| Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
How I wonder what you are|
From a nearby room, a sweet voice is reciting the lines of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," echoing softly. It was a room not far away from me that was filled with the belongings from our old house.
It was my son Salem who brought life to the words. His sweet voice danced through the air as he recited the beloved nursery rhyme, his tiny hands busy with colorful cubes.
Watching him, my heart swelled with a bittersweet mixture of pride and nostalgia. It seemed like just yesterday that he was a baby cradled in my arms, his laughter filling our home with joy. Now, he's a vibrant seven-year-old boy, filled with curiosity and wonder.
As Salem's innocent voice filled the room, memories flooded my mind like flickering candle flames. I couldn't help but smile through tears, remembering all the hardships we've gone through since the death of my husband.
With a tender sigh, I sat down next to him as my arms wrapping around him.
"What are you doing, son?"
"Making a castle. Me and mommy will live here." Salem replied while busily stacking his cubes, assembling them into a makeshift castle.
I couldn't help but smile at his innocence and imagination. His words echoed in my mind, filling me with a sense of warmth and contentment.
"That's a wonderful castle, Salem," I said, ruffling his hair affectionately. "And you know what? One day, when you're all grown up, you can build an even bigger castle for mommy and you to live in together. How does that sound?"
Salem's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really, Mom? A big castle for us?"
I nodded, my heart swelling with pride at the thought of the future we could build together. "Absolutely. But for now, let's focus on making this castle perfect, okay?"
"Okay, Mom!" Salem exclaimed as he returned to his construction project.
As Salem's excitement filled the room, his eagerness to build our imaginary castle together warmed my heart. I couldn't help but feel a swell of pride and happiness wash over me as I looked at him.
In that moment, I realized that the greatest gift I could ever give him was not a castle of stone and mortar but a lifetime filled with love, laughter and endless possibilities.
"Okay, son." I said with a soft smile, "Mommy has a lot of work to do. Enjoy playing with your castle. Just try not to make too much of a mess, alright?"
Salem nodded. "Okay, Mom."
With a final glance at his face, I left him to his play.
My kid and I recently moved to this new location. I rented the ground floor of one of my cousins houses. She lives overseas because of her job.
I started to unload and organize the belongings. Few hours passed, after organizing everything, all that was left were things that were temporarily useless.
I pack those things into a box and carry them upstairs to the attic. I moved the furniture to the attic, climbed the steps, and arranged each piece carefully, one at a time.
After placing each box in its designated spot, all of a sudden my gaze fell upon a box. I asked myself whether the dust was numbing my eyes or if I was hallucinating.
\ Was this box there from the start? \
When I first started putting stuff in here, the attic was obviously vacant. Then, how could this box have appeared out of nowhere?
My hand reaches for the box. As my fingertips toched the box I felt exquisite craftsmanship on the wooden body of the box. But strangely, there was no sign of dust in that box.
Out of curiosity, I took the box with me. I placed the package on the front table as I sat on the drawing room sofa.
I took a picture of the box and sent it to my cousin with a message.
-I just found this box.
Her response came swiftly.
- Where?
- In the attic, perhaps? Does it belong to you?
- No, probably it belonged to the previous residents.
- Could you return it to them?
- I don't have their contact. If you'd want, you may take it or just throw it out.
I put the phone on the table and took the box in my hand. I followed the art on the wooden body and got amazed. Salem's voice couldn't be heard maybe he got tired and was trying to pick another play.
There was a small lock on the box. It quite easily opened when I just touched it. The small locks aren't good for safety after all. I opened the box.
There was a doll with ugly teeth, one eye that had popped out, and no hair. It looks old and dirty and has red stains on it. The body of the doll was wrapped in a burlap sack. Just by looking at it, it gives off a spooky and creepy sensation.
I'd watched far too many horror films with these kinds of dolls. Perhaps the previous residents left this to scare people.
"You can't scare me just like that," I muttered as I set the doll down by the side of the couch and grabbed for the next object.
There was a note. The paper itself looks very old but it's not torn out. The writing of the paper was simply like:
| Through the lens of truth, worlds intertwine,
Where shadows lurk and evils align |
I couldn't understand a word of what was written on this. There was just one thing left in the box, a monocle, when I peered inside. Gleaming silver was used to build its frame. The lens has excellent clarity.
Because of the exquisite design, it's easy to understand that only the higher-level individuals could have worn it in the past.
Even though there are some signs of usage that indicate it is old, everything appears clear to me when I gaze through the monocle.
