The Night Hag

Photo by Jeffrey Keenan on Unsplash

If you’re reading this, something bad happened to me. I can’t go into the details, though. I don’t have time for that. But there’s one thing you must know, nonetheless.

Something wicked roams these highlands, deep into the jagged mountains and far away from the nearest civilisation.

My boyfriend, Rami, and I only wanted to set off on an adventure and hike these virgin hills untouched by humanity. Had I known what I now knew, I wouldn’t have insisted on coming here.

Rami had always been the more careful one out of the two of us. He was raised in these highlands and knew that one could never be too careful around these rolled hills.

It was the second day of our hike.

We put the tent up a little further from the area reserved for the campers. There was no reason behind this decision, not one worth pondering, at the very least.

Socially, I was a wreck. Rami said I might be on the autism spectrum. I didn’t like being around other people, not to mention talking to them.

My boyfriend, of course, was a pleasant exception. We met back in college during an elective course (English Literature Criticism) and clicked right away. But enough of that.

Time flew by before either of us knew it. The overcast sky darkened and the grey clouds obscured the twinkling stars in the otherwise clear welkin.

When the downpour picked up and drenched everything in ice-cold drops, we retreated to the tent and decided to sleep to the sound of raindrops.

Things, as you are now aware, didn’t go as we planned.

I woke up to pee in the dead of night. I wasn’t much of a drinker and the tiny glass I had hours before wouldn’t let me doze off.

So, I unzipped the tent and stepped out.

The rain had slowed down and the weather become less frigid. Squatting down in one corner of the woods, I stared up at the clearing sky and observed the thousands of stars greeting back.

But not for long.

A scream jolted me back to reality. It came from within the wooded hill to my right. Growing louder, a shrill scream of a woman in great distress chilled me to the bone.

I pulled up my trousers and ventured into the depths without a second thought.

As soon as I set foot in the wooded vicinity, the screams faded away as if they were never there, to begin with. For the briefest of seconds, I thought my mind conjured up all of this.

Until then.

A scrawny figure emerged from the dark, shadowy and almost invisible to the naked eye. Hunching forwards like an old woman, the unfamiliar figure drew closer.

“W- who’s this?”

No answer.

I backed away, wetting my lips. “H- hello?” I only looked away for a second when the woman, as if by magic, stood only a few steps away from me.

In the panicked state I was in, I lost my footing trying to make a break for it and fell.

Grimacing, I shut my eyes and awaited the inevitable. But nothing happened. The scuffing woman trod past me and carried on towards the unzipped tent.

I held my breath as a wolfish grin appeared on her hideous face full of blemishes.

Rami!

But my legs wouldn’t move. Paralysed by an invisible force, I watched as the woman entered the tent.

That was when I finally realised what the woman was. A night hag.

Riding my boyfriend, the hag screamed her head off, louder and louder, until every other sound drowned out into the void – even my own irregular heartbeat.

Her slinging tongue was as long as her grimy hair. Her limbs were as thick as the legs of a deer – growing longer and longer with no end in sight until they no longer fit inside the tent.

I stifled a harrowing scream, covering my mouth to keep it from escaping. Before I knew it, I found myself in front of the tent.

The hag dug its teeth into my boyfriend, savouring his flesh with its crooked tongue and rotting teeth full of maggots.

When she turned to face me, the crimson blood smeared on her ugly face washed away the blemishes and turned her into a beautiful woman.

I backed away.

The hag shoved my boyfriend’s lifeless body into the pool of blood beneath him and came closer, taking her sweet time.

“W- what do you… do you—”

I followed the hag’s sinister eyes to the wooded hill behind me.

She wasn’t the only one hiding in plain sight. Hundreds, if not thousands, of dark figures emerged from within the murk and drew closer.

With their outstretched hands, they chanted a macabre song and demanded I give up. But I couldn’t throw in the towel without putting up a fight.

“Let… let me live! Let me—”

She placed a skeletal finger on her plump lips and hushed me, now crimson red and swollen like a young woman’s.

“Then you must become one of us…”

“W- what?” I briefly looked away. “What do I… what do I have to do to- to become one of you?”

She pointed at the tenth. Rami was still alive. His face was unrecognisable, torn and ripped apart, so that the flesh underneath his skin was visible.

I knew what she wanted me to do.

I loved Rami, I really did. He was the best thing that ever happened to me.

But the thing is, he shouldn’t have cheated on me.

The Man with the Bunny Mask

 Photo by Blake Lisk on Unsplash

“I really have to pee, Dad!”

Thomas peeked at his son, 12-year-old Lucas, through the rear-view mirror. It was easy to tell that the kid meant every word he said.

