This is a horror story, not particularly for the faint-hearted.

If you’re afraid of these things, then you probably should stop reading from this point forward. Though I should say, this may very well be nothing but a fictional story.

… Or maybe not.

Today we pick up from where we left yesterday:

“Guys, what I’m gonna tell you now is gonna sound insane, nuts! Hell, I don’t believe it myself”

He says with the conviction of someone who’s well aware of the very bomb he’s about to drop, but can’t help but drop it anyways.

“Are you sure you want to know what I remember from when I was dead?”.

We look at each other, and we say:

Yes!

One minute you’re here, the next you’re standing in an empty field at night where the moon and stars have gone, he says in the absolute voice of death.

You’re frightened, you’re scared and you don’t know what to do. The darkness is coming after you.

“Twelve minutes they said, but for me it was longer, much longer.”

He tells us that he suddenly found himself in an empty field that he’d never seen in his life, but somehow it all looked way too familiar.

Dark Side of the Moon

It was dark, it was always dark. All throughout the dream, or the post-mortem experience I had, whatever that may be.

Out of nowhere some woman grabs my arm, she’s clearly in distress. Close behind her there are a group of people with the very same facial expression.

What the hell is going on?

I’ve never seen people so terrified in my life.

They didn’t remember anything, none of us did.

But somehow, I wasn’t afraid.

As I said, something about that place looked a whole lot familiar, and somehow it was like I knew where to go.

He said he was just going by instinct until they saw something shining in the horizon.

A lone drop of light in the dead dark of night.

A Strange house, big house… It looks extremely familiar but I can’t remember, I just wanted to remember.

His girlfriend thinks this is a very bad idea, I can see it in her eyes.

Back to the story, now they’re in front of the house. The door cracks open, jaws collectively dropped, everyone is looking for answers.

He continues.

Everyone goes inside, but I couldn’t. I had this strange feeling that I couldn’t wrap my mind around.

Instead, I was just looking at the checkered floors while trying to remember where had I seen that place before.

At first, I figured it was just a dream, I figured it was my sub-conscience playing games with me.

I figured my mind was just re-arranging some old memories from some Twin Peaks episode and then playing them in my head.

A man and a woman appear in front of me, and God I can’t remember their faces now.

But I remember everything else about them, I remember how nervous they became the minute they laid their eyes on to me.

I heard the woman say: I don’t think he remembers anything.

The man looked scared, there was an air of guilt about him.

I don’t know… I just didn’t trust him.

Remember what? I said to her.

None of them answered, they kept avoiding my questions, and started insisting that I should that just trust them.

I asked if I’ve ever been there before.

They told me that they’re just happy I’m back and I should help more people, that I should return to the field.

I didn’t believe them.

But what can I do? I don’t believe them, I don’t trust them at all.

Something is seriously wrong here.

I want to storm in inside the house and see what’s going on in there.

But I’m terrified, though I try not to show it. I stare at the floor, it looks like a chess board.

Where have I seen this before?

They keep telling me to go back and help people, but I just want some answers.

Deep down, I know I’ll never get them in that place.

I ponder about finding people and bringing them there, just the thought of that was comforting somehow.

In fact, it almost seemed like a second nature of sort.

I started doing just that, and before long. I managed to put two and two together.

Something inside me cracked. My heart is bleeding.

Two Minutes to Midnight

I was dead, it’s obvious.

Many of the people I met told me that the last thing they remember was their ticket being punched.

Gone too soon. I wish I had more time. I wish I had the time to say goodbye, but this is not how the world works.

I’m not a believer. But I couldn’t help but realize:

This place, it has got to be purgatory.

What else could it be? This couldn’t be heaven nor this could be hell. All we had is the Hotel California.

And I was the maître d'hôtel.

Abandon All Hope

A long time has passed now, but still no hunger, no thrust, hell, I’ve never even felt the need to pee.

People just kept popping up in the field and I just kept taking them to the house of the never rising sun.

Magnus stops talking for a second, he grabs his beer and throws it to the trash. He walks to the liquor cabinet, he grabs a bottle of Maker’s.

He's dead serious.

At this point I’m scratching my head, I don’t know what to make of this whole thing.

He just out-twilighted the twilight zone and he was just getting started.

He takes one sip of that bourbon and drags us back to the underworld.

Encounters From the Bad Kind

Sometimes there were some people who would show up and tell me that they want to help, that they want to get that load off my back.

And by load, they mean people, they want take them somewhere.

But I don’t trust them, nobody does. There is this distinct air of deception about them.

They smell like rotten eggs, and they are wearing sunglasses. I mean, in the dead of the night.

“Beat it, Corey Hart!” I said to one of them.

What? He said to me.

“I wear my sunglasses at night” Don’t you know the song?

Please allow me to relieve you of this burden, can I take them away from you?

I snatch his sunglasses from him and the most terrifying thing happens:

His eyes looked small, sharp and pointy. I guess the best way to describe it is that they look like those vampires from 30 Days of Night.

At that point, I’m wondering if my mind is playing tricks on me. I’m wondering if subconscious is re-arranging old memories and playing them in a ghastly dream sequence.

I’m Stuck in a Nightmare From Which I’m Trying to Awake.

But they don’t look me in the face, they never look me in the face.

Our eyes can never meet, but they scared me. And I scared them.

I just kept going on. After all, what choice do I have?

One day, I figured they were demons. I convinced myself they were demons, what other explanation could it be?

I tried to convince myself that we are in purgatory, and those things are demons that wanted to take those lost souls to hell.

Gone were the days when I was true skeptic.

Skepticism was a luxury I could no longer afford.

I used to laugh at the paranormal and now I live in their kingdom.

The problem however, is that a third entity appeared. One that does not exist in the realm of religion nor deities nor theology.

Now I’m frozen, my heart drops, my mind hit the breaks.

The small hairs of my arms couldn’t get any further from my body. It’s bone-chilling.

Now I’m really terrified.

But not for the reasons you think, I’m terrified because he too, looks very familiar, and I have a feeling I know exactly what’s about to happen.

He has the answers I’m looking for.

I take a breath, I take it deep, I close my eyes. He says to me:

“You don’t remember, do you?”

… To Be Continued.

Image Sources: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6