Rewriting my fate

Trigger warning: domestic violence

I slowly walk closer to my bed, lift the blanket, and tuck myself under it. I know well that I will get little to no sleep tonight. I stare at the ceiling while thinking about last year’s horrors. It’s Halloween tomorrow... Normally I would be thinking about what my wife and I would do while Christopher is out trick-or-treating. It’s not going to be the same this year. I haven’t talked to my family since last Halloween. Don’t get me wrong, I want to talk to them, but it is not possible. According to a legend, the only day I can be seen by my family is on the 31^st of October.  

 Let me tell you where it all went wrong: Christopher came home an hour past his curfew with a bag full of candy. My wife Allie was so scared that something might have happened to him. I wanted to teach him a lesson. I slapped him while my wife was still sitting on the sofa in our living room calling Christopher’s friends whether they knew where he could have been. She rushed towards me and tried to stop me from hitting her precious baby again. She jumped in front of that little rat. At this point, my hand was flying in his direction already. I was blinded by anger and I didn’t even know if I wanted my hand to stop. I blacked out for a second, but I still felt my hand hit its target. It wasn’t the kid though. I heard my wife’s high-pitched scream and Christopher’s loud sobs. I felt my anger slowly fall off me and I felt gloom accumulating in my chest. When I opened my eyes, my wife was kneeling in the corner of the living room crying and holding her red cheek while that incompetent loser was still hiding behind her. “Leave!” my wife yelled angrily, and more tears came rolling down her cheek. Her brown eyes were red from crying. She looked so disgusted with me. I stepped closer to them and tried to apologize. Allie flinched and Christopher sent out a muffled scream. His face was hidden in Allie’s orange dress with black smiling pumpkins sewn on it. She had always been very passionate about sewing. She bought the original dress from Goodwill and transformed it into this gorgeous and fashionable piece of clothing. “Allie, I…” “Leave my house right now. I never want to see your hideous face again, Markus,” Allie screamed interrupting me. I remember the disgust and fear I saw on her face. Suddenly anger took over my body again and I screamed: “If you really want me to leave, then I’ll leave. Good luck taking care of this little bastard yourself.” I pointed at my stepson and my wife held Christopher’s hand and stood up covering his whole body again. I scuffed, took my wallet, and opened the door. I entered the porch, held the door handle firmly, and closed the front door as fast as I could. I headed towards the road in front of our small house. I heard the glass window on the door shattering from the door closing so fast, but I didn’t even bother to look back at the damage I had caused. 

The night was still young, and I had encountered many trick-or-treaters while running away from my house. I didn’t know where I was going but I knew I fucked up. I couldn’t run anymore; I was out of breath and my heart was pounding like it was going to explode. I leaned against a tree in the South Mountain City Park and sat on the ground. I put my head between my knees and started shouting and screaming to release my anger. I was regretting everything I had done today. Tears welled up in my eyes but before they were able to overflow on my face, I noticed a dark figure standing a few meters away from me. At first, I thought it was a homeless person and I didn’t pay much attention to them. I had a splitting headache from yelling for so long and I couldn’t hold my head up anymore. Soon after I placed my head between my knees again, I heard a branch cracking almost right next to me. I used up all the strength that I had left in me to lift my head only to see the dark figure right in front of me. I was unable to stand up thus I just yelled from the top of my lungs. The person firmly grabbed my shoulder and I fell unconscious. 

I woke up in a dark, mossy cellar with an even more terrible headache than I had before. Once my eyes got used to the dark I slowly trudged to the wall. I was horrified after I touched the thing, I thought to be a light switch. It had a porous texture and as soon as I put my hand on it, something fell off and the whole room got filled with a disgusting smell of rotten meat. I was holding the shoulder of a dead person! I got sick and the smell with which the whole room was filled didn’t help me to get better. “Help! Somebody, help!” I screamed while holding myself from vomiting. I was relieved to hear footsteps slowly coming towards me. I was feeling a little better, so I stood up and held the bars from the dungeon cell. I noticed the silhouette that entered the room. “Thank God you’re here. I was kidnapped and there is a dead prisoner in this cell with me” I cried out. No reply. After a few seconds, the person came closer to the barred door and I noticed a black hood on his head. My senses were numbed by everything that was going on at that very moment. Because of that, I haven’t noticed the needle in the person's hand until it was late. I felt a pinch in my hand and fell unconscious once again a few seconds after that. 

When I woke up for the second time, I was blinded by a beautiful gold chandelier hanging from a ceiling above me. I looked around and noticed that I was moved to a vast, gorgeously furnished room. I noticed ten doors on the perimeter of the oval room. When I wanted to stand up and examine one of the doors, I noticed metal straps on my wrists and ankles that were holding me on a marble altar. I tried removing the straps, but it didn’t work. While I was trying to wiggle my wrist out of the straps, a melody started playing. Then I heard ten doors unlocking and then ten people wearing black gowns with hoods on entered the chapel. They stood in a circle around the altar and started chanting in what I thought was Latin. My memory is quite fogged, so I don’t remember how exactly I died but I still remember the priest holding a golden blade. They cut a pentagram in each of my palms and then used the blood from it to draw an upside-down cross on my forehead. The last thing I remember is the priest standing above prepared to thrust the blade into my chest. I then felt unbearable pain and lost my consciousness for the 3^rd time. Since that night, I’ve been trapped on Earth unable to be seen by mortals. 

