Box Set: Scary Stories- Vols. 3 & 4 (Chamber Of Horror Book 8)

by Billy Wells

  “Ralph, sometimes these people don't kill their victims right away.”

  “I wonder what they did with us.”

  “Like I said before, I remember this house. Apparently not as a guest but as a victim.”

  “Do you remember them using these horrible things on you?”

  Lena cringed. “Thankfully, no.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “What can we do? We're ghosts. We haunt and lurk. That's about it.”

  Ralph pondered over what Lena had said and shook his spectral head, “Today is the anniversary of our deaths. We must be here for some special reason. We weren’t here yesterday, I don’t think.”

  An eerie voice whispered, “Your spirits cannot rest. You are consumed with anger and must seek revenge. You cannot go to the other side until the wrong is righted.”

  “Who are you?” Lena said in the direction of the voice. “Did these psychos kill you, too?”

  “No. I died in this house over one hundred years ago. My name is Harriet. I am at peace on the other side, but part of my spirit will always linger here.”

  “Are there others like you?”

  “Yes. There are many here in the shadows of the basement suffering.”

  “Can you help us reach the other side?”

  “No. You must seek the help of others like you. Most of their spirits are out on the road where they were killed by the machine. The rest are here where they were tortured like you.”

  “I don't see anyone,” Ralph said. Immediately, they heard a low drone emanating all around them.

  Suddenly, Lena traveled back in time to the day they were murdered in 1959. They were in the car driving. It was raining hard.

  “Don't you think you should pull over? I can't see a thing, can you?” Lena said angrily.

  “I can see, but I hope I didn't miss the turn. The guy at the convenience store told me to go right at the Y in the road.”

  “I wish you would stop taking shortcuts and asking people for directions, it never pans out.”

  “The man said I could save almost an hour going this way.”

  “Slow down for Christ sake. How's the gas?”

  Ralph took his eye off the road for a split second to look at the gas gauge. Then he saw a huge billboard of a seminude couple in the throes of passion on the left side of the road. Both sat spellbound as Ralph slowed to get a better look. Neither of them had never seen such a blatantly risqué image on a public road.

  “Whoa!” Ralph shouted, “That’s the coolest sign I’ve ever seen.” Then from the opposite side of the road, a bulldozer with a gleaming steel blade shot from behind some thick bushes. Ralph swerved away, but it was too late. The blade struck him in the side of the head with a lethal skull-crushing blow and sliced through the convertible top, separating it entirely from the car. The blade completely missed Lena's head, and the car continued hurtling forward into a stand of huge boulders. The front end of their car folded up from the impact, but Lena’s seatbelt kept her safe from the collision. Except for a few scratches, she was dazed but not hurt.

  She looked over at Ralph and saw his dead open eyes and his lopsided head. Then she felt a crushing blow to the back of her head, and the world went black.

  Suddenly, Lena returned to the present as a ghost. The horrific images of the past filled her with anger. Ralph saw the look on her face darken.

  “What did you see, Lena?”

  “I saw the wreck that killed you. I saw your eyes and the terrible dent in the side of your head. They decoyed us to look one way at a large sign and then pile-drived our car with a similar bulldozer like the one we saw today and sliced off the top of our car.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “I wasn't killed in the crash. They brought me here. The geezer in the convenience store had a fetish for inflicting pain. He kept burning me with an iron until I died.”

  “An iron?”

  “He loved to hear me scream. He placed the hot iron against my skin while I was strapped to the metal table and let it sizzle. When I passed out, he waited until I regained consciousness to start again.”

  “I'm so sorry, Lena. I guess having my head crushed in was a better way to go.”

  “I don't know why, but coming into this house and revisiting the anger inside of me has changed me somehow. I feel like I can move mountains and scale tall buildings in a single bound like Superman. On second thought, at least like Wonder Woman.”

  “I’m mad as hell myself, but I still feel the same as I did outside,” Ralph said.

  Lena moved across the room and switched on the light.

  “How did you do that? You’re a ghost.”

  The eerie voice came again, “You are energized in this room because you died here along with many others. You are absorbing the energy of all those lost souls who yearn to reach the other side. Even the ones outside on the road are energizing you some.”

  “I don't understand,” Lena said hoping for some answers.

  “You've been wandering for years traveling the same road and crashing your car repeatedly in the same location. Coming inside the house where you were tortured and killed is making the difference now. You don't remember all the crashes through all the years, and you won't remember coming into the house today if you linger here and don't reach the other side this time. You've been given a chance very few spirits ever get, and you need to make it count.”

  * * *

  Jack Rogers closed the convenience store at ten o'clock, which wasn't very convenient for the citizens of Nowhere, but he didn't give a shit. His additional income from robbing travelers who drove convertibles was better now than ever. He prided himself on picking the perfect victims. He particularly like the ones with pretty wives, but sometimes the bulldozer blade decapitated both people. He didn't always get to torture the women like he wanted. Sometimes the man would survive, and Ethel would have a little fun pulling his chain. She loved to break all their fingers and toes. Jack never understood this fetish, but that's what she liked, and he left her alone with them. Ethel was much better at torturing travelers than her mother had ever been.

