Forgotten Souls

by Rooster Smith

  Suddenly the ghastly reflection of the devilish boy reappeared behind her, and Michelle let out a loud, frightened scream. The evil mite then grabbed Michelle’s head and smashed her face into the mirror with such force that she was knocked unconscious and splinters of glass pierced her skin.

  After a while, Michelle slowly regained consciousness and came to her senses. She quickly realised that she was in a field and her hands and feet were tied to four snorting horses. She started to struggle and thrash about to try to break free, but her bonds were too tight and her struggle was in vain. She turned her head to see if anyone else was around.

  “Hello is there somebody there?” she hollered, but no reply came. Now in a panic, she shouted at the top of her voice, “Help me! Can anybody hear me? Please help me!”

  She heard the grass rustle under someone’s footsteps, and suddenly became more frightened and racked with greater fear and dread.

  “Who’s there?” she muttered, as she was now too scared to shout.

  A gust of deathly wind blew across her, making her blink, and when she opened her eyes again she saw the same strange young boy she had seen in her bathroom mirror standing above her.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  The boy didn’t move or answer her.

  “What do you want with me?”

  The four heaving horses grew impatient and restless, and the ropes that tied Michelle became tighter, pulling and lifting the bound victim a bit higher off the ground. She screamed in pain as she felt her limbs stretching and slowly being pulled from their joints. There was an awful crack of bone as Michelle’s knee was ripped apart, but it still remained attached to her leg by the slenderest of sinews.

  Blood and tissue began to pour from this wound, and it splashed down onto the grass, turning it from the lush shade of green it once was into an awful puddle of dirty scarlet. A few seconds later, her shoulder snapped and became dislocated and contorted, which forced a thin shard of bone to shoot out through her skin. Blood and body fluid began to pump from the gash, and Michelle screamed in agony.

  “No! Please stop, let me go!” she begged, but it was to no avail.

  With the horses pulling harder and harder and Michelle’s body being stretched to bursting point, she knew her torture was nearly at an end. With one last desperate glance towards the evil urchin, and sensing her impending death, she held what was to be her last breath.

  All around her became strangely silent and still, but then the vile nestling opened his mouth, just as he had before with Alan. It became so wide that once again it filled his face and his chin dropped onto his chest. With an unnaturally strong breath, the child let out a high-pitched shriek which pierced the air. This scared the horses, which made them all pull away and run off.

  The ropes were strong, and as the beasts galloped off into the field in their different directions, the bones in Michelle’s limbs fractured and snapped and her legs and arms were finally ripped away from her helpless body, which was then flung high up into the air. The limbs spurted out their bloody contents as they were carried off, still tied to the horses, and as they were dragged through the grass they left a sickly crimson trail. Michelle’s lifeless body came back down onto the grass with a horrible thud and her bloodshot eyes stared blankly up into the sky.

  The loathsome boy knelt down beside what was left of the woman, and a tall man wearing a top hat walked up and stood behind him.

  “Well done, my child,” he whispered to the boy as he took a King of Clubs card from the silk band around his hat and handed it to the boy, who put it on the bloodied torso. Magically, there still remained a King of Clubs card in the hatband – a sleight-of-hand magic trick or something else?

  The man helped the boy to his feet. “Come on, let’s go.” He beamed at the child. “For now, your work is done.”

  Blister

  Maggie was reading the morning paper when her face suddenly became a horrible shade of grey. She read the story of Michelle’s death in the field, and this confirmed to her that the strange deaths were connected. She remembered that Michelle told her that she used to date Alan years ago, so again she went to the police station. This time, the police listened to her.

  Steve Carlton interviewed Maggie, and he asked how she knew the deaths were connected.

  “I came in a few days ago and tried to tell your constable, but now I have proper evidence,” Maggie began. “Alan and Michelle used to be boyfriend and girlfriend when they were teenagers, and if you investigate deeper you may find that the other victims were also somehow connected – that Louise woman and George.”

  “OK, I think you may have something here,” Steve replied with a nod. “I’ll check out what you’ve told me.” He already knew that the deaths were connected due to the King of Clubs calling card left behind at every scene.

  There was a knock at the door, and Josh Adamson popped his head around and peered into the room.

  “Oh, sorry, Steve, I thought you were alone.”

  Steve rose from his chair. “Josh, come in; I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet.”

  Josh entered the room and Steve did the introductions.

  “Josh, this is Maggie Sykes. Maggie, Josh Adamson.”

  Maggie and Josh shook hands, and as they did so, Maggie felt a strange sensation but she didn’t say anything.

  Steve continued, “Josh helps us when there are strange things going on; he’s a writer of the supernatural and a very clever man.”

  This appealed to Maggie. “Really – the supernatural, eh?” she nodded as she said “I think we’ll get along just fine together.”

  They all sat down at the table to discuss matters further, and Maggie was a bit happier now that she was being taken more seriously.

  ***

  Cumberworth was a village, about two miles inland from the North Sea that had some quaint cottages in it. Most of these cottages had lush front gardens full of colourful blooms of all kinds and well-mowed lawns.