Just when he thought nothing could top getting lost in the dead of night, far away from the nearest civilisation, this happened. How in the world did things end up like this?

The GPS kept telling him to turn right at each turn as if it was pre-programmed to do so. Not to mention he had nothing to rely on but this stupid machine getting on his nerves.

There was no use in bringing a map, either. He wouldn’t be able to read it. His generation was one of the first who got access to the digital world, and by the time he reached adulthood and grew his own family, all the things the generations before him learned by heart, got lost somewhere down the thread of life.

“Dad! I can’t hold it in anymore!”

“Hang on, bud! We’re almost there! I promise!”

“You said that, like, an hour ago! I- I can’t keep it in!”

With bated breath, now visibly more antsy than moments before, Thomas pulled the car to the side of the lane lined with towering trees and thicket and hit the brakes. In the chaos, he forgot to turn off the engine and dragged his son further into the woods.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Hmm! But Dad?”

“What is it?”

His son hesitated. “Remember that time I asked if I could put on that pumpkin costume for Halloween? The one Mum brought?”

“I do. Why do you—”

“Mum didn’t buy it for me.”

“She didn’t?”

Lucas averted his gaze. “The thing is… I- I was going to tell you! I really was! But he told me not to!”

“He?” Thomas couldn’t help but lean forwards upon hearing the distress in his son’s voice. “Who are you talking about?”

“The man with the bunny mask! He said you’d be very angry if I told you about him!”

“The- the man with the bunny mask?”

“Hmm! He said he’d prepare a gift for me if I kept my word! And it worked! Dad, it really worked!”

“Hold on a sec!” he said, no longer able to hide the confusion in his voice. “What- what do you mean? Lucas?” His voice trailed off as he turned around to follow his son’s gaze. “What are you looking at, buddy?”

There was no one there save their car with the headlights on.

“Lucas? Lucas, what are you looking at?”

Lucas’s voice fell to a whisper. “He brought Mum. Look! She’s right there! In front of the car! Dad, can’t you see her? She’s…” His eyes grew narrower. “But why’s Mum crying? She’s supposed to be happy!”

Thomas spun around in place. The harrowing cries came from all directions. But it wasn’t a cry of despair or joy, it was one fraught with horror.

The headlights switched off. Everything plunged into darkness.

“Wait a minute! That’s not Mum! Dad, that’s not Mummy! He lied to me!”

“Lucas? Son? Look at me. That’s right! What… No, don’t cry. There you go… Let’s… let’s calm down and have a chat, okay? Lucas? You gotta answer me.”

“Y- yes, Dad.”

“All right… Good boy. Now, tell me what’s going on. Who’s the man in the bunny mask? What did you… did you promise him?”

“He- he said he’d bring Mum back! But he lied to me, Dad!”

“I know. I know… It’s okay. You didn’t know he’d lie, right?”

The screams grew louder.

“He’s- he’s hurting her, Dad! We need to do something!”

Thomas seized him as he was about to return to the single-lane road plunged into pitch-black darkness.

“We gotta stay here and not make a single sound, okay?”

“But- but—”

“Lucas, promise me. Hmm?”

He nodded. Thomas loosened his grip and placed a kiss on his head before letting go.

“What did you promise the man in the bunny mask, Lucas?”

Lucas leaned in and pulled him by the ear. “He said Mummy’s in pain and that she doesn’t like being cold. If I… if I only did as he told me, he said he’d bring her back to us and that- and that we could become a family again!”

“What did you do, Lucas?”

“I…”

“It’s okay, buddy. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while. I certainly did when I was your age. You can tell me…”

“That pumpkin costume. He said Mummy’s cold and needs to wear it. I- I knew you would be angry, so I didn’t tell you!”

“You… went to the graveyard? When? Lucas! When did you go to the graveyard?”

“Are you upset with me?”

Thomas scratched the back of his head, trying to calm his nerves and appear less agitated than he really was.

“No, no… I’m just… surprised.”

“Two days ago. I went there with the man with the bunny mask.”

“You did what?”

“I- I know I shouldn’t have and that you told me not to speak to strangers. But Dad! He’s not a stranger! He said you knew him and that you were good buddies! He even showed me a picture!”

“Picture…?”

Lucas nodded. “He said you’d remember him by his bunny mask!”

Thomas backed away as memories flooded his mind.

It was the 31st of October 2008.

He went trick-or-treating with his friends from school. They were all roughly the same age. Jasper, Lee, and him. The three musketeers. Everyone in their neighbourhood knew they were inseparable.

