The Cook

The cook knocked on the door. When no one opened it for more than a minute, he tried turning the doorknob. To his surprise, it was unlocked.

No lights were on inside and it was pitch dark. It looked like the power was out.
"Hello! Anybody home," he shouted. When he got no answer, he started walking towards the kitchen. He was used to this. The guys who used to live there were lazy bums, mostly holed up in their rooms doing geeky stuff. And if they didn't find food when hunger made them drag themselves to the kitchen, guess who would get an earful? The cook, of course! But it also worked out better for him. As there was no one to supervise, he could quickly put together something edible and get the hell out of there. And the geeks paid well.

This was the first time the power was out though.

The cook made his way to the kitchen and started looking for a candle to light. Just then, he heard the sound of muffled footsteps behind him. Startled, he turned around and saw someone standing at the door, holding a old fashioned kerosene lantern in his hand. The man's face was not visible, but he assumed he must be one of the geeks.

"What should I cook today, sir?" the cook asked, cursing under his breath for all the extra effort he would have to put in if this guy asked for something elaborate.

"Make whatever is in the refrigerator," the man with the lantern replied. His voice was eerily flat and utterly without expression, but the cook paid it no mind and opened the refrigerator. He groped around in the dark till he found a plastic bag. He opened the bag and pulled out what was inside it. Then, he froze.

"But.. but this is a foot. A human foot," he said. He had turned white and the words were barely coming out of his mouth.

"I know," the man replied, "I was in the mood for a leg-piece tonight." He raised the lantern to illuminate his face. He had no eyeballs and his mouth was smeared with something that looked a lot like blood. The cook screamed, dropped the foot and started running, knocking over the eyeless man in the process. A number of candles had miraculously lit up the main hallway of the house and what he saw made his blood curdle. A trail of fresh blood smeared the floor, as if someone with a heave bleed had staggered across the hallway.

The main door was in the direction of the blood trail, but he had no choice but to follow it if he wanted to get out of there. He ran. The door was just around the corner. As soon as he made the turn he froze, and screamed again. One of the geeks was standing beside the door with his face covered in blood and the hilt of a dagger jutting out of his forehead. He was laughing like a maniac. Without thinking or waiting to take stock, the cook threw his weight against the nearest window and landed heavily in the lawn outside.

He staggered to his feet and looked back at the window. A skeleton with glowing orbs for eyes was waving at him. He screamed again, turned around and ran away as fast as his legs would carry him. Needless to say, he never came back.

The sounds of hysterical laughter from inside the house could be heard even after he was long gone.

Him and Her

He is at a party with his friends, trying his best to enjoy himself. But every now and then the thought of her pops up in his mind. And with her comes sadness and anger. He thinks about binging, but controls himself and pushes her out of his mind. But she's always there, lurking beneath the surface of his thoughts, ready to pop up again at the slightest provocation.

He steps outside to light a cigarette with his friends. He sees happy couples walking arm in arm, and he misses her. He sees how well the girls are dressed, and thinks how beautiful she would look had she been here with him. He hopes she's having a good time, wherever she is.

She is returning to town tomorrow, but he doesn't know whether to be happy or sad. She hasn't been returning his calls or replying to his emails for the past few days. He has a horrible feeling inside, a feeling that says she is not coming back to him. But the human in him doesn't want to accept even the possibility of that being true. A tiny voice inside his head says that she is coming back to him, and she has a pleasant surprise in store.

He curses her, flicks out his cigarette, and steps back inside to concentrate on his drinks.

The Snake and the Ghost

James and Michael had decided to finally take the de-stress trip they had been planning for months. They had managed to get a hold of a cottage in the middle of the woods through a friend at work. It was the perfect weekend getaway. Just the right mix of excitement and relaxation. They would be away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, away from the mundane rituals of day to day existence. And most importantly, away from work. They were really keyed up about it, and quite sure they'd made a great decision even before the trip started.

They left work early on Friday evening, kissed their lovely wives goodbye, and started on their four hour drive. It was dusk by the time they entered the forest road that would take them to their cottage.

When they reached the cottage, they took a small tour of the place and came to the conclusion that it was exactly what they were looking for. The friend had arranged for it to be provisioned for the weekend, booze and all. They cottage had no electricity, only oil lanterns. And they were out of cell phone coverage so there would be no annoying, late night calls from work. They lit one of the lanterns in the room they would share, kicked off their shoes, and popped open the beer bottles. It was a moonless night and the flickering lantern light was throwing all kind of weird shadows. They talked away late into the night, just like they did when they were roommates in college. They reminisced, shared their hopes and aspirations with each other, and bitched about their bosses. Many hours and countless beer bottles later Michael decided that he wanted to go to sleep. James wasn't feeling sleepy yet so he decided to read for a while.

***

Michael had no idea how he'd got there. He was in the middle of the forest. It was a moonless night, cool and windy. He'd been walking around aimlessly for hours, thinking about something. The only problem was he couldn't remember what. And now he was lost. His flashlight had almost given out. He decided to conserve whatever was left of it and take a breather. He sat down with his back against the trunk of a tree and closed his eyes.

***

"Ghosts attach themselves to their place of death, existing oblivious to human eyes, till they find the answers to the questions they couldn't solve in life. For some the questions are so numerous or complicated that they continue existing for all eternity. Really old buildings may be teeming with such ghosts.
Some people claim to be able to channel these ghost's spirits and communicate with them. Some also claim that they have been possessed by a ghost at one point or another. However, there is no definitive evidence to substantiate these claims"

James scoffed and thought maybe he hadn't picked such a good book after all. But the eerie lights being thrown by the lantern and the sound of the wind whistling did spook him and made his hair stand on end. He decided he would be best off going to sleep himself and got up to blow out the lantern.

***

Michael had just about fallen asleep when he felt something crawling over his skin. He tried to swat it away but it persisted. He fumbled for his flashlight and turned it on. Then he heard the hiss and saw two pearl black eyes glowing and a tongue flickering barely two feet from his face. Then he screamed.

***

Just as James was getting up from his bed, Michael abruptly screamed and stared swinging his arms around his head like a madman. Or a man possessed. James screamed louder than Michael, dropped his book and ran for the door. He knocked over the lantern in his hurry. Michael saw James run and figured he's spotted the snake. He jumped up and started running after his friend.

They ran for more than a mile.