Beyond the Veil – A Horror Short Story by Jane Kelley

Mayra 2:30pm:

Robert, I’m so sorry–

I'm not going to make it today.

Robert 2:31pm:

Ha! good one, babe! I'm

waiting for you, I can't wait to

finally see how beautiful you look

in that dress!

Mayra 2:32pm:

Robert, I’m serious.

I can’t come.

It’s over.

Robert 2:32pm

...Mayra what're you talking

about?

Mayra 2:33pm

I don't think this is really a good time.

Robert 2:33pm

Not a good time!?!!

Mayra, we've been planning

this day for like two years…

This isn’t exactly a coffee

date you’re skipping out on

Mayra 2:33pm

I know I know

Robert 2:34pm

Babe, can you pick up the

phone please?

Robert 2:35pm:

…

You're really just going to

leave me hanging like this?

Mayra 2:36pm:

I don't think I really have a choice…

Robert 2:36pm:

Of course you have a choice.

You're really putting me in an

impossible position here.

Robert 2:37pm

Where are you? Can I just come

talk to you? I really think I could

help calm you down if we were

just in the same room. Look I

have nerves too but it’s gunna

be okay, it’s us!

Mayra 2:37pm

I don't really think that's a good idea

either...

Robert 2:37pm

Why? Mayra you just said

last night you were so excited

and so ready for this... I thought

this was what you wanted?

Mayra 2:38pm

It was... But I'm not really sure what

I feel anymore

Robert 2:38pm:

We've been together for 7 years

and all of a sudden you're not

sure how you feel anymore?

Robert 2:39pm:

Babe, please, just let me

come see you.

Mayra 2:39pm:

Robert, you can't. I can't...

I just can't.

Robert 2:40pm:

Well I'm sorry but I just don't see

how we can go from stuffing our

faces full of CLAMS CASINO at

Legal's Seafood in the Seaport

district at and listening to a

thousand toasts about spending

our lives together with Dom

Pérignon at 8:39pm and then by

2:45 the next day you can

suddenly have a change of heart

that's threatening to upend the

future we've been planning

together?

Robert 2:41pm:

And you're deciding to tell me

over TEXT?

...Mayra?

Robert 2:42pm:

What happened? I need some

sort of explanation!!!!!

Mayra 2:43pm:

I don't have an explanation, Rob.

It just happened in the middle of

the night...

Robert 2:43pm:

WHAT happened in the middle of

the night?

Robert 2:43pm:

Mayra can you just stop being so

cryptic and tell me what the fuck

is going on?

Mayra 2:44pm:

Look, I'm doing this for your own good.

This ring that you bought me... there's

something... wrong...

Robert 2:44pm:

Jesus Christ Mayra is the ring

too small? I didn't have any

control over the carat size...

Mayra 2:45pm:

What?! No, it's not that at all, it's

absolutely gorgeous...

And I love that you found it at that

estate sale.

I love that the ring has history...

It's just...

Something came with the ring.

Robert 2:45pm:

What do you mean?

Mayra 2:46pm:

Robert I really shouldn't say any more...

Please believe me.

I'm trying to protect you.

Robert 2:46pm:

What the fuck?

Protect me from what?

Babe, come on. I don't know

what's going on but please just

let me in. We're a team. Always.

Robert 2:47pm

Remember when we first started

dating and you had one too

many tequila shots after we ran

into my ex and you put your

hand through the mirror at the

Churchill in Chelsea?

Your hand was all bloody and

your knuckle got cracked and we

called my cousin drunk to see if

you needed stitches? And then

she said you did, but your job

didn’t give you insurance so I

bandaged you up as best as I

could myself? And your knuckle

barely scarred, and I felt bad that

it did at all, but you said that

you liked that you had the

evidence of a memory with me

on your hand?

Come on, whatever it is, we can

face it together!

Robert 2:48pm:

Please, just let me in.

I don't know what happened but

please, let me help you.

Mayra 2:48pm:

Fine.

I woke up in the middle of the night and...

Jesus, you're never going to believe me.

I woke up and there was someone

standing there.

Robert 2:49pm:

Like someone from the hotel?

Mayra 2:50pm:

No.

It was a man, sort of, but he looked...

like a shadow

Robert 2:50pm:

A shadow?

Mayra 2:51pm

Yea...

Robert 2:51pm:

…a shadow

Mayra 2:51pm:

See I knew you weren't going to

believe me!

Robert 2:52pm:

No, it's fine, keep going

Mayra 2:52pm:

Okay

he was crouching in the corner

and he was holding my ring

and at first I just tried to convince myself

that I was dreaming, or that it was some

sort of insane sleep paralysis, but then

I wiggled my toe, and I realized I was awake

and it was real

so I laid there, trying not to breathe, trying

not to move, trying not to give any

indication that I was aware of his presence.

