Wow that’s really interesing that you mentioned Mr. King. I wrote this story only a few weeks before I read my first Stephen King novel, “The Shining,” one of my favorite books! I suppose he and I share similar ideas about plot construction.
Short Story / THE MUSEUM (Fantasy / Chiller)
THE MUSEUM by NemutaiKun
“So, are you coming tonight?” Todd asked.
Ryan looked up from his bowl of cafeteria spaghetti, a noodle still hanging from his mouth. “Hrm?” was his confused reply.
“To the new museum,” Todd explained. “Remember? My mom’s making me go for the grand opening.”
Ryan considered this for a moment. Being a high school sophomore, he did have lots of homework, chores to do, and, most importantly, at least three whole hours of video games to catch up on when he got home. “Well…” he began, but Tara Wilson cut him off.
“You’re going to the museum too?” This question had been directed at Todd, who nodded and replied, “Yup, and it’s only because I heard it was different from all the ones I’ve been to—not as boring and junk.”
Tara smiled slyly. “Thought you said your mom was making you go.”
Todd shrugged. “She can’t really make me do anything, you know. I’ll probably just stay at home.” He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. “But it’s all cool—I don’t mind staying for a while.”
“Well, you can count on me being there,” Tara said as she brushed a dark strand of hair out of her eyes. “I’ve asked around, and nearly the whole class is gonna be there too.”
Ryan still was not convinced. “I’ll see if I can make it,” he said, staring down at a spaghetti stain on his white jacket. Making empty resolutions was the best way to close the subject on a good note. It sounded better than telling the truth. He could not have cared less, though he was a bit surprised that Tara was so adamant about going.
“Where is it again?” asked Karen, a junior and Tara’s best friend.
“It’s near the movie theater, you can’t miss it.”
Karen looked thoughtful. “My dad wants me to go with him, but I told him no thanks…”
“Why?” Tara looked shocked. “You’ll be the only one who didn’t!”
It was Karen’s turn to look surprised. “Gosh, Tara, is it really that…?
Ryan interrupted through a mouthful of food. “Did you say it was near the theater?” he asked, setting down his fork. “I live a block away from the theater and I haven’t seen a thing about it!”
“Come to think of it, I haven’t either,” said Todd, holding his last forkful of spaghetti suspended over his tray. “And I live just down the street from Ryan,” he added.
This did not seem to faze Tara, who had already finished her lunch and was preparing to go throw away her trash. “You’ve seen it,” she said to Ryan, “I’ll bet you just weren’t paying attention.” The bell rang, announcing the end of lunch. Tara stood up right on cue and left, tray in hand.
“Like she would know,” muttered Todd as he hefted his book bag over his broad shoulders. Ryan followed him towards the trashcans.
“It must not be that big, then, huh?” remarked Todd, but Ryan did not answer. He was watching Tara with interest. She had picked up her bag and was leaving, but as she turned around, he had noticed a small red pin of light shining from the zipper of her backpack that disappeared as she turned the corner.
That day after school Ryan and Todd walked the long six blocks home together as they had done nearly every school day for years. They had known each other since elementary school and were still the best of friends. They had met Tara in middle school, and she had quickly become a part of their close circle.
“So where do you think this museum is?” said Ryan, hurriedly changing the subject from Karen Johnson, whose collection of mini-skirts had recently become a favorite subject of Todd’s.
“Must be… well, I really don’t know,” Todd admitted. “Seems stupid to just throw up a brand new museum without advertising, doesn’t it? But seriously, would it seem weird for me to ask Karen to wear the green one this Friday? I mean, it is her party and all….”
“Just say it casually, like, ‘Why don’t you wear that green skirt at the party?’ and then start talking about how good her hair looks or something.”
“Never mind, I shouldn’t have asked…”
They came to a crossing zone and waited for the intersection to clear. “Man I hate this city,” Ryan said. “It’s nothing like my old town. It’s too noisy here, the school sucks…”
Todd, feeling a little hurt at the comment, cut Ryan’s list of grievances short. “You should be thankful,” he said good-naturedly.
