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“It’s going to be a great party!” Linda says. We drive to a motel outside of the city. I have looked forward to that day for weeks. Allison has said that she will give me a special present which she has been working on for hours. As we arrive, the others have already prepared everything. I get out of the car and go with my friends to the rented rooms. There are candles, balloons in the colours of the rainbow, red paper steamer and a warm light fills the whole room. The next thing I see, is an amazing birthday cake with lots of candles.
“Happy birthday to you!” everyone sings and I feel generous love for all of them. They have been by my side throughout everything.
“Make a wish!”, Mike says. I close my eyes, wishing that in a year everything will be as wonderful as now and blow out the candles. I hear clapping hands and the music starts as Linda puts a birthday crown on my head. “Now, the presents!”, Liam calls. While I’m opening the presents, some people pour drinks, others eat cake or other things from the buffet and some watch my reactions to the presents. Everyone gave me nice things, in their own way. Mike just gave me a card and alcohol, while Linda has made a whole box with wellness products. I appreciate both. But something is missing. Where is Allison with her present? She was extremely excited the whole week and keen for me to see my reaction to her present.
“Have you seen Allison?” I ask Linda.
“No, has she already given you her present?”
“No, she hasn’t and I wonder where she is.”
“Weird…maybe she is in the bathroom.”, Linda suggests.
“Let’s go and look for her!”, I respond. We leave the room.
“You know, there are three bathrooms here, right?”, Linda ask.
“No, I didn’t. But let’s split. I’ll go upstairs and you look down here.”, I answer. Linda turns around and goes in the different direction, while I take the stairs. The bathroom isn’t far from the stairs but nobody is there. I remember that I can just call Allison but, of course, outside of the city is no signal. I’m about to go back, maybe Linda has found her, when I see that there is another stair which leads even higher. I’m curious what’s up there but want to find my friend first. When suddenly, I hear a noise from the room above. A sob. I go slowly upstairs and open the strange door. I follow the noise that is coming from behind the bed and there she is: Allison!
The tears stream down her face. She sobs and cries. Her whole body shakes and her chin lays on her pulled legs. Her distraught eyes reflect shock and look right through me. She doesn’t seem to notice me.
“Allison? Are you ok? What happened?” She still looks through me. I grab her shoulders and start shaking her. “Allison?! What happened? Do you even see me?” I begin to yell. What went wrong? Finally, she seems to notice me:” I’m going crazy.”, she whispers.
For a moment it’s totally quiet.
“Why that?”, I ask her. A waterfall of words bubbles out of her mouth. I can’t understand them. She spits the words out and they don’t even make sense. Her eyes dilate more and more. I feel my heartbeat going faster. I get really scared. What has happened to her? She is going mad!
I inhale and exhale deep and say as calmly as possible: “Hey, everything is ok. I’ll take you downstairs, ok?” I have the feeling that the room scares her. She stops talking and nods. We don’t speak a word while we are going down the old wooden stairs. I guide her to the next open room. I could really need some help but I don’t want to go downstairs where the party guests are. I don’t think that Allison would like the prospect of everyone knowing that she just had a panic attack which it is, according to my theory. But I can’t call somebody: There’s no signal here.
I lead Allison to the bed where she sits down. She is still shaking. I want to lay the duvet around her shoulders but Allison shakes her head.
“Ok, but you are freezing, aren’t you?”, I ask worried. She behaves totally different. What happened to her? It must have been terrible. I feel her forehead with my hand. She is glowing and I almost burnt my hand. I immediately pull back. She is definitely not ok! Allison hasn’t seemed to be sick when we drove here…
“Can you open the windows please?”, Allison asks quietly.
“Of course.”, I answer. I turn my back to her and go to the windows. “You know”, I start while I’m opening them, “I think, we need to bring you back to the city. You don’t look good. I think you might have the flu or something like that. You definitely have fever. Maybe we should even consider brining you to the hospital. What do-.”
I turn around and freeze. I can’t believe what I see: Allison looks more feverish. Her skin is pale. Her pupils are so dilated that they are almost black. She seems to have some kind of attack again, but this time it’s different. She isn’t weak anymore. She stands very upright, but she isn’t herself anymore. What can I do? What is happening? I can’t breathe! I feel a cold atmosphere. Maybe it’s just the wind that comes through the windows…
“Allison?!” I ask. She starts to make terrible noises. It reminds me of insects or other animals. I want to help her but at the same time it scares and disgusts me. I’m so shocked. Her transformation goes on and I see how Allison’s veins stick out. It’s frightening! I don’t know what to think. She doesn’t talk but seems to have horrible pain. It doesn’t last long. Suddenly it all stops… Allison’s head is directed to the floor. I’m not brave enough to get closer. Everything has been terrifying. Hasn’t somebody heard anything? Maybe the music is too loud…
Allison looks up. I jump back. What are those eyes?! All red, no black! And her facial features are totally disfigured. What has that been? How has that happened? Where is the Allison I know? And who is that? All those questions come to my mind.
“Allison?”, I try.
A terrifying laugh comes from the creature’s mouth as an answer. It isn’t Allison. But where has she gone? “Where is Allison?”, I say and try to sound brave, but I feel nothing but panic. “And who are you?”
“That’s irrelevant.”, the person answers.
I’m unsatisfied and want to tell her that it does matter to me. But I just blink and the mad creature stands right in front of me. I inhale and smell decomposition. I feel the need to purge… but I can’t. Those eyes scare me to the bones. Suddenly she grabs my arm and pulls me to the bed leg. I don’t know how but my hands are fixed to the bed. I start to panic. What is going to happen? I want to scream for help but my voice falters. No sound comes out. My heart beats against my rips. I feel my hands shacking as the creature pulls a knife out with a sharp blade. My breath goes faster.
“What the hell?!”, I whisper. I’m surprised, something came out of my mouth. She doesn’t even care and starts speaking words that I don’t understand. It’s a different language. The words come faster and faster out of her mouth. It becomes more and more mad with every word. I feel panic in every part of my body. I want to move but I can’t. I feel so helpless.
Suddenly, she stops to talk and looks straight into my eyes. I hold my breath. I just can’t believe what’s happening. I’m so occupied with her eyes that I haven’t noticed how her knife moves to my stomach and cuts my shirt open. “Hey! What are you doing?!”, I yell.
“I’m going to take your organs.”, she says, as is it was totally normal. My eyes dilate and I feel the panic right away. My breath goes faster. I can’t move. I don’t want this! I want to wake up from this dream or do something that would stop this! I have never thought about death or dying. But I don’t want it. Not now! I start to sweat. And then I feel it: The blade on my skin. I feel the pain and the blood streaming down my stomach. I scream and groan. I can’t breathe anymore. The panic takes over my body. The pain is burning. I don’t know if I have ever felt such physical pain. I feel how I begin to pass out. There is grey fog in front of my eyes. From a distance I hear the door being opened and familiar voices. The person with the knife gets pulled away from me, but the pain remains. I feel the presence of a lot of people. Someone tries to stop the bleeding.
“Katie! Katie! Stay with us! Stay awake!”, voices scream. I want to say something but everything feels heavy and is too much. I don’t have the strength to verbalise something. I notice the chaos around me and then… everything gets dark.
When I wake up, I see bright, white walls.
I’m in a hospital. I survived.