Through the glass, I was able to see the television in front of me, the flower vase next to the window on the left, the followers outside the window, and the parked car outside.
Looking through the monocle makes everything appear incredibly vibrant. A quick chill went down my spine as I turned my gaze to the interior of the room.
A dark, shadowy figure was crawling over the floor close to the door, snarling and baring its teeth at me. It raised its fangs and jumped toward me.
I panicked and took the monocle out of my eye. There was no one besides me in the room. I froze in my place, my heart pounded furiously in my chest, my breaths coming in short, panicked gasps as I struggled to make sense of what I had just seen.
Every instinct screamed at me to flee. But fear rooted me to the spot.
For what felt like an eternity, I sat there on the sofa, my eyes darting frantically around the room, searching for any sign of movement. My eyes filled with tears, and my mind was obscured by a mixture of fear and bewilderment.
- Was it just a trick of the light or was it my imagination?
....
A strange sound woke me up from sleep. It was something getting crashed into by a hammer. I check the time on my phone—3:01 a.m. My son wasn't with me when I searched for him with drowsy eyes.
The sound of someone repeating "twinkle twinkle little star" reached my ears.
" Salem?"
There was no response other than the repeated recitation of the poem. The sound was coming from the room where he spent the morning playing with cubes.
As I reached the room, the sound became unbearably loud. At a point, my son's voice was not the only one repeating the recitation. It was something of an eerie voice mixed with my sons.
| Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
How I wonder what you are |
I saw my son sitting on the floor. I approached him slowly. I'm feeling an eerie sensation. The air around him felt so thick that breathing was difficult.
The moment I was about to touch Salem's shoulder, I heard a voice behind me
"Mommy."
I turned around and saw my son standing at the door of the room me and my son was sleeping. He was wiping his eyes with the back of his palm.
"Mommy, what are you doing there?"
Slowly, I turned my gaze to my left, where Salem had been sitting moments before. An eerie sensation ran down my spine as I realized there was no one there except for me. I sighed heavily. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me.
I was about to go to my room when I felt someone holding my hand.
"Mommy, why did you bring me here?"
My mind played tricks on me as I struggled to breathe, feeling as though someone were choking me. I couldn't spare a moment to catch my breath. I turned my gaze to the door where Salem was standing, wiping his sleepy eyes.
My eyes widened in horror as the shadowy figures sharp fangs gleamed in the dim light and leaped towards me. Before my instincts could react, it had grasped my neck.
....
I woke up from sleep with a terrible groan. I discovered myself sleeping on the sofa. My hands were shaking vibrantly, I was sweating, and I felt exhausted.
- oH! It was just a dream. Really?
I was thinking as my eyes fell on that box.
- The nightmare I had was because of this box.
I muttered to myself and gathered the scattered items—the doll, note, monocle—and placed them inside the box.
- But was it just a nightmare? But it all felt so real.
I turned my phone camera on and tried to see my neck. My heartbeat increased as I saw the deep marks on my neck. The intense pressure made it difficult to breathe.
"Shit. These marks. Was it real?" I muttered, my voice trembling with fear and disbelief. How could the marks be there if it was all just a dream?
"No, it was too real to be called a dream or nightmare," I realized with a sinking feeling.
I took the box in my hand, went outside and threw it in the dump yard far away from our new home.
I returned home happily. As I entered the drawing room, my heart skipped a beat as I saw the box on the table. But I had just thrown it into the dumpster, which was quite far from this house. Then how..
When I was about to approach the table, I heard the familiar voice reciting the familiar poem.
"Why the...why this poem is haunting me?" I mumbled as I felt déjà vu.
I walked towards the room where the recitation sound had been coming from. My eyes were widening in horror as I stepped inside. My whole body froze in place, trembling violently as I struggled to find my voice, but words failed me.
Salem was sitting on the floor with cubes in his hands. His eyes got fully darkened. And the shadow cast by his form grew to an unnatural size, stretching at least three meters.
Within the shadow, the sinister figure that had been haunting me emerged. It bared its teeth in a frightening manner.
Everything went dark. The room was consumed by an eerie silence. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the shadowy figure vanished, leaving behind an unsettling emptiness in its wake.
I scrambled to my feet, heart pounding, and rushed to where Salem had been sitting moments before.
I searched frantically around the room. Tears welled up in my eyes while calling out his name. I stood there trembling with fear and uncertainty as I understood what had happened just now.