50 Years

The windows were sealed from the inside, and the only light that filled the entire room was the strip of those that managed to break through from the lamp post outside.

It's probably midnight now but his mind was not on the time but on the things he had in mind.

He took a seat on his usual spot where he spent 15 years of his life. His eyes roamed around the entire property thinking of the many things that have happened to him and his family.

Now, like a dream, everything faded away. The life he so painstakingly built for them, the love he shared, and the laughter that filled that entire house, it was all gone.

Across him laid the one thing that crossed the boundaries of his evil thoughts and religious belief, a 1911 with a silencer on its muzzle.

He could not remember how it all happened. How he suddenly forgot everything that he lived for and allowed the devil inside him to take its toll and do what it wanted.

The past few days seemed like a blur, a drastic and worrisome blur that he didn't have much control over.

Despite how troublesome everything that has happened, he could not feel anything at all. He just lost everything a man could live for and yet no matter how hard he would think about it, he felt absolutely nothing.

++++++

February 14, 2020

It's Valentine's Day, a red day for everyone whose hearts are overwhelmed with Love for their other halves.

She spent the entire night tossing around her bed with all the random thoughts she could think of. The thought of being alone, the memories of her dead parents, and her recently cheated heart. Her nocturnal half has visited her again since three months ago.

She's been sleepless and not even a Calm Sleep App could help her. She prefers those over the usual pills.

She was never drug dependent and this side of her she knows would never stay. Her nocturnal self leaves whenever it wants. At least that's what she thinks.

She would not even dare to remember when was the last time she's had these sleepless nights. Like a functional human being, she has blocked most of the memories of what has caused those sleepless nights in the past.

She didn't want it to take over her entire being again. And just the thought of it would send chills to her spine.

She decided to rise from the bed she hastily displaced trying to get some sleep.

She carried along with her a tablet, her nightly companion lately, and filled out her percolator with water and started heating it.

She glanced at the pendulum clock hanging in a corner of her living room. It's saying that the time is 3 AM. As soon as the water was heated enough, she started making herself some coffee. She slumped into the floor as she opened her tablet and its light started reflecting towards her at eye level.

She opened a very familiar website that served as her go-to for any research she needed for her novels. It was a private wiki fandom website containing things about the Paranormal. The truth is, she created the website to gather information from people all around the world about the various paranormal experiences they've had. She started it with the help of a friend who's a website developer with the intention of only using it for research. But then it grew and became an occult of people with knowledge of the supernatural. The website developed into a source of information for everyone but she managed to keep it hidden as much as she can. It's a private website that needs a TOR browser for dark web browsing and can only be accessed through a paid membership.

Her members were reliable sources who had their own personal experiences of the paranormal and supernatural. Some of her members often recorded their experiences that guaranteed an exclusive experience to those who are too curious.

She never expected it to grow bigger than just a simple research website that's why she made sure she remained anonymous. She can't have anyone knowing she was the creator.

She sighed as she saw new contents that were included for the week. She visits the website daily. She's a novelist under a pseudonym at night and a freelance photographer by day.

She's barely managing in a month and her wiki page has been helping her get through.

She scrolled through all the content and did not find anything she would have disagreed on.

She sipped some coffee from her cup when she landed on an article within the site.

It was a story of an unsolved case in the country. It happened 50 years ago, where a family was massacred and buried under the patio of their own home. A mother, a sister, and three brothers.

She skimmed through the entire article and read the details of the horrific incident.

The article talked about the family's background and how they were known members of the community.

Everyone seemed to have described them as a family of polite and happy people.

Then one day their neighbors noticed that their house suddenly closed its doors from everyone. The windows were suddenly sealed from the inside and the mails were no longer received.

As the neighbors grew anxious about what was happening with the family, they started reporting the incident to the authorities and reviewed the timeline of when they last heard of them.

Someone very close to the family claimed that he was still receiving letters from the father of the family who was also his close friend.

But after a few weeks, there was no more trace that the family ever existed.

Police Officers came to the house only to find the house empty and very well cleaned.

There were no traces of clutter nor was there a chance that something fishy happened to the family.

She continued to read through the entire article. It was the first time she's heard of the story and it beguiled her interest.