Bewitched Birthday(Bente) “It’s going to be a great party!” Linda says. We drive to a motel outside of the city. I have looked forward to that day for weeks. Allison has said that she will give me a special present which she has been working on for hours. As we arrive, the others have already prepared everything. I get out of the car and go with my friends to the rented rooms. There are candles, balloons in the colours of the rainbow, red paper steamer and a warm light fills the whole room. The next thing I see, is an amazing birthday cake with lots of candles.
“Happy birthday to you!” everyone sings and I feel generous love for all of them. They have been by my side throughout everything.
“Make a wish!”, Mike says. I close my eyes, wishing that in a year everything will be as wonderful as now and blow out the candles. I hear clapping hands and the music starts as Linda puts a birthday crown on my head. “Now, the presents!”, Liam calls. While I’m opening the presents, some people pour drinks, others eat cake or other things from the buffet and some watch my reactions to the presents. Everyone gave me nice things, in their own way. Mike just gave me a card and alcohol, while Linda has made a whole box with wellness products. I appreciate both. But something is missing. Where is Allison with her present? She was extremely excited the whole week and keen for me to see my reaction to her present.
“Have you seen Allison?” I ask Linda.
“No, has she already given you her present?”
“No, she hasn’t and I wonder where she is.”
“Weird…maybe she is in the bathroom.”, Linda suggests.
“Let’s go and look for her!”, I respond. We leave the room.
“You know, there are three bathrooms here, right?”, Linda ask.
“No, I didn’t. But let’s split. I’ll go upstairs and you look down here.”, I answer. Linda turns around and goes in the different direction, while I take the stairs. The bathroom isn’t far from the stairs but nobody is there. I remember that I can just call Allison but, of course, outside of the city is no signal. I’m about to go back, maybe Linda has found her, when I see that there is another stair which leads even higher. I’m curious what’s up there but want to find my friend first. When suddenly, I hear a noise from the room above. A sob. I go slowly upstairs and open the strange door. I follow the noise that is coming from behind the bed and there she is: Allison!
The tears stream down her face. She sobs and cries. Her whole body shakes and her chin lays on her pulled legs. Her distraught eyes reflect shock and look right through me. She doesn’t seem to notice me.
“Allison? Are you ok? What happened?” She still looks through me. I grab her shoulders and start shaking her. “Allison?! What happened? Do you even see me?” I begin to yell. What went wrong? Finally, she seems to notice me:” I’m going crazy.”, she whispers.
For a moment it’s totally quiet.
“Why that?”, I ask her. A waterfall of words bubbles out of her mouth. I can’t understand them. She spits the words out and they don’t even make sense. Her eyes dilate more and more. I feel my heartbeat going faster. I get really scared. What has happened to her? She is going mad!
I inhale and exhale deep and say as calmly as possible: “Hey, everything is ok. I’ll take you downstairs, ok?” I have the feeling that the room scares her. She stops talking and nods. We don’t speak a word while we are going down the old wooden stairs. I guide her to the next open room. I could really need some help but I don’t want to go downstairs where the party guests are. I don’t think that Allison would like the prospect of everyone knowing that she just had a panic attack which it is, according to my theory. But I can’t call somebody: There’s no signal here.
I lead Allison to the bed where she sits down. She is still shaking. I want to lay the duvet around her shoulders but Allison shakes her head.
“Ok, but you are freezing, aren’t you?”, I ask worried. She behaves totally different. What happened to her? It must have been terrible. I feel her forehead with my hand. She is glowing and I almost burnt my hand. I immediately pull back. She is definitely not ok! Allison hasn’t seemed to be sick when we drove here…
“Can you open the windows please?”, Allison asks quietly.
