THE HORROR VOYAGE
Episode 5: The Final Chapter
As David stumbled out of the restaurant, his mind spinning, he realised that this haunted town had more dark secrets to unleash. He ran as fast as he could and finally hid behind a bush. How would I escape? This question was wheezing through his brain when he saw an abandoned bicycle behind a tree. It was as if his question had been answered. He quickly sat on the bicycle and zoomed towards the edge of town.
As he neared the exit sign, he started peddling faster but was roughly pushed back into the town just as he reached the exit. It was as if an invisible wall was surrounding the town making it impossible for him to leave. Just then, he saw that the words on the exit signboard were changing. The sign now read- “The one who tries to escape, beware! If you want to survive, then we give you a chance.
Go to the Town Hall and pledge your life to us by reading out the Oath of Gilamoor written on the first page of the curse book. Remember if you read anything else, then we will slaughter you and your remains will join all the others who perished in their bid to fight to us.”
David was now utterly perplexed. He read the signboard again, looking for some clues, and that’s when he found one. Every curse has some loophole through which it can be reversed.
What if he searched through the curse book? He could find something which could save him. And even if it didn’t save him, he would still try rather than surrender like a coward.
With a renewed determination, David cycled towards the Town Hall. Once inside, a cold shiver ran through his body. He spotted the curse book, lying on the pedestal for its next prey. He opened it and saw the Oath of Gilamoor on the first page. As he flipped through the book, he could see only blank pages until he reached the very end where it was written in a very tiny scrawl- “You dared to move ahead of the Oath. You cannot defeat us. The curse on this town will never be lifted. Get ready just like a pig who is about to be slaughtered.”
Suddenly, the book flew from his hands and an invisible force threw him backwards. He hit his head against a pillar and as he was getting up, he saw monsters and ghosts of all kinds coming towards him. A werewolf attacked him first, pinning him to the ground with his claws. That’s when he spotted a long rod lying near him and he knocked the werewolf off himself. He ran towards the exit but found it to be blocked by a huge octopus.
The octopus unleashed its tentacles which wrapped themselves around David’s legs and started pulling him. David let out an anguished cry as he realised that the octopus was going to swallow him. Just then, he remembered that he had a knife in his pocket which he had nicked from the restaurant. He got it out and started cutting the tentacles around his ankles. The octopus soon let go.
David realised that he will not be able to escape until he gets rids of all the monsters. An idea struck him just then. He ran back to the pedestal, to destroy the curse book, hoping that it would defeat all the monsters, only to be stopped by a swarm of bees. Swaying his rod around, David dashed towards the pedestal.
He lunged for the book and just as he was about to destroy it using the knife, he was pushed away by a giant ice monster. Before David could retaliate, the gnomes appeared and tied his arms and legs. Terror ran through David’s veins as he saw the werewolf come to him again. Prayer after prayer flew from his mouth as the werewolf just completely bit his arm off. David screamed, unable to bear the pain. Tears clouded his vision. He could feel the little robots piercing his body with sharp needles. Soon, he became numb to pain. David was slowly losing consciousness. His eyes dropped shut with the image of the ice monster ready to strike him being the last thing he ever saw.
-Esha Mehta
Episode 4: Restaurant
David entered the restaurant, pangs of hunger driving him wild. He was too famished to notice that the restaurant was empty and that the door opened on its own.....
He made his way to a table and pulled the chair back, the noise sounding eery in the unnatural quiet of the restaurant. He ordered some courses and his blood chilled when he placed the menu in the waiter's hand because he saw that the hand was not made of flesh and skin but skeleton and bone. He looked up to the face of the waiter and let out a bloodcurdling shriek because there was no head on those shoulders. The waiter held her head in her hand, the way she would hold a platter, and the skull smiled at him from there.
Heart thudding and sweat coiling on his palms, he backed away from the waiter and ran to the receptionist. He shook her by the shoulders, all the while telling her about his predicament when she raised her head to look at him. He almost fainted at the sight that met his eyes. The woman's face was disfigured with slashes and burns, bruises which had never healed. Her eyes were dripping blood and she began wailing. It was a horrible and tragic filled noise, the voice of the Devil, the Satan, the misery and the extinguisher of all that was holy and good in the world.
The wailing left David feeling dizzy and it was as if he was being transported backward in time, where the same restaurant had many people in it, most of them dancing to unfamiliar yet achingly sad music. David's feet led him to an alcove in the hall, where he saw a beautiful woman being ruthlessly murdered by a gentleman who was repeatedly stabbing her with a knife and mercilessly smothering her cries of anguish and pain. His eyes widened at the sight and he felt sick at all the blood and gore that seemed to spill from the intestines of the lady.
