Pacer Times Short Story: Family Night
The air was crisp, and piles of dead leaves scattered the driveway. Fall was in full effect, which is perfect because it is my favorite season. I examined my house, took a deep breath of the cold, dry air, and proceeded to unlock my door. As I walked into my house, the most wonderful aroma swirled through the air and hit me in the face. I pondered on the smell for a couple of seconds, and then I recognized the familiar smell. Chili! My favorite fall dish! I walked into the kitchen where my handsome husband Luke was cooking away. He turned around, and a massive smile hit his face. Luke ran up and embraced me in his strong arms, I fell into him, and all my stress from work melted away.
I turned and saw my two kids barreling toward me. I was bombarded with big hugs and constant jabbering about their day at school. It was the day before Halloween, so of course, school hyped them up on sugar and sent them home to their poor parents. I lovingly embraced them and longed for the crash that would hit them within a couple of hours.
We sat around the dinner table and enjoyed our delicious chili while talking about our days. After this, we all snuggled up on the couch and watched Coraline. This was one of our favorite Halloween movies to watch as a family. Once the movie ended, I noticed that my children and husband had all passed out on the couch. They looked so perfect and content that I did not have it in me to wake anyone up to move to their beds. I tucked each one in with a throw blanket and then decided to have some me time.
I lit some scented candles, poured a rather large glass of wine, and slipped into my bath. While enjoying my slice of heaven, I allowed my mind to wander slowly. And then I heard blood-curdling screams echo from downstairs. I immediately jumped out of the bath and ran to the door. Upon walking through the door, I was suddenly in a bright hallway. The hallway was so bright that it hurt my eyes. I looked around and saw that everything was white and sterile. I looked down and saw that I was wearing a white jumpsuit. Panic, fear, and confusion overtook my mind as I wondered what the hell was happening. I slowly made my way into a room that was labeled “Rec Room”. There were tables scattered with random strangers, some plain blue couches, and a TV. The strangers were eating bowls of chili while simultaneously me the most disgusted looks. I walked over to the TV to see that Coraline was playing. My mind started racing and thinking about how similar this was to the night I had just experienced with my family. I started frantically screaming and wondering where the hell I was and what the hell was happening.
Someone got up and abruptly changed the TV from Coraline to the local news and pointed menacingly at the screen. The news heading read “Twenty-Five Years Since the Halloween Tragedy”. The reporters told a story about how a crazy mother of two snapped one night and murdered her entire family. How disgusting. What drives a woman to do something like that I thought to myself. I could not believe my eyes when a picture of my family flashed across the screen along with mugshot of myself. Oh god what did I do? I ran to the mirror and saw a much older shell of myself staring back. This cannot be real. This must be a dream. I love my family and I would never do such a thing. I punched the mirror and when I looked down, I saw blood all over my hands. The world started spinning, I could not breathe, it felt like all the eyes in the room were staring at me.
Suddenly I woke up in a bright padded room. When I looked up all I could see were the dead faces of my children and husband and then it all went black.