  His daddy taught him well. So far, no one had suspected a thing. His family had owned thousands of acres for seventy-five years, and as luck would have it, a new highway had made the old road that went through their property obsolete years ago. The county no longer maintained the road, which made it easy to lure unsuspecting travelers on to it without being caught. The only downside was it meant he occasionally had to patch a pothole whenever they arose to make his victims believe this was a state road.

  When Jack Rogers pulled into the driveway leading to the house, he wondered why all the lights were off. Did Ethel take a nap and fall asleep? Maybe she was tired from killing those two people earlier that afternoon. She wasn't as spry as she used to be. She hadn’t mentioned anything out of the ordinary had happened today. The man's head was decapitated and the woman, who had lost her arm, was bleeding out when Ethel shot her in the head. Apparently, this couple had a lot of cash in their wallets, and everything turned out well.

  He climbed the steps to the front door, opened it, and walked in. Before he could switch on the light, Lena hit him squarely between the eyes with a Louisville slugger. Jack fell with a thud on his face. Lena dragged him into the basement and strapped him on another table next to Ethel. He started to come to and Lena helped wake him up by squeezing his balls with some heavy-duty pliers.

  Lena could feel the excitement building as the spirits that lurked in the shadowy netherworld surrounded the two human monsters.

  Both Jack and Ethel were awake, but they couldn't see the spectral things that drooled in the shadows. Their eyes were bulging with fear. They could sense something terrible lurking nearby.

  Ralph came forward from the rest and asked, ”What's the plan, Lena?”

  “Before we begin, we want everyone to concentrate as hard as they can to materialize so that Ethel and Jack can see the victims they tort
ured one last time before they burn in hell for all eternity. I think it will make their final moments in excruciating agony even more unpleasant.”

  “I like it,” Ralph said excitedly. “But do you think we can do it?”

  Harriet says if all of us put our minds to it all at once, we have the power. On the count of three, I want everyone to concentrate as hard as you can to materialize looking the way you looked the last time Ethel, Jack, or their parents saw them. 1…2…3….”

  Suddenly hazy figures materialized from the dark and emerged into the light in a frenzied calliope of moaning, shrieking, and hysterical laughter.

  Even Ralph and Lena winced as they looked around at the grotesque assembly of monstrosities created by Jack, Ethel, and their ancestors over a period of more than fifty years.

  One by one, the spectral things, sporting a potpourri of missing body parts, shambled forward, drooling with anticipation, and clamoring for Lena to begin meting out justice with the diabolical implements on the table.

  PANDORA’S BOX

  Zack and Pandora had met for dinner at the Manhattan Ocean Club exactly one year ago. To celebrate the anniversary of their first date, they'd decided to dine at the same restaurant where they’d fallen in love.

  Over the course of the year, neither had chosen to date anyone else. They were madly in love, and Zack had decided it was time to pledge his love and devotion with an engagement ring.

  After an exquisite meal of surf and turf, Zack withdrew a small gift box from his jacket and placed it on the table in front of Pandora. She smiled warmly and opened it. The diamond sparkled in the candlelight of their secluded table overlooking the water and the reflections of the city lights.

  Zack moved to her side, and getting down on one knee, he said with deep emotion, "Pandora, I love you with all my heart, and I want to share my life with you for now and forever more. Will you marry me?”

  Pandora’s radiant smile faded, and her brow creased with a surprising shadow of concern.

  “What is it, darling?” Zack asked, stunned at the unexpected reaction to his proposal.

  “I love you more than life itself, and I do want to share my life with you. But, I made a promise to my father when I was a young girl that I must hold sacred without compromise all my life. So, before I commit my love to you for all eternity, you must swear never to ask me about or ever try to interfere with my promise of secrecy to my father.”

  “I don't understand, darling. What on earth could be so important it would stand in the way of the love we feel for each other?”

  “I can't say any more than what I've told you. If you want me to be your wife, you must promise to keep the secret until death do us part.”

  “But…”

  “Zack, do you hear what I’m saying? There is no alternative. You must agree to this one condition or this will have to be the last time we ever see each other.”

  Zack looked at her in awe. Pandora is giving me an ultimatum. Not only for our marriage, but also for our future relationship.

  “Well, if you put it that way,” he said. “Of course, I promise to never mention your secret, whatever it is, ever again. My love is unconditional.”

  "I'm so happy," Pandora said. "I love you so much. I knew you would understand.”

  He placed the ring on her finger. They kissed tenderly.

  * * *

  Three months later, Zack and Pandora were married. It was a beautiful ceremony and a fairy tale reception with all their friends.

  After a ten-day honeymoon in Hawaii and upon their return to Manhattan, Pandora gave up her apartment on Riverside Drive and moved into Zack's luxury apartment on Park Avenue.

  Zack was a successful lawyer who worked for Broadback, Milhouse, & Rangoon. Pandora was a prominent plastic surgeon with her own practice.

  Shortly after moving in to Zack’s apartment, Pandora made several modifications to Zack’s more masculine decor, which he agreed to out of love.

  They were extremely happy as the days, weeks, and months passed in a whirlwind of activity.