She read through further. On the bottom part of the article was an archive of photos taken from the house of the family that was murdered 50 years ago.

Slowly, she reviewed all of the photos, each time cringing over the feeling of fear and terror.

Then an odd photo took her attention. It was the photo of a tan-colored single sofa. On its side table was a book with its title facing the camera based on how the picture was taken.

She zoomed in into the photo and noticed the Title. "The Naked Face".

Then as she stared out at the photo, she suddenly felt a strong force pulling her into the ground.

She wasn't slipping, she was literally falling, as though she was pulled by a very strong force she's too familiar with.

As her eyes closed, she was taken into a different place.

She was in someone else's living room. She was sitting across the single sofa she just saw on her tablet not too long ago.

For some reason, she is having a hard time moving. She was not tied up or anything. She just seemed incapable of doing anything.

Her insides started churning, predicting that something really bad is about to happen.

In the rarest instances of her life, it has happened again, she's in retrocognition. Her body and soul are visiting an event in the past.

Just right now, this event happened to be the crime she was reading a while ago.

She tried to look around. The place was dark and only a few streaks of light managed to get through from outside.

She looked up at the stairs where she soon heard footsteps coming down. The footsteps revealed leather shoes about thirteen in size. Her eyes followed the slow-motion of that who was descending the stairs. Her body was shaking with the chills she's been feeling.

How she wished she was not there. She's not prepared for what's to come.

As the shadow started forming into an actual man, she noticed a few details about him. He may be about 6'0 ft tall, and was wearing a long sleeves shirt, his jeans were torn on the right side as though someone has forcefully torn them. As though it was part of a great struggle. She also noticed how some blood seemed to have manifested from that part of the torn jeans.

Someone stabbed him, it was clear.

On his shoulder, he was lifting a heavy object covered in a black bag. She wondered what it was. But as soon as he managed to fully descend on the stairs, she saw how the tight form of the black bag molded a face. A woman's face.

It was then that her lips started to tremble. The churning of her insides has gotten much worse. Her sweat was getting colder by the minute.

She wanted to shout but no words, not even a single sound would come out. She was trapped in this nightmare and no one will be able to help her get out of it.

She felt herself crying because of how helpless she's feeling.

The next thing she sees is how the man laid down the body besides four other black bags that were also human-sized.

The fear was growing even worse inside her. Once he was done, he moved towards the single sofa and sat down.

He rubbed both his hands covered with surgical gloves against each other.

He looked calm and calculated. But she could not make out his face. The entire house was too dark for her to even figure out the colors of his eyes.

Then slowly, a creepy grin filled his lips. He seemed satisfied. Then slowly, he stood up and grabbed a gun with a silencer attached to it. He slowly walked towards where she was sitting helplessly.

She looked up as he bowed down on her grinning. The agonizing sensation of his grin was creeping all over her senses. It brought so many chills in her inside and made her shiver even more.

His left hand holding the gun slowly moved and pointed it at her temple.

As his grin widened, her fear has enveloped her entire system.

Then, she heard a slow click. And what proceeded was the loudest sound she would hear in her entire life.

As the sound of the bullet came rushing, she was back to that same forceful feeling she's had when she came to that place.

She was being pulled towards the ground as though it's wanting to eat her alive.

Her muffled screams slowly materialized and she heard herself crying in so much despair as she felt herself fall on the cold floor.

Her body was aching. She felt like the bullet managed to go with her along with her transition back into reality.

She found herself laying on the floor, her body worn out from the paranormal experience.

She was crying as she allowed herself to feel the beats of reality once again.

The pain was too real. It was never that painful nor exhausting.

But something about today's experience just felt different.

The force that was pulling her was too powerful. Today her body seemed to be in a manic and she has no clue how to stop it.

It was happening again. The one thing that she hated all her life. The gift that was given to her could now become her curse.

A lost soul was trying to reach out to her again but it came to her in the worst way possible.

She's not mentally and emotionally prepared to face this chapter again.

As she felt her body slowly relax, she started taking slow and deep breaths.

She needs to calm herself and think of what she can do to never experience that same thing that just happened all over again.

She can't go through that much pain anymore.

Not again.