A Horror Story in 500 Words: T'was the Night of Halloween

It was a dark and gloomy Tuesday night the hospital hallway was empty, with nurses and doctors busily at their stations attending to their obligations; not a single soul was in sight.

Then the dark green curtain of the emergency room rises to gust of the wind and reveal two bodies- one a police sergeant who met his fate at the hands of armed robbers who shot him three times to the head and that of a gymnast who broke his neck while doing cartwheels in a competition.

Both these men were alive just a few minutes ago when they were brought in, but now they are lifeless with eyes open as if they were trying to fend off an invisible force to prevent it from taking their souls.

Then along came the sound of familiar footsteps, for it is time for the nurses to make their rounds, and two proceeded immediately to the emergency room but were stunned after finding out of their sudden death.

Personnel and equipment were scrambled immediately in the hope to revive the two, with the defibrilator they exhausted all means, but their efforts were in vain for the patients are dead.

Just as everyone was about to cover the dead bodies with blankets, a nurse saw that the window of the room was open and that a bloodied scythe was lying on the floor.

She picks it up thinking that perhaps a visitor doing a trick or treat might have left it there, but as soon as she picked it, she saw visions, though blurry at first but the picture slowly cleared and she saw the two bodies just as if they were lying there but the scythe that she’s holding was carried by another being, with a shadow that’s as black as night and who’s face was hidden by a hood.

The being stabbed the two bodies, and in the nurse’s eyes she saw that which seemed to be their souls were wailing out from their once alive bodies into the being’s hand. Moans and laughter can be heard.

Suddenly, fear gripped the nurse as she now knows that what she is holding is the scythe of death himself, and as she was about to throw it out the window, everything flickered and went black.

Her companions, who saw what is happening, screamed and tug the scythe off her hands but it will not budge. Then the door slammed shut, and after a gust of wind, everything went silent. The door slowly opened to reveal several bodies of nurses and doctors who are now lying on the floor lifeless with eyes open, a death similar to the two patients.

The scythe was picked up from the floor by a black figure in a hood, who gazes out the window to see souls slowly marching towards a black whirlpool, the policeman and the gymnast are now beside him, and with an evil laugh they slowly vanish into thin air.

View: http://www.yuwie.com/jovir

Writing Exercise: How I became Hemophobic (A Vampire tells all)

The year is 2010, Castle of Doom, Vladista. Breaking free from this slab of darkness that surrounds me in this smelly- pit for a coffin, I have awaken once again to wreak havoc on the weak, and feast on the blood of the fallen.

As I step out into the window’s edge of my castle. I noticed that the humble village where I once ruled years ago (but was stopped by that pesky vampire hunter and was cursed to sleep decades passed) has now been replaced by rectangular mountain- like structures rising high into the moonlit sky. What once was a figurative landscape seem like shadows, along with the smell of foul air which I can't make out what.

As my adrenalin rushes screaming for blood, I decided to go hunting for hapless victims disguised in the form of a bat. To and fro I look when I came upon a small room atop one of the rectangular structures.

I was shocked at the sight of the dissidents- a family inside which to me looked like corpses about to crumble, but meekly speaking with each other. I managed to hang upon the wall to listen to their weak blabbering.

I found out that in this new era, a great plague and a global war had passed and all the people (the few who survived) are dying from hunger and disease. Sadly, I took a last look upon their mange-mangled faces and decided to fly out their window.

I got back to my castle’s tower where I sat thinking that I should fight the urge to gulp human blood and devour other sources instead, but somehow my pride asked me this question: “How can I, Count Hovir, father of the undead and the most feared character in the underworld be thinking of this option?”

Then off I flew again to the horizon in the dead of the night to devour blood, getting weaker by the minute as I think I have traveled way very far from Vladista- when I found it! An animal silhouette which looked to me like a wild boar sitting just under the tree I’m resting on.

As I was about to pounce on my target, I suddenly heard women’s voices fast approaching my location. Then it occurred to me that this is my lucky night for I can have as much blood as I want, a feast to be exact and if Im lucky enough, I can mate with all these women too! Just think of all the blood and bodies I can have. I decided to wait a while longer in my vampire form waiting to pounce.

Just as soon as I saw human shadows, I came down from the tree in my most terrifying look but instead of great fright, (I saw that the ladies’ look were like corpses with glowing red eyes similar to that family which I left in the rectangular structure back in Vladista) the ladies were looking at me with mouths watering and blabbering something like their lucky this time of the night too, as they were looking for food!

They started to grab and pin me to the ground, but I managed to get on my feet and took flight right away.

I flew, this time in haste and with caution for every house and village I passed by, people would stare at me and grab like I’m part of their food chain, and in my great sadness I returned to my castle and coffin, vowing to go to sleep for another century and never drink blood again, for in this new time and era, people are even more hungry than vampires.

Jasmin Uy

Message in a Bottle