The Devils Nectar

Blind as a bat, hot as a hare, dry as a bone, red as a beet, mad as a hatter, the bowels and bladder lose their tone, and the heart runs alone.

        Rubbing my eyes, I slip out of bed; a haze seems to float across my mind, blocking recent memories. I begin to wonder about the night before. I seem to have no recollection of the past few days… My throat is very dry, it almost feels like sandpaper; when I inhale, I wheeze and my nostrils stick together, pulling them apart causes a sharp sting of pain.

The feeling to urinate seems overwhelming so I make my way towards the bathroom. As I stand over the toilet, I begin to think something is wrong, only a dribble comes out, the feeling to urinate subsides only a little bit. I try again and still nothing happens.

I turn away from the toilet, pulling up my pyjama pants. Standing over the sink, I wash my hands thoroughly. While wiping my hands on the towel hanging next to the mirror, I take a look at myself. There is a lifeless looking pale reflection of myself looking back at me with deep bags under the eyes. As I inch my face closer to take a better look I see my pupils are the size of Quarters.

At that point my pupils began shrinking then growing; shrinking then growing.

My face spins slowly into a vortex.

Smash!

Shards of glass fly towards me, so I duck for cover.

I raise my head slowly and look up to see the mirror is intact; there are no signs of glass anywhere.

Whoa man, what is going on?

I figure maybe I just need to get some fresh air, I then head for the staircase. On the way there my vision is constantly clouding over momentarily before finally fading to the sides as tunnel vision.

Walking down the creaky wooden staircase of my two story home, a chill runs down my spine, forcing the hair on my body to stand on end, my stomach drops and I feel dread spread throughout my core.

At the bottom of the stairs is a pool of blood which extends to a blood trail leading down the narrow hallway towards the kitchen.
A light flashes and shadows begin straddling the wall and spreading across it, sharing a likeness with veins.

I continue forward very slowly due to the fear of the unknown which beckons over my being; I am unsure what to expect.

What seems like claw marks, are torn horizontally across the floral wallpaper on the left hand side of the hallway.

I come to the french doors of the kitchen, as I reach for the handle; I come to a sudden stop. There are two bloody hand prints on the door. Reluctantly, I close my eyes and swing open the door.

The trail of blood continues across the kitchen and stops in front of the oven. I watch as blood drips from the sides of the oven door and the window viewing the inside is smeared with a brutal red omen.

Oh my god…

I force myself to continue. I pull open the oven door…

A contorted corpse is stuffed inside; the face is staring directly at me.

Mom…

The eyes look struck with fear, they blink.

Fear now controls me, so I turn towards the living room and start running.

I trip and I fall.

My face takes a hard pounding as I hit the ground but I manage to pull my self up and turn to see what I have tripped over.

Nathan…

My brother’s beheaded corpse lay face down in front of me, with his leg bent in an unimaginable position.

Again, I turn and run, making a dash for the opening of the living room leading to the front door. I need to escape, I need to get help.

“Craig… Come back brother…” his voice echoing throughout the house.

This is impossible…

This cannot be happening…

I made it to the front of the house but the front door revealed another horrible sight. My father sitting on a chair, shirtless, with words carved into his chest.

‘You’re next Craig’

Then blackness hits…

 

 

 

 

I awaken to a pool of sweat on my mattress. My heart seems to be running a marathon.

Maybe it was just a dream?

I decide to skip my morning rituals today and head directly down the stairs.
'Vision flashes red'

As I reach the top of the stairs I could see my mother on her hands and knees scrubbing away at a pool of red at the bottom of the stairs.

“Craig, your damn brother and his temper, I just don’t know what I am going to do with him,” she said.

“Umm… What did he do?”

“Oh, he got in an argument with your father and threw the ketchup bottle down the hallway.”

Upon further examination I notice there was a smear of ketchup down the hallway.

Weird.

Walking through the hallway I examine the wallpaper to my left and observed claw marks slowly tearing across the wall, then disappearing.

 “Watch out hunny,” said my mother as she passed by me in the hallway. Her head is turned completely backwards, staring directly at me. A light flashes and she is suddenly back to normal.

As she entered the kitchen I realized that she had left her hand prints full of ketchup on the eggshell white French doors.

What the hell is going on with me…?

I enter the kitchen with hesitation just to see smoke billowing out from the sides of the oven.

My mother rushed to it, turned it off and opened it, revealing a turkey.

Are these coincidences?

I went into the living room and decide it might be a good idea to phone Marcus, a friend from school to see what he was doing today and get a load off my mind.