The crossing light turned green.
“You have a house, a mom that can actually cook, plenty to eat and…”
“Todd?” Ryan interrupted. He stopped at the corner of Northeast Drive and the busy freeway, staring at the sun.
“What’s up?”
“Do you have the time? I… I don’t have a watch.”
Todd looked at his right wrist first, then at his left, one of his most common mistakes. It was 3:05, he said.
“So why is the sun setting so early?” asked Ryan. They both stared past the busy cars speeding down the freeway, over the autumn leaves where the sky was glowing a bright amber hue.
“Aw… it’s not setting, man,” Todd said after a few moments. Then he paused, his mouth opened halfway. “Isn’t… isn’t that east?”
“No, I guess not, since the sun sets in the west. We’re just turned around. C’mon, let’s hurry up.” Todd still looked unconvinced.
They made it to Ryan’s house in less than ten minutes. As soon as he opened the door, Zorro, Ryan’s black cat, bounded off the couch to greet him warmly.
“Ah! Attack cat!” shouted Todd jovially.
Ryan laughed. “Get out of the way, you little pest.” He nudged Zorro gently with his foot. The cat retreated to his resting spot on the living room couch, where he curled up and watched them quietly from behind a pillow.
Homework forgotten, the two friends found themselves glued to the TV screen in Ryan’s room for the next couple of hours. They flipped to the comedy channel, the cartoon channel, and the comedy channel again, and then when there was simply nothing interesting on anymore they broke out the PlayStation controllers.
Ryan’s mom came home from work at 5:30. “Ryan, I’m home!” she called down the hall.
“Hey mom!”
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Monroe.”
“Is that you, Todd? How are you?”
“Fine,” came the droning reply. Ryan had just beaten him in racing by a whole lap. Todd turned and looked out the window.
“Hey Ryan…” The sun had already set, but the streetlights had not come on yet. In the center of his yard, Ryan saw a small red point of light—a tiny dot that would have been invisible during the day.
“What’s…?”
“Don’t know,” said Ryan, looking at it from over Todd’s shoulder.
“Halloween was the month before last, Ryan.”
“It’s not from…”
After a few more moments of staring, they decided that they would examine the light on their way to the museum. “We’d better go to your house soon,” Ryan said. “We’re supposed to meet your mom before we go, right?” Todd agreed, so they turned off the video games and closed the bedroom door behind them, the sliver of light pouring in from the hallway thinning until not even a hint of light shone through.
“Are you boys going to the museum?”
“Yeah, Todd’s mom is taking us,” Ryan said, unplugging the charger from his cell phone.
“I have laundry to wash,” Mrs. Monroe said. “But you’ll see me there later on.” She put a frying pan on the kitchen stove and turned on the burner. “Ryan, would you mind setting out Zorro’s food before you leave, I just have to eat a little something. Gosh, I’m starved!”
“Yeah, sure mom.” Ryan set out Zorro’s bowl and began pouring the dry cat food into it. “Mmm, tuna! Zorro’s gonna be feasting tonight,” he joked.
“He’s in the backyard,” said Mrs. Moroe absently, as if realizing it for the first time. Suddenly, she snapped, “…but don’t go out there now! Now’s not the time.”
Both boys looked up. “Why not?” Ryan asked. “Don’t you want me to let him in…?”
“You boys’d better get going,” she replied. “Go on! It’s nearly opening time.” She ushered them on towards the living room door. “I’ll call your mother, Todd, and tell her you’ll be there shortly… Oh, and don’t act stupid, you two! I don’t want to hear that you’ve embarrassed me tonight!”
She waved to them from the other side of the screen door, watching them cut across the grass to look at something on the ground. She watched as Todd shrugged and said something that made Ryan laugh. As they began to fade from view in the dark, she looked to the porcelain clock on the mantelpiece, which read forty-one past the hour. It was nearly Time. She closed the door to the Monroe house from the inside, gently but firmly, as a mourner would close the tomb of one so dear that had only just departed.
