The Warden of the Castle

by Claudio Hernández

As they say in these cases, the first attempt is to scratch the roof of the coffin with fury, but this is of no use when you have two hundred kilos of sand on you. So that was not what he did at first.

  According to scientific and medical descriptions, catalepsy is a biological state in which the person remains motionless, in apparent death, without vital signs. This state can be several cases of intensity, from being in a state of semi-consciousness until you can hear and see perfectly. Other symptoms are body stiffness, unresponsive to stimuli, while breathing and pulse become very slow. The skin progressively turns pale. If the wake is not long enough, it may happen that the living subject is buried.

  And that's what Cressner was thinking down there. Apparently, he was in an awake state, but almost semi-conscious, although he was sure of where he was and could move the upper limbs, that is, the arms. His unexplained tranquility was due to the overflowing of medicines he carried. But, as the hours continued to pass, the sedative effects of the medication disappeared and with it appeared pure and hard consciousness. He had been buried alive.

  He yelled for a few minutes, but he knew that was useless. But he had seen it in movies and had to carry it out. But it did no good. Above, at the other end of the lie, on the ground, an old dog that lived in the cemetery was pissing, a little crouched. He was so old that he could not even lift his paw to piss on the tombstone that wore his scrupulously carved name and the date of the supposed death.

  But he was still down there, unable to do anything, and terror and panic were taking hold of him. Asphyxiation, on the one hand, for the described symptoms and, on the other, for the lack of oxygen. Down below it was already quite hot, and the thought of not being able to get out of it never terrified him until he left the basins almost empty by the impulse of the eyes outwards when he felt dread.

  He started screaming and screaming again, but his voice was nowhere heard. Knowing that he was already part of the dead, he dissociated himself from sanity and unleashed in madness scratching and shattering against the lid of the coffin. Cold sweat, heat, suffocation. It all ended when fear itself caused him a cardiac arrest, even before he ran out of oxygen. His chronic illness was schizophrenia.

  Just what had brought him to the state of catalepsy. Good thing they did not incinerate it. Cressner, rest in peace.

  The Fifth Guest

  "Poor Cressner. If only he had woken up a little earlier,” his fingers, his right hand, gathered together in a gentle squeeze of his fingertips.

  Mary Shelley shook her head. It was like a head-down, but she was only watching in the gloom the ride of a rat under the table and without saying anything or changing the look on her face she returned to the stubborn body of the watchman who was now walking in front of the fireplace.

  "But I have another surprise ready for you." It is about catching a mole. But as always, everything happens abnormally and anomalously. "The caretaker smiled a little as he looked at them. This mole that does not seem to exist at first, when it manifests is a clear example of horror...

  A loud knock sounded on one of the windows. They all turned to look, as the windows were on the right side of the room. Apparently a gust of wind had stamped a large mass of snow on the glass. But this, with strange drawings engraved on it, resisted the assault.

  "Well, the story that follows shows the most terrifying side of someone unexpected who sneaks in where he should not..." And his grave voice took over the whole room.

  1

  The contest The Donut of Psychology had an acceptance in Prime Time extraordinary. With a share of thirty-three percent he was at his best in the television network. They locked three people in the big donut for three hours and had to arrange to overcome a personal test or challenge, to eliminate their fears and, in addition, to know the others. One of them was a mole and the only thing he intended to do in the contest was to create confusion for the other three participants. The disc, which was the great donut as they affectionately called it in production, was a circle with a fixed core inside with four compartments, and, attached, a four-door circle-shaped corridor that rotated continuously until it decided to stop at One of the compartments, so that the contestant could leave his "capsule" and go to another capsule of his opponent to start a talk and find out who the mole was. A rather daring contest that played with people's fears and their own intelligence. Whoever discovered the mole, took the hundred thousand dollars.

  The program was recorded on Thursdays and due to the complexity of the program it was broadcast on Friday nights. There were times when a shoot went off in a jerk and others, the contestants faded or became hysterical. On this occasion the contestants discovered their destiny.