  In one of the houses in this sleepy village, Tony, a builder, was going to have a bath. He had already turned on the taps and the bath was slowly filling up. Steam was slowly forming from the hot water, and Tony opened the cabinet on the wall to get out the shampoo. As he shut the cabinet door, he stepped back and fell over something. This made him spin around and grab at the shower curtain above the bath.

  Still fully clothed, he tumbled backwards into the half-filled bath of hot water, and as he fell and splashed his head somehow became impaled on the tops of both bath taps.

  Tony was stunned, looking straight up at the ceiling. The wall above the bath was wet from the splashes of bathwater. He came to his senses and let out an agonised scream as he felt the taps deeply embedded in the back of his head. Reaching behind him to assess the damage, Tony felt the back of his skull and a blind panic overcame his entire body.

  “No!” he screamed as he felt the blood flowing from the holes in his head and the razor-sharp pieces of bone hanging from his smashed skull.

  Tony tried to raise his head up from off the taps, but he only moved an inch before crying out in pain once more. He was stuck fast, and he could feel the soft tissue of his brain slowly spilling out from the gash in his head. He began to scream and thrash about in the rising hot water, and blood was now seeping from his ears and eyes. Moving was just too painful and dangerous, so Tony lay still and started to look around the bathroom in terror, not knowing what to do. Every breath he took was a short, sharp one.

  He then heard a sound from the side of the bath, and slowly and painfully turned his head slightly to see what it was. He was horrified to see a young girl just standing there with an evil grin on her lips. She was about eleven years old and pale grey in colour, with scruffy brown hair and rags for clothes.

  Without even wanting to know who she was or where she had come from, Tony muttered, “Help me.”

 
The black-hearted wretch of a child put her cold hand onto his brow and pressed his head further down onto the taps, making the helpless man yell out with an agonised squeal as his skull was pushed down harder onto the metal taps piercing the delicate tissue of his exposed brain even more. She had the supernatural power to prolong a person’s agony which all of the Entertainer’s children seemed to have. The girl then took her hand away and Tony could breathe again. While the evil brat looked around the bathroom, Tony tried to break free from the taps. He fumbled around behind his head and screamed as he pulled away a piece of his skull. He dropped the fragment of bone into the bath and felt for the taps once more, and let out a blood-curdling yell as the sharp jagged edge of the gaping hole sliced off three of his fingers. The digits dropped into the bathwater and blood spurted from the stumps of his knuckles.

  Tony looked up, and again he saw the malicious young girl. She was laughing at him, tightly gripping a toothbrush by the bristle end, and she had an evil glint in her eye. Tony was rigid with fright. He had the cold metal of the taps still embedded in his skull and blood gushing from the open wound. The water was rising and getting hotter, and his fear was growing with every second. All he could do was to watch in horror as the ghastly child raised her hand up high and then plunged the handle of the toothbrush into his eye.

  The eyeball popped and blood jetted up into the air as Tony tried to scream, but no sound came from his mouth; he was in too much pain. The girl twisted the toothbrush round and round, and with a sickening rip, she pulled Tony’s eye away from his head.

  The veins and tendons stretched away from the socket and snapped off from the eyeball, which was still stuck to the end of the toothbrush. Tony slowly raised his blood-soaked hands to his face and began to tremble all over. He knew he was finished, but his agony wasn’t over yet. The sinister mite threw Tony’s eye to the floor and held out her hands towards him. Both of her hands seemed to glow and get hotter, and with a last evil grin, she plunged them into the bathwater.

  The water began to get very hot very fast due to the girl’s uncanny power and Tony cried out in agony as he was boiled alive. His skin began to blister and fall away into the water, turning it into porridge-like mush as it bubbled and boiled and the room filled with steam, giving off the horrible stench of cooking flesh and burning skin.

  The girl then violently pulled her hands out from the bath, splashing water all over the room, and just stood there watching. She smiled and seemed to get pleasure from Tony’s plight as he let out his parting groans. Suddenly the water boiled and flames burst out it was like the very fires of Hell shooting up through the bathwater and Tony was burnt to death in a stew of his own body fluids and blood.

  The evil urchin let out a disappointed sigh as the flames suddenly died, leaving the charred body of her victim floating in the dirty, bloody water. She was sorry that she couldn’t torture Tony and inflict even more agony and pain and that her mission was now complete. She gently placed the usual King of Clubs card down next to Tony’s disembodied eye and faded away, leaving the gruesome eye staring at the playing card in the steam-filled room.

  A moment later there was a knock on the bathroom door.

  “Tony, are you OK?”

  It was his wife; she had heard some splashing from downstairs and was curious to what Tony was doing. She became worried when he didn’t reply.

  She opened the door and let out a terrified scream as she saw the horror left behind by the evil child.

  ***

  About an hour later, Tony’s house and bathroom were a mass of activity with the police and forensic team examining the crime scene for evidence. Steve walked up the stairs and was again met by Gary, who took pleasure in immediately telling him of another gruesome demise.

  “It’s another good one, guv,” Gary stated. “Impaled, scalded, and eye gouged out.”