“Something wrong, man?” Ryan asked as they stood together outside Todd’s house. He was looking at the concerned expression on Todd’s face. But Todd didn’t seem to hear.
“I’ll go in and tell her we’re ready,” Todd said slowly. “Wait here, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response, briskly walking up and entering the house. It might have been his imagination, but Ryan thought he had seen a quick flash of red from the bottom of Todd’s shoe. He rubbed his aching head. It had been that kind of day.
Ryan waited for several minutes by the curb. He watched black clouds drift across a gray sky over a yellow moon. He listened to the breeze, waiting for some interruption to catch his wandering mind. He watched as an ambulance passed, red taillights blazing…
And shut his eyes.
He had waited long enough, he thought. Better go check on Todd…
Every step he took towards the house seemed to muffle the sounds of the world about him, until, as he stood on the porch, there was no sound at all. The silence permeated every speck of dirt, every inch of grass, every wisp of wind. The doorbell beckoned, and his finger answered the call.
A resounding bell broke the silence like a shattering blow to glass. Five more peals followed, the sound of the doorbell lost in the midst of this unwelcome announcement of the Time. It came from far away, somewhere down the road. The school?
Ryan turned to look at Todd’s front door.
A length of thick, velvet rope was stretched between the storm door and the front door. Clearly, Ryan was not to enter. He stepped back, observing the scene as if watching from behind a haze.
A buzzing sound from behind brought him to his senses. He turned and saw that the nearest streetlight had just come on. There were no others lit yet. As soon as he drew near to the streetlamp, the next light, a little further down, crackled to life.
Ryan was hesitant to go any further. The sky, whose portrayal of nightly gloom seemed to have lost its senses, was beginning to turn amber. The clouds above had been lost somewhere in the haze. The wind had died. But the streetlights, whose bright blue bulbs cast an unearthly scarlet upon the pale road, carried him away towards the answer.
The school was bristling with activity. From the outside Ryan could see that every room was lit, and numerous cars were parked in the lot outside. But who would be here at this hour? He was preparing to turn back towards home when he saw a student walk through the hall in front of the main glass doors. It was Tara. Ryan walked through the open door and followed her into the cafeteria.
“Tara!” he called after her, but she did not answer. His voice echoed in the room. All was silent save for the clinking of forks on plates and the occasional sound of a chair moving.
The room was filled with his classmates.
At every table they sat, spoon, fork or glass in hand, staring into space. An occasional smiling student, every now and then one with a scowl. Some would stand and leave the room and more would enter and sit at their usual spot, picking up a glass and staring forwards.
They did not speak, and although the food on their trays appeared freshly prepared, they never actually put it to their lips.
Tara went to her usual seat and joined a group of her friends. An unusual feeling of dry nausea surged through Ryan’s body as he surveyed the room. He was feeling faint, and the tiny red light Tara had just uncovered as she picked up her fork made it worse. In fact, there were little red lights all over the room: under Colin’s chair, behind one of the trashcans, in Shiro’s glass of tea.
Ryan stumbled out of the cafeteria and sprinted through the school doors into the open air.
The sky had become a brighter hue of amber and the red-blue streetlights shone as brightly as ever. Ryan had retraced his steps to Todd’s house, which was right where he had left it. He dashed up the steps to the front door. The velvet rope was gone now, but Ryan hardly noticed.
The house was unlocked, and Ryan forgot about ringing the bell. The doors opened to reveal at first pitch-black darkness, but then a warm, homely glow lit Todd’s living room as the lamps brightened of their own accord.
“Todd!” Ryan yelled up the stairs, skipping every second step as he dashed towards his friend’s room. The door was closed, but Ryan could see a faint glow coming from the crack underneath. He opened the door slowly, afraid of what he might find.
A single lamp was lit in one corner of the room and the sound of running water reached Ryan’s ears. He pushed the door open further.