Lee was calmer in nature than both him and Jasper. He came from a spiritual household and hated religion like a pest. He was also the oldest of them – and the more pessimistic one – who always brought the mood down with his scientific and overly realistic approach to everything.

Jasper, on the other hand, was wild. Literally. Nothing in this world could control or slow him down. It was thanks to him they went on the most absurd of adventures after school. He was an only child and his family lived in the more affluent parts of their neighbourhood.

There was this kid everyone used to bully. Jasper called him ‘The Fatty’. No one knew his real name. Unlike the other kids in their neighbourhood, The Fatty rarely went to school or played outside in the nearby playground.

The Fatty and his family lived in a ramshackle house two blocks from Lee. Whenever they visited Lee to call him outside to play, they would pass by the crumpling building and get the heebie-jeebies.

That night, on Halloween night, Jasper suggested they all dress up as cut-throat pigs and pull a prank on The Fatty. So, they went to the crumpling house and knocked on the just as battered door.

None of them expected The Fatty to join them. The moment Jasper asked if he wanted to come trick or treating with them, he replied ‘yes’ without wasting a second.

The poor thing had no costume to wear and was blatantly self-aware of it as they went from house to house down the neighbourhood. That was why none of the doors they knocked on gave him any sweets.

Lee saw the bunny mask first. It was caked in mud on the pavement and had become soaking wet by the downpour. It was obvious that The Fatty didn’t want to wear the bunny mask, but Jasper kept asking him to wear it. Both Lee and Thomas knew that Jasper wouldn’t let The Fatty off the hook that easily.

To commemorate the fateful night, they even took a picture in front of Lee’s house and printed it out at Jasper’s place. What none of them knew, as The Fatty went around with that hideous mask, was that it would be anything but a plain night.

It was the day after Halloween night.

The school and most other institutions were on break, so everyone was at home. His big sister, Kathy, was the first one who notice that the neighbourhood the news talked about was theirs. She screamed her off telling them to all hurry to the drawing room and watch the news.

His dad worked as a janitor and hadn’t been on a break the entire year. When he left the kitchen, he told Kathy, ‘It’d better be worth my time’. It was.

The Fatty had slaughtered his entire family and then called the police afterwards. They found him wearing the bunny mask still and couldn’t explain why he did what he did. Apparently, after having a chat with Jasper and Lee, Thomas learnt that the poor kid said, ‘The mask made me do it’.

When the authorities brought him to the juvie and locked him up for good, there was but one thing he kept repeating: ‘This is not the end.’

Thomas snapped back to reality. When the memories dispersed, he realised that his son was no longer there. He turned around without knowing why.

The Fatty forced the bunny mask over his son. As they met eyes for the first time in many years, a wolfish grin appeared on The Fatty’s face. It was no longer concealed behind the hideous mask.

As his son drew closer with a knife clutched tight, The Fatty went up in smoke and disappeared. That was when he noticed something. The woman lying on the ground, right in front of the switched-off headlights, it was his wife.

The crooked knife… it was already plunged in crimson blood.

Now it all made sense.

That day, when he went out of town to tend to business in the south, it wasn’t a robber who took her out and made him a widower. Just for how long had his son been in contact with The Fatty? He’d probably never know.

Moreover, what had become of Lee and Jasper? Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t heard from either of them ever since his wife passed away.

What day was it, again? Right… It was Halloween night.

Just like it was today.

The Shapeshifter

Photo by Sixties Photography on Unsplash

I didn’t know what to do.

My parents, sister and brother have not returned. I called my sister, Annika, roughly two hours ago. She said they crossed the railway bridge and would be at home in twenty or so minutes.

It has been several hours already. I figured they swung by the gas station near the intersection to buy snacks or something at first. Now I wasn’t so sure about that. I couldn’t stop thinking that something bad went down. 

Christopher just got his driving license and Dad said he’d let that fool drive back home from their trip to Grandma. She lived in a nursing home in another state and had surgery a week ago. Her surgeon said she’d live another year if everything went well.

The wall lamp on the porch kept switching on and off. I thought they’d arrived the first time it happened an hour ago. But our car, a white Volvo, had not pulled up in the driveway.

Then it flickered on a few more times after this. I counted the time between each switch after the third time – six minutes elapsed between each.

Four minutes passed since the last time it switched on. I’ve locked all the doors. Both the porch and driveway were vacant. No one was there, trying to prank me. So why did the light keep switching on? It was driving me up the wall. 

 I sent Mum a message fifteen minutes ago and asked if she could call our neighbour, Mr Bourgon, and ask if he could see anything suspicious outside.

