I moved into this house a while ago, after the war, when my innards were still twisted with the horrors of Hell.
The house was two stories. Shadows clung to the walls and the skeletons of small animals littered the floors. I cleaned, bought a dog. It gradually got used to the scent of damnation.
The dog wouldn’t go upstairs: something there. We lived in terror of treading on its toes. We slept huddled together, listened to it pace back and forth. After months of this I’d had enough. The dog went to a neighbor. I ascended the stairs.
On the landing the door stood open, the rooms inky black. The house seemed to be crying. Now and then I would catch a whimper, floating on the still air.
She was ahead, in the den. Stained molars, barred in a grin. She ate the hearts, I recalled, sucked blood from the meaty, still-pumping flesh. Me.
I turned and ran: a terrible scream and she crawled after me, four legs on wood. I flew down the stairs. A clammy hand yanked me back, and I was dragged into the abyss, screaming for mercy.
I should have stayed in Hell.
18-Oct-2016 02:33:40