Queen solomon, the unwise[ A Horror Story]

Prologue

"How are you feeling today, anyway?" Doctor Patrick Umoren asked the man sitting opposite him. He had decided the session would be done in a place the man was most comfortable , which seemed to be the man's house.

After months of probing and prodding with hardly anything to go by, he hoped that the ambience and cosy lived-in air of the humble house would yield better results than the stifling formality of an office.

The man stared back, unresponsive. His arms were folded and his back rod straight. His eyes glazed over, and Doctor Patrick realised he had zoned out and must have for most of the desultory conversation they were having.

He snapped his fingers promptly. Those vacant eyes flicked to him. "Work with me here, alright? Today's session will determine whether you're okay to go back to work or not. We just need to go through it one last time, okay?"

Releasing a shaky breath, the wretched man gave a firm nod. His eyes were hollow and rimmed with dark circles. His face looked wan and haggard.

"Are you eating properly?" Dr Patrick asked, noticing the way his shirt clung loosely to his emaciating body.

The man used to be a brawny young man with his whole life ahead of him, a portrait hung on the wall above him depicted, a wholehearted, charming smile on what used to be a handsome, robust face that contrasted the grimness of his frown, fearful eyes, and prominent cheekbones.

"Yes, sir." The man answered.

It wasn't the truth, but Doctor Patrick had no intention of dwelling on the matter. He was on a tight schedule, he had enough appointments to bury his head in to be bothered with one recalcitrant individual.

And so, the sooner he was done with this peculiar client the better; more for his sanity than the job, if he was to be honest. He dreaded their sessions—it always left him really disturbed and troubled.

Doctor Patrick flipped open his case note and riffled through the papers in silence, the sound filling the living room. No bustling could be heard from outside; the place was eerily quiet-- one would think nothing existed but them.

A shiver shot down his spine. It suddenly felt cold. His bespectacled eyes perused the details he was already familiar with. Doctor Patrick cleared his throat and smiled up at the ghost of a man, despite the discomfort cramping his stomach.

"You posted a video few months ago. It was about a woman-----"

"A queen. Not just a woman." The man corrected in a whisper, like such blunder would incur her wrath.

Doctor Patrick took correction. "Yes, a queen. The video has gone viral since then." He had even seen it to fully understand what he was dealing with, to put himself in his client's frame of mind. A decision that haunted him with regrets and nightmares.

"It is to my understanding that this...queen...was interviewed after you accepted an invitation."

The man shook his head vehemently. "We accepted it."

Doctor Patrick waited patiently for him to calm down. The man was adamant about that. Since their encounter, the man had insisted without fail that there were others. But Doctor Patrick knew for certain that there were none, investigation on his part had confirmed it. Maybe the man had conjured up these people as a way to cope with the stress. Hallucinating wasn't uncommon—his line of work exposed him to all kinds of oddities pertaining to a shattered human mind when they teetered on the brink of sanity.

They needed to get past this phase but he didn't know how.

"We have gone through this. It was just you. You told your boss of the rumours. You told him it could be a lead. You accepted the invitation. You went for the interview. It was you and you alone. I need you to come to terms with that."

"No!" the man screamed suddenly, his eyes wild and crazy.

At the outburst, Doctor Patrick jolted in his seat, his old heart startled into a frantic rhythm. He became wary of his client. Now he wished he was back in his office where safety was guaranteed. What would he do if his client turned hostile and attacked him?

"Calm down," he placated in a voice intented to soothe.

Springing up to his feet, the man glowered at him while pointing a finger that trembled. "I'm not crazy. They were as real as day." Abruptly, the man turned away, fingers digging into his unkempt hair as he paced back and forth. "Jane was real. Cassandra was real. Mark was real."

He stopped and dropped in his seat, his chest heaving with labored breathing, his fear stricken eyes stared back, and Doctor Patrick could see tears glisten. "She took them."

"Who took them?" Doctor Patrick was sympathetic. The man was suffering and he couldn't do anything to ameliorate his plight. His case might just be hopeless.

"Queen Eione."

"That wo---"

The man gritted his teeth. "She is not a woman. She can't be.......she's something. Something worse."

"Took them where?"

"She killed them." The man crumpled, holding his head in his hands as he wept violently. "Jane. She killed Jane. Who will care for her children now?"

Doctor Patrick didn't know how to proceed. Sure, the children he was talking about existed, but their mother 'Jane' had died in a car crash years ago. As of now, they were in the custody of their father. Did he know that?

"The children will be fine," he assured gently while the man shook his head in disagreement. "Everything will be fine."

Almost mechanical, the man stopped and went still. He slowly raised his head to meet the Doctor's eyes. The despair Patrick saw in those bloodshot eyes was petrifying.

"No, it won't. She is coming. He is coming."

Authour's note:

Hey guys, thanks for reading.

My first time trying out horror. (always wanted to, although i've got a lot to improve on)Please vote and comment. Would love to hear from you.