I was never good with the horror genre. I was sure of this when, as a child, I watched a horror movie with my family and spent many sleepless nights after that. I remember just lying in bed with a comforter pulled right up to my eyes, looking around and sweating buckets. I would suddenly become aware of every sound around me; my parents locking the doors outside, my siblings’ footsteps, water dripping from the bathroom, the ticking of the clock on the wall, and basically anything would make my heart beat faster. I would endure the torment silently until I couldn’t bear it, and then I would grab my pillows and blankets and rush to my parents’ room and squeeze in between them. I felt safe there. I didn’t know how they were going to protect me from all the horrors of the night but I know that they could, and they would.

Needless to say, I thought that I had learnt my lesson; and I did, for a long time. I abstained from watching anything related to horror for many years. I slowly forgot about all the things that used to scare me and fear left my life.

Many years later, some of my friends invited me to watch a horror movie with them. At first I declined, as my old scars started to resurface. However, my friends, knowing me very well, managed to weasel their way through my defenses and somehow convince me to join them for the movie. Their arguments seemed rational enough. “You were still so young when you last saw a horror movie”. Naturally, I would have become much braver as I grew older. The very minute they got the go-ahead from me, they bought the tickets; there was no turning back, and I wasn’t the kind of person to simply waste money by standing my friends up.

I didn’t know why I decided to watch a horror movie. For some reason, I felt as if everything would turn out fine even though I hadn’t watched a horror movie in years exactly because nothing is ever okay after I watch a horror movie. I should have done my homework on the movie though but I didn’t know why I trusted my friends to choose a movie which wasn’t too frightening and more suitable for me when it was precisely during times like these that I should never trust them. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, though. It wasn’t the first time they tricked me to scare me out of my wits. But on that day, possibly due to being intoxicated in the moment, I felt like I could handle it.

As the lights dimmed and the curtains were drawn aside, a tingling sense of regret played around in my mind. The projector started rolling and emitted a rather eerie clacking noise, which soon blurred into a buzz as colours soon filled the white screen and the opening credits started playing. The camera focused on a small boy, obviously the main character, and his family walking into their new, although rather dilapidated, house as ominous music hummed in the background, signaling that some unearthly, supernatural thing might just pop out at any moment.

As per most horror flicks, the boy wondered around the house alone as his parents were busy unpacking their belongings and finally came across a rather sinister looking door at the end of a long corridor. Oh, dear child, if only you knew you were starring in a horror movie, you would stay away from it. Staying true to the genre, the boy approached the door and it creaked and opened, ever so slightly as the background music became louder and more heart pounding.

I would like to add that at this point, I was using my jacket as a makeshift shield to cover part of my vision, more out of instinct than of any actual use. Maybe it was because I felt safer to be behind something than to be fully exposed to the screen and its horrors.

I wished the person sitting beside me in the cinema was a girl. That way, I could’ve at least grabbed her hand when I was feeling scared and made it seem like it was an accident, or maybe the converse might have happened, and all the better if it did. Sad to say though, my friends were very much males and, not wanting to be misunderstood, I couldn’t rely on them to comfort me at times like these.

Just as my thoughts were trailing away, a scream from the audience drew my attention back to the movie. Apparently something, hardly noticeable, moved past the screen, just for a second, behind the boy but just as he turned around, it was gone. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths in anticipation for a cheap scare. Even the increasingly loud orchestral music seemed to suggest that something bad was going to happen. The boy turned around again and the camera quickly snapped into first person view; there was nothing. Just as everyone sighed with relief, my ears were deafened with a scream from the movie, followed by the crowd. A bony rotting hand grabbed the boy’s leg and sprawled on the ground was its body with its face staring right at the camera. It was hideous, horrendous, and downright scary.

I immediately buried my face in my jacket, but I was too slow as that horrifying image was already burned into my retinas.

I wasn’t really watching the remainder of the movie, to be embarrassingly honest. I just sort of sat there, quivering, with my jacket draped over my back. However, I couldn’t cover both my eyes and ears at the same time, so I was still subjected to audio torture. And of course, with just the sounds alone my already wild imagination went crazy and painted even more pictures for my mind’s eye to see.

It was already night by the time the movie ended. I tried putting on a brave façade in front of my friends after leaving the cinema. I wasn’t going to let them have the joy of mocking me but they saw through me anyway, like they always do. Although most of them were laughing at me, a few of them seemed genuinely sorry that I was so shaken up. I bade them goodbye and went back home immediately. It was a little early to go to bed, but I changed and tried to sleep anyway. Surprisingly, though, I did manage to fall asleep.

I heard a door creak open. I got up from bed and looked intensely at the entrance to my room. My whole body went cold and I stood there motionless for a moment. Suddenly, as if my body started working on all its pistons, I jumped and flew from my room, past the bathroom with a slightly opened door, through the long dark corridor…

My mind had a continuity error. My house didn’t even have a corridor, let alone a long dark one. I froze in my tracks and tried to think of the next best course of action but my brain just wouldn’t function. I heard light and soft footsteps getting closer to me. My whole body was covered in cold sweat. I couldn’t even turn around to face whatever it was that was approaching me. I was finding it hard to even breathe. I felt a chilly breath behind my neck. Something thin and cold touched me. Abandoning all manly pride, I closed my eyes and screamed like a little girl.

I awoke with a start, nearly jumping out of my bed. I panted as I looked around and saw my digital clock displaying the time; it was 3.00am in the morning. I felt stressed out after just waking up from a nightmare like that. I picked up a pillow and cautiously opened the door. I walked, slowly at first, out of my room and looked around. I quickened my pace as my heart started beating faster. I was practically running by the time I reached my parents’ room and opened the door.

I sighed with relief as I closed the door behind me. I saw my parents sleeping calmly in their bed. I slipped myself in between them and curled up in a fetal position and fell into a deep, comfortable sleep. I guess deep down inside, I’m still a small child after all.

Written by,

Terence.