  “About six months after their marriage, one evening after dinner while watching TV, Pandora asked Zack, "Do you have a safe deposit box for important papers?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”

  “I have a box I would like to put in it for safekeeping if it's big enough.”

  “The one I have at Chase is certainly big enough, but you could probably put it in the safe in the den. It's gigantic and it's fireproof. It would be safe there as well unless the whole building is hit by a 747 like the Trade Center.”

  “I'd prefer to place it off site, if you don't mind.”

  “What's in the box?” Zack asked inquisitively.

  “Remember the secret I mentioned the night you proposed?”

  “Of course, I remember.”

  “The box is my secret. I can never tell you what's in it, and you must never ask me about it or ever try to open it. And if I die, you must bury it with me unopened.”

  “Wow. A real mystery wrapped in a puzzle. Can't you give me a hint? Like, is it animal or plant…bigger than a bread box?”

  “I can't say. It's a secret.”

  Zack was annoyed by the secrecy surrounding the strange box, but understood he’d made a promise on the night he proposed, and he intended to keep his word.

  “Is the box here in the apartment?”

  “Yes. It's on the floor in my walk-in closet.”

  “Can I see it?”

  Pandora thought about this and finally relented. She disappeared for a moment and returned with the small black box about nine inches square, which she placed on the coffee table.

  After scrutinizing it for a while, Zack said, “Looks about the size of a Jack-in-the-Box. Does something jump out at you when you open it?”

  “It's a secret.”

  “Well, I can put it in the safe in the den or in the safe deposit box at the bank. It's your choice, darling,”

  “I'd prefer the safe deposit box. It will be less of a temptation.”

  “You don't think I'd break my promise to you, do you?”

  “No, but why tempt fate anymore than necessary?”

  * * *

  Five years passed. The honeymoon was over. Life had lost some of its erotic luster, but Zack and Pandora had sex more than most couples who'd been together more than five years.

  One day, while browsing through an accumulation of mail, Zack inadvertently opened a bank statement addressed to Pandora. He first thought it must be for someone else since the person had a balance in excess of six million dollars. But looking at it closer, he was shocked to discover it was in fact Pandora’s account.

  They had never discussed finances since both made handsome salaries and paid their own bills separately. After Pandora moved in, Zack continued to pay for utilities, telephone, and cable for their apartment. He also picked up the tab for meals, drinks, and entertainment when they went out. Other than these expenditures, they each paid their own bills and neither had ever mentioned a shortage of cash. However, the magnitude of the funds in Pandora’s account had aroused Zack’s curiosity, and he found it odd she’d never mentioned she was a multimillionaire. He returned the statement to its envelope and left it on the kitchen counter.

  The next morning, Zack noticed the envelope was gone. Pandora had found it and filed it away. During breakfast, they made small talk, but she never mentioned she knew he had opened her mail.

  * * *

  As more time passed, Zack became increasingly curious about where his wife had gotten the money in her account. He secretly started investigating her past.

  He had assumed Pandora had never been married before, but to his chagrin, he discovered she’d been married at least twice before. Both husbands had contracted a strange malady their doctors had been unable to diagnose and died a short time after contracting it.

  Further investigation revealed Pandora was much older than she appeared. But, try as he may, he couldn’t
pin down much of anything else about her past. The trail of her parents, her birth, and her childhood was a black hole that led nowhere. Zack could find nothing before she attended college at Stanford University. He assumed her identity must have been fabricated. There was no other plausible explanation.

  Aside from quite a few evening meetings she had to attend because of her job, there was nothing else suspicious about their relationship. Zack dearly loved Pandora, but he could not go on living with a mystery woman without a past. He was convinced the black box held the secret.

  Finally, one day instead of going to work, he took a taxi to the bank where he’d placed the box. He went to the safety deposit boxes, entered the combination into his, opened the door, and extracted the black box. He took it to a private viewing room and pondered what he would do next. He didn’t have the combination.

  He scrutinized the five numbers, which now were set at 6-8-4-2-3. He entered 1-2-3-4-5, 9-8-7-6-5, and every combination of birthdays, anniversaries, etc he could think of, but nothing worked. The box was locked. Moreover, it was made from an alloy he had never seen before. He couldn’t scratch or dent it no matter how hard he tried.

  After almost an hour of getting nowhere, he was about to give up when he remembered a set of luggage he’d purchased years before with a similar rollup combination. He couldn’t find the combination in the paperwork and had wasted a lot of time trying different numbers. Finally, someone told him all combinations were always set at 0-0-0-0-0, and you put in the five numbers you wanted, and that became your combination from that point on.

  Almost certain it would be futile, he entered 0-0-0-0-0, and the lock popped open.

  Immediately, a deep feeling of guilt swept over him as he looked at a camera above him and knew it was making a recording of everyone who entered the room.

  He opened the box. He found a note inside that read:

  I am a vampire.

  I have searched the known world for a soul mate for over five centuries. During that time, I have become a widow twenty-five times. No man I have married has been able to keep the secret they swore to keep the day they proposed to me. Like the others, you broke your promise and opened the box holding my secret.