Mr Bourgon caught a few burglars red-handed over the years and had a double-barrelled shotgun. Ann and I saw him shoot some rats a few years back even, when our working-class neighbourhood got overcrowded with those gnawers. 

It happened again. The light flickered on. Wait, what was that noise? A car pulled up in the driveway. It didn’t sound like our car, though. That girl was almost three decades old and I’d recognise it if it was her.

Dad got her from his broke uncle, who used to sell foreign cars in the ghetto for a cheap price. Mum said almost all parts had been replaced with cheap parts, and that it was most likely stolen from some Scandinavian tourists back in the ‘90s.

Okay, turns out I was wrong. It was our car. But I couldn’t see anyone in it. I called Dad this time. No one picked up the phone.

I refreshed the screen more often than I wanted to admit, but not even Mum replied. Just what was going on? Why were none of them replying to me? 

The car’s all right. It was still dark outside since the light switched off again, but I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. 

I got a call from Ann. She hung up when I asked where she was. The light stopped turning on and off for good, by the way. Maybe I should call the police?

Annika called again. Someone was breathing on the other end of the line this time. I couldn’t tell if it was her, though. It wasn’t like my sister to do such a thing, you know, pulling pranks on me. She was ten years older and had been an adult the longest, while I was eleven and Christopher seventeen years old.

Chris liked to tease me a lot. He was a fool, though. He never played video games with me but would always scream his head off on the phone while playing Battle Royale with his friends. Online friends, that is, because he was socially inept.

One time I caught him swearing and ratted him out to Dad. Dad took his phone away as a punishment. He wasn’t allowed to be online for two weeks. He got all sulky after that one time and said I was being an idiot and that he hated me. 

Ann said he’d grow out of it someday, but he kept getting worse. Mum and Dad kinda gave up on him; I overheard them talk the other day. Dad said he was going to kick him out or something so that he’d learn how to fend for himself sooner rather than later.

My sister was on a visit over the holidays. She studied mechanical engineering out of town and had not paid a visit in the last couple of months. Mum said she’d graduate before the summer break. Dad was stoked, of course.

But I kept hearing Ann cry every night. Our bedrooms were next to each other. Every night, as soon as she thought we were all asleep, I’d hear her raise her voice at someone and choke up. I think she was talking to her boyfriend. 

Mum sent a message. It wasn’t a reply, though, just random words that had somehow come together. It looked like something an illiterate child would punch in without knowing what the heck it was doing

 I sent her a message and asked why our car was in the driveway. She read the message as soon as I sent it. Then I heard something. It came from Annika’s bedroom upstairs. 

The only thing out of the ordinary was a cracked window in her room. I closed it and went downstairs to find the front door ajar. Someone was in here with me.

I picked up our spare keys from the drawer and went outside. I was thinking of waking up Mr Bourgon until another call came through. This time, it was from Chris. I still remember how the conversation went. It was so random. Then again, it all made sense in the end. 

“Chris, where are you—”

“You up, kiddo?”

“Hmm. I’ve been up since a while ago. Where are you? There’s nobody in the car.”

“What are you doing outside?”

“I think someone’s in the house. I’m going over to—”

“Wait, what’d just say?”

“Someone’s in the house, and- and I don’t know what to do, Chris! I’m afraid. I want Mum. Where are you? I can’t see you guys anywhere.”

“What do [unintelligible] can’t see me?”

“You’re not—can you see me? Chris?”

“I’m staring right at ya, buddy. Look at the window.”

I looked up at the second window from the left. No one was there.

“You’re not there, Chris, stop fooling around! I said I was scared! I’m gonna tell Mum when she comes home!”

“Dennis [unintelligible]. Like, did you hit your head or something?”

“No…?”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m not looking at you, stupid! You’re not even here! Nobody is! I’m scared. It’s so dark. Where’s Mum and Dad?”

“What are you [unintelligible] holding?”

“The phone, duh! The one you conned me into taking, remember? You said—”

“I know what I said! I’m not talking ‘bout the damn phone!”

“Watch your language or else—”

“I said, stop! Dennis, stop! What’re you doing? Where’d you [unintelligible]—isn’t that Ann’s?”

“Chris? Hello?”

“When did you [unintelligible]? I said—you okay, buddy?”

“Hello…? I can’t hear you, Chris! Chris! Christopher, are you there?”

The line went dead.

Another call came in. 

“Mum! I- I think something’s not right with Chris! He’s been—”

“Oh, God! Oh, God! My baby! What [unintelligible] to you?”

“Mum? Are you with Chris? What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”

“[unintelligible] did you? My poor, poor baby!”

