The Sliver Of Light

I did not know if I was still having the same nightmare or if it was the beginning of a new one. Maybe I had woken up and just hadn’t realized it yet. I only knew after rubbing my eyes and looking around I could only see about ten inches in front of me. My eyes could not penetrate the pitch darkness any further than that. I could barely make out a tiny sliver of light that looked to be about forty feet away in front of me. I was going to try to get up and walk to the sliver of light but I had been beaten down so bad I could not stand. Nevertheless, I was determined not to let that stop me. I thought to myself that sliver of light must be the bottom of a door and if it was a door, it meant freedom. When I got there, the door might be locked but first things first I had to try to get to it and then worry about getting it open.

I started crawling toward the sliver of light and I got as far as what seemed to be twenty feet.

I thought to myself, “I am halfway there.” 

While laughing like a mad man I screamed out to the darkness I had left behind me, “I got away from you! I will soon forget about you darkness of my past. You will soon not even be a memory for me.” 

As I continued to laugh, I started to hear water dripping somewhere but I could not make out where it was. I stopped laughing as the beckoning of each drop got louder and louder. My lips were so dry because I had not had anything to drink since, well I can’t remember the last time I had anything to drink.

It sounded like the water was saying in a soft soothing voice, “I can bring you the pleasure you need. I am cool and I will make you feel so much better. I am the water that you need. The sliver of light is only a mirage of something you want. Come drink me then you can go to the sliver of light and to your freedom from the darkness someone like you can only dream about.”

I was determined though not to let anything entice me to stay in this infernal darkness. Nothing was going to keep me from getting to that sliver of light.

When I turned and looked in front of me, I could not believe my eyes. The sliver of light looked like it was further away than it had looked before I started to crawl toward it. 

“How could this be?” I said to myself. “Someone could not have moved the light. Someone could not have moved the door. Has someone moved my freedom from this darkness?” 

It was like someone was playing football and just before they were about to make the goal someone kept moving the goal post further and further away. That dripping water was sounding more and more alluring.

I shook my head hard and cried out with what strength I had left, “No! You will not beat me or torture me anymore. I will get to the sliver of light. I will get to my freedom!”

I slowly started crawling toward the sliver of light more determined than ever before. I would not let the darkness beat me this time. 

As I got closer to the sliver of light, the water kept making a more and more enticing sound. It took all the strength I had left to tune it out from my ears and mind. As my hands and knees gave out on me, I looked up and saw it. I was finally there at the sliver of light. I was right. It was a door.

I reached up to the doorknob and tried to turn it but it was locked. Had I crawled all this way to be denied my freedom into the light? I tried again but it was still locked. Then outside the door, I could hear someone talking. It was faint so I could not make out what exactly they were saying.

“Is someone out there? Please unlock the door and let me out of this wicked and cruel darkness.”

The voice mumbled something but I could not hear what it said. I pleaded to the voice to say it again only louder and plainer so I could understand what it was saying.

The voice said in a matter of fact way, “I said the lock is on your side of the door. Use the key to let yourself out.”

“The key?” I said quizzically, “Please, please slide the key under the door please. I so want to get out of this darkness.”

“I do not have the key.” the voice said amusingly.

“Then please want you tell me where the key is please? I hate it so much in this cold lonely dark.”

“Where is the key?” said the voice in astonishment, “Don’t you know?”

“Please stop making fun of me.” I begged, “You being a person of the light don’t understand how horrific it is in this darkness.” 

“Do not think I haven’t been in the dark as you are now just because I can now laugh and enjoy life and I now live in the light. As for the key you should know exactly where the key is to let yourself out of the darkness you are in.”

“I am sorry if I misjudged you. Please though how would I know where the key is?”

The voice said with a sad tone, “How would you know? You built the room you are locked in and you built the door and put the lock on it yourself so you must have the key.”

I slowly sat up, put my back to the door, and hung my head down. As for the water, it kept dripping on and on getting to be a louder and louder distraction and more and more tempting.

The Family Curse

Do you know why they only come at night?” asked the man who laid on the couch.

“No why?” asked the man who sat in the chair.

“The Evil Ones thrive on the dark. They cannot stand the light. They know they blend in with the dark so they think they cannot be seen. They are right of course. I can never see them when they come to me in the dark of night. What they do not know is that I can hear them even though they mumble and sound like they are far away. I can still make out a few of the words they say.” 

“From the words that you hear can you tell what they are talking about?” asked the man in the chair.

“Of course I can.” the man on the couch said. “They are planning all the bad things that they are going to do to mess up my life and make me unhappy the next day.”

“How can they do anything during the day? I thought you said they could not stand the light.”

“You don’t believe me do you?” asked the agitated man on the couch.

“I am just asking a question to better understand.” said the man in the chair in a monotone voice.

“They cannot stand the light. They use unknowing people who unknowingly do their dirty work for them.”

“I see.” was all the man in the chair said.

“You don’t believe me do you?” said the man on the couch as he started to sit up.

“Now, now. It is not important if I believe it is true or not. What is important is that you believe it to be true. Now lie back down please.”

“Very well.”said the man as he relaxed back down on the couch.

“Now,” asked the man in the chair, “how long has these Evil Ones as you call them been coming to you at night?”

“I am not sure. I have heard the whisperings at night for as long as I can remember. It is only in the past few years I have been able to understand some of the words.”

“Have you ever tried to discover where the voices may be coming from? I mean have you talked to anyone else like me about them?” said the man in the chair as he leaned forward.

The man on the couch let out a big sigh and said,“I have never told anyone about these voices. I figured they would be like you and not believe me either. I do have an idea where they come from though.”

