Chapter 1: Nightmare (part 1)
The wind breezes through a dark, quiet forest. Inside it, lies a lonesome road that extends into the darkness. Disturbing it's quiet nature, an engine rumbled from the distance. Different odd species of creatures fled as the engine continues to rumble. However, they weren't fleeing from the rumbling noise.
An old brown hatchback sped through the road. Its engine were rumbling as if it was about to give its last roar.
A middle aged man anxiously checked his rearview mirror, staring at the mysterious thing chasing him. He doesn't know what it is, only that it looked like a hazy dark fog that engulfed its surroundings.
As the mysterious fog inches closer and closer, the man let out a flurry of curses louder than the rattling noises of the empty cans in the backseat of his car.
"Fuck, FUCK!" yelling at the top of his lungs.
Seeing the fog touch the trunk of his car, the man loses control of it and drove into the forest. Helplessly trying to regain control of the wheel, he swerved it avoiding the trees — making the cans collide everywhere and disrupt his focus.
Futilely trying to regain control, the fog eventually engulfed the car, leaving the man inside anxiously scared for his life. He looked at the darkness that surrounded him. The fog slowly seeped through the crevices of the car's doors. Just when he thought his life was about to be engulfed by the fog, a dim light flickered in front him. Like a saving grace in this darkness, the fog dissipated and retracted slowly.
The man couldn't help but be attracted to the flickering light as if it was calling for him. He rejoiced and immediately floored the gas pedal, heading to the flickering light.
With a grin on his face that slowly turned into a shock, the man saw a stone well a couple meters in front of him.
"Oh sh..."
Having no time to stop the car, he braced himself for impact, inevitably crashing onto the stone well — leaving him unconscious.
———
The man's eyes abruptly shot open, gasping for air. Forming a fist, he weakly pounded on his chest. Finally being able to breathe, he slowly leaned back on the seat while groaning in pain. Then, a sudden panic arose within him and he weakly tried to turn on the car. The rumbling of an engine exploded, unfortunately giving its last roar. The man's fist started to weakly pound on the steering wheel as he cursed the car. After calming down a bit, he put his hand on his head as he checked the condition of his injuries.
Surprised by his condition, the man saw the old scabs on his wrist and the blood covered cardigan that he wore. He didn't see and feel any heavy injuries, leaving him only exhausted. He wondered how he's still alive and feeling the disappointment of it.
"Guess I'll live a while longer," the man thought to himself.
Heavily breathing, he looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror. In the reflection, the man's scuffed greyish beard was tainted with blood. He had dark circles around his eyes and the once lushes black hair that he had, slowly turned into grey. Although he was only a middle aged man, the stress that he was dealing with made him age quicker.
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Seeing the dried blood and the small cut on his head, he started to focus on his surroundings.
"How did I get here?"
Hundreds of dimly lit stars and three small bright moons hung in the sky, rendering the surroundings to be dimly visible in the night.
Looking through the broken windshield.The man saw a dillapitated manor in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the tall grassy plains and the forest he was in was nowhere to be seen. Having checked his surroundings, and found no sign of the fog nearby, he sighed in relief.
"Finally that thing is gone."
Reaching for the door handle, the man stumbled out of his car, tripping on his way out.
"Oh, shit," he groaned as he failed to grab the door, face-planting on the grass.
"Got damn it.." the man mutters.
Staying face-planted on the ground for while, the man contemplated on the past events and how tired he is of all the things that happened to him, letting out a saddened groan every now and then.
'BZZZZ'
A sudden ringing and buzzing from his pocket startled him. Struggling to take out his cellphone, the man flipped it open and answered it. A mouthful of curses was immediately heard coming from it.
"Nigel, where the f..."
Not wanting to hear any more of it, Nigel hanged up the call and dropped the phone on the grass. Wanting to stay still for a while longer, he slowly forced himself to stand up, letting out a groan of dissatisfaction. Standing up, he held onto the hatchback's door and he regained his balance.
Craving for a smoke, he started to search his pockets for cigarettes and a lighter.
"Ah shit, two sticks left."
Nigel clumsily pulls out a cigarette and taps it. With his hands shaking trying to light the cigarette up, he accidentally dropped it.
" Ah... h..." Nigel mubbles.
Picking it back up and successfully lighting it up, he sighed in relief. As he was about to smoke it, an eerie sound came from the front of his car, startling him, and causing him to drop the cigarette again.
"Ahhhhhhhhh." Nigel let's out a yell.
Having enough of the terrible day, he bravely walked up to front of the wrecked hatchback and saw the broken well in front of it. He yelled at the well asking if anyone was in there.
"Anyone there?"
Hearing no answers, Nigel leaned on his car. After composing himself, he crouched down and looked for his cigarette.Seeing it still lit up, he grabbed it and immediately smoked it, releasing a small cloud of smoke. Feeling the stress lighten up a bit, he stood up and walked to the rear door of his car. As he opened the door, empty beer cans flowed out of it. With the cigarette on his mouth, he looked at the scattered empty beer cans and crawled inside to look for an unopened one.
As he was about to grab a beer, another eerie sound came from the well again, scaring him.
"Fuck," Nigel painfully mutters as he bumps his head on the roof of the car and accidentally biting his lips with the cigarette.
"What the hell is going on?" he mumbled to himself.
Clumsily crawling out of the car, Nigel walked up to the well again.
"HELLO? Is anyone in there?"
Hearing no answers again, he looked at the abandoned manor. It would have looked so prestigious and beautiful if it wasn't so badly damaged. The left side fully collapsed in, leaving only the right side standing three stories high. The once tall iron fence that protected it, lied crumbled on the ground overtaken by the tall grasses.
A small flicker of light coming from the second floor caught his eyes. A shadow of a rope and something hanging from it briefly appeared as the light flickered.
"What the hell is that?"
Staring at the flickering light, Nigel felt that the manor looked familiar. As he tried to recall on where he had seen this place, pain instantly surged through his head. His shaking hand slowly gripped his head, trying to mitigate the pain. After a couple of minutes, the pain slowly dissipated, leaving him sprawled and dazed on the ground.
'Bzzzzzzzz'
The phone on the ground started to ring — breaking him out of the daze. As he struggled to breathe, he reached for it and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Bzzzzzzzz" static noises emanated from the phone.
Nigel heavily coughed as he stared at his phone. Seeing that there was no signal, he hanged up the call and put it in his pocket. Painfully getting up, he went back into the car to rest.
Not knowing where he is and what had happened recently, Nigel closed his eyes, wishing for everything to end. These past few months had been very hectic for him. Mourning the passing of his wife, and no offsprings left in this world, tears rolled down his eyes. As he reminiced of the past, he reached out for the rose engraved brass locket hanging on his neck.
"I really miss all of you..."
A family of four, happily smiling, appeared as he opened the locket. Wanting to go back to the good old times, Nigel burst into tears.
"Just what have I done..."
Having his tears dried up, he fell into a slumber.