Rose Creek: A Collection of Short Horror Stories

IX. Into the Velvet Hallways

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IX. Into the Velvet Hallways

Dredford

Wesley Young – 2017

"Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial." – Victor Turner, "Liminality and Communitas".

In 2017, I tasted death for the first time. Naturally speaking, I wasn't dead, but I wasn't alive either; I do not know what I was, or where I was. About four years ago I was put into a coma after a sudden and unexplainable stroke; unexplainable because I was only twenty-three years old when it happened. I was finishing up my shift at my local gas station, playing around on my phone while waiting for the next guy to take over my shift. Completely out of nowhere, I started to feel... off. I became confused, my surroundings felt unfamiliar all at once, I forgot what I was doing, and I set my phone down. I closed my eyes as I became extremely sensitive to light, I felt nauseous and a tingling sensation filled my body – then it all felt limp – hollow-like, and after that, well, I don't remember much until waking back up much later.

Before the incident, I wasn't going anywhere with my life. Every day felt monotonous, samey, dull, and tiring. I was living with my parents in my hometown of Dredford, Rose Creek, I watched all of my friends get their lives together and move on, and while I tried going to college for about a year I quickly found myself dropping out and returning home. I was stuck in a bad cycle, I always felt an urge to leave and do something with my life but every time I tried I would just retreat back into my safe place at home. Comfortable at home, yet incredibly unhappy. I continued with my easy and safe job at the gas station, this was what I felt content with – but except it wasn't at the same time; I knew my life was going nowhere fast, and perhaps the incident was in some twisted way, exactly what I needed.

They say when you're in a coma you're aware of what's going on around you. Well, for me, I certainly felt aware. While in the coma I was entirely lucid, yet I wasn't present, and while my friends and family saw me lying on that hospital bed, terrified that I was never going to wake up, my mind was in other places. While in my coma, I went to a place that I was not welcome, I passed through what I can best describe as 'velvet hallways', and saw things that I was not meant to see.

. . .

The numbness, the nausea, the pain, the confusion from the gas station all slowly faded away into darkness. Where I would expect to feel nothing after such an event, I began to feel very much alive, I felt at peace; I was extremely happy actually. I heard the faint echoes of an old tune dancing all around me, I knew this tune yet I couldn't put my finger on it. The black void slowly faded away and I could see once again, I did not awake where I collapsed – I was someplace new – I felt comfortable and safe. I sat in the middle of a hallway, the walls on each sides of me soft and dark red, the walls subtly waved back and forth with gracefulness, almost like they were flowing in a gentle breeze, yet there was no wind. I reached out to my sides and touched them, they were soft to the touch like a fabric.

I saw a faint light at the end of the hallway – perhaps this was where the comforting music was coming from? I slowly stood up and walked towards the light. Getting closer and closer by the step, the light shone through a half-opened door, and it welcomed me. I touched the doorknob and slowly pulled it open as I walked into a familiar home. I stepped into a kitchen, and I heard the door close unobtrusively behind me. I turned around to see that no door existed at all, it was like I had entered through a wall. Quickly forgetting about this, I slowly walked around the kitchen to see balloons, confetti, party hats, and food was scattered all around. It looks like a child's birthday party had just happened – except there were no people here, the house was dead quiet, not even white noise kept me company. I noticed an analogue clock on the wall that ticked to "1:00", it was the afternoon. Ever since noticing the clock, I could hear every single tick the hand made.