When he tried to resist the cruel and cold-blooded murder, the gentleman turned to look at him with fire in his eyes. Where the irises should have been, there were two small balls of fire, each rotating and revolving with an uncanny certainty about them which definitely prophesied death. The man threw a shard of glass at him and the pain, the anguish as he bled to death, his own blood seeping through his fingers, was very real. At the very moment when he thought it was the end and fell unconscious, he came to in the restroom of the same restaurant.
He rubbed his hand over his chest to find no blood or wounds, but when he tore his shirt open, he found a long, thin scar which hadn't been there before. He stared at himself in the mirror, getting scared to death when his face was replaced by that of another old yet sickeningly familiar gentleman- the face of the murderer.
He felt a hand creeping up his back, but he could see no one. He felt the hand touch his shoulder, the fingers gripping it hard, yet he could see no one. He heard a knife being drawn and felt the edge being pressed against his throat, and that's when he saw the woman who was murdered. He fell flat on the ground. Regaining his consciousness, he found himself petrified and utterly oblivious of what was to follow next.
And yet, he decided to set for the next step of the voyage...
-Rtr. Arpita Ramdoss
Episode 3: The Departmental Store
Waking up to the horror of what had happened to him, David looked around and was mortified to find himself still in the hospital. He kept looking for a wound on his thigh but he couldn't find one, he let out a breath of relief. Without further thinking, he gave his feet, the command to run as fast as possible.
Running out of the hospital he crossed the road and found himself directly in front of a departmental store. He eyed for any anomaly inside, finding none, he moved in and made a bizarre request to the counter lady.
"I don't know if I can trust anything I see anymore but I want you to please, please believe what I am about to say. I am not sure you will be able to help though."
"Don't worry tell me what happened, if you want I'll call the police." replied the lady.
"No, no, don't call the police just help me, I...I...um..I think there are some ghosts that are after my life. They have been following almost everywhere I go.", David spoke petrified and yet ashamed of what he was saying.
"Oh, I see so you are being followed by ghosts. Were you in the hospital when they attacked you? questioned the lady.
"Yes, I was but how do you know that it happened in the hospital?"
David took a step back now, sensing the same weird vibe that he felt inside the hospital and during the shipwreck. He thought of running out of the store when the lady interjected, "I know everything, but worry not, I shall take great care of you."
And the doors shut with a loud thud. David stood there terrified, unable to move.
That very second the lady appeared in front of David with mist like appearance and hovering above the ground, looking dead still in his eyes, two inches away from his face.
"You have been a bad boy David, stop running and play with me", she said with a musical tone.
The lights started flickering and the counters started shaking creating an eerie atmosphere that scared David right to his bones. David sat down on his knees with hands covering his ears tight and his eyes shut. "I can't I just can't take this", he cried to himself in a low hushed voice which crackled with fear.
He slowly stood up wanting to see where the ghost lady was. He separated some of the chocolates in order to view the other side of the counter.
He peered only to find nothing, he took a breath of relief and looked just once again to confirm but this time she stood there looking right into his eye with a tilted head and a blood-splattered face. "Hello David", she said with a broad smile which showed her dark yellow and black teeth unevenly placed.
David staggered back losing control of his body he fell against the counter spreading all the chocolates over him along with counter which fell on him. He lay there strewn over the floor along with other things and lost his consciousness again.
-Rtr. Prashil Shah
Episode 2: The Silicon Trap
He pushes the doors of the emergency room open, almost toppling onto the floor, and rushes to the reception desk, yelling “Help!”
He turns his gaze to the door to look for them and is relieved to find nobody there. He buries his head in his hands muttering ‘Thank God' over and over again. Just then, a cold hand clamps down on his. His head snaps up to look at a woman. She has a fair complexion and brown hair. She’s dressed in a grey blouse and black pencil skirt. She seems to be a normal receptionist but something is off. Her posture is too stiff, her face too tight, her eyes are big, blue and doe-like, too big even. She looks unnatural. “Welcome to Gilamoor Central Hospital, how may I help you?” Even her voice sounds sickeningly sweet. He hesitates but one look at his battered up self and he changes his mind, “Yes, I-I was in a shipwreck a-and I could use some help.” She nods, “Your name?” He answers, “David.” “Just fill this form and a doctor will be right with you.” He takes the form and makes his way to a seat, taking in his surroundings.