In the mirror on the other side of the room, Ryan could make out a reflection of the adjoining bathroom. The lights were on, and the shower water was running. The silhouette of a standing figure stood veiled behind the intricate patterns of the glass shower door. Ryan heard the sound of the shower cutting off, but a dripping noise remained. The sliding shower door opened with a muffled slam.
A surge of hope rushed through Ryan. What if Todd had not been affected by the madness he had seen at the school?
Todd entered his room draped in a maroon towel and walked towards his bed.
Embarrassed for his intrusion, but unable to control his emotion, Ryan burst into the room. “Todd!” he shouted.
Todd turned.
“Todd! Are you okay? I’ve been waiting outside, but I got worried! There’s something wrong out there… Todd?”
Todd began walked towards Ryan, but missed him by several feet. He stopped instead at his dresser drawers, from which he withdrew a pair of boxers and some shorts.
He could neither hear nor see his friend.
Todd began to dress, and Ryan turned to look towards the clock above the bed. It was a beautiful, ornate clock with a face etched in gold and covered by glass. It said eleven, although it could not nearly have been eight. Todd unmade his bed and slid underneath the covers. He reached over and turned out his lamp.
Ryan, angry and confused, was breathing heavily. He reached out and shook Todd, screaming for him to say something, anything, but silence pervaded through the dark house. In his distress, Ryan took and swung the bedside lamp against the clock, bringing gold and glass to the floor with a shatter. Todd did not stir. On the floor, amidst the pieces of shining, blue glass, a red light…
Ryan tore down the stairs, through the hall and out the front door. He could not bear to see his world fall apart like this.
Suddenly a figure emerged from the dark, a girl with long, brown hair, a white tank top and a green skirt.
Karen.
She stopped and stared at Ryan. “Is that you, Ryan?” she asked timidly.
The pain subsided. He could not help but wrap his arms around his friend. She held him just as tightly.
“Ryan, what is all this?” She choked on her whisper. “My house, my mom, my dad, my family… all gone! I can’t find them anywhere!”
Ryan realized that he had never before been to Karen’s house or seen her family. He tried to console her with his words, but she was clearly hysterical. He led her up the street to his own house. They made it to the porch where Karen collapsed on the porch swing. She continued to sob, but more quietly. Ryan’s eyes burned, too.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” She looked into his eyes for a moment then nodded slowly.
The door to Ryan’s house creaked as he opened it. Just as in Todd’s house, the dark room lit up slowly to reveal the living room just the way he had left it.
Zorro was resting quietly on the sofa, his tail moving slightly this way and that. Ryan approached him with caution. It was a bad idea to sneak up on him during his cat-nap. He looked so peaceful.
“Zorro.” Ryan whispered tentatively. He outstretched his hand towards his pet and laid it gently on the soft, black fur. Zorro’s tail twitched slightly. “Zorro?” he repeated.
He could not stand it any longer. With his hand he reached out and touched Zorro’s right eyelid, pushing it ever so slightly upwards…
RED.
The sight of it caused Ryan to jump backwards in horror, wrenching his ankle underneath the coffee table. He removed it slowly, stood and began backing away from the cat, whose tail curled around again.
He turned towards the kitchen. The frying pan was still on the stove, five slices of delicious bacon sizzling at medium heat. Mrs. Monroe hadn’t finished her snack yet. Ryan turned the burner off and walked into the hallway, the beat of his heart as audible as that of a drum.
“Mom?” the word seemed lost in the silence of the house, but he did not have to wait long for a reply.
She came from out of her dark bedroom, heading straight for him. He did not wait for her to speak, rushing into her arms as he never would have earlier that same day. She stopped. His tears streamed down from his eyes in rivulets that spread across her pink sweater. He cried out to her, told her he loved her, his words running as fluidly as his tears, but there came no reply.
He was in his house alone.
He released her and she continued her walk into the kitchen, returning a moment later with the dishtowels, a gentle smile perpetually etched upon her cold face. She walked past Ryan and into her bedroom, where she added the towels to a larger pile of clothes. The faint sound of running water could be heard coming from the washroom, and Ryan’s mother carried the load past Ryan once more.
