It Was All A Dream?

                                                            IT WAS ALL A DREAM?

       I had never thought that I would be able to have children, so when the doctor came in and said, "Congratulations are in order, Mrs. Sullivan, you're going to be a mother." My jaw hit the floor. 

       My husband and I had been told that we could never have children without extensive fertility treatments and possibly not even then. I had a rare condition that caused my uterus to be turned the wrong way. Needless to say, my husband and I were thrilled. 

       We waited 3 months before we told our families about the pregnancy, wanting to be sure I wouldn't lose the baby. Our families were thrilled. This would be my mother's first grandchild, given that I was an only child.

        I was told by doctors that I would most like have to have a caesarean. I was completely okay with this. Any way to get this child into the world would be a miracle to me. At 5 months, we found out that we were having a boy. A very healthy boy.

        My mother threw my baby shower and we got so much baby clothes and baby accessories that we knew we couldn't possibly use it all, but we were just so thrilled about the baby that we put it all up and decided to go through it after he arrived.

        I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy 8lb 4.6oz baby boy. He was perfect. He hardly ever cried. Our families spoiled him and I have to admit that we did as well. He was amazing. He crawled at 3 months, walked at 10 months. The only odd thing was that he never made any baby sounds. He never tried to say "mama" or "dada". He never cooed or giggled. He smiled plenty, but never laughed.

        The doctors said that all babies do things differently and to not be worried, he would do these things in his own time. His first birthday came and we had a big party. He crammed cake in his mouth and smeared it in his hair. He smiled for all the pictures and videos. Never made a sound. Not even a whimper when he got sleepy. He fell asleep in his highchair. All of this was normal for him. He was our little saint.

        He passed the 18 month mark a few days ago. Yesterday morning, I heard him making sounds in his room. When I came in, he was pointing at his window saying something that sounded like "zybloo, badop maga allaza gadool." I was just happy he wasn't silent anymore and thought that he was just making baby sounds at last. I was proven wrong last night.

        I heard a crash from his room and I shook my husband awake, so that we could investigate the noise. Neither of us could have been prepared for what we witnessed. 

       The window was open and the curtains were billowing in the wind. Above our son was a small, circular, swirling ball about the size of a softball. As we watched, it grew in size and it began to glow and pulsate. Our son was speaking to it in the same gibberish he had spoke in the other morning. As he spoke, the pulsations grew faster and the orb grew in size until it was as big as he was. The same gibberish began coming from the orb, now the size of a toddler.

        Our son turned to us, and in plain, perfect English, he said "I want to thank you for the privilege of your womb, the generosity you have shown to me is overwhelming. I am the Emperor Gadool. To be reborn, I had to have a host and you, having never had spawn of your own, were perfect for my needs. I never expected to be treated with such care. Before I return to my world, my dimension, I will make something right for you. Your womb shall be ripe from this day forward. You shall see us no more. No one but you will remember that you hosted me. I am truly regretful to leave such a kind host. Please, do not be troubled. You shall be joyful, quite soon." With that, he disappeared. 

       I awoke this morning and I look as if I am at the very least 7 months pregnant. My phone says it is the day of my baby shower. 2 years ago. It must all have been a dream. None of that could have been real. I can remember it all, however, I can also remember this entire pregnancy. I'm having girl. It had to have been a dream.

By Jessica M Caldwell

Mirrors

                                                                        MIRRORS

        I can't even look in a mirror anymore. In fact, any reflective surface is completely unsafe. It all started when I was in college.

        My friends and I went out one night looking for something fun to do, you know, get into something. We hit up a few bars, but they were all boring. We decided to just walk down the street and see if anyone was having a party and just crash it. Good times, you know. 

        As we were walking, an old lady, dressed in rags stepped out from an alley. She asked us if we had any change for her. My friend, Nelly, said "why don't you get a job, you stinking bum" her dad is a republican, we all tend to overlook her rudeness. The old lady scowled. 