My brother was sitting on the coach watching a program on the television.

“What are you watching Na…”

My words were cut short by the site of a slit appearing on his neck. I am staring blankly at him.

“What the hell are you staring at weirdo…?” He asks.

His eyes flashed red.

“N…N…Nothing man,”

I took a seat on the opposite couch and picked up the cordless phone on the coffee table and dialled Marcus’ number.

“Marcus buddy I am trippin’ out dude.”

“Craig?”

“Yeah that’s me.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, well, yes and no. How could you tell?”

“What’s going on man?”

“Well I had this weird nightmare and…”

“Are you fucked up?”

“No, I just…”

“Man! Stop dialling me while you’re all doped up! You’ve been doing this to me for the past two days!”
"I'm n..."
"Man, I don't like talking to you when I can't even understand your damn babbling!"

Click.

Now what the hell was that all about? I am not on drugs I just woke up…

Confused as to what just happened, I figure maybe I should go for a walk to clear my head, maybe all I need is a little fresh air. By now a fever has begun to brew and I seem to be sweating buckets.

While I was putting on my shoes I noticed my father is sitting in a computer chair facing the opposite way.

Has he been there for a long time?

What is he doing?

“Dad?”

No response.

“Dad?”

No response.

So I walk over and turned the chair around so he was facing me. His shirt was ripped down the center; the words were carved across his chest.

‘You’re next Craig.’

Then darkness…

 

 

 

 

My head is pounding; my throat is as dry as sandpaper and my nose stings.

I sit up where I’m at to examine the area. I am on the floor of my living room, blood is pouring from my nose. I wipe my face, even though I feel it spread across my hand, I do not see it.

Suddenly I realize my family is sitting on the couches around me; my mother, my father and my brother.

“Why am I on the floor Guys?”

“Come and sit with usssss...” The words echo throughout the house by all three of their voices in a ghostly, unearthly tone. The weird part about it was none of their mouths moved.

I brace myself on the floor and push myself up. None of them move at all, just sitting there at attention, with their arms at their side, and faces painted a pale white.

I went to the couch on my right which only my brother sat on and took a seat next to him.
Looking below me I see that the floor is moving in waves like an ocean, and there is a black cat with empty eye sockets staring at me from out the living room window.

“So what are we doing?” I ask.

“We’re being a family again my brother. We are being a family again.” He hissed through the stillness of the room.

There was a short pause before a cracking sound broke the silence of the room. It was coming from right next to me.

Afraid of what I would see I hesitantly turn my head to face him; his head was turning towards me till we're nose to nose. He stares blankly in my eyes; he had no pupils, no iris, just beat red eyes.

“We’re being a family again…”

A high pitched ringing rung throughout the air, then all the surroundings went black leaving just me and my brother; nose to nose, face to face. His mouth began stretching to no end, swallowing me whole.

Blackness…

 

 

 

 

Beep… Beep…

My eyes jolt open.

The air around me is muggy. The walls around me are completely white; there is nothing on the walls, and no furniture in the room.

Where am I?

There was a light haze covering my entire vision.

I try to get up, but I cannot move. I look down to see what is stopping me; I am strapped to a hospital bed by both my arms and my legs.

“H…h…el… m…m…eh…”

The door opposite to the bed clicks and opens up, a nurse rushes in.

“He’s awake,” she calls out.

Next a doctor followed by two officers walk into the room. The doctor came to my left hand side and picked up a pad of paper, while the two officers stood at the doorway.

“He seems to be stable, you can leave now Margaret,” the doctor said to the nurse.

“Okay, thank you doctor,” then she turned and proceeded out of the room.

“Craig, do you know where you are right now?”

“T…t…t…”

“Okay I see your speech hasn’t fully come back yet,” He paused for a moment. “These two officers would like to speak with you. Do you understand me?”

I nod.

The two officers step forward and stand at the foot of the bed.

“Craig, while under the influence of Datura, also known as Jimson Seeds, you murdered and committed unspeakable acts to the corpses of your family. Do you recall any of this?"
"..."

What?

“You are being charged with one count of second degree murder for the death, Nathaniel Strong; One count of murder for Mellissa Strong; and another count of murder for…”

His words fade into the distance as the world began to spin.

I could not fathom the fact that I had killed my family; I would never do anything to hurt them. How did I come to take this drug?

The heart monitor began to beep erratically.

“We’re going to be a family again…” Hissed through the air.

‘Flatline’

Darkness…

Author's Note

Just like everything else I write I am tuning it up as I go. First ever horror I've written, hope you enjoy. I tried but any review good or bad is appreciated.