  2

  Come on, come on guys. All in, "said the recording director, while holding in his head headphones with a microphone

  "In," one of the contestants said, rubbing his hands together.

  It was Ben, a young boy, thirty years old. Large, of what is usually called a hot bod. Heavenly eyes and with a great dose of humor. Would it be the mole? He acted with surprising naturalness.

  They opened the "donut" door, Ben was the first to occupy his cabin. A TV station worker grabs Seth's arm while the big donut gives a quarter of a turn.

  "Now it can happen," the man said to Seth, and she, with her high heels, came in, not without a stumble. She was also a young woman but somewhat older than Ben, she was about thirty-seven. She was an executive and was willing to win and discover the mole.

  The third contestant was Douglas, an obese, tall guy with bone-rimmed glasses. Disheveled hair almost covered the glasses. It was slow, so his entrance was somewhat longer than normal. He spoke with passivity and was smiling. It did not inspire fear in spite of its forty years and hundred and forty kilos of weight.

  The fourth contestant was Emily, a housewife, forty-five. As simple as that. He also entered the huge disc and occupied his cabin. Now the thing was to close the big circle and start it for three hours. The outer aisle would stop several times during that time so that each contestant could pass to the cockpit he desired. The stops would be automatic or manual through a button that each cabin had. Everything would be recorded in there, but nothing would be seen outside in real time. That was the challenge. If someone entered with claustrophobia he was literally dead from there. The game was simple, take away the fears of oneself and discover the mole. The psychologists were themselves. The passing of the clock would place them in each action.

  3

  The "donut" began to roll, not the central core in which they were, but the corridor and the exterior. Ahead, three hours of intense mental stress. At the end, each contestant would comment on his phobia and how he would have confronted and discovered the name of the mole if he knew. If he succeeded, a hundred thousand dollars would be his.

  Ben, despite his youth and vigor, was the one who had a phobia of closed spaces. So his personal struggle had begun. He listened as he leaned back in the seat of his cabin, the hum of the circular disc engine. He was beginning to sweat, but he had to resist. He had two options, to suffer like a convict in his cabin or to stop the corridor of the disc and to begin to share his phobia with one of the contestants. This he could do in the way mentioned or with the contestants that he had next to the passenger compartment. Each cabin was communicating through a methacrylate window. On one side was Seth and the other on Douglas. Also, Douglas and Seth had Emily.

  Ben pressed the button on Seth's window. This one opened.

  "What's the matter, boy?" She asked with a smile on her lips.

  "I'm afraid of closed spaces, phobia, you know..."

  “Yes, yes. I know what that is, "she interrupted and continued. Are not you the mole and are you riding the ball?

  Ben a little more relieved by the conversation reacted and said:

  “Can be. Maybe not.” Now Ben was much calmer, the game began. And while, the fast pulse of before gave way to the rotating rhythm of the huge disk.

  “Well! You look less pale!”
<
br />   4

  Douglas remained silent in his cabin and breathed slowly, almost to the rhythm of the engine that emitted a slight buzz inside. On one side was Ben, who was chatting with Seth, and at the other end had Emily, who also sat, but watching them all. The rooms were transparent and you could see your opponents. He was impatient, but Douglas did not seem to want to take the first step. Quiet and easy-going, he was still inside, waiting perhaps for the countdown to end as he entered. Finally, after a long pause, Emily pressed the button of the window and this one opened with a windy sound.

  “Come on! Who you are?” She snapped. You're sitting there all the time without saying anything without a minimum of movement. I know that you are the mole for the attitude you are taking. You want to hide it, do not you?

  But Douglas did not even look at her face.

  "You're the mole." I found you! Finally, Douglas replied:

  “NO.”

  “Bah! You want to deceive me," she said, a little disillusioned, "and what's the matter with you? How scared you are," she continued, brushing her hair with both hands.

  “I'm shy.”

  “Only that?”

