9/11 Short Stories

The night was tempestuous and my emotions were subtle, like the flame upon a torch. They blew out at the same time that my sense of tranquility dispersed, as if the winds had simply come and gone. The shrill scream of a young girl ricocheted off the walls and for a few brief seconds, it was the only sound that I could hear. It was then that the waves of turmoil commenced to crash upon me. It seemed as though every last one of my senses were succumbed to disperse from my reach completely. As everything blurred, I could just barely make out the slam of a door from somewhere alongside me and soon, the only thing that was left in its place was an ominous silence.

"You're up next sweetie."

"I am?" I inquired. The stormy eyed woman

smiled down at my helpless body. Although for a second, it felt like a snarl. I gulped, my short lived breath clustering up inside of my throat and nearly choking me of fright. She didn't wait though. Instead she pushed me ahead with the curtain wide agape, spilling into an empty void of darkness.

BOO! The sound of metal scraping against metal pervaded the dull, vacant hallway, sending a shiver up my spine. The limp body of my younger sister paralyzed with fear was the only thing of warmth I could locate in the nightmare dungeon. Footsteps bounced across the walls and from my vantage point, I could make out the silhouette of a tall, scrawny figure gazing down at us with his hazardous eyes. My sister yelped in fear and dug deeper inside of me; using my arm as her shield to protect her from our surroundings.

As the vehicle of two progressed further into the depths of the dungeon, I continued to drown amidst the waves of paranoia. Ironically, my insides were set ablaze with turmoil and the eerie thing was; fire and water rarely ever mixed. An unnaturally cool arm dug into my left shoulder and I panicked, believing for certain it was my sister out cold. But once again, I was foolishly mistaken. An eerie cackle filled the air and when I turned, it was a woman taunting us. "Hello children." She rasped and as we went further and further, the yearning to revert from this unsettling predicament became greater, until the proximity of it paralyzed me as it did to my sister.

"I'm really scared now big sis. I want to get off and I want to go home!" She cried and I whispered into her ear.

"It's almost over. We'll be out of this soon."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

Accordingly, as the vehicle rounded one corner after another, dim lights began flickering in our presence.

They revealed headless humans hung on chains and innumerous distorted faces. The sound of something similar to that of a disembodied spirit could be heard from all angles. I wasn't nearly as frightened as my sister, though, so I made it my sole responsibility to protect her. "We're going to make it out of here and then you won't have to come back any more." The vehicle turned yet another corner and we came to a standstill with the ancient concrete wall.

SCREECH! Subsequently, we were through the first and second door of the demonic horror land, eventually arriving at the gate of the third. Like transparent ghosts, we slid through the thick curtain as the doors repeatedly slammed behind us. A figure wrapped in linen cloth came chasing after us and I willed the vehicle to go faster, but it slowed against my control. Thus, I sat grasping the railing tightly in case something even horrid should rise unexpectedly through the depths of the floorboards. "I'm going to have nightmares!" My sister whimpered.

"No you're not. It's going to be okay. Remember the four year old we saw going on?" I embraced her tighter and it was then that I realized that I'm horrible at comforting

people.

Thereupon, I witnessed the beheading of what might have once been a dainty young woman. As terrifying moans filled the narrow, creaky hallway resulting in an unsettling silence, we were nearing a shadowy figure in a dingy mirror. I felt my heart jerking with the adrenaline rushing through me. "CREAK, CREAK, CREAK- AAGH!" An old hag jumped out at us, but as I swallowed my incoming scream; I could sense my sister trembling. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"No! I just want this to stop!" She tightened her hold on me. Luckily for us, as we swiftly passed one horror after another, the ride became quite relaxing for a while and I knew we were coming to a halt.

Consequently, I smiled, believing for certain that this nightmare had been terminated. I had survived the Dante's Dungeon, a terror-stricken amusement park ride indeed. Unfortunately, at the edge of the boundary between the rough sea and calm sand, there was still one more horror on hold.

"Welcome back."