Hello steemians! Last week I wrote a horror story that has had many upvotes. The original story was in spanish, and to be totally honest with you, I´m not yet at the level in which I could write a story as if I was a native english speaker. However, I will translate it for my english speaking public, not a literal translation but an artistic one. Some time soon I will try to write another story directly in english and see how it goes.
I rolled over the bed and took one more good look at that damned clock. It was 3:33 AM, the hour of the wolf. I remember how my grandpa always told me that all the spirits come out to play at that time, maybe because it represented half of famous 666 number, the number of the devil, or maybe it had to do with the way the gloom affected the upper and lower planes of existence. I don´t know, and he didn´t know either, but he was terribly adamant on this and it was something he always insisted on. "Son, if you ever hear strange noises at 3:33 am, it is the spirit wolf trying to get out, don´t indulge him, just turn away and keep sleeping."
"Bah, classic senile nonsense!", i thought to myself, while I tried to catch my sleep again. Anything that can take me away from this tortuous insomnia would be an improvement. Ever since I took that new job, in that life sucking cubicle, delivery deadlines for reports have been constantly shrinking, and the same has been happening to my own patience for that new boss. The infamous Nathaniel, of red hair and Machiavellian smile. The same that every day humilliated me and then half-smiled with those plated teeths and pretended he´s "only helping me to be more efficient."
"Nope, if I start raging I will have even more trouble getting to sleep", I thought, making an effort to calm myself down, but I had the need to get up and drink a glass of water. The cool water poured inside the glass, escaping the bottle like the hours that I had left to sleep were escaping me. And because desperation was not gonna help me, I breathed deeply and went to the bathroom to take one last piss.
Ever since I was a little runt, that dismal victorian mirror seemed to be observing me, regularly instilling fear into my heart. But it was the last thing I had left from my grandfather, and as I was a big boy now, I should get a grip and chase away those stupid thoughts of fear. I glanced at it one more time, the black, obsidian like contour, with swirling patterns at its borders, convoluted like the hallways of hell, and each dust stain, persistent like the sins of a grieving soul despite that uncountable times I had tried to clean them using every commercially available cleaning product. Everything appeared to be darker inside its reflection, and not a day went by in which that mirror didn´t feel like a portal to somewhere truly evil.
The brand new led light that I placed in the bathroom was turned off and unscrewed, because it shined like a thousand suns into my poor retinas during those nights I´m lucky enough to be half-asleep, so I had to kill it. Instead of that, I used the ambar dying glow of a traditional light bulb, with filament and all, that was trying super hard to give me every ounce of energy it had left. At that time I was facing away from the mirror, while I was unloading the golden liquid into the toilet, I couldn´t help but to feel observed. Menacing shadows moved around me, and I saw the changes in lighting through the corner of my eyes but every time I turned around these shadows retreated to my own imagination. I returned to bed, and slowly started falling asleep again.
I woke up startled, as if a bomb had exploded right next to me. An acute pain pressing inside my jaw returned me to reality. Bood! I was lying on the floor, with a broken tooth and abundant blood inside my mouth. I must have fallen over while asleep. I looked quickly at the clock: 3:33 AM. Feeling dumb, I got up and went to the bathroom and it didn´t even cross my mind to question why a single minute didn´t pass by according to Mr. Clock. I bowed down to the lavatory, thinking that the blood would never stop flowing. It kept coming out in gushes while I washed my mouth and removed the tooth splinters. I started to fear that one could bleed out from shattering and tearing a tooth out. I looked at the biggest pieces I held inside my hand, it was one of my canine teeth. While I was washing myself I noticed something quite peculiar at the corner of my eye, and damned the time I decided to look inside the mirror because what I saw horrified me. The room turned darker as my sight was drawn inside. At the corner of the room, a huge grey shadow, prolonged and menacing, was stalking me while gripping the bathroom tiles with its enlarged furry paws. The worst thing were its eyes, blood red and shiny like a demon´s. Shivers ran down my spine. The unholy vision surprised me so much that I turned around, scared to death to confront that menace, but it was gone. Nothing was there! Relieved, I slowly turned away from the mirror and towards the door, afraid to look inside it again, reassuring myself that it was all just a dream. However, I looked inside it just one more time, but this time everything was brighter and normal, not a trace of menacing demons. I chewed on a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding and went back to bed, thinking that I would have to go to the dentist first thing in the morning.
I woke up slowly, with a dull brain and to my surprise, I couldn´t move. Was I dead? Finally the tip of my index finger slowly came back to life and moved just an inch. I breathed relieved to know that I was neither dead nor dreaming, and felt just happy to be alive. As soon as the rest of my body could move, I grabbed my sore jaw and felt the cloth still pretty much soaked in blood. Should I go to the hospital? While I was deciding, I glanced at the clock: it was 3:33 AM. It couldn´t be true! I went to the bathroom to take a leak and while I was preparing, I noticed a pungent putrid smell around me. "Surely the refrigerator has food that had passed away a few days ago.", I laughed nervously, purposely ignoring the smell. A warm liquid started flowing down my legs and pulled me away from my thoughts. I surely pissed myself, I thought. I opened my eyes and looked at my legs. Blood! A river of blood was gushing out of my member and racing down my legs to the floor! Strangely, I was feeling no pain, but I felt as if life itself was fleeing away from my body. I did feel pain however, when I dropped from the impression and hit the floor, bashing my head against the toilet. Semi unconscious, and while a pool of blood was oozing from my head, I saw my peripheral vision closing in and the whole room darkened. From inside the mirror, my own reflection started to move and laugh manically. It crossed the mirror as if it was a doorway and started walking slowly towards me, step by step, until it was right above me. I felt its dead chilly fingers slowly run down my forehead and then my throat, feeling powerless to do anything. They were similar to my own fingers, his eyes however, were burning red. Agonizing, terrified and afraid to look more, I closed my eyes awaiting the end. I gave away a choked shriek like the one a deer does while a wolf rips its throat, and I felt my windpipe crack like a twig. I opened my eyes just a little with watever strength I had left and I saw a giant wolf, feeding of my flesh, ripping me to shreds bite by bite. I sighed and finally let go...
I jumped of the bed startled, and hit my head on the bedside table. Was it all a dream? I looked at the clock: 3:33 AM. With a terribly dulled head, as if I was still asleep, I stumbled upon the computer and turned it on to distract myself a little and chase the panic away. I opened the web browser and sat there in the gloom that wrapped me. I heard steps around me but this time I didn´t turn around. Obsessively, I started writing a story, almost like a cry for help. The brightness of the computer screen hurt my eyes but after a while I felt proud of a job well done. I calmed down and went back to my everydayness.
It is time to take a piss and comb myself at the mirror...
By the way, I´m sometimes a sleep walker in real life, and let me tell you it is something truly dreadful to sleepwalk during a nightmare, or a chain of nightmares not knowing if you´re alseep or awake. This is what inspired this story. No, there is no Nathaniel, that part is invented, but I do have a giant victorian mirror in the hallway and I used to have nightmares about it as a kid.
Also, if you like horror movies about mirrors, I recommend you watch this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790686/?ref_=nv_sr_1
I will upvote all the people who COMMENT on this post. Cheers!
Btw, credit to cre47iv3 for making me the header and footer images, using this image as source.