?"

"Why are you here… Why?!"

“I bumped into your parents outside your house earlier. I will give you something for your muse assignment. They were in a hurry, so they told me to enter your house and look for you. They said that you were in the room at the far end of the second floor. Your room was unlocked. I knocked and called you, but you didn’t answer. I so I checked out on you just in case, and saw you lying.”

“How did you know where I live?”

“We conducted a group assignment here, remember?”

"Huh?"

“You suggested doing it in your house instead.”

“Did I say that?”

“You’re not in your usual self. Get up.”

I stood up while he was supporting me with his arms.

My eyes widened as I surveyed my room.

Nothing, gone. Everything is back to normal.

I took time to watch the popcorn, and it was pink again. The iced tea went back to being an ordinary iced tea, but all the ice had melted. My room is no longer dark, and the curtain has no horrifying bleeding hand. The doorknob is no longer stuck. The laptop screen where the monster was glaring at me is now displaying my usual laptop screen wallpaper.

I sat up in bed and cried with joy— glad that I had just imagined it and that I had not died from strangulation.

"Why are you crying?" he questioned while standing in front of me.

I didn't answer him, but I just kept on mumbling. I must be looking crazy for him now. I rubbed my head with my trembling hands and chuckled.

"Have you seen it again?"

I was stunned by what he asked. I peered at him.

"How can you say that?"

"Haven't you seen it before in the faculty room that made you so scared? Just like now?"

"I thought you didn't believe me?"

"Of course,"

"Then why did you ask me that question? If I have seen it again, so what? It’s not like you would care anyway."

“I never said I didn’t believe you.”

“Tch, just leave it. You’re not helping. If you have some business with me, then let’s get straight to it.”

I am reminding him of the assignment he was supposed to give to me; that’s why he’s here.

"Here," he handed me a folder.

I received it and put it on my bed.

He left the room, and before closing the door, he gazed at me, “I almost called an ambulance. You were lying there and had no pulse. But you seem okay now.”

I just stared at him until he disappeared from my sight.

Then I realized that… he did CPR on me. If he were about to call an ambulance, it would mean that my condition was extremely serious because I didn’t have a pulse. I should have been dead.

The paranormal attack must have been real…