There was laundry to be done.
Ryan left in a hurry.
Karen was sitting on the porch steps, staring into the distance. The dark of night was over. From the porch, Ryan could see a trail of red lights running across his lawn towards the back of his house.
“He’s in the backyard, but don’t go out there now!” Mrs. Monroe had said. “Now’s not the time.” She hadn’t been talking about the cat after all.
There was definitely something in the backyard. But it was not yet Time, not yet…
“Karen?” He sat down slowly beside her, her soft, gentle features marred by the sadness in her eyes.
A single tear rolled down her face as she looked up at him, silently pleading him for an answer.
“The sky,” she began. “…It-it’s not real, is it?”
Ryan looked up at the sky, a sheet of endless plaster painted blue with a rising sun as golden as the clock face that lay broken in Todd’s room.
It made a grand display.
You need to log in to urbis or create an urbis account to review this writing.
Reviews
Sort Reviews by Newest | Oldest | Highest Quality | Lowest Quality | Newest Comments |
Lunsford reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
This 106 word review has not been unlocked.
Aaron_JD reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
A good story overall and creepy, too. I got a little lost with the location shifts. Is Ryan being placed there by some entity, is he just appearing? Or is he a ghost that the others can’t see. This seems to be the case when he shakes Todd but gets no response.
I would also like to see some more elaboration with what the Time is.
- add/view comments (0)
KellyE reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
I really liked this but you’ve got a bit of work to do to make it flow a bit better, there are a few jarring elements. For example, I’m assuming that the museum comes into the story at a later point? Otherwise, why bring it up at all. If you need an ‘event’ of some sort that evening, somewhere where everyone will be gathering for some reason, make it the school, as you’ve already got Ryan going there and seeing the odd going’s on. Maybe a school dance? Or else have all the strange students and/or parents actually at the museum and change the part about Ryan going to the school at night completely.
Also, why would Ryan be hating his city and fondly remembering his ‘old’ city when he’s been in this one for years? Since elementary school you said. I would get rid of that line completely and just have the normal conversation you’ve already got, it’s great.
Keep going, you’ve got a fantastic way with your ominous description and I’d love to see more.
despondentgnome reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
I would describe this as a more suspense sort of piece I don’t think that horror quite fits the bill. Otherwise it is an alright right, it is a tad choppy and the sentences seem to end abrubtly ofen throughout the piece. The only wualm I really have about this is there is nothin to grab you. I was bored by the time I got to the second paragraph, and as many people and teachers will tell you through your education, you need something to stick out and grab ya by the nuts to make you pay attention. I would recommend looking at the introduction and trying to make some sort of adjustment to really draw someone in, because most people wouldn’t go much farther or even complete reading the piece without it.
sapphiretragedy reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
Wow. That gave me chills. That was a nice story. There were a few kinks in the prose – but nothing that couldn’t be solved by you reading this aloud to yourself.
I loved this. It was creepy, suspenseful, and the characters were realistic.
Awesome job. Thanks for posting this so we could all enjoy you’re awesomely fantastic story. Keep writing – because I want to read more of your work!
madrockweek reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
Your descriptions set a solid mood and tone, i found it a very entertaining read. At first i found it a bit of a slow read, but once i finished it worked because of the contrast that was presented. Good job.
Edaurdo reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
I like all the dialogue it gives you a feel for the charecter’s attitudes and demeanor. The on going conversations in the peice also kept me intrigued. It reminds of stephen king in the way That it builds through a long drawn out process while steadily sucking you in. I’d like to see what happens next.
DeLovely1981 reviewed Version 1 -
Read 100%% of the Item
Good story. It kept me interested the whole time. I really like it! Goodd luck on your endeavor to have it published!
Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Review item
Add to favesCreator
Relevant Links
Item Stats
GENERAL
8 Reviews 1 Comment
Version 1
Latest Activity: over 2 years ago
REVIEW QUEUE
Appeared in Queue: 0 Times
Skipped: 0 Times
Ratings & Rankings
