Title: The Locket of Dead
Writer: Harshit Raj
Genre: Horror
Word Count: 1,454
Type: Short Story
I was on an expedition in the woods of Amazon. A three day long trip which involved 8 people. On the first day, we explored the surroundings of the forest and then moved deeper inside. Right before the sun set, we found a ruined village and to spice things up, we decided to spend the night there. We unloaded our backpacks, and started preparing for the night, when suddenly an old lady appeared in front of the spot where we thought of making a campfire. We were all surprised to see such an elderly woman amidst the dense and cluttered woods. Her face was covered with wrinkles and her skin had become so thin and weak that most of the bones and nerves were visible from outside. When we went near her, she gave us all a locket and said to wear it during our stay in that village. We were already very shocked and confused by her appearance and over anything, she is now hanging us some kind of locket. At first we denied her offer but later on, ultimately we all took that locket and wore it for her sake. As she didn't look like someone who would prank us. When I glanced at the locket, I noticed that it had the image of that old lady with some text written below it. The text was not understandable. Meanwhile, other members of the crew tried talking to that lady about what she was doing at such a place and who she was, but she didn't utter a single word. At the very next moment, we heard a voice. It was Max, one of our companions. He denied to take that locket and furiously said,
“Why should I wear this? First of all, an old lady magically appears in front of us and asks us to wear some stupid locket with her face on it. It's not that I am one of her hardcore fans. I think that she is a thief and with these lockets, she would do something to rob all our belongings. How can you guys even believe her?”
His words were valid but yet we all tried to calm him down, so that the lady would not feel bad because it was quite unusual seeing someone this far in the forest and we needed to gather information from her. Maybe she would've been helpful if we listened to her. But when I turned to look for her, she was not there. The lockets, which we wore, vanished and we all got confused about what happened. However, after getting no answers, we all again started to prepare to spend our night in that village. Everything went smoothly. During the night we all enjoyed ourselves. Leaving all the worries aside, we ate and then danced around the campfire. Then, we all went to sleep in the same house for safety of course but still decided to split ourselves into two rooms for a spacious resting area.
Somewhat around midnight, I woke up from a large noise which came from outside the house. I never heard something like that. I looked at the time, it was 01:30 a.m. The noise kept being louder and more unpleasant but stopped the next moment. I thought that maybe some animal was behind this because at the end of the day, Amazon is a truly vast forest with millions of secrets buried inside it. I tried sleeping again, but just when I closed my eyes, I heard someone shouting for help. It was a female voice. I thought of going outside to search for the source of that voice but I was too terrified. Well, this is not a horror story. I can go outside with others too, in spite of going alone. At least I thought so. I woke everyone up and we all went to look outside. No one was there, only darkness. We tried looking here and there with the flashlight but found nothing. Everyone thought that maybe it was my dream and all started going back toward the house, but it looks like I was not dreaming. We all heard that voice again, it was still crying out for help. We turned back in a hurry and noticed something on a tree almost 40 feet away from us. It was not a clear view so we all went towards it thinking that maybe someone had felt for the trap made for the animals. As we kept moving forward, the silence in the atmosphere increased drastically and when we all reached the tree, we found nothing. Confused by all these events, we turned around with a puzzled look on our face and started walking towards our stay. Just a few steps ahead, we saw a body. A corpse. The dead body of that old lady was lying down on the ground in front of us. She was drowned in blood and her hands were cut off. Everyone panicked about the situation and some started screaming in the middle of the night too. But I noticed something strange on that lady’s body. She was also wearing a locket. The same as the one she gave us. I slowly moved forward to look at that locket more closely and just when I picked it up, I saw the photo of Max with the text ‘die’ written below it. Before I could comprehend the situation, I felt like Max was calling out for me. I turned around, but only found others panicking. I tried looking for Max, but suddenly realized the meaning of that locket. I looked at my neck and found that locket there again, it had the photo of Max instead of that old lady and the text was clear, ‘die’. My mind became blank with countless thoughts. The next thing I did was to count the people with me. There were only 7, and as expected, Max was not there. As soon as I comprehended the situation, I told everyone to run towards our stay, as fast as they could. They were all confused but at that moment, no one thought of disagreeing with me, and we all started running towards the house we were staying in.
Then, everyone heard the voice of Max. He was shouting for help but before anyone could react I screamed, “Don’t look back. Doesn’t matter what you hear, if you want to be alive, just don’t turn around.” This sounded more like a threat to them, but still one of them, named Joe, turned around, and at the very next moment, we were hearing his voice too. He was also crying out for help but this time, no one dared to look behind. We all kept running towards our stay, as fast as we could and when we reached there, I immediately closed the door and every window. Everyone was terrified. They kept asking me about what happened to Max and Joe, and what is happening?
I didn’t have an answer. I was out of breath but still, to explain everything to them, I once again looked at the locket on my neck and saw something more horrifying. The photo contained both Max and Joe and it was slowly distorting. As the photo kept getting distorted, both Max and Joe were smiling creepily and the photo vanished. Another text appeared in place of the photo which said,
“You are lucky. But still,
You all will die.”
At that very moment, I started hearing the laugh of Max and Joe from every corner of the house. After a few minutes, I explained everything to my companions, as only 6 were left. I told them everything starting from the locket, to Max getting disappeared, that old lady wearing the same locket as us, and everything else. With every word coming out from my mouth, the faces of all 6 of them became pale and white with fear. That night, we all were awake. No one dared of sleep; and the next morning without any second thought, we packed our bags and left that village. The expedition was canceled, and we headed towards the main base. When we all went far away from the village, I turned around and saw Max and Joe smiling and standing right beside the campfire. Their hands were cut off, and they were completely covered in blood. It felt like they were waiting for us, and then that old lady also came from behind and started smiling. Those smiles were the most creepy ones I ever saw. I turned around in an instant and started running with my full strength to catch up with all my companions, and didn't dare to look behind.
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