Midnight Dreams & Nightmares ~ A short story collection

Fun

"...our faith should not waver. We must trust in God and that His ways are not always understandable to us," the pastor droned.

Sam rolled his eyes and sank further into the chair.

A man stood up to the right of him. "But what does God want with all this?" His voice was heavy with grief. "Is He trying to tell us something by taking away my daughter?" He gestured to the couples near him, their eyes red. "By taking away their sons? Have we not been good parents? Is this our punishment?"

The pastor raised his hands to object, but another person spoke up.

"Is it the horror movies?"

Not wanting to hear the sermon that was to come, Sam turned to his friend seated next to him. "I can't wait to get out of here. It's like I've heard this man saying the same thing over and over again for a dozen times now."

Jerry smiled. "It'll be over soon." He lowered his voice some more. "We got something cool to show you, so stick around afterwards, okay?"

Sam nodded and turned his attention back to the pastor, though it quickly drifted to the four coffins behind him. His gaze went over the many flowers and ribbons draped over the ornate wood, the droning of the pastor causing him to lose track of time.

An elbow jabbed him in the ribs and he jerked up. Ashamed, he looked around: everyone had left but two of his friends.

"Ah, shit... I think I fell asleep there."

"Don't worry about it." Jerry walked over to a table near the wall. "Look what Dwight got his hands on!"

The other boy smirked proudly as he got a DVD from his backpack. "This is unrated. I heard the torture and gore are so extreme people puked! Dot and Walt want to watch it too."

Sam was on his way to them when he froze. Something felt off and an extreme sense of déjà vu washed over him.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Jerry tilted his head slightly. "I thought you were into this torture porn shit?"

"Yeah, you know how hard it was for me to get this?" Dwight added. "We got it specially for you."

Sam slowly backed away, his gaze darting from Dwight to Jerry.

The two boys approached Sam, their faces slowly distorting. Their eyes darkened and sunk back into their skull while their skin turned a sick greyish-green tint.

A scream freed itself from the bottom of Sam's gut as he turned around and sprinted away, tipping over chairs as he went in an attempt to slow the things behind him down. He dashed through the double doors and down the hall. Dot and Walter stood at the corner and Sam yelled, "Run!"

They turned to look at him. Their expressions went from confusion to horror in a mere second and they bolted away.

Sam caught up to them. "Those doors," he panted, "we can lock them!"

They passed through double doors, turned on their heels, and quickly shut them. Sam had his door closed first, but his fingers fumbled to get the pin at the top to shift into the hole. Dot slammed her side closed and got the pin in immediately. They backed away and stared through the windows at the ghouls dashing towards them.

"The doors might not hold them." Sam grabbed his friends and pulled them along. "The office, come!"

They ran away, shattering glass resounding behind them. They entered the office and Sam wanted to close the solid wooden door when bodies collided against it from the other side. He screamed and barely managed to stand his ground.

Dot and Walter threw themselves against the wood, a tug-of-war ensuing. Rotting fingers folded around the corner and Sam whimpered as they nearly touched him. Finally, the door closed and Sam immediately locked it.

Exhausted, he dropped to the floor and stared at the wood, the loud thumping chilling him to the bone.

"It's okay," Dot said.

The angry banging died down, the subsequent silence deafening. Slowly, Sam turned to face Dot. His eyes enlarged upon seeing her white dress sprinkled with red spots. They slowly increased in size, like twisted roses coming to full bloom.

Walter stepped next to Dot. "Why did you do it, Sam?"

Sam's breath stocked. Walter's eyes were gone, his skin purplish and bloated.

"We trusted you."

Sam scurried away as he watched Dot's face decay. He glanced at the door and, to his horror, it was wide open.

Dwight and Jerry stared at him with hollow eyes. "You had your fun with us," Dwight said.

"Now it's our turn," Jerry added.

Dot grinned menacingly. "Until the end of days." She opened her mouth, revealing a dark abyss, and lurched at Sam.

~

(14-Apr-2016) I hope you enjoyed this fun little short =P

800 words exact, a nightmare fit for for the #HappyDeathDay celebration brought to you by ParanormalCommunity :)

A fine personal hell to die in every single day; now ain't that a party?