Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction created for entertainment and reading purposes. The characters, events, places, and situations depicted are fictional unless otherwise stated, and any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased, or real events or places is purely coincidental. The story may contain fictional situations, themes, or material that may not be suitable for every reader. Some images accompanying this story may be generated using Google Gemini and may be fictional, stylized, or interpretive and may not accurately represent real people, places, objects, or events.

( A horror short story about a mysterious book, a sudden power outage, and two familiar faces that become terrifying. This short mystery story blends suspense, supernatural unease, and a haunting question about what is real and what is not.)

It was a starry night myself Rudy, my friends Liam, Judy, George, Lili, and I were sitting on the car in a parking lot. We were all workers enjoying the weekend by getting together once in a while to drink and have fun. As we were drinking and eating while chit-chatting, Judy, who was sitting opposite me, interrupted us by saying, “Come on, this chit-chat doesn’t work. While we all talk about the office and colleagues, why don’t we talk about something where we have experienced unusual days or events?”

I chuckled at what Judy said, while most of the others thought it would be fun. Since we all enjoyed chit-chatting and it was decided what we were doing, I went with the flow. One by one, everyone started and ended their stories while I was listening to them with great curiosity under the starry night.

After a while, my turn came. Judy looked at me and asked for my unusual experience as if he was waiting for my turn. I believed it was for good, since we had been good friends for a long time, but I had never discussed my life with him or, to be specific, with anyone. So, I kept my glass on the table, which was in front of me, brought my hands closer to the glass while covering it, and started my story.

“Uhh, where do I start from?” I spoke to my friends.

Well, my experience starts like this: my friend Lisa and I, both fond of reading books, find self-help books very helpful.

It was a sunny day, and I was in the library to spend my holidays worthily. Like me, Lisa was also into reading books, so she was in the library with me that day. I was reading a book named Medulla, which was all about how the mind works. That specific day, I was in the last chapter of that book. In simple words, I was close to finishing reading it. Exactly that’s what happened: I finished that book, got up from my chair, and put the book on the shelf.

Lisa, who was sitting in front of me, asked, “Did you finish reading?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“That’s awesome! Then are you going home now?” asked Lisa.

For her question, I looked at the time on the wall of the library, turned towards her, and said, “I think that’s it for today. I am planning to go home now.”

To reply, Lisa stood up from the chair and kept her book on the shelf. Looking at her, I assumed she was leaving the library with me, and that’s exactly what happened. We left the library, went to a nearby coffee stall, and had coffee while talking about random things. As our conversation got over, we left the stall and departed for our homes accordingly.

I came home around 7:45 PM. As I entered the house, I tiptoed to hide from my mom’s furious gaze—even though I was careful—as they say, nothing stays hidden. My mom, who was inside the kitchen cooking dinner, greeted me with the words I would avoid hearing.

“Ohh, you finally came, you brat!” Mom spoke loudly.

“Yes, I was totally into completing the book, so it took this long to come home, Mom,” I replied.

“For God’s sake, come home early, you jobless, since I am alone at home! At least you can do that,” Mom said to me.

“Okay, I will from here onwards,” I replied to her.

I observed that there was a power cut in my village. It usually happens in summer. Because of that, I missed the show I wanted to watch. Anyways, it has become a habit now to go with the flow. Since I missed that show, I wanted to replace it with something that would keep me occupied until dinner. So, I entered my room and picked up my laptop to watch something that would occupy my time. Interestingly, I found one good movie to binge, which resolved my problem.

A quarter of the way into the movie, I heard a slight, faint sound from the hall. Out of curiosity, I kept my ear towards the direction of the sound. I found out that it was a knock at the door. Quickly, I called my mom, who was in the kitchen cooking, and told her, “There is someone at the door. Can you look at it?”

“Why don’t you go and see who it is?” Mom replied.

“I am a bit busy here working on the laptop. Please go and check,” I told Mom.

“Okay, then I will go and look who it is,” she replied.

She went to the door to check who it was. She lifted her hands up, opened the bolt, and, gripping the handle, tried to pull it backwards to open it. As the door opened with a creaking sound, the door handle came off too. Since it was kind of an old door, it was expected because we had been planning to repair it. Somehow, it had become a hassle to handle the door without its handle.

Anyways, after the door got opened, she looked outside to see who it was. To her surprise, it was her cousin Joh. He is one of those who usually hangs out in our house to kill time by talking about random things—you can think of him like an employee who never forgets to punch his attendance.

After seeing who it was with an unusual face, she kept the handle behind her back and hid it.

“What? How come you are here today?” Mom asked.

“As usual, to kill time with my brother-in-law. And for heaven’s sake, there is a power cut, which makes a great environment to talk outside! Where is my brother-in-law? By the way, why are you holding your hands behind your back with that kind of face?” Joh asked.