I thought maybe if I just didn't move,

if I was still, then maybe he would slink

back into the shadows where he came from

but then as if he somehow heard my

thoughts, he broke into a low chuckle,

and his horrible, white, sharp teeth twisted

into a smile.

that's when I realized that as he stared at me

he was holding the ring in his hand

the entire time.

Robert 2:57pm:

what the fuck?

Mayra 2:58pm

Robert, we can't get married today.

we can't get married any day.

Robert 3:00pm:

Mayra WHY?

Are you trying to tell me that

we can't get married because

some creepy shadow man

stole our engagement ring?

Robert 3:02pm:

Please!?

What did this guy do to you?

What did he say?!

Robert 3:03pm:

PLEASE PICK UP THE

PHONE!

Mayra 3:04pm:

I can’t pick up the phone

Nothing.

He said nothing.

not for a long time.

He just stood there, crouched in the corner,

smiling, and chuckling

and that's when I noticed the bowl

of fruit in the corner--

it had gone rotten

there were flies swarming around it,

and I thought I saw mold

through the dark on the flesh of the apples

that were fresh when I went to

bed an hour before

I thought I was going crazy

I still think I might be

Robert 3:07pm

are you with Sarah?

is she helping you?

did you tell any of this to her?

Mayra 3:08pm:

no

I'm alone

no one else can know, Robert,

if they know it puts them in danger.

I'm sorry for putting you in danger.

But you deserve to know.

Robert 3:09pm

I still don't understand.

PLEASE, can't I just come see

you?

We can talk this out.

We can still get married and

everything will be fine, I

promise.

We can get you help, Mayra.

Maybe it was just a bad

dream.

Mayra 3:11pm:

It wasn't a dream

I swear it wasn't

He was there, in the corner

He was wearing a hat

A brimmed hat, and he was clutching

the ring and smiling.

I swear

Robert 3:13pm

Okay so assuming this is

real…what happened next?

Why can’t I come to you

babe?

You’re REALLY scaring me

Mayra 3:15pm

I finally got the courage and I

sat up in bed

I didn't know what to say, so I just

sat up and I looked him in the eye

I probably shouldn't have done it,

but I thought maybe if I confronted him--

if I told him that this was my space, and that

he wasn't welcome-- he would leave

but he looked into my eyes, and his smile

got wider

and he took off his hat, never looking away,

and bowed to me

Robert 3:16pm

He bowed to you?

Mayra 3:17pm

Yes.

He told me He had a name

too old for him to remember,

in a language only the dead speak.

He resides in the darkness of every corner

He is every shadow that I've ever seen

out of the corner of my eye–

all the while, He was crouching

all the while, smiling that terrible, twisted, pointy smile

clutching the ring with His sharp, shadowy, black, burnt fingers

He spoke to me.

He told me once, before the time of men,

a shadow had gotten trapped-- His shadow.

it was long forgotten, and had been

pressed into rock beneath the earth.

There it stayed for billions of years,

a piece of Him trapped, and forged

into the light of the diamond contained

in the ring he was clutching--

the ring you gave to me last July

When you got down on one knee in the field

by our first apartment

And picked me a bouquet of chamomile

And bound the bouquet together with the ring

Robert 3:22pm

Baby PLEASE

PLEASE STOP

No one knows where you are--

They're all saying you just

disappeared...

Mayra 3:25pm

He smiled even more deeply, and

in an ancient language He said my

name

I don’t know how I knew it was my

name

But it was like the syllables resonated

in my bones and called to me

So I got out of the bed, and I walked

toward His shadowy outstretched hand

His eyes glowed red and I saw endless

years of suffering in them–

So much pain and horror–

So much evil, Robert, all contained there

in His shriveled, bloodied, beautiful,

horrible eyes

And He told me this:

On the eve before the wedding of every

bride who is presented with this ring,

He offers a choice:

To either give herself to the hungry part

of his soul which is trapped inside of the

diamond, ever shining for the shadow inside,

Or to condemn her groom to an eternity of fire,

ash, hunger, and darkness.

Robert 3:28pm

I don’t understand…

Mayra 3:30pm

If I had chosen freedom for myself

You would have had to bear the Hat

To hold all that sadness and the suffering

I saw in His eyes–

To be forever shrouded in that darkness.

Oh, Robert,

What it is to never be seen, but always to see--

To know all the evil in the world, the deeds of gods and men

and to only have the good you’ve ever known

crystalized in the palm of your hand,

encased and unchanging, forever out of reach…

Robert, I couldn’t bear it.

