1908 A.D

In the midst of a cold rainy night, I was returning home in my car. The night was darker than ever and the road was too blurry to see anything.

“Help! Help!”

All of a sudden, an exclaiming voice of a girl struck my ears.

I parked my car at the side of the road and looked around. Through my windshield, as the wipers of my car moved downwards, I could see a beautiful girl waving her hand at me.

“My home is a little far from here. It is raining heavily and I even don’t have an umbrella. Could you please drop me?”

The girl was very beautiful and her voice had an amazing intensity of attraction to which I unintentionally agreed.

“Yes sure!” I replied. She opened the door and got inside, just then a cold chill ran down my spine. She was strange; her skin was glowing, big dark eyes and she had a fascinating personality.

On the way, I kept looking at her again and again; she was like a magnet that was attracting me towards it. After a few minutes of pause, I asked, “What’s your name?”

“Jennifer, Jennifer Jacob.” She answered with a charming smile on her face.

“What’s your name?” she asked me.

“My name is Rayman Watson.” I replied.

The rain had stopped. I was about to ask more about her but before I could ask anything further, she exclaimed “Stop the car! My home is only a few minutes away from here.”

I stopped the car and asked in astonishment “Do you live here in the middle of the forest?”

“Yes I do! Thank you.” She answered and got out of the car.

I watched her carefully; she was so fast that she faded into the dark forest in seconds.

When I reached home and fell asleep, the same girl appeared in my dream. She peeped in from the window and called me. When I didn’t hear her, she stretched her hands inside my room. The glass of water near my bed fell and broke into pieces all of a sudden and woke me up. I was scared but thinking it was due to the wind and it was just a dream I went back to sleep.

Since then I started to meet Jennifer again and again. She was always there standing at the bus stop, I gave her lift and everyday before I could ask any questions about her she always exclaimed to stop the car, thanked me and faded into the dark forest. She appeared in my dreams regularly, peeped in as usual, called me and when I didn’t hear her, she stretched her hands in my room, the glass of water fell and broke into pieces and woke me up.

It was very strange. I realized that meeting Jennifer cannot be a coincidence and the glass of water cannot fall itself and break everyday. So, I needed help and the person who could help me was my only friend Ira. I called and told her everything. At first she thought I was joking and she didn’t believe me at all. After realizing I was really in trouble, she called her uncle Mr. Anderson.

Mr. Anderson is a medium, he can see spirits and as well as communicate with them. He has helped many people from all around the world having problems similar to mine. Ira brought Mr. Anderson to my home. He was looking around all the time but I felt comfortable because Ira had already explained everything about my problem to him. After a little while, he checked my room.

“Rayman, something is wrong here.” He said with a look of confusion in his face.

“What happened uncle?” I asked in surprise.

“It seems like you are being visited by a succubus everyday.”

“A succubus?” asked Ira.

“Yes, a succubus. But she hasn’t been able to attack him yet.” Mr. Anderson replied.

I was speechless. My mind had stopped working and my heart was pounding in fear.

“But how’s that possible uncle?” asked Ira.

He looked towards me and said, “He got lucky Ira. The cross above his bed saved him. She has already been attached to him and haunts his dreams; the cross above his bed blocked her so she was unable to touch him and absorb his life force. The glass of water broke when she tried to come in through the window and the power of the cross pushed her away.”

“Why didn’t she attack him while he was in the car?” asked Ira in surprise.

“Succubus attacks in dreams my dear. She wanted an emotional attachment with him, the closer she becomes in reality; the easier it is for her to control and absorb him in his dreams.”

Gathering my courage I asked Mr. Anderson, “Uncle what should I do now?”

“We need to go inside the forest and search for her dead body and burn it.” He replied with a little seriousness in his face.

Ira looked at me and I looked at her. We didn’t know what to say.

It was evening. Ira, Mr. Anderson and I went to the same place where I always dropped Jennifer. We had brought kerosene, a lighter and a small bottle of holy water along with us. We parked the car at one end of the road and started walking inside the dense forest. After about half an hour, we found a small cottage.

The cottage was too old and branches of trees were hanging on its roof. The cold wind was blowing the dried leaves on the ground and it seemed like no one had lived inside the cottage at all.

Mr. Anderson walked closer to the cottage; I and Ira slowly followed him. The cottage had a broken door. I helped Mr. Anderson to open the door and we stepped in.

The rooms were like a living nightmare. It was so dark that we could barely see what was in front of us. I checked the lighter in my pocket and turned it on.

Pointing in the dark, Mr. Anderson said, “Look! There’s something.”

We went closer and found a skeleton hanging on the fan.

“It’s a female skeleton.” said Ira.

“Maybe she hung herself to death. This is what we came here for; this is the skeleton of the succubus. We have to burn it now.” Mr. Anderson said with a harsh tone in his voice.

We cut the rope and took the skeleton outside of the cottage.

“Jennifer!” I exclaimed. She was standing outside with an angry look on her face.

“Where?” asked Ira.

“She’s right in front of us Ira!” replied Mr. Anderson.

Jennifer then transformed into a scary demon. She had big white eyes; dressed full black, nails were sharp and long and her feet were backwards. She started to come towards us.

I kept Ira behind me. Mr. Anderson moved towards her and quickly sprinkled the holy water on her. She disappeared. I was shocked. Suddenly she appeared behind him.

“Uncle she’s back!” I screamed.

As soon as Mr. Anderson turned around, the succubus pierced her long nails inside his chest and took his heart out. Mr. Anderson collapsed on the ground and the holy water spilled on the ground. I was terrified.

“Uncle!” shouted Ira with tears in her eyes. Ira hurried towards Mr. Anderson but I caught her.

“No Ira! We have to finish her off before she kills us too.” I said with a cracked voice.

Ira shook her head with tears in her eyes. I turned my eyes towards the skeleton and gave her a signal to pour the kerosene and burn it.

Ira went near to the skeleton. I went towards the succubus to distract her. She immediately caught my throat.

“How dare you?” she said angrily.

She caught my throat so hard that I couldn’t breathe at all. Her sight caught Ira pouring the kerosene on her skeleton. She immediately left me and in a flash caught Ira. I hurried to check the bottle of holy water and fortunately there were a few drops of it.

I ran towards the succubus and sprinkled it on her.

The succubus screamed in pain and Ira was freed from her hands.

I started to pour the kerosene on the skeleton and took out my lighter. At that very moment, the succubus caught the back of my neck.

I immediately threw my lighter towards Ira.

A strong force hit me from the back. My breath was stuck. I looked at my chest and saw the hand of the succubus. She had pierced my chest with her hand.

At that very moment, Ira burnt the skeleton of the succubus.

“This is just the beginning!”, screamed the succubus in pain and vanished in an instant.

I fell on the ground and Ira came rushing towards me. I was glad to see her safe.

Ira placed my head on her lap. Blood was oozing out from my chest; I was crying in pain until Ira touched me. Tears were rolling down from her eyes and fell on my cheeks.

“We did it!” I whispered.

“Finally it’s over! She said and embraced me in her arms.

This incident happened a long time ago, I am happy that I saved Ira from the succubus but I feel sad for not being able to express my love for her.

Written by Reman Bala