“Well, as for the first question, he is going to come home late today since he got stuck with work at the office. And for the second…” While bringing her hands to the front and swinging the handle side to side, she continued, “this broke again, as it has been kind of a hassle to handle. But don’t worry, it will be done when Pluno gets a job.”

I was definitely sure that while saying that, she gave a side eye towards my room.

“Why don’t you come inside? As I was preparing the food, once it is done, you can leave after having dinner here,” Mom offered.

“Ohh, is it? Pluno getting a job would be a lot better, but then again I should take my leave. Since he is not here, it would be boring to talk to you, since you talk only about your unofficial meetings, which I don’t have interest in,” Joh said to Mom in a funny way.

Mom, who was furious at that time, pulled his ear and dragged him into the kitchen with the words, “You find my conversation uninteresting, you damn brat? Today I am not gonna leave you till you hear my conversation!”

As she was teasing Joh, I was laughing at their scene from my room, but again sad that I didn’t have any job at that time since I was searching for one.

Some time passed, and I could hear my mom and her cousin talking. In between those conversations, I could hear another sound. When I concentrated a bit more, I found there was another knock on the door. This time, I didn’t want them to talk about my job again, so I went to open the door rather than hear it again.

After opening it, I found out that it was my neighbor named Jacob. He is also one of those who visits our house frequently to chat with my father, since they have been buds for some time. I thought he was here now to do the same thing.

He looked at me for a while and asked, “How are you doing?”

“By the way, where is your father? Is he inside?”

“No, he has not come yet. He has some work, so he is running late today,” I said.

“Ohh, no worries. I will come back tomorrow then.”

As he turned to head back home, my mom, who was cooking, peeked a bit and asked, “Who is that?”

“Ohh, it is Jacob Uncle. He wanted to meet Dad, but I told him he is not here, so he left,” I told my mom, then closed the door.

As I walked a few feet, another knock came. So I turned back and opened it. A gush of wind hit me in the face. While I looked from side to side of my house, there was no one. But when I looked down, a few pages of a book had fallen. Observing the wind speed, I thought maybe this was what made that sound, and I closed the door again.

My mom peeked from the kitchen and asked who it was, and I said, “No one, just the wind.” With this, I went back to my room.

As time went on, Mom’s cousin and my mom finally ended their chit-chat. With a final goodbye, he left the house around 9:50 PM. I was relieved because I was too hungry. As I was thinking the same, Mom called me with a shout and asked me to help her serve the food.

I went with the flow, and we served the food ourselves and ate dinner. Mom asked me a lot of questions, like how the day was, what books I read, and some educational questions. Since I was preparing, I wasn’t surprised, because she was an educated person with a degree. As I answered all the questions, we quietly had dinner while chit-chatting.

As our dinner got finished, Mom asked me to help with the dishes. Rejecting that, I said, “I am pretty much busy with my studies.”

“At least put them in the back. I will do them myself,” she said.

Plan successful, I told myself.

As I moved all the dishes to the back, she also came to the back to wash them. As everything was moved, I turned around, wanting to go inside my room. But when I peeked into the hallway, I saw something like dark figures standing there. Since there was a power cut, I thought maybe the too-dark area was giving me an illusion. I would have gone a bit further to check upon it, but for some reason, I wasn’t confident enough.

Neglecting all those feelings, I moved a few feet, staring at the hallway, believing there was nothing. But for my situation, it was bad. As I got closer and closer to my room, I could clearly see it wasn’t an illusion, but two shadowy figures standing in front of the door.

Looking at that from my perspective, filled with fear, I turned back to run towards the back where my mother was washing the dishes. Since I ran towards her, I was having a hard time breathing.

Mom looked at me and asked, “What happened? Why are you short of breath?”

“Mom, I think there is someone in front of the door!” I told her.

“What do you mean? Didn’t you close it properly when your uncle left?” Mom asked.

“I certainly did! As I said bye to Uncle, I closed it properly,” I said.

“So then, you are scared, aren’t you? Hahaha!” she said, laughingly, bewildering me.

“Mom, I am not joking. There is someone at the door!” I told her.

“Is it? You scaredy-cat? I will see.”

With this, Mom took the torch which was beside her and lit the corridor. I was hiding behind my mom without looking at the corridor. After seeing it, Mom turned towards me. Keeping the torch to her cheek, she lit her face with a scary expression.

“Yes, there is, and they are looking for you!” Mom told me, laughingly.

“Don’t scare me like that! I am already scared of those figures!”

“See, didn’t I tell you there are figures there?” Hitting me on the head in a funny way, she said, “You scaredy-cat, there is no one.” Moving her hands in weird shapes, she added, “It’s all in your imagination.”

With this, she put her torch back on the floor and started doing the dishes. “If you are too scared, start cleaning the dishes so we can go back inside together,” Mom said again.

“No, I have work,” I said.

