A Far Greater Horror

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***

There was only one rule: don’t open the door.

Sounds reasonable, I thought, continuing down the hall.

Later, my knee had finally settled down enough that I could feel sleep coming at last.

Of course, that’s when something else decided to intrude.

Hey, a voice whispered.

I cracked open an eyelid to find a black mass with the slightest suggestion of a human form floating above the bed.

“Why don’t you fuck off?” I muttered as I turned onto my side.

That stunned the shadow into silence for a moment.

Aren’t you…

“Scared?” I finished its thought. “What’s the point of the forbidden door if you’re just going to come harass me if I don’t open it?”

It’s just that, usually humans aren’t so, uh, disciplined.

“You ever had a meniscal tear?”

No knees, so… no.

“You want disciplined? If I take a step wrong, it fucks up my whole day. I miss a stretch and it bites me in the ass.”

Yikes.

“Yeah,” I said, rolling onto my back as I warmed to the subject. “And that’s just the day to day. You ever go to a specialist?”

Specialist?

“You know, a doctor.”

No body, so… no.

“Well, let me tell you, they are not cheap. You’ve never known fear until you’ve been stuck wondering if this service is covered by your insurance.”

Wow, I may be an afterworld specter, but that’s just evil.

“Yeah, so believe me when I say, I got enough horror in my life without pissing off some entity ‘beyond the veil’ or whatever nonsense created you.”

Fair enough.

The shadow drifted toward the wall.

“Hey,” I called after it.

It paused its otherworldly glide short of the wallpaper.

“Thanks for listening.”

It was the first time I had smiled in a long time.