  Steve wiped his worried brow with his hand. “King of Clubs?” he asked.

  Gary nodded. “Yes, mate; no doubt it’s the same person or persons as before.”

  “Damn it,” Steve replied with a frown on his face. “The last thing we need is a nutter running around during the holiday season.”

  He walked over to the bath and saw what remained of Tony. There were still pieces of dead skin flaking off and floating about in the bath.

  “The place is heaving with holidaymakers – that makes more potential victims than ever.”

  He left the house knowing that this was a lot more serious than he first thought.

  Deadly Pillow

  A car was travelling down a country lane with the driver’s window wound down. Music was blasting from the vehicle and Sarah, the driver, was humming the tune and tapping her hand on the steering wheel to the beat of the song. The sun was shining and it flickered through the trees as she drove along. It was obvious that Sarah was having a good day, as she had a broad grin on her face and didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

  Still tapping the wheel, she suddenly shuddered all over and became a little colder. At that moment she glanced out of the open window and saw a tall man standing at the side of the road. She thought him strange as he was wearing a top hat and holding a cane and wouldn’t look out of place in a horror movie. By his side was a teenage child, a scruffy-looking boy who had a mischievous smile on his thin, pale lips. As Sarah drove on she looked into the rear-view mirror and saw the child point at her and the sinister man nod in agreement.

  “Weird,” Sarah mumbled to herself.

  She shrugged her shoulders and continued on with her journey still humming and tapping the steering wheel, enjoying the heat of the sun. Sarah then jumped a little as the CD started to jump and play the same words over and over again. Sarah reached towards the CD player and tried to eject the disc.

  “That’s all I need,” she said, pressing the button.

  The disc didn’t eject, and the CD was still stuck on repeating the same words again and again. Sarah started to press the button a bit harder and faster.

  “Come on, bloody come out,” she groaned, and as she did so, she was distracted from her driving and started to swerve. Quickly grabbing the steering wheel with both hands again and actually looking at the road, she straightened the car up and drove on.

  She was approaching her turn, so she flicked on the indicator to turn left and again pressed the button to try to eject the disc. With her hand still in front of the CD player, she glanced upwards and saw the scruffy young boy from earlier standing in the road. Sarah screamed and slammed on the brakes, but felt the sickening bump as she ploughed into the helpless child and drove over his body. As soon as she braked, the disc shot out from the CD player and lodged deep into her arm sending blood seeping from the wound. Her chest hit the steering wheel which caused her head to jolt forwards and she banged her forehead hard on the windscreen and was stunned as the car came to a stop. She looked at her arm and saw that the disc was deeply embedded in her arm just above the wrist and blood was spitting out and dripping down over her hand as the flow was still partially restricted by the disc, the blood then began to fall like deep red rain onto the gearstick. She pulled the disc from her arm and let out an agonised yell as the blood gushed out faster. Sarah then grabbed a cloth from the glovebox and held it to her wrist to stem the flow. Then, for some strange reason she forgot her own predicament and remembered the pale child she had just run over.

  “Oh my God, the boy!” she cried, and she opened the door and painfully climbed out to see what devastation she had caused.

  Sarah slowly and painfully walked around to the front of her car to see what was left of the child, but to her amazement there was no blood on the car and no sign of the boy. She gulped.

  “Oh no, he’s under the car.”

  She carefully knelt down and slowly bent as low as she could to look underneath the vehicle. Her eyes widened with shock as again there was no sign of the youth.


  The puzzled woman then said to herself, “But I hit him, I ran over him.”

  Sarah stood up and winced in pain as she held her arm. She looked around the area and shouted, “Hello, are you there?” But all was silent.

  She walked over to a grass verge and looked for the boy just to make sure he didn’t bounce off the car, but nothing unusual was there; it was like he had totally vanished.

  Sarah returned to her car and sat down. She adjusted the cloth on her arm, pulled an elastic band from her hair, and twisted it around the cloth to hold it in place. This made Sarah feel a bit more comfortable as the cloth seemed to stem the flow of blood, but she was still puzzled at what had just happened to her. She shook her head, regained her composure and started the car, but before she could drive away, the devilish boy suddenly appeared at the side of the vehicle. This made Sarah yell in surprise at his sudden reappearance, but she was relieved to actually see him.

  “You scared me,” she said to the dishevelled adolescent. “Are you all right?”

  The boy walked up to the car and stood alongside the open window, but he said nothing, he just stood there glaring directly into her eyes. Sarah felt uncomfortable and thought she had to do something.

  “Do you need me to take you home?” she asked, but the damned youngster didn’t move or talk.

  Sarah was getting scared now, and she didn’t feel safe anymore as she began to sense something weird was happening.

  “Look, I’m sorry I hit you but you just stepped out in front of me, didn’t you?” She trembled as she tried to shift the blame onto the urchin.

  The boy then put both of his pale hands onto the car door and leant in through the window. He was so close that Sarah could see the thin, black veins under his ghostly white skin, and there was a smell of death all around. The evil brat then opened his eyes as wide as he could, and Sarah couldn’t bear the situation any longer.