After this, I confidently walked inside, staring at the corridor. As I looked closer, I felt there was someone there again. I ran back to my mom, saying, “Definitely, didn’t you see anyone? Because there is definitely someone there, I can promise you that!” I shouted to Mom.

“Okay, okay, I am gonna see what is there, so be relaxed. Let me finish the dishes first.”

She started doing the dishes again.

“Mom, there is no time. Please look into it early, as I am scared. What if they catch me!”

“Now I am scared. Let me see what is there so I can beat you properly this time if there is no one.”

She got up, took the torch, and lit the corridor. This time, I was watching with her.

Surprisingly, she looked back at me and asked, “Did you lock the door properly?”

And here I was, looking at the corridor, where now I could clearly see that there were two figures staring straight through the corridor like they had been waiting for something to happen.

As I was lost in seeing the figures, Mom asked me, “Did you lock the door properly? Because all I can see is our neighbor and my cousin looking straight towards us.”

And she started talking to herself without waiting for an answer. “Wait, last time I looked, there was no one, and the door was closed with a proper bolt locked. Then how come they are inside?”

With every murmur, she started to realize there was something wrong. Even if they wanted to prank me, why would the neighbor join them? It didn’t make sense.

By shaking my shoulder, she woke me up from my lost state and told me, “As you said, I am seeing two figures, which definitely feels like a prank.”

With a blank expression, I said, “No, why would I prank you when I have no interest?”

Accepting what I said, she finally understood something was wrong. I could see her genuinely getting scared, but with her wit, she dragged me to the side and said, “I will go and ask them in a friendly manner. You don’t come inside, okay?”

With these words, she entered the house holding the torch while talking casually to them, while I was watching her from behind with nothing to do.

She moved towards them, flashing the light towards the hall, asking them questions like, “Ohh, you guys are back? Is there anything that you forgot, like a mobile or notes or anything that has been left behind?”

First, she torched her cousin’s face, thinking they would answer. But the more she asked, the creepier it got. Rather than answering her, they were looking straight as if they didn’t want to speak. Their faces were completely blank, without any expression—unlike a few minutes ago, when her cousin was happy and talkative while I was hearing all that chatter from my room.

Now, while she was asking in hopes that nothing was wrong, the situation was made even worse by how they were dead silent.

Hats off to my mom—while she was questioning them, she was moving around them in a way that hid her motive of opening the door from the inside. Once she did that, she moved to the front, looking directly into the neighbor’s eyes, asking him the same questions. Since there was no movement from him either, she lifted the light she had and hit the neighbor on the head, making him unconscious!

Here I was, looking at the scenes unfolding, keeping my hands on my mouth, not believing what had happened exactly here and now.

My mom casually dragged the neighbor outside the house. While all this was happening, her cousin didn’t even blink to stop what was happening. Rather, he was looking straight through the corridor.

As the neighbor was dragged out, she looked at the surroundings to see if anyone was there. Surprisingly, there was no one. Having no option, she came behind her cousin and held him from the back to drag him out. As I remember, she was an athlete in her prime, so it was expected.

While she was trying her best to drag him out, he was not budging from his position. Seeing her efforts, I couldn’t simply stand behind and watch. So I ran towards the corridor to push him from one side while she was pulling from the other side.

Rather, a strange thing happened. All this time, while he had a blank expression, he finally turned to an evil smile, like he was waiting for me.

The moment I got near him, he kicked me in the guts! I fell down on my back on the floor, screaming, “Huhh, it hurts, it hurts!”

It was all happening while my mom was holding him. After that, he got free from my mom’s hold and pushed her. While shaking her hands, she also fell on the floor outside the house.

He came back and lunged at me. First, he hit me with his hands and held my head from the top, looking straight into my eyes, screaming, “I was waiting for this!”

Then all went blank and filled with light, making me blind.

Maybe it was a few minutes later when I woke up. My mom was shaking her hands like the aftermath of clearing dust from them. I saw the door was closed.

She came near me, asking, “Are you ok?”

I said, “I am,” as if nothing happened. While my eyesight had tunnel vision, clearing out into a wide view, something was holding me back from spouting those words.

My mom, who had thrown them out, finally spoke, “Creepy bastards gone out. It’s good that I wrestled in my earlier days—don’t know when it comes in handy.” And she went on to wash the dishes as if she didn’t care about what had just happened.

---

As I finished my story, I looked at my friends, who were sitting on the car while enjoying drinks.

I said, “So this is my story. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but for me, what happened that day is still a mystery. Whether it was a dream or reality, I couldn’t find out myself, but the reality is I am out here living life to the fullest extent.”

“That’s one way to tell a creepy story like it is horror! But I don’t believe it, though. I can give you points for the story—it made my day,” said Judy, followed by the others.

“I think we should go now. It’s 10 already,” George said, looking at his watch.

Agreeing to that, everyone went on their way, while I looked at them with tunnel vision.