Her Name is Hell - Contest Entry

Bloodshot eyes stare back at me in the bathroom mirror, as hot tears carve a path down my face. You have no friends because you chase everyone away. You aren’t enough, and you never will be. Her voice fills my head, incessant and merciless. 

“Leave me alone.” My voice comes out as a pitiful sob. I wince as maniacal laughter echoes through the room. In the reflection of the mirror, I can see her materialize behind me. Her strawberry blonde curls bouncing as she laughs, finding joy in my torment. 

“Is that really all you’ve got?” She taunts, her black eyes boring a hole into my skull. She leans in, and a shiver goes down my spine as she whispers in my ear, “Have I finally broken you?”

“Never,” I bite out with fake bravado. Her lips pull up into a wicked grin, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. 

Look behind the shower curtain. Her voice fills my head again. I grip the edge of the countertop, shaking my head. But there could be an intruder back there. You better check. You wouldn’t want them to come out late at night and murder your family, now would you? She sends horrific images into my brain of my family laying in pools of blood, their throats slit and innards strewn about.

“No!” I cry out. More tears spring into my eyes as I fight the insatiable urge to look behind the shower curtain.

Come on, just do it. Do it. Do it! DO IT!!! I break as she screams inside my head, her voice and the gory images a vortex rattling through my skull. I spin around and fling open the shower curtain, nearly pulling the whole thing down. And I’m greeted by the sight of—nothing.

I let out a sigh of relief. I blink—and all of a sudden, a shadowy entity fills the emptiness. A strangled screech escapes me as its tendrils grab onto my arms and legs, and I’m thrown backwards into the mirror. The glass shatters into a million pieces, several shards piercing my skin. My head hits the countertop, nearly knocking me out, before I land on the cold bathroom tiles with a painfilled groan.

An odd alien noise reverberates from the dark entity as it hovers just above the ground before me. RUN!! She hisses, sending me scrambling to my feet. Adrenaline coursing through me, I stumble out of the bathroom and into the hallway, using the walls to support my weak frame as I flee. Risking a glance over my shoulder, my heart leaps into my throat as it bursts out of the bathroom with a vengeance. Its tendrils reach out for me like wisps of smoke, before solidifying into barbed hooks.

I press on faster, nearly tripping over my own feet as I make a beeline for the kitchen. Flying around the corner, I dive for the pillbox. With shaky hands, I open it, grab my drink, and throw back the medicine with a big swig of my fruit punch. “It’s all in my head. It’s all in my head,” I try to reassure myself.

The dark entity lets out a deafening screech. Its shadows fall away, revealing its humanoid form. She clutches her head in pain, black blood bleeding down from jet black eyes. “It’s all in my head. It’s all in my head,” I keep repeating the words to myself, squeezing my eyes shut.

When I open them again, I’m standing before the mirror once more. “It’s all in my head,” I say.

Or is it? The voice says back.