FICTION | MASHUP | FANTASY
A Hell of a Saviour
Part 9 of A Hell of a Bedtime Story—It took mere seconds to shatter Samantha’s world and plunge her into darkness. Will she find a light to show her a path out of it?
Time itself had stopped.
Unable to move, Samantha kneeled in a cold, dirty puddle. Although her body was locked in place by an invisible force, her mind wasn’t frozen in time. Neither was the burning pain on her forehead and the visions accompanying it.
The world around her was tinted in colours beyond the typical human spectrum. Samantha felt dizzy because of the overly bright and constantly shifting auras around her. Like watching a 3D movie without wearing the right glasses, she saw multiple overlapping and blurred layers instead of one comprehensive picture.
Nausea took hold. Only the fact that her body was frozen in time stopped her from tasting her appetiser again.
Worst of all was the grey mists shrouding most passersby. Like a broken radio that couldn’t be switched off nor fixed on a channel, she was forced to listen to the dark and frustrated thoughts about speeding tickets, quarrels with loved ones, or missed promotions seeping from them.
While the grey shrouds suffocated the colourful auras of some people, others looked like beacons in the dark. Instead of dark mists, they were surrounded by warm white light. Some shone so bright that Samantha feared being blinded.
Then, the horrors began. On the opposite side of the street, she saw two women. One reminded Samantha of a mime. The woman had frozen mid-sentence, and her enthusiastic gestures looked comical and sad. Her aura, however, was of a vibrant blue and purple, speaking of creativity and mental strength.
The woman next to her, likely her assistant or secretary, had been taking notes when time stopped. She smiled, but Samantha could look right through the deceit. The pitch-black aura revealed her to be mentally and spiritually exhausted. Violent thoughts oozed from her like pus from an infected wound.
As abruptly as time had stopped, it started to flow again. The sudden movement around Samantha was the final straw, and she vomited on the walkway. Passersby glared at her accusingly. Feeling their disgust, she scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could — right into a man just around the block.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to ….”
At first, she thought time had stopped again when she looked at him. He looked like a harmless student in a clown costume holding an ad for a burger restaurant. Then, his blackened aura and a wave of sinister thoughts swept her from her feet.
For a moment, they stared at each other. Long enough for his memories of murder to take shape in her mind. Suddenly, he was holding a bloodied brick in his right hand, and his painted face had turned into a grotesque mask that would scare the clown from IT into soiling his pants. She realised she was a bleeding, motionless woman lying before him in this vision.
“Oh my god!” she whispered, “W-why? Why did you kill her?”
The man’s expression shifted between shock and anger before he bared his teeth and tried to grab her.
“What did you just say, you ****?!”
She screamed and wriggled herself out of his forced embrace. Before he could act again, she ran as fast as she could.
Samantha had no idea how long she ran after that. Her memories were lost in an instant of pure maddening fear, but she felt more in control when she stopped. Her forehead still burned like fire after her mad rush, but she had ended up in a quiet part of town with no people and no visions.
Carefully, she touched her forehead and the third eye that had appeared there — the cause of her troubles. Samantha forced the eyelid down, hoping to end the visions, but she could still feel strange forces at work. The short moment of relief felt like a month-long vacation.
Then, she cramped and relieved her body of the bile left in her stomach. Slowly, she stood up and stared at a small house with a picturesque garden. A peaceful tiny home that was clouded in a malicious stench.
Slowly, she opened the third eye again, and the building and its garden changed in front of her. Plastic flamingos turned into watchful vultures and joyful garden gnomes into grotesque gargoyles. The worst was the house itself. Its dark windows turned into hungry, evil eyes that swallowed all light, whether from lampposts or the stars. Shadowy tentacles surrounded it.
When she heard a panicked scream, Samantha was indecisive about fleeing or throwing up again. Was that a kid in the house? Something in her changed at that moment, and she didn’t give in to fear again. She sprang into action for the first time since the weird experience at the restaurant.
The shadowy tentacles lashed at her when she darted toward the front door. Although Samantha had always been athletic, she dodged them with an agility and speed she had never felt before. Once she reached the porch, she pushed her shoulder forward and barged down the front door.
Adrenaline and excitement flooded her. Then, she smashed hard into the wall on the other side of the small foyer. Her shoulder was on fire, and her head spun like a crazy rollercoaster that didn’t pass the safety checks.
“TOMMYYYYYYY!”
The scream helped her focus, and she ran down the short hallway. She was just in time to see a boy forcibly dragged away from a door by a giant shadowy hound. The third eye felt like a blast furnace. Unable to fight it any longer, she gave in to the pain and screamed in agony when the heat radiated from her.
Suddenly, the hallway was illuminated by a warm, blinding light. Like sunlight had shown up to the party, a golden ray shot from her forehead at the shadowy monster. The beast burst into a cloud of gleaming red sparks. Within seconds, it dissolved into nothingness. The pain was finally gone.
Samantha remembered what her mother used to say, ‘Where there’s darkness, use a light to banish it.’ She was suddenly aware of the frightened kids and the weeping woman trapped inside the house. More creepy monsters lurked in the dark, but now, she could sense their fear.
Samantha understood her purpose at that very moment and smiled as she felt the power stream through her veins.
“Com’on, motherf*****s!” she yelled, “Come and get some!”
Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part
This is a response to Jonathon Sawyer’s Monday Mash-Up №20. My special thanks go to JF Danskin for his comments on the final draft.
Prompt #1: Time has stopped for everyone but you! -> 2 points
Constraint: An overworked secretary (1 point)
Constraint: A brick (1 point)
Constraint: A clown (1 point)
Constraint: nausea (1 point)
Hardcore Constraint: A speeding ticket (2 points)
Literary Device: dramatic irony (5 points)
Tally 1 point
Sum: 14 pointsOh my gosh! The suspense is killing me!
If that’s what you are thinking right now, motivate me to write the next part more quickly by supporting me on Ko-fi, Patreon or by (re-)joining Medium with my referral link. It is only a small payment for you, but a big step for humanity. (Pinky promise!)
If you join Medium with my referral link, you can enjoy all my fictional tales and those of other writers. Subscribe to my email list and never miss another fantastic story!
