By: Esha Aphale
(@eshalikestowrite on Instagram)
No one believed her when she used the term “House of Horrors”. Everyone always thought it would be hyperbole, an exaggeration, a mere connotation used to describe her house just because her parents were strict. No one believed it even when she came to school with bruises and dark circles under her eyes. Abusive parents, maybe? That’s what they thought. Their minds so tiny to comprehend that she literally meant a house of horrors, and the ghosts that she spoke about, those ghosts were actual ghosts. Just like the ones in James Wan’s movies, but just more sinister.
They wanted to control her, make her do deeds that were so dark and terrifying that all she wanted to do was gulp poison and leave this world. She didn’t want to be terrorized anymore. Not in her own house. A house, she had heard from others and read in storybooks, was supposed to be a safe haven. A place where someone was protected from all the misdemeanors and brokenness of this gruesome world. But the irony was, all of that existed in her house. The place she was bound to. The place she could never leave, even if she wanted to.
She entered her house and as always was taken aback; seeing a white figure waiting for her, to greet her. She didn’t know where her parents were, in fact, she didn’t remember much. Today felt different, it felt worse than usual. It felt as if all her monster had finally caught up, the demons inside had finally tarnished her soul. No glimmer of hope could save her now. Her eyes slowly shut, as though when she opened them she’d be someone different, and maybe to a certain degree that was true. She fell to the floor with a soft thud, but no one was there to lift her.
She had always told people about how the mirrors in her scared her the most for when she looked into them, she saw her future and how broken it would be. When she woke up, she stood up slowly groaning. Her mind buzzing as if she had seen million-night mares, her mouth bitter as if she’d downed a cocktail of the world’s deadliest poisons, her body stinging with pain and misery. She stood up, blood dripping down her eyes. She faced the mirror in her house of horrors, and an odd sensation crossed her. A realization of what had happened.
She faced herself in the mirror and realized; she had turned into the monster that haunted her. She was born and she died, in the house of horror, never being able to leave it.
(Picture courtesy: Pinterest.com)
To read more by Esha, check out The Word, and to read part 2 to this piece, click here.