  And Douglas was silent for a moment longer.

  5

  The corridor stopped spinning and stopped as scheduled, this time in an automated way. No one had pressed the stop button. The doors opened with a chirp. Now would be the time to change the cabin and be closer to everyone.

  Douglas decided to stay in his cabin and Emily decided to go to Ben's cabin. When he made the change, the doors closed and the hallway began to spin again.

  "I do not know his name, but he's a real dull," Emily boasted. Ben felt comfortable now, it seemed as if the phobia of closed spaces had disappeared for a moment. If you did not think about her, nothing happened to you, so now she got into the conversation with Emily and Seth through the window. The rules only left two people per cabin and stopped.

  "My name is Ben," he said and held out his hand.

  "I, Seth," he said from the other end of the window and reached for her.

  “Emily.”

  Douglas did not introduce himself. Besides, he had the window on Ben's side closed and he was still there looking at them parsimoniously, as if he were about to fall asleep there. Silent. Emily looked at him once more and, by her own strategy, kept the mole. Douglas would be the mole. I was sure of that. And then the lights went out suddenly. They blinked and went out for a long, long time. All without seeing anything except hearing some horrible screams that came from..., the light came again, Douglas!

  6

  Douglas was screaming like a possessed man, his face disengaged, his complexion pale, and finally his eyes wide. For some strange reason his senses had awakened and to be timid, now he was giving the note, screaming like a scary kid and letting his defect appear more pronounced. In addition to being shy, he was truly cowardly. From what he had discovered there something unthinkable for him, since he presumed to himself not to be afraid of anything except shyness.

  "What a fag!" Emily hastened to say.

  “Hey! A little calm, please. Nothing happened," Ben explained, and that he was the one he would be most afraid of inside because of his phobia.

  Suddenly, Douglas began to cry. And this time the light went out again and the scream was heartbreaking in the dark. Then the light returned and the first destination was written in the cockpit of Douglas, who had already shut up.

  7

  His head was turned upside down, completely at 180 degrees. The body was still sitting on the chair, but with the proviso that now they could not see his eyes, nor the bone-frame glasses. Emily screamed and Seth put his hand to his mouth, being more distanced he could not see Douglas's body well. Ben was simply terrified, but he had to keep the guy.

  “Shut up! That way we're not going to get anything," Ben snapped.

  “This camera is sealed, this damn donut is sealed for three long hours, we were told in the casting. Because you will not be one of the mole and you are preparing a surprise, right?" They were Seth's hesitant words, which seemed to show more moral force among all.

  “He’s dead!” Cried Emily, putting her hand to her mouth.

  "Do not talk nonsense," Ben said nervously.

  Meanwhile, the hallway was still spinning, but they could stop it manually. The cameras were recording everything, but it would not be seen until after three hours of donut.

  "Let's stop the record," Ben said, "and we go in and check if it's a doll..."

  “Yes. It's a good idea." He'll be a doll," Emily said happily.

  Seth pushed the button to stop the hallway. Once done, the three of them came out after the doors opened and approached Douglas's cabin. Between Emily and Seth they slightly shoved Ben into first. They were left behind.

  “Oh my God!” Ben exclaimed. It's Douglas. Is dead! And he hurried out of the passenger compartment. The three of them headed for the cockpit, this time Seth, because he was farther away and somehow felt safer. But it was just the opposite, now all the wrongs would come from who it might have been.

  Seth had been alone in the cabin himself and physically would not have given him time to stop the record and go to Douglas's cabin. Ben was with Emily and at all times, noticed her gasp when the light was. Besides, everything had happened very quickly. None of the three would be the killer. Now again the lights began to flash and momentarily went out. The disk or donut, as they used to call it, was active with the aisle rotating to them. When the light returned everything was still in order. Douglas was still in his cabin with his neck broken and his head on his back.

