Candles a Short Story by Emersons Dead

I remember the first night I had the dreams. The way the darkness settled over the room had created a silent stillness. The moment I realized I could no longer hear the crickets outside or even the creaking of this old house, I began drifting into a paralyzing and uncontrollable sleep. Although my eyes were closed I noticed there was a bright light illuminating right in front of me. When I opened my eyes there laid two candles at the end of my bed. I Looked closely and realized that even though it burned so bright, it felt desperate. Like it needed help. What could I possibly do? Why was it here and how was it just levitating? I suddenly rose up to get a closer look and suddenly awoke.

It was a dream. The most realistic I’ve ever had. The sight, smell and touch of everything was exact. I fell back to the bed and stared at the roof until sunlight came peaking in through the blinds. I felt so captivated and thought about the dream the whole day.

It’s 2 months later and the dream was not only reoccurring every night, but also continuing and leading from my room to an old windy highway and eventually to an open field. It was the first time I saw her. She was standing there in the middle of the field with trees lining around like a bowl. There before her laid the candles. She was always kneeling and crying. I could tell she was weakening and it was rapidly progressing with every dream. I knew deep down she was asking for help. Summoning me through my dreams to come save her. But why me? What could I possibly do to help her? The feeling was overwhelming to say the least but I knew I had to do something.

The more I thought about the dreams the more I understood she was showing me how to get to her. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I finally realized I knew the woods and maybe, just maybe I could find her. That’s when I jumped out of bed and grabbed my keys. I raced to my car and started towards the back roads of town. The night was pitch black and felt like the darkness was surrounding my headlights and suffocating them, making them feel dim and useless. Suddenly I felt a huge pain in my head. It felt internal and caused me to swerve and lose my vision. I rammed my car into the open farm fields beside me and fishtailed for what felt like an eternity. I stopped the car and as the dust all around attempted to settle, I heard it. Her voice. Like a faint whisper but it was so loud and deafening I had to cover my ears. This did nothing.

“Come to me” .

It felt like it was inside my head. My brain felt like it was swelling and ready to burst at any second. I looked up and saw a face in the dust and just like it appeared, it was gone instantly.

I opened the door to check on my car when again I heard her voice. “Come to me”

I looked around and far off in the distance I could see a small light illuminating. I ran toward it and the closer I got the more I realized it was a candle stick. It was just levitating in the field. I looked back and could no longer see the headlights of my car. I turned back around toward the candle and it was no longer in front of me but further off peaking behind what looked like trees.

“Come to me” . Her voice echoed everywhere and was louder and louder. I no longer felt control of my body when I realized I was walking toward the light and all I was able to do was look around. I tried to stop moving but it was impossible. Something had taken over me and was leading me towards that light. I could feel my heart beating faster and all I could do was think of was how I had made a terrible mistake. I finally reached the candle and it laid at the end of what looked like an overgrown labyrinth. I stopped and stood there and the noise from the night began to mute. I could no longer hear the crickets or wind moving between the trees. I tried to move but could only stand when suddenly I could see a figure move in front of me. It laid helpless on the ground and suddenly I saw her. She was so weak and shriveled her arm looked like that of a skeleton. She reached out and revealed her entire arm and began to drag her body towards me. The more I watched the deeper fear I began to feel and I swear this gave her strength to somehow stand up and meet me face to face.

She inhaled a long deep breath and muttered

‘’You’re afraid, and you should be”

Her voice was no longer a whisper but a deep growl.

She raised her arm and before I knew it, she blew a powder in my face. It knocked me back and all I could do was lay there. This had to be a dream still. Please tell me this was a dream. I tried to close my eyes. But I couldn’t, and it wasn’t a dream. I could hear footsteps and something dragging along with them. I suddenly felt my lifeless body move up as I was dragged towards a tree stump. I watched as she moved through the darkness, closer and closer, revealing it was her casting the sound of the footsteps I had heard. As she got closer I could see what was causing the dragging sound. It was a scythe. I tried to speak but couldn’t. I tried to move and get up and plea for my life but I was completely paralyzed.

I could feel tears running from my eyes. I began to think about my life and how much I truly loved it when suddenly she lifted the scythe over her shoulder and struck my neck. I tried to scream but I couldn’t do anything but watch and fade away. She raised the scythe again and struck me a second time. One more strike and that would do it. She rose the scythe again and before she struck me again I completely faded out. Everything went black. I could hear the scythe striking me and my flesh being ripped apart with every blow. I opened my eyes or at least that’s what it felt like. I could see the trees again. Feel and hear the wind blowing through them as I heard another strike from what felt like was below me. I looked down and could see her dismembering my body into pieces. My head was off and perched up on the tree stump as if placed so I could watch what she was doing to me. My feet, legs and arms were separated and she was completely covered in blood. She threw the scythe down and began to smear the blood along her face to her shoulders and down to her chest until covering her whole body with it. She walked away and came back with a cauldron and began to set up a fire and a long flat stone above the flames. The water boiled as she mixed different herbs and began to place my limbs in the cauldron while chanting in what sounded like a different language. The water began to harden and grew thicker and the red from the blood became brighter. She turned away and grabbed a large handful of my what looked like thread but I quickly realized, it was my hair.

She fell to her knees and began twining and humming.

She has 3 long strands of my twined hair and hung them from a stick and began dipping them into cauldron. Suddenly It became clear to me what she was doing. She was making candles. She was making candles out of my dismembered body and using my hair as the wick. Everything made sense. The dreams of seeing candles in my room, the visions of her and the candles in the field. She quickly finished and placed the candles on a candle holder and hovered her hand over them causing them to light. The flame illuminated her face as her dry and wrinkled skin began to smoothen out until she appeared to look younger and younger. She did need me. She was desperate and dying and she lured me here to kill me and to use my body to make her candles. Candles that would bring her life so long as they were lit and there was wax for them to burn.

I watched from above as if I was floating in what felt like an out of body experience or in some kind of purgatory when she looked toward me and screeched. I felt something grabbing me from everywhere and ripping through me until eventually everything went black. Suddenly my vision would only be from the point of view of the candles that laid above her fireplace. My soul was stuck in these candles and I would be left to watch her live until my wick burned out.