“Of course.”, I answer. I turn my back to her and go to the windows. “You know”, I start while I’m opening them, “I think, we need to bring you back to the city. You don’t look good. I think you might have the flu or something like that. You definitely have fever. Maybe we should even consider brining you to the hospital. What do-.”
I turn around and freeze. I can’t believe what I see: Allison looks more feverish. Her skin is pale. Her pupils are so dilated that they are almost black. She seems to have some kind of attack again, but this time it’s different. She isn’t weak anymore. She stands very upright, but she isn’t herself anymore. What can I do? What is happening? I can’t breathe! I feel a cold atmosphere. Maybe it’s just the wind that comes through the windows…
“Allison?!” I ask. She starts to make terrible noises. It reminds me of insects or other animals. I want to help her but at the same time it scares and disgusts me. I’m so shocked. Her transformation goes on and I see how Allison’s veins stick out. It’s frightening! I don’t know what to think. She doesn’t talk but seems to have horrible pain. It doesn’t last long. Suddenly it all stops… Allison’s head is directed to the floor. I’m not brave enough to get closer. Everything has been terrifying. Hasn’t somebody heard anything? Maybe the music is too loud…
Allison looks up. I jump back. What are those eyes?! All red, no black! And her facial features are totally disfigured. What has that been? How has that happened? Where is the Allison I know? And who is that? All those questions come to my mind.
“Allison?”, I try.
A terrifying laugh comes from the creature’s mouth as an answer. It isn’t Allison. But where has she gone? “Where is Allison?”, I say and try to sound brave, but I feel nothing but panic. “And who are you?”
“That’s irrelevant.”, the person answers.
I’m unsatisfied and want to tell her that it does matter to me. But I just blink and the mad creature stands right in front of me. I inhale and smell decomposition. I feel the need to purge… but I can’t. Those eyes scare me to the bones. Suddenly she grabs my arm and pulls me to the bed leg. I don’t know how but my hands are fixed to the bed. I start to panic. What is going to happen? I want to scream for help but my voice falters. No sound comes out. My heart beats against my rips. I feel my hands shacking as the creature pulls a knife out with a sharp blade. My breath goes faster.
“What the hell?!”, I whisper. I’m surprised, something came out of my mouth. She doesn’t even care and starts speaking words that I don’t understand. It’s a different language. The words come faster and faster out of her mouth. It becomes more and more mad with every word. I feel panic in every part of my body. I want to move but I can’t. I feel so helpless.
Suddenly, she stops to talk and looks straight into my eyes. I hold my breath. I just can’t believe what’s happening. I’m so occupied with her eyes that I haven’t noticed how her knife moves to my stomach and cuts my shirt open. “Hey! What are you doing?!”, I yell.
“I’m going to take your organs.”, she says, as is it was totally normal. My eyes dilate and I feel the panic right away. My breath goes faster. I can’t move. I don’t want this! I want to wake up from this dream or do something that would stop this! I have never thought about death or dying. But I don’t want it. Not now! I start to sweat. And then I feel it: The blade on my skin. I feel the pain and the blood streaming down my stomach. I scream and groan. I can’t breathe anymore. The panic takes over my body. The pain is burning. I don’t know if I have ever felt such physical pain. I feel how I begin to pass out. There is grey fog in front of my eyes. From a distance I hear the door being opened and familiar voices. The person with the knife gets pulled away from me, but the pain remains. I feel the presence of a lot of people. Someone tries to stop the bleeding.
“Katie! Katie! Stay with us! Stay awake!”, voices scream. I want to say something but everything feels heavy and is too much. I don’t have the strength to verbalise something. I notice the chaos around me and then… everything gets dark.
When I wake up, I see bright, white walls.
I’m in a hospital. I survived.

STORY STAR

Bewitched Birthday

COMMENTS (1)

Wadia Masood

Wadia Masood

Bente Göttsche

Congratulations !

Bewitched Birthday

COMMENTS (1)

Wadia Masood

Wadia Masood

Bente Göttsche