What do you want from me?
Why can’t you leave me alone?
Let me go, please. Let me go.
No….no…..no!!!!
“No!!!!!!” Emma screamed, jolting up with a powerful start, her chest heaved frantically, sweat pouring from her forehead as her eyes bulged.
“It was just a nightmare,” she thought. “Nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about at all.”
But she knew in the depths of her being that her self-reassurances couldn’t help her turmoiled mind. For it was one thing, to have a nightmare. But for three days in a row?
As her breathing slowed and her senses returned to normal, Emma stood up gingerly from her spring bed and sipped daintily at the bottle of water beside her bed. Surveying her room, it still had that creepy look to it, like whatever was lurking within its walls were just waiting to eat her up. She knew the house was haunted. But isn’t that what had fascinated her in the first place? The eeriness oozing from the depths of these walls?
For Emma Valdez, the unknown had always fascinated her. What was the big deal about all these houses ruled out as haunted anyways? They were all figments of someone’s imagination, seeking to steer the hearts of people from those tasteful houses with their macabre appeal. So armed with generations’ worth of old money, nothing was hindering her from pursuing her unique tastes.
House, after haunted house, she explored all of them and damned the consequences. And for each successful week-long habitation and exploration of these houses, she became bolder and maybe, a little careless.
Unlike other haunting expeditions, Emma told no one where she was going. She began to think letting a group of people know where she was took out the thrill of the whole thing. It’s like she was telling them to come save her if anything went wrong and after reading a comment from someone on her IG page that said, “She keeps announcing to the world before these trips. If you’re scared just admit it,” she was determined to shut the mouths of her critics once and for all.
And so she went alone to Giphy Lair, which was smack in the middle of the woods. Perhaps there would have been no qualms as she was only three days along, but these recurring nightmares were beginning to make her lose her nerve. She had no problem with nightmares. There was no way to do what she did without having them from time to time. But never one dream, ending the same way, thrice in a row.
“You’re not gonna spook me out of this place,” she said aloud as she walked the room. When she felt her spirits calm, she climbed back to her bed and promptly went back to sleep. All was good.
She knew it was a whisper but how could anyone whisper so loud?
Wakey wakey, Emma….
Wake up, you meddling explorer… the voice became nettled.
Emma opened her eyes and sat up quickly. At the foot of her bed was the usual dark. Shadows all about. Where was the voice from? And then her eyes began to focus and then she saw it, amid all that dark were a pair of eyes, far too yellow to be full human staring at her. There was a crinkle at the side that looked like…
Was this thing smiling at her?
“You’ve wandered far too long and far too recklessly, wouldn’t you think?” the creature asked with a smile in his voice.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?”
“Me? You don’t know who I am? Well, that’s annoying. I almost feel…insulted.” It deadpanned.
Emma thought fast. Maybe she had been too careless coming out here on her own. Was it possible to make it out alive? Steadily reaching behind her, she clutched the vial in her hands. People thought she went into haunted houses carelessly but she was far more prepared than they knew.
“I’m going to walk out of here and I won’t come back. Is that okay?” she directed at the man-like creature.
“Why don’t you try?” he responded.
First Ending
In a flash, Emma made a beeline towards the door, and when the apparition grabbed at her, she was prepared. Swinging her hands, she emptied the contents of the vial on his face, watching as the liquid burnt him speedily. His shrieks bellowed across the walls and she was promptly released. Emma ran, down the stairs and out of the house. She ran with everything in her and collided with someone. Looking up, it was her people. They had traced and found her.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked, panting.
“You’re not as sneaky as you think you are Emma Valdez. I don’t know what happened but let’s get you somewhere safe now.”
And so Emma, with her team, escaped from the woods. She wasn’t going on any more explorations in a while. That was for sure.
Second Ending
In a flash, Emma made a beeline for the door and when it grabbed at her, she emptied the contents of the vial on his face. His shrieks of agony were music to her ears as she ran down the stairs and towards the entrance. She tried the door. It was locked. She hit frantically at the windows as her ears picked up the sound of steady footsteps walking down the stairs.
“What you don’t understand explorer,” the apparition began eeriely as it walked calmly towards her, “is that I’m not alone.”
And as he said those words, the hunched figures that had looked like inanimates slowly straightened. Eyes of all the monsters of the past houses she'd explored.
“Your days of making a mockery of us are over explorer,” She knew the end had come. But she smiled nonetheless even as the darkness overwhelmed her.
Death by your hobbies.
Had a nice ring to it.
