Dark December [A Holiday Filled Horror Anthology]

Deep Slumber by @ivojovi

Deep Slumber by ivojovi 

He woke up to the sound of a faint jingle. Unable to pry an eye open, he tried to drown the sound out. However, the deafening silence did nothing to ease his discomfort. It felt like time had stopped altogether. Suspending him in the moment of insanity. He had no idea what happened to him. No memory from the day before nor a clue on what today was. All he could feel was a dulling ache on his head and numbing on his limbs as if he hadn't used them in years.

The worst part was that he forgot who he was, what he did for a living. All he knew was his name was Colin Easton and he was from Aspen, Colorado. He shifted, presumably on a bed since he felt comfortable lying down on a soft surface, to stop the incessant sound that seemed to be drifting through the air. The source of the sound was distant but he couldn't really pinpoint where it was. With an effort, Colin tried to begrudgingly lift a hand to push himself off the bed. The room was unfamiliar to him. There were only four corners of the room and a door to his left. Everything was white, even the walls, but light inside the room was dimmed which didn't hurt his eyes too much.

Colin situated himself into a sitting position, nursing his throbbing head. He looked around but saw nothing out of place. Just that he was in a weird room with no knowledge how he got there.

Finding himself standing in front of the door, he hesitated as his hand was suspended in the air momentarily, trying to convince himself that he lived here. He opened the door and stepped out into a hallway. Looking around, he saw a few doors across the hall which led him to walk into the living room.

That familiar jingle had floated around when he stepped foot to the living room. It was unusual because he couldn't seem to find the source of the strange sound. After a few moments, it had disappeared fleetingly making him aware of his surroundings. An upholstered mustard colored couch sat at the center of the room. There was a huge flat screen television in front of it. Then, at his right was a small window that caught the scenery of the city night lights.

Did I oversleep? He thought to himself when he saw that it was already night time. Searching for a clock, he found one that was perched on a small side table near the entry way to the kitchen. Colin was about to venture into the kitchen when he heard scratching noises beyond an unexplored door. Then a sudden loud thud could be heard from the outside. He tried to remember if he either owned a cat or a dog, however, nothing came up. The whole loss of memory made him particularly curious to the situation he was in. Slowly, Colin walked over to the door and opened it. Turns out, it was only the door to his apartment when he saw a number of similar doors down a hallway. He turned his head from left to right and saw no one. The hallway also seemed pretty empty. He looked down and saw a medium sized box, that was wrapped in red, placed in front of his doorway.

Colin sat on the couch and was in deep thought about a few things. Apparently, his head was still a little messed up. He couldn't remember anything which started to give him a full blown headache. Looking up, he saw the present's shiny ribbon glinting from the light and decided to open it. Ripping the box open, his hand found a picture frame. He flipped it and was shocked to see a family picture of three that was taken in a studio. Colin studied the photo and noticed that he was in it with his evident wife on his side and a baby. The downside though was that the face of the woman and baby were cut out.