The man in the chair leaned back in the chair and said, “Where might that be?”

“You see my Mom had told me just before her death she heard them too. Her Mother told her just before her death she had heard them. Her Mother’s Mother on her death bed had also talked of hearing them. They all said they heard them at night while in bed.”

“They had no explanation about the voices?”

“They did tell me of a supposed family curse. Like you I did not believe it. That is until I started hearing the voices and strange things started happening to me.”

“Did they have any idea why this family curse would be on your family?” 

The man on the couch started to sit up again as he said, “You see the best I can understand it my Great Grandmother was from the old country. Before she left to come to America she was betrothed to a rich and powerful man. Two days before they were to be married she cheated on him and then she ran away to America. This man who she was going to marry hired a wandering woman to put a curse on my Great Grandmother and any of her descendants.” The man on the couch looked at the man in the chair and he laid back down on the couch. “I know. Like I said I didn’t believe it either when I heard about it. Then like I said strange things started happening to me.”

“Like what?” asked the man in the chair.

“Like I never could find a job that I could fit to or ever make very much money. Then there is the women I have met. We always get close even almost got married a couple times. We are talking and everything is going great and then it is like the Evil Ones have done their work and had someone talk to them. After that they never want to see or talk to me again. Then there is the what I call one off curse.”

“What is the one off curse?” the man in the chair asked as he leaned forward in his chair.

“The one off curse is when people have any dealings with me and they turn out bad something happens to them.”

“Like?”

“Like when I produced and directed a local music show. This one guy was on it as the behind the scenes photographer. Two weeks after the show he committed suicide. Another person on the same show, who was said to have a great marriage, got divorced a month after being on the show. Then there was this one woman I worked with at the television station loved to kiss me on the lips every time she saw me.”

The man in the chair grinned as he sat further back in his chair and said, “That doesn’t sound like a curse to me.” 

“Her brother shot himself. After about a week after I never saw her again. Then there was the guy who done me wrong in a business deal.”

“Yes?”

“A few weeks later he was on a ladder washing windows. He fell and broke his leg. Through my life I have had business dealings with various people who done me wrong. They ended up going out of business. Then there was this one woman I got very close to and we even got close to getting married. About three weeks before we were suppose to get married I had a gut feeling she was seeing someone else. I asked her and she denied it. Then about a week before we were to get married she confessed she was seeing another guy and broke off our wedding.”

“Maybe all of these things can be chalked up to coincidence?”

The man on the couch took a deep breath and then slowly let it out and said,“A few things happening to different people can probably be written off as a coincidence. When it all happens to one person I think it is a little to much to just be a coincidence. I have only told you a few of the things. There are a lot more.” 

“Has any other strange things happened to you that you can tell me about?” asked the man in the chair.

“Yes. When I was about seven years old our family lived in New Orleans. As you may or may not know, they bury people above ground there because of so much moister in the ground. I don’t know if our family is the only one who does this but we like, even then, to look around old cemeteries. Even when we went on vacations we would visit old cemeteries and look around. Anyway, when I was about seven years old we were looking around an old cemetery in New Orleans. It was me and my Dad and Mom and my two older brothers. Me and my nine year old brother got separated from the rest of the family and was walking around when we came to this marble structure. It looked big to me because I was only seven at the time. It was about ten drawers tall by three drawers wide. Me and my brother heard something and we looked up and saw one of the top drawers open slowly and a skeleton hand start to crawl out. Needless to say me and my brother ran screaming and found our parents and oldest brother. We told them what had happened and of course they did not believe us. I can tell by the look on your face and in your eyes you do not believe it either. You probably are thinking the same things they were. Somebody was playing a trick on us to scare us. Answer me this then. How did they know two kids were going to get lost from there parents and end up in front of those drawers? How did they open the drawer? There was no string or rope to open it. The drawers were not tall enough to hold a person and a skeleton. Then there was the time when I was about twelve or thirteen years old and we were going to buy a house. I went with my parents to look at the house. It was a two story house with a double inclosed garage. We looked at the upstairs and downstairs of the house and everything was fine. It was really a nice house. My Mom loved it and was ready to buy it. Then we went into the inclosed double garage. The garage doors were open but as soon as I walked into the garage I could not breath. It was like a fifty pound weight had been placed on me. I could not speak. I made my way to the open garage doors and as soon as I stepped outside I could breath again. I felt normal again. I did not say anything until we got in the car and drove away. I told my parents about what happened and they decided not to buy the house.”

“What do you think caused these things to happen to you?” the man in the chair asked in an unbelieving voice.

The man on the couch thought for a moment and then whispered, “I think it is all part of the family curse. There are many more things I could tell you but I doubt you would believe them either.”

“Like I said it is not relevant if I believe these things happened to you and for a reason. What is important is you believe they did. Looks like our time is up but I would like to see you the same time tomorrow if I could.”

“Are you sure?” asked the man as he got off of the couch.

“I am sure. You see I have an immunity to family curses.” 

“Very well. I will be here the same time tomorrow. Oh and I know you don’t believe anything I have told you but if you keep seeing me you’ll find out it is all true. Would you mind keeping the curtains open next time. As I am sure you understand I do not like being in the dark.” The man walked out of the door and closed it behind him. He left in a rush because it was getting dark outside.

As the man who was sitting in the chair got up he walked over toward the curtains to open them so some light would come into the room from outside. He heard some voices mumbling and he quickly turned around. Since he had all the lights in the room off but one lamp he had on dim he did not see anyone. 

“I am sorry,” he said, “is someone there?”

He heard the mumbling voices again and it sounded like they said, “We have something special planned for you.”

When he turned on the lights there was no one in the room but him.

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