       She turned to my friend, Haley, with imploring eyes. Haley just frowned and scrunched her nose. The lady smelled pretty bad. Then the old lady turned to me. I started laughing and said, "I think you may want to take a bath or something, and threw a few pennies at her." I felt pretty bad inside, but I didn't want my friends thinking I approved of panhandlers. 

       That's when the old lady stood up straight and in a loud voice, cried "I curse you. Every one of you. You are all young and beautiful with full, happy, rich lives ahead of you. I take that away. You two will die young and alone," she said of my friends. "But, you," she turned towards me. " you will see your soul for what it is. You'll never see beauty again." 

       My friends laughed and we walked away. I had a strange feeling in my stomach. But, I followed them anyway. We couldn't find anything fun to do. So we just went home. 

       The next morning I got up to take a shower and when I looked in the mirror, I had no eyes. I jumped back, startled. I checked again and I still could not see my eyes in the mirror. And my skin looked like corpse skin, gray and splotchy. I was freaked out, naturally. I looked in my compact mirror and it was the same thing, except where my lips should have been, there was a jagged bleeding hole.

        I heard a knock at the door and I pulled on my hooded robe. And kept my face down. I answered the door. It was the police. They were there to tell me that Nelly and Haley were both found dead this morning on opposite ends of town. I told the officer what I knew, that as far as I knew they had gone to bed when I had last night. I didn't know anything else. He wouldn't tell me how they died. I found out later that they both had had massive strokes. I thanked the cop, crying, and closed the door. I saw my reflection in the window of the door. I looked like a gargoyle, crying tears of blood.

        To this day, 15 years later, I have no mirrors in my house. I have heavy curtains on all the windows. I walk everywhere I go, with my head down. I want to find this old lady to reverse this curse, but somehow I feel I deserve it. I can't stand to see my soul.but somehow I feel I deserve it. I can't stand to see my soul.

By Jessica M. Caldwell. (previously written for reddit r/nosleep)

Cloudy Day

                                                      CLOUDY DAY

       This story was told to me by a friend of a friend.
       The day was a dark and cloudy day in mid autumn. It had one of those eerie feelings. The kind that makes your hair stand up on the back of your neck.It was the kind of day that you just want to stay inside, with the doors locked and the curtains closed.
        Unfortunately, Sheila had things to do. Her elderly mother needed her to run errands for her and she also needed to pick a few things up for herself.She sighed and bundled up to go out and face the creepy day.
        As she was driving to her mother's house she noticed the lack of cars on the road. She chalked it up to the weird day and tried to pay it no mind. However, there was the niggling feeling in the back of her mind that this was just not normal.
       She got to her mother's house and let herself in through the side door, like always. Usually, her mother's chihuahua ran yapping, ready to attack, but he was nowhere to be seen, or heard. Very strange, Sheila thought. She walked through the house, calling for her mother. No response. Her mother was nowhere in the house.
       She decided to walk to the neighbor's house and ask them if they had seen her mother leave with anyone today. She rang the doorbell five times, there was no answer.
She noticed how quiet the neighborhood was. She also noticed that the eery light of the day had taken on a strange, yellowish glow.
       Sheila felt very nervous and started running for her car. That's when she heard the noise. It was a metal on metal screech. It was very loud.Then the strange yellow light disappeared. Sheila heard dogs barking. She saw a few people coming outside to pick up their newspapers.
       She went to her mother's house and her mother's annoying little chihuahua greeted her with it's customary disdain. She found her mother sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.
       "My, Sheila," she said. "You're early, I didn't expect you until after 10."
       Sheila looked at the clock and it was 12 noon.She could not explain what had happened that day. No one realized that anything had gone wrong.
Her mother, who had been healthy, died suddenly three days later. Half of the community, the young and old came down with strange illnesses. Some died.
       Sheila still does not know what happened. She doesn't go out on cloudy days anymore. She wonders if maybe she's just a little crazy.

By Jessica M Caldwell