Empty Man
Compendium 2020 – Story 46
By Andrew Hawnt
I'll show you there's nothing hiding in the wardrobe, Tim had said to little Amy. She'd been screaming about nightmares and a ghost man in her wardrobe, so naturally Tim, knew he could win some dad points by being the brave warrior who would open the wardrobe door at night.
When the gelatinous tentacles slapped around his torso and limbs from deep within the depths of it, Tim hadn't had time to scream. At least Amy didn't know I was scared, he thought as he was dragged through clothes and into a cold, wet tunnel. Well, 'tunnel' made it sound bigger than it was. This was more like a birth canal, but one made of slime-slick rubber.
As the sloppy sphincter of the tunnel disgorged him like he was a newborn grub, he found himself hitting the cold, hard ground of a forest. The landing winded him, but he figured he'd be okay as this was all a dream.
He held onto that notion as he pulled himself up and stood to face the Empty Man, as Amy had called it. Floating in the air before him was an emaciated runt of a man in a hooded robe, his skeletal fingers clutching a wand in one hand that crackled with light. Its other hand toyed with the light as though the arcs were its pets. Behind it stretched a massive expanse of forest, and between the endless trees could be seen the glowing, blinking eyes of many a strange beast. the night beyond it all howled with haunting winds.
“So you're the bastard who's been keeping Amy awake,” he nodded at the Empty Man, embracing the absurdity of the dream. “You know, this is a shit version of Narnia you've got going on here.”
The chilling apparition floated down and regarded him. As it flew closer, Tim noticed he could see through sections of the thing's jaw. It was partially translucent and the air seemed to freeze around it as it grew nearer.
It smiled, and Tim was rocked back on his feet as the creature's words seemed to be formed of the screams of children. “Gatekeeper,” it rasped and shrieked. “You have kept me at bay for so long, through so many of her nightmares, that you have started to believe her.”
“Bollocks,” Tim said flatly, even though the Empty Man's screeching had struck a chord. “Amy hasn't been well. We're waiting for tests to come back. She's probably autistic. All of this is a figment of my imagination seeing as I've heard so much about you. Amy told me the other night that you'd tried to get out of the wardrobe and she'd fought you back with a toy sword. She said she'd beat you easily.”
The Empty man rammed the wand into Tim's chest, surrounding him with ghostly lightning as he was lifted several feet into the air. The Empty man floated up with him in order to keep the ghostly wand in the right place. Tim's heart.
“I've been hidden long enough,” bellowed the freakish vision. “Your mind is weak, Tim. Your imagination is dead,. Atrophied by the apathy of adulthood. There's enough space in your mind for me to hide, and then, right when she is unaware, I can emerge from you and take her life energy for myself. Once I do, I can create a new body from her malleable cells and walk your earth as a man! I have been imprisoned here too long.”
Tim fought through the pain, teeth gritted, fists clenched almost as hard as his jaw. “If you go near my little girl, I'm going to kill you with my bare hands.”
More of the sopping, slimy tentacles began to ooze into existence from beneath the tattered robes of the strange figure. They hurtled into Tim's eye sockets, nostrils and throat. He tried to fight them off, but nothing could break the terrifying grip of the Empty Man.
Darkness consumed him, his mind enveloped by chaos as the full horror of the entity's consciousness invaded his own.
Tim bolted upright with a yell. He was sweaty and cold and trembling, but he was definitely back in the bedroom. The door was open, some orange light caressing him from the landing. Carla was still asleep, and for once Tim was grateful it took so much to wake her up.
He breathed deep and wiped his sweaty forehead on the t-shirt he'd taken off before bed. He had to check on Amy.
He froze, and understood why the bedroom door was open.
“It's okay daddy,” Amy said from beside the door, her trusty toy sword in one hand. “You can go back to sleep. I got it.”
She lifted the other, showing daddy the severed head of the Empty Man dangling by a cluster of twitching tentacles.
Amy left without another word, and Tim listened with chilling recognition as from the other room came the sound of wardrobe doors creaking shut.
© Andrew Hawnt
=====
About Compendium 2020:
Compendium 2020 is a project from author Andrew Hawnt that consists of 52 original short stories, flash fiction stories and vignettes given away for FREE in 2020. Featuring science fiction, fantasy, horror and more, this began as a personal quest and due to the weirdness of 2020 has become an ambition to provide free distractions for anyone who needs them.
About Andrew Hawnt:
Andrew is based in Nottingham, England. Known for his music journalism career, comics writing and film critique work, Andrew is a prolific writer and is the author of a growing stack of books, including the cult hit VHS Ate My Brain. He made the movies The Demon And I and The Demon And I: Birthrite completely in lockdown with cast members filming their scenes remotely, and new films are coming.
Andrew is also the creator and presenter of the YouTube shows Planet Hex, Turn One Shock and the VHS Ate My Brain series as well as the video versions of the Compendium stories.
Follow Andrew: YouTube Mixcloud Facebook Instagram Twitter
© Andrew Hawnt 2020
Comments