Quote:
With Halloween just around the corner, television stations are constantly playing various spooky themed movies and episodes of your favorite shows. When you sit down to watch something in particular, the screen goes static. You try to change the channel but every one of them is static. If you continue to watch (or attempt to fix the television), an eerie voice comes across the speakers begging for help and that they're coming. No matter what you do or say, they only repeat the same phrases. When you turn off the television and turn it back on again, everything has turned to its regularly scheduled programming.
"Bring back dessert as well!" Sita called after the retreating form of Charles Nakahara, her boyfriend of about a year. A year?! Geeze time had gone by so very fast. She pondered this concept as she leaned against the light, wooden door frame, watching the last few steps the man dared make before vanishing from view around the corner. It had been a time of great changes.
Letting her one, long fingered hand slide down the frame, she pushed off it and moved to close the door behind her. It was date night, the meant a movie and dinner before falling asleep on the couch and moving to the overstuffed, cozy bed.
She had gotten used to this routine, taking to this love affair like a fish to water. It just felt right. So it was no surprise that she had taken his apartment as her own when he wasn't there.
She moved about the kitchen, making tea, setting out the condiments they would need to compliment the meal that she had no idea what it would be. Ketchup goes with everything. and you cannot go wrong with butter. Surely something would need one of those two. She piled up a stack of paper plates and silverware, brought out cups and set them upon the table. There was nothing else, right?
Running down her list in her mind, she was startled when a sudden loud crack of thunder sounded from outside. "They didn't say it was supposed to storm tonight." She looked toward the windows, catching the barest of flickers of light through the pulled blinds. Perhaps she had misheard the weather forecast.
Despite the flashing of light and the crack of electricity in the air, the world was strangely void of the sound of rain. Perhaps it was just the opening edge.
She fell upon the couch, long, lithe legs stretching out as she reached for the remote control. It wasn't worth worrying about. A little rain never hurt anyone, and Charles would not be long.
She turned the TV on, the box whirring to life as the light of the screen filled the room. It was one of the many ghost shows that had been airing recently. This one about a pair of ghost hunters that went to some of the most haunted places in the world to seek out answers to those hauntings. Sita had always been fascinated by such things, but since becoming a senshi she had learned there were far worse things than ghosts that could hurt you
She flipped through a few channels, trying to land on something that would at least keep her interest. She stopped on one show that was focusing on the history of haunted ruins, she smiling as she slowly set the remote aside. If nothing else at least it was educational as well as kinda spooky.
'The catacombs of France. One of the most fantasized locations of death in the world. Also one that has one of the darkest hi…-bzzt!-’
Sita jumped as the screen blinked for a moment, the sound of music coming through before a voice began to crackle.
'We interrupt this broadcast to br -bzzt!- bring -bzzt!- you a -bzzt!- sp..special report!'
Oh great! Perhaps there would be information about the coming storm. Sita sat up just slightly, watching the flickering screen, trying to make sense of the sputtering words that sprang forth from the box before her.
Another crack of lightning shook the small apartment, the lights that had been on, flashing out of existence, the broadcast that had caught so much attention, flickering out only to be replaced with the scratching hiss of static. Great, just great.
‘Charles, please hurry home soon.’ Though she was use to the darkness, she hated being alone in it. The darkness made you face your fears. Made them that much more real, and Sita had far too many fears to face.
She rose from her seat, legs shaking like reeds in the wind as she checked behind the TV, adjusting cords and checking plugs. The sound was so much louder here. The static screaming in her head as her ears reached down closer to the speakers.
‘Help me..!’
The whisper was slight, but it made Sita’s heart drop. She did not move, her muscles becoming stone as she tried to shrug off the sudden surge of fear that raced through every single fiber of her being. Had she heard it? No...she had to be psyching herself out. It was the darkness, the rain. She was here alone.
She moved back toward the couch, she sliding into the cushions and wrapping herself in the large, crocheted blanket that her grandmother had made her long ago. She could wait out the storm. Perhaps it hadn’t taken out all the channels?
Picking up the remote once more, she began to flip through the many channels that Charles had to choose from. Static...Static...Static. She could feel her frustration growing with every push of the button.
‘Help me!!..Please!’
The cries again, so much more earnest. The words near screams as the static made them crackle and whine through the feedback. “I can’t!” Sita caught herself. Why did she feel the need to reply? There was another flash of fear in her. A rush of adrenaline that only came up when she needed to fight. There was nothing to save. There was no one there.
‘They’re coming..! Please...Help me!'
She could hear the tears. The pain and fear in the voice. The crackles cutting off key phrases, the lightning flashes spotting her vision as she cried to focus on what she might have been able to see on the screen.
“Get out! I can’t help you! I can’t!” She curled in deeper into her blanket, the whole of her body shaking. Her nerves were on fire. She wanted to reach for her pen, to transform right here, but why? She could feel the tears running down her cheeks. Why was he crying?
‘Please! Please help me! -bzzt!- They’re -bzzt!- co -bzzt!- coming!’
“Please stop. Please stop. Go away!” She spoke the mantra softly, her words firm, the meaning apparent. It couldn’t hurt her. She wouldn’t let it, but the words were like knives in her mind. Cutting deep, tearing her heart from her chest as every scream of the TV wailed in her ears.
“STOP IT!!”
Her hand lashed out, blinding grasping for the remote control. ‘Turn it off. Turn it off and it will all go away!’ The thoughts were rational, but what goo was logic in the the face of the illogical? Her fingers fumbled with the buttons. She couldn’t find the right one. The channels flipped, the voice screamed it’s pleas and eventually…
-Bzzt!-
Silence. The feeling was almost as terrifying as the screams that had filled the void only moments before. Sita could feel her heart drumming in her ears, the flow of blood so much louder than it ever should have been. But she was safe. She held the blanket closer to her chest, the remote pressed between her dress and the soft yarn of the blanket. She could handle this until Charles returned. Silence wasn’t so bad...right?
(1,199 Words)