“Mummy I’m scared! Please, say something… Where’s Dad? And Annika? Did you see the message I sent you?”

“Dennis, is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me, I…”

“Where’s your sister, sweetheart?”

“I- I thought she was with you guys.”

“Dennis, please. Tell me where she is. Hmm? [unintelligible] good boy.”

“I don’t know what’s going on. I- I want Dad.”

“Tell me where she is.”

“I- I don’t know. I—hold on, Mum. Ann’s calling.”

“Dennis, wait—”

“Ann, where are you? Mum’s really upset! She keeps asking where you are!”

“Listen, there’s something really strange—where’s Chris?”

“I think he’s in his room. But he wasn’t there when I was upstairs. Did you guys—”

“Scchh! Keep your voice down!”

“What- what’s going on, Ann? Where’s everyone? I’m- I’m scared!”

“Do you see the car?”

“I’m right next to it! I’ve tried to open it, but it won’t budge!”

“Go, open the trunk. Hurry! Dennis, hurry!”

“What’s in the trunk?”

“Just [unintelligible] go!”

“I- I can’t open it!”

“Try harder, for crying out loud! Come on! Think of it as a competition! Whoever opens the trunk first wins!”

“What do you I win?”

“I- I dunno, just keep trying. Did it work? Dennis? [unintelligible]”

“What’s… in those bags? It smells bad. I don’t like this.”

“Anything else?”

“Like what?”

“Dunno, a paper? A quilt, anything, really.”

“There’s a receipt under one of the bags. It’s soaked through, though.”

“Can you see what’s written on it?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. It’s kinda hard to read…”

“For [unintelligible] can’t you just do one thing right? I need you to help me!”

“I am helping you, it’s just—”

“Wait a sec! Did you [unintelligible]. What’s that?”

“There’s another receipt here. I think it’s from that gas station near the intersection.”

“Don’t you hear that?”

“Did you guys buy those trash bags? And some—”

“Dennis, what are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” I looked around the dark. “Are you here? I can’t see you.”

“No, but you are. How is [unintelligible]?”

“Ann? This is not funny! Not at all! Is Mum and Chris in on this?”

“Dennis, is this really you?”

“I- I really don’t like this anymore! I’m scared! Can’t you just stop? I won’t ever steal your chips again! And- and I’ll be good to Chris too! I won’t snitch on him, I promise!”

“[unintelligible]. Now!”

“What?”

“Go, hide, now! Hide! Get in the trunk!”

I glanced at the trunk full of nasty plastic bags.

“No, I—”

“[unintelligible] just do it! Get. In. The. Trunk. Now!”

“Where- where’s Dad?”

“Oh my god!”

“Ann?”

“NO! [unintelligible] NO! I can’t—can’t breathe! I can’t! [unintelligible]! Stop [unintelligible]! I can’t—Dennis, are you there?”

“Mum?”

“Did you get in the trunk, sweetheart?”

“Where’s… where’s Annika?”

“She’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“I’m- I’m calling Mr Bourgon over. I think he’s awake now. The lights just turned on.”

“No, stay put. I’ll be there in jiffy.”

“I don’t want to stay here. It smells so bad, these bags.”

“Whatever you do, don’t open them, okay? I’m almost there.”

I studied one of the lighter bags. There was something round inside. Like two ping-pong balls. The lamp on the porch switched on. I let go of the bag.

“Mummy?”

Thus wasn’t Mum. It was a man I had never seen before. He grinned from ear to ear. I looked at the plastic bags. As I opened one of the larger ones, the stranger drew nearer. I recoiled. 

My father’s decapitated head rolled down and stopped right at my feet. Gasping for air, I looked up at the stranger whose wolfish face morphed into mine.

I ran for the hills. Behind me, my doppelgänger guffawed like a maniac.

Mr Bourgon’s front door was open. I ran inside and locked the door. I had never been to his house before. But this wasn’t a house. What was this place?

As the creature banged on the door, I turned around. My eyes grew wide. This place, it… it was a lair! The door unlocked. I held my breath. A call came through. It was… from Dad.

“What did I say about opening the door to strangers?”

“You’re… This is not real.”

“I just called Mr Bourgon. He should be over any minute. Don’t let anyone in until he comes, okay? Your Mum’s been on pins and needles since you sent that message! She keeps saying she’s got a bad feeling.”

“You… called Mr Bourgon?”

The door gradually opened, creaking, taking its sweet time and teasing. 

“We’re almost there, buddy. I think… Hey, Chris, isn’t that Mr Bourgon’s car? The one next to the green one? No, the other one.”

“Dad, I’m- I’m sorry, I… I didn’t know.”

The door flung open.