  Let's get all three of us told Ben to be the leader of the group. And suddenly the light went out again for a few seconds, and they felt like a crackling of bones in the dark. Suddenly, something heavy made one of the bodies collapse in a "clone" against the ground. When the light came, everything was repeated as before.

  8

  Emily was on the floor, lying, inert, her head turned upside down as well. Seth and Ben were immediately surprised.

  "It was you, you're the killer," Seth shouted at Ben, stopping the record again. And he changed his cabin. Then he went to a chamber in the passenger compartment and uttered all kinds of insults to Ben calling him a murderer.

  Ben shook his head. He had not been. In addition, it was one thing to split the neck and another to turn the head completely. He wondered if it had not been Seth, but before Douglas had spent the mime and was in a cabin twice more. Nothing fit.

  "Seth, if anything comforts you, it was not me." Who was then the one who killed the first? "I did not know Douglas's name because he had not been introduced to them before.

  "I only know that now there are two of us and that we cannot trust each other, even though you seem to be quite right," Seth replied.

  But suddenly the lights flickered again. This time both were terrified, knowing that something else was going to happen. Which of the two would touch him this time. The light went out for a few seconds and then came back on. The show was Dantesque. Seth uttered a scream of death that echoed in every room of the donut. Ben was on the floor, his head turned back. Now there was only her.

  9

  The disc or donut was spinning a few minutes while Seth, seized by the doubts, was head down and perhaps out of itself. His thoughts did not flow in an orderly way and he could only remember the images of them. But he could not think straight, when, suddenly, the lights began to flash again. Her heart was beating fast now, and blood pressure was rising in her head, but she must remain calm. The light went off. Then, after a long, eternal silence, he lit up again. At his side stood Douglas, his head still turned, so that he was physically with his back to her, but staring at her from behind the glasses of his spectacles.

  Hi Seth. I am the fifth guest and it has been a pleasure to meet you. The voice was guttural and hoarse, as if a demon had seized him. And, in fact, it had been so. The contest ends here, "he concluded.

  Seth drew back with tears i
n his eyes. Suddenly he realized, a demon had slipped into the disk and was the guest that everyone did not know. Because, simply, he should not be there. Suddenly, once again, the lights went out.

  When the three hours passed and the technical team of the program opened the donut took a pleasant surprise. The less his jaw was disengaged when he saw the dantesque panorama in there.

  The Apocalypse We Knew

  "Was that a surprise?" His hoarse voice thundered now from the couch again with his feet on the table. The watchman was uneasy at the passivity of his guests. It felt as if it had not reached them to the bottom. But he struggled with every new story, story or story, while a battle of wind and snow was out there.

  The torches already needed a new oil refill. Now the playful shadows were thinner and barely distinguishable by the increasing darkness.

  "As it's getting dark," the warden said. I think it's time to tell you a story shadowed, again by death, but in this case of greater scope. In the apocalypse we met all living beings succumb to premature and desired death. A strange fog leaves in its path to humans who only wish to die by committing suicide. It is the end of an era, which on this occasion is not glacier, but voluntary...

  Suddenly all the guests leaned on their elbows and curved their backs forward, prepared to be carried away by the serious voice of the watchman, who began with the story...

  1

  Nature was sick. Pollution and too many people had pulled the trigger. Tsunamis, earthquakes and any natural inclemency were not enough to end human life on earth. I, Harold, and my wife Alice are probably the only survivors, at least in all of Maine. It was not an era of zombie hordes, it was the era of ceasing to exist somehow. When the fog appeared and reached you, then everything was over. The land used its deadliest weapon against the human being and the animal kingdom. A new cycle was expected in the earth age, and it was not exactly the glacial one.

  After going through the fog, one stopped having faith in life and let himself die or simply committed suicide. The birds climbed high and then dropped with their wings folded, crushing against the ground. Thousands of them, millions. The dogs had stopped eating. Cats threw themselves from the rooftops, like humans. Many of them chose the most routine method, throw themselves into the void. Others swelled from barbiturates until they burst and a good group blew their brains out. It was all chaos.