19
I wake to the sight of an old woman standing over me. She’s a crone, twisted and ancient and alien, a disruption of my reality that lasts a millisecond, but it’s a millisecond that stretches so tortuously over my surprise that I’m able to process so much. It’s seven years ago. I’ve been sent home from work for a few days because I have a bad cold and, after waking around my usual time, have stayed in bed and tried to catch up on sleep. But light’s busting in from the window, and the blinds aren’t that effective. Come the morning, I know about it. Opening my eyes, seeing her,…
Six
The unknown intrigued me as a kid – the supernatural, UFOs, anything unexplained. The real world was just too concrete. There had to be something more, something that transcended even imagination. My cousins were like-minded. Whenever we got together for birthdays or whatever (and with such a big family, there were lots of occasions), we’d talk about this stuff endlessly. I loved it, loved these conversations, but come the night, I would struggle getting to sleep. Talk about ghosts? Well, I was sure to see them. Hauntings? My bedroom would be unveiled as a hub of poltergeist activity just ready to emerge. Demons? They’d be coming. I would lie there…