Everything from the walls to the chairs is white. It’s too barren, too silent. He wants to leave but where to go? Those creatures could still be out there. But- “Come play with us” He looks around to see who said that. “Hello?” He asks and all he gets are high pitched giggles. He looks back to the receptionist's desk but she’s gone. There’s a whoosh sound and two shadows run past the desk. The giggling continues, “David, come play with us!” Panic grips him, what is this place? Two more shadows rush past him, “Wanna have a tea party?” More giggles, the sound slowly becoming unbearable.
He bolts for the doors but they’re locked. “Are you leaving so soon? Don’t you like us?” They’re closer. He turns and what he sees sends chills down his spine. The receptionist is standing metres away only that she looks more plastic than before, like some kind of doll. Behind her are four more dolls, each a young girl. All of their clothes are spotted with red drops, their lips are painted with the colour of blood, their nails are talons and their eyes are now red. Their smiles are full of malice. “Girls, welcome our guest and be nice okay? We need him to stay pretty.”
They charge.
He swerves to the side and rush to the desk, using it to roll to the other side so that he’s behind the group of women. He keeps running and tries to find a door or window that’s open. He looks behind to see them catching up. He makes it all the way to the main entrance of the hospital before being pinned up against the wall, each of the girls holding a limb, their nails leaving wounds that burn like acid. He cries out in sheer pain and his vision starts to go blurry. The receptionist makes her way forward with a scalpel in her hand, singing, “The doctor will see you now.” He kicks and yells but to no avail. Just as the cool blade touches his neck, gunshots ring out, cutting through the laughter enveloping him. The beings scream out and start dissolving into a liquid.
In her last attempt, the receptionist stabs his thigh and he falls down. The last thing he sees is a man with a gun before darkness surrounds him.
-Rtr. Sakshi Desai
They could sense him crawling away even though they could not see. They grabbed hold of him and dragged him up the ship but he suddenly bit them on the arm. David ran towards the boiler but the faceless sailors surrounded him. He backed up against a wall. He kicked and punched as hard as he could but they kept on coming. They tore at his skin, his clothes. He pushed one towards the boiler.
Episode 1: The Shipwreck
David looked back to his hometown, Burke - if you could call it a town. It was a tiny settlement with very few inhabitants. It wasn’t very isolated. The city was just a few miles east. Why his family had lived here was a mystery but now it did not matter. He was leaving this place for once and for all. He could still see the shoreline calling out to him. Shaking his head, he went back inside.
His room was just like a dump, the only difference being a bed. This cargo ship was the only thing that he could afford. The days were pretty dreary with nothing to do except gaze at the sea, the sky or sometimes the occasional dolphin pod that they passed. David decided to pass time by maintaining a journal. He would write daily about his day’s happenings but nothing interesting ever happened. He would observe the crew of the cargo ship and make up the back-story behind each action.
A sailor moving a barrel from the starboard to the port of the ship became a smuggler of class-A goods hiding his stash and such. Slowly he started to write bolder like the crew being monsters carrying dead humans and the captain being their leader. One such day he was thinking about such ideas when he heard a booming voice, “All hands on deck.” It was the Captain!
David tried hard not to stare at the Captain but the Captain’s scar along his right cheek made it impossible to ignore. Before leaving the deck, the Captain gave him one hard stare and grunted. At night, as David went over his journal, he kept thinking about the scar. Unable to do anything else, he went over to the deck thinking of a good story behind it. Caught up in his thoughts, he strolled right past his rooms and reached the Captain’s cabin. He was about to head back when he saw all the sailors heading towards the cabin. They took no notice of him and walked right past.
“Assemble my minions.”
“We stand ready to serve.”
“Stand to the Bow.”
The sailors silently marched to the front end of the ship
“May the Night be dark and long,
May the Lady hear our song,
We shall know neither right nor wrong,
Change us; for we are strong.”
David could not believe his eyes when he saw the sailors transform. Their faces contorted and stretched till they became nothing. They had no faces! His thoughts were interrupted by the Captain.
“Open the casks. We shall feast tonight. We will reach by morning at Gilamoor.”
As they opened the casks something rolled out of the cask and landed next to David. It was a hand! Every cask had human parts. David ran to the other side of the ship but as he was running, he stumbled.
“Who is there?” a raspy voice said in his head.
“It is the human” another said.
They could sense him crawling away even though they could not see. They grabbed hold of him and dragged him up the ship but he suddenly bit them on the arm. David ran towards the boiler but the faceless sailors surrounded him. He backed up against a wall. He kicked and punched as hard as he could but they kept on coming. They tore at his skin, his clothes. He pushed one towards the boiler.
IT EXPLODED!!!!!!!!
He saw fire and blue light everywhere. The world darkened as he lost consciousness.
- Rtr. Deval Savla
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