Short Horror Stories

The Crystal Cave part 1

As I hold the lady's hand I can feel her warmth, making me think of my mommy.

I look down and shake my head, if I think about it too much, I will probably cry again. Today I need to be a big girl.

"Is something wrong?" The kind voice asks.

"No, I'm fine." I look up at her and smile.

She returns a smile to me, making me feel better.

The lady looks really pretty, almost like a princess. Her clothes are pretty, her hair is pretty, her jewelry is pretty. I wonder if I will ever be able to get such nice clothes too.

We continue walking inside the building. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's said that I'm going to work here.

The orphanage couldn't take care of me anymore, so they told me that I had to go here. Supposedly I will be able to earn money here and pay back the orphanage for all of their care they gave to me.

As we arrive at the doors I look in awe as the doors open by themselves.

The lady laughs: "Have you never seen electric doors before, little one?"

"No ma'am, is it made with magic?"

"No, electricity, as I said before."

"That could still be magic."

"Sure, whatever." The lady seems a bit annoyed, I hope that it's not because of me.

"I'm sorry." I say, the people at the orphanage said that I should always apologize if I have done something wrong.

"It's okay."

I smile, but this time it doesn't get returned again.

The room that appears isn't very big, it has many different tools stored here. There is also a man standing there, with a smoking piece of paper in his mouth.

"Good morning." I say to him politely, but he ignores me.

"Another orphanage rat? We really should stop accepting scraps like that. This one looks rather thin and not even the clothes will sell."

"It's just for a bit, the child thankfully doesn't need to return anyway. We should be happy with these." The woman says also ignoring me.

The man takes out the paper of his mouth and breathes out smoke, almost like a dragon and blows the smelly air in my face.

"So kid, you ready for the job?"

I place my hand just above my eyes as if to salute him: "Yes, Sir!"

He laughs: "That's good." Then he takes something from the desk behind him and places it upon my head.

It's a helmet and it's a little bit too big, but I won't complain, the people who cared for me told me that complaining is bad.

"So, from now on, your name will be... 37."

"37?"

"Yeah, names are such a drag to remember, numbers are easier."

I nod in response.

37? But I liked my name...

It was the name mommy and daddy had picked for me, but then again they will probably also be angry if I don't listen to the grown-ups.

The man and the woman talk for a bit and then they send me out to a dark door, open it, shove me out the room and lock the door behind me.

I look at my surroundings, I'm inside a... cave?