I had to choose, Robert.

Mayra 3:32pm

Robert, I did this for you.

to keep you free.

Please just stay away.

I love you so much,

it’s over, Robert.

Robert 3:32pm:

That's it, I'm coming to find you.

I'm coming to the hotel suite

Mayra 3:33pm

Robert, the ritual is complete.

I belong to Him now.

It’s all over.

Robert was at the hotel door of Room 613– the honeymoon suite he was supposed to share with Mayra that night-- the night they were supposed to consummate their marriage. He stretched his hand out to reach for the handle, and hesitated. The air felt thick with a sense of evil and dread that emanated from the other side of the door, as if the door itself was telling him that it should not be opened. “Please,” it seemed to plead with Robert, “don’t make me show you what’s within.”

Sensing the quiet warning, Robert closed his outstretched hand into a fist. Instead of forcing the door open, he would knock– a simple request– a proposal for the door: show me what you fear, and I will hold the horror inside forever.

He knocked once, twice, a third time. The sound resounded within the chamber, echoing into a hollowed roar that felt like dark eternity. It grew and grew, a tumult that pierced the very marrow in Robert’s bones and disoriented him. His hands flew to his ears to cover them, his mouth opened as if to make some noise, a word to pray to some god he did not believe in for all of this to cease– for this entire strange episode to be some sort of horrible prank. But the singing marrow in his bones knew– the hair standing on end on the back of his neck knew. There was evil within that room, something ancient and wicked behind that door, which he had believed only this morning would open to his bright and brilliant future with his would-be wife. Robert sunk to his knees.

And then, all at once, the echoing stopped. The handle turned from the otherside, and the door inched open with a horrible creak that sounded more like claws dragging on metal.

Although it had been a bright and brilliant day outside as Robert had stood on the steps of the church, waiting for Mayra to arrive in her wedding dress for their first look, inside the room, it was somehow night. The curtains were undrawn and revealed a never ending darkness behind the windows they dressed. In the center of the room stood a shadow, just as Mayra had said, with a horrible, jagged smile that conveyed a depth of despair and control that Robert had never experienced before. He knew there was nothing he could do. It was over. The choice had been made.

The creature clutched the ring– the beautiful ring he had found at that estate sale on a drive upstate two falls ago. The ring he thought would be a perfect symbol of the love he shared with Mayra– a love he would have endured eternal darkness for, if only he could have been the one to choose.

Mayra was suspended in mid air in front of the shadow, clad in her wedding dress. She was laid out as if sleeping, her dark hair snaked into a beautiful bridal braid, wilted chamomile woven in as adornment. Robert couldn’t help but think she looked beautiful. He wanted to go to her, to try to save her from this evil, but he seemed to be fixed to the floor just outside of the threshold of the room he thought would contain his dreams– their dreams– and instead contained this horrible nightmare.

The creature’s smile grew wider as he held the diamond out between one clawed finger and his thumb. A flash of brilliant blinding light– of warmth in this endless darkness– caused Robert to avert his eyes for just a second… and when he looked back, Mayra was gone.

There the Hatman stood, alone in the room, holding the ring to the empty space where a heart might have been. His deep, sunken eyes closed for just a moment, and the thin, horrid line that had only smiled that horrible smile relaxed into an expression of relief. He seemed to relish in the moment of warmth and light that had come from the ring. Robert swore that for a moment, his skin seemed to shed some of the shadow and ash it was shrouded in, and a longing for a different life– a different time, perhaps a time where he was able to believe he could dream in this endless night– seemed to pass across his almost-human face. He looked like a man Robert might’ve known. A man Robert might’ve become, if a different choice had been made.

Then, as if remembering himself, the Hatman’s eyes opened. The shadow and ash swallowed his humanity whole, and those eyes, those blood red eyes, were fixed on Robert once more. In a cloud of smoke, he shifted from the middle of the room and appeared at the threshold of the door, crouching down, but never crossing, until his eyes were level with Robert’s.

“It is over,” the Hatman croaked in a voice that hissed like a dying fire, and the door slammed in Robert’s face, passing through the Hatman as if he had never been there at all.

Desperately, Robert opened the door to the suite, only to find the curtains undrawn, and daylight flooding the room. All of Mayra’s belongings were untouched– the wedding dress, her night cream, the stuffed monkey she had slept with every night since she was two years old all sat in their familiar places. Her cellphone sat charging on the bedside table. But Mayra and the ring she had worn on her finger every day since he had picked her those chamomile flowers were nowhere to be found.