THE OBSCURITY

I poured myself a cup of tea and went to sit on the swing in the open area. My parents were already awake and were sitting out there too, inhaling the fresh air and admiring the morning-ocean view. This trip to our newly bought cottage among the woods was long-awaited by the whole family. This place had an amazing view. It was away from the hustle of the city into the woods, with no human civilisation around to disrupt our peace. And the best part, we got this place at a super cheap price.

“Why would someone sell this beautiful place at such low price”, I wondered sipping my tea.

“My body aches like hell”, said my mom to dad.

“Mine too”, dad replied.

I noticed the body ache too but didn’t give much heed to it. Maybe it was because of our tiring journey to this place. But I couldn’t help noticing, colder the night gets here around midnight even in the summer seasons. Yesterday, I had to cover myself up with a thick blanket to get a little warm. The next morning, looking me tucked in the blanket my mother asked about my health and checked my temperature. My body was freezing cold, even the blanket was not of much help either.

“Why is this place so freezing cold”, I asked her barely even being able to utter a word.

She stood in front of me in a casual t-shirt and replied, “Cold? We didn’t feel any cold. The temperature is almost the same as that in the city”.

This struck me as a shock. For some time, I thought she was kidding but she was not. I found the matter a little strange but didn’t bother to investigate deeper into it. I wish I would have because the next thing I witnessed was something that I would never forget.

Since childhood reading about the supernatural creatures has intrigued me. Knowing and reading about them has always fascinated me in exploring more. Consciously aware of the limits and the dangers this could unleash, I never went overboard into experimentations. I learnt, that these supernatural creatures on the other side harness energy through certain spots from our world. These spots are usually found in cemeteries, houses which have experienced someone’s painful death or most dangerous; places used by someone for their invocation. These creatures long for a soul and until one surrender, they would try to make their presence felt to feed on their fear.

Unfortunately, this trip cost us a bit too much. All I could say is, never buy a house without checking up on its history. Even if it’s beautifully perfect or at a much lesser price. Don’t.

The following night I popped up some pills as a precaution to the cold and kept the blanket near me. Although we had a hectic day at the sight-seeing, I didn’t feel sleepy. But was anyway tucked to my bed, since we had wake up early and leave for the city. The weekend proved to be a detox, at this immensely beautiful place. I clicked plenty of pictures from the beach for my Instagram. Surprisingly, it was not a crowdy beach. We did not see even a single person other than us, seemed like the entire population of the region had wiped away. It was pretty bizarre nevertheless turned out well for the pictures.

It was around midnight. It was the full moon and I heard wolves howling. I who stood in the balcony and could see them at a distance on a small cliff. The wind started to blow a little faster leaving me a bit cold. Despite feeling cold, I stood in the balcony looking at the howling wolves. All of a sudden, I noticed the howling stopped and the wolves turned to me. Even from the distance, I could look at their bright red radium eyes staring at me. A cold shiver went down my spine. I straight up came into my room and locked it up. Feeling uneasy not being able to believe my eye, I heard the sound of thumping out in the woods. Not wanting the confront the appropriations, I did what my instincts directed me to. I locked all the main doors and looked for mom and dad in their room. They weren’t there. I searched in each room but couldn’t find a clue. Hearing the thumping sound amplify I went to my room and locked it up. I snugged under my bed, as I heard the wolves growl outside the door. I went all blue out of fear, as I heard it constantly striking the door. With a loud thud, the door broke. I went paralysed, seeing the large umbrageous figure of a growling wolf stood in front of me. With cuspidate teeth slobbering, it slowly moved towards me. As the view cleared a little, I saw a lady was riding that wolf. A lady with dark swarth obscure eyes, staring right through me. It was mom. I was about to call her out as the wolf jumped growling at me.

I woke up with a gasp. It was a nightmare. I checked the time, it was three. I was a bit cold. As I sat to take the blanket, I noticed the broken door. It was not a nightmare. I looked around and saw mom sitting right beside my bed with her humongous pet. I was even scared to look at her. Dad stood behind her. They both had the same umbrageous obscure eyes.

“Mom. Dad. What happened to you too”, I asked doubting at the appropriation of the question.

“It’s happiness, son. Tremendous happiness. Truth. The other side”, said mom.

“What. Why!”, I asked.

“Come, witness yourself.”

She held my face tight, in an attempt to pour down the immense obscurity into me. For a moment I witness the hell. The fiery pathway, the utmost pain, the grotesque humungous figure of the devil. I could feel the darkness seeping down my eyes and my bones reducing to ashes. I gathered some courage and pushed her down and ran for my life. I ran into the woods, for all I remember.

I woke up the next morning on the bed in the city. My stomach felt a little upset, head ached like a hangover. Last night was a blur for me, I don’t exactly know what happened and how I ended up being here. Disrupting my thoughts, I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

It was mom. From the chunks of memory that I retained from last night, I clearly remember what she did.

“Mom, when and how did we come back”, I asked.

“Oh! You were all sleepy maybe because of the pills. We didn’t want to wake you up, so we put you in the back seat and drove off.”

“Now go freshen up and come for breakfast”, she added.

I felt dizzy. I was still confused over what happened last night. Those could be hallucinations because of the pills. Only it felt a little too real.

“Oh! These things are not real. After all, everything is normal. We are back”, I assured myself. Only the scratches of woods on my body choose to prove otherwise. There are days that I could still feel the obscurity inside me. I could still feel it clobbering me, calling me out to surrender to it. I may behave normally but deep inside I know we never came back.