I open my eyes and wipe the cold sweat dripping from my face by a blanket. I have been having the same nightmare for a year now, but I am still unable to get used to reliving my own murder every night. I often think of it as a punishment for what I did to my family. I get out of my bed and the floor starts creaking as soon as my feet land on it. I open the moldy wooden door and enter the hall. I settled in an abandoned house close to the park in which I was abducted. I walk past a cracked mirror covered with dust. I usually walk past it but this time something grabs my attention. I see movement in the mirror. That would mean... I pick a white tablecloth with suspiciously looking yellow stains on it and wipe the dust off the mirror. The rumors were true! I see a person looking back at me. I have a reflection which means people can see me! I rush downstairs and open the front door. As soon as my leg is hit by the sun rays, I’m in horrible pain. I run back inside and close the door as fast as I can. I notice the burns on my leg. There are disgusting black blisters forming and the whole burned place is itching like crazy. I can't hold myself and start scratching one of the blisters. In a few seconds, blisters appear there as well and my whole hand feels as if millions of ants were having a dance party there. I must tie my hands behind my back in order to stop myself from scratching the wound. As soon as the sun sets, I cut my hands loose and cautiously leave the house. There are no more blisters forming and it doesn’t seem like any of my limbs are being burned. I have time until dawn to rewrite my fate...

I rush towards the house I used to live in which is a few blocks away. I meet a few trick-or-treaters on the way but it’s still only 6 p.m. so not many of them are in the streets yet. When I get there, I notice that the house is very scruffy looking. The windows are dusty, the grass in the lawn goes all the way to my knees and the wood on the house is rotten. I knock on the door and hear footsteps coming towards the door. When the doors open, I am shocked. My wife looks twenty years older. She’s wearing the orange pumpkin dress again. Her beautiful curly brown hair turned gray, her eyes have black bags under them, and her face resembles a pine bark. She slowly looks me up and down and can’t believe her eyes. She rushes towards me to hug me, but she passes right through me. I hear he scream and fall to the ground behind me. I start explaining and I notice her slowly drifting away as I speak. “I think I forgot to take my pills this morning,” she says quietly. She stands up and walks to the kitchen. She opens a cabinet next to the fridge and smiles at the container with blue colored pills: “Did you miss me? I didn’t forget about you guys, no, no, no... Which one of you am I going to pick today?” Her light brown fingers slip into the container and she throws two pills into her mouth. She then walks to the sink and fills up a used wine glass. She gulps down all the water from it and then sighs loudly. Her pupils dilate and she falls asleep right after she sits down in an armchair next to the window. 

I am devastated by what I have just seen and as I am leaving the house, Allie’s phone buzzes. I pick it up and our wedding photo stares back at me. A tear starts rolling down my face, but I can’t get distracted. I unlock her phone and notice a text from yesterday that says:

 Hi All, will you pick Chrisie up today? He is very excited to go trick-or-treating tomorrow. Let me know if we should be picking out a costume or if he has one at home. Love, Mum

Then I see another one from this morning: 

All, I am scared about you. Chrisie misses you a lot. We picked out a wonderful costume together. Will he see you before he leaves today? Text me that you’re alright, please. Mum  

 I scroll down and notice one that was delivered a few minutes ago:

 Allison, Chris is leaving in a few minutes. He’s upset that he couldn't see you before he left. Can you please pick him up after he gets back? I have a doctor’s appointment early in the morning and I don’t want to leave him alone at home. Please text me. I am scared. Mum

I quickly leave and rush towards the house of my mother-in-law. I hope I’ll still be able to talk to Christopher and apologize to him. But it is too late. I see my mother-in-law sitting on a sofa watching TV which indicates that Christopher has already left. I know that his first stop would be my sister’s house that is right across the street from Mountain Park. It’s only a few minutes away so I decide to catch up on him. I am almost there when I hear loud calls for help. It is coming from the park. I know what that was and I’m not letting another person go through the horrors I have been through last year. 

When I get into the park, I hide behind a large oak tree and see the same dark silhouette standing above an unconscious body of a child. Even though it’s dark, I notice the neon orange shoes I gave to my son as a present last year. I am terrified. I need to save him! I silently follow the person carrying my son to their hideout. When we get there, they lock up my son in the same cell I was locked in last year. It is as if the whole day repeated itself: Christopher gets up, stumbles across a body, and then starts sobbing and yelling loudly on the ground. It’s not a corpse of a stranger this time... It is me. Chris yells and begs for them to let him go. I can’t do anything. A person enters the dungeon and injects him with a substance that puts Christopher to sleep. I follow them and see the large chapel in which I was killed last year. I hide under the altar just in time. The ten maniacs enter the room. They start chanting in Latin again and I know what is going to happen next. The priest repeats the same ritual with Christopher’s palms and right as he puts the blade up, I jump from under the altar hoping to push him to the ground. His body shivers, but I end up on the floor behind him. I am unable to stop him from finishing the barbaric ritual. How could I have let this happen to my only son? Sadness and gloom fill my body and I can’t even stand up. I am crying on the floor and the murderers don’t even pay attention to me. I lie there until I hear a rooster. The sun rays enter the chapel by a dome with a colorful mosaic on it and I leave with my son.