THE RITUAL SHORT STORY (1)

The ritual

My name is Phongphat, and I work as a professor in the Major English, Faculty
of Education at a university in a rural town in the country's south-east. The subject for
this week is "Short Story" under the theme of horror. And then, this is where the weird
happenings start.

I gave my students an assignment to write me their short stories, which all of
them are required to submit because it accounts for 40% of the total score. It will
absolutely affect their grades if they do not submit this assignment to me. However,
when I read each of their short stories, most of them were boring or just another copy-
paste story from the internet. I guess young people these days call them "creepy pasta",
which means creepy stories that get copied and pasted around online.

It really upset me. I want to give them all a double F-if I can. But then, I stumbled
across this one. The student was named Chakrin, and I think he got something quite
interesting. At least it made me feel a little better.

" My name is Chakrin, but most of my close friends call me Earth. One day, I
just met one of my old friends from high school. Her name was Pimonsiri, or nickname
Noey. We have not talked much since we attended the university. Nonetheless, this

day is not normal, I assure you. Normally, Noey is a reasonable person who does not
believe in folk's lore or creepy stories that easily, but today she just heads toward me
to tell me this story.

" Hello Earth, long time no see. How are you? " Noey asked me.

" I am great thanks, how about you? " I replied her.

" I am doing well tank you. By the way, I have something to tell you." Noey said.

" What is the story you are going to tell me?" I asked.

" I heard a story about some ritual. If you have a wish and want it to be real, when
you get back to your house this new year, you will need to try this," Noey said.

" What do you want me to do?" I asked.

She took a deep breath and told me in a low voice " First you need to wait until it
is midnight. Second, find the old wardrobe which is every old house that your parents

live must have one. Next sitting by facing my back toward the wardrobe and then I
have to close my eyes."

" And after that, what will happen?" I asked Noey.

" I don't know, I don't know," Noey said.

" So why do I have to do as you say? ", I asked her again.

But she did not want to talk about it anymore, she looks paranoid, told me that
she needs my help to confirm this theory and then leave in a hurry.

"That's weird." These words still lingered in my head even though Noey had
gone.

"The time has passed by and the new year has come. Now I am at my parents'
house in the countryside of the city and celebrating. This is not some kind of teenagers’
party, just me, my parents, and some cousins hanging out until it's 10 PM and the party
is extinguished.

It is a buzzkill, I told you, but It's not so often that I have come to visit my parents
since I graduated from university. I bet Noey will feel me about this one. She has been
my neighbor since we were young. We used to roam this street, playing. Well, this
might not be the same anymore since we are arriving together, but we don't even have
a chance to celebrate together like we used to.

Speaking of which, the ritual that Noey told me about is still haunting my mind.
It is 12 AM, and I still cannot sleep. My old room has this old wooden wardrobe like
the one she told me about! Well... here is nothing because I want to try this one. I
followed the story sitting on the floor, back facing the wardrobe in the dark and silence
of the countryside village. Only the moonlight reaches the room, and I can even see
Noey's bedroom window from here. The lights are still on. I bet she is on her cellphone
chatting with some dude by now.

But now I need to focus, so I close my eyes and let the darkness take over my
sight. It is like a meditation that the vice principal from high school used to make us
do every morning. However, the difference this time is that it does not feel the same.
It is suspiciously dark and quiet. This time I can almost hear my heart beating, my
lungs pumping in the cold air and my pulse beating like a war drum in panic and then
something kills the silence.

It is the wardrobe; something is moving inside it! The cold and heavy berating
breached through the gap between the doors, the sound of many claws scratching
rapidly against the wooden door and wall inside that wardrobe! Something is sensing
me; I have summoned it! Whatever that thing is.

It's struggling, frustrated, and trying to get out! Come get me! I felt the door open,
followed by a cold wind that sent shivers up my spine; I didn't need to see it to know
that something inside with cold long claws was reaching out to me right then and there!
I gathered my sanity and turned around! and there is nothing... nothing at all! That's
weird. The wardrobe is still closed and the room is still the same.

After the horror of the night had passed and the sun was rising, I tried to contact
Noey as soon as possible, but she avoided me. I've had this assignment on the table
since the new year, and it's still there today. I know it sounds unbelievable, but trust
me. Don't let your curiosity take control of your mind; do not even think about doing
this. This is the best source for my short story assignment, but seriously! "Don't even
think about it!"

"Don't even think about it!" I read it over and over again.

Huh... I told you a good story. The familiar environment, like your old house
in the countryside, an urban legend about ritual and trails, A complete recipe for the
story that will keep you feeling close to it, like it can happen to you too. And it's not
all! I have found another story about my students. It's from Pimonsiri, or Noey. This
time, Noey didn't appear in class, or always looked absent-minded, like her head was
always in the clouds most of the time. I think something has happened to her lately,
but it is not high school anymore. I cannot put my nose in her business. Sometimes it
is better to leave them be... But enough about my student's condition.

I saw this paper in bad shape, with text written in red ink like she was having
some kind of panic attack or something. I almost crumbled it and threw it in the trash
can if I didn't catch a glimpse of the story inside first. 31st,

“31 December 2021. It was real! I TOLD YOU IT WAS TRUE!!!, I
SHOULDN'T HAVE TOLD EARTH ABOUT THIS!!! He almost ended up like my
old friend! I Saw It This Time!!! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EVENING
EYES!!!!"Oh my God, please help!"

Bit carelessly for her to just scratch the red pen on this crumbled paper like a
limonitic and submit it, but it has something to do with the previous story that Earth
has written. If you ask me, those two are careless geniuses.

The next day, I just met Earth. He was alone and looked a bit depressed. Must
be the hard work of university I suppose. I want to ask him about Noey, who must be
his close friend judging from the latest project.

" Good morning, Earth, why are you not looking good today? " I said.

" I don't sleep very well these days sir. " he replied me.

" Don't forget to take care of yourself." I said.

" Thank you so much sir. " he said.

" Well, I just wanted to admire you and Noey for working together to write a
very impressive short story." I said.

“Umm professor actually, I did not write this short story with Noey because we
haven't seen each other for weeks. " he replied.

" Do not lie to me," I said.

" It is true, I am never lying you." he said firmly.

He still pretend that he did not be in cahoots with Noey to write such a good and
immersive horror story. Well, it is their things, I guess.

Anyway, the story is so good that it stuck in my head so I need to write it down
on this online platform to share it all with you! Those two has rekindle my writer's
flame that has been put out since I take this job as a professor. I need to write some
good horror story; the flame is on only need a fuel. Tonight, I must try that ritual that
those two are writing about. I only have to wait until it's midnight, I already got this
old wardrobe in my room and I want to try to prove it. If this story is true, I will also
ask that my writings become popular and I will share the result for everyone tomorrow
on this platform. So... here's go nothing.

When midnight comes which is entering January 13, I am sitting on the floor,
with my back facing the wardrobe in the dark. Now I am so excited and I am curious
as to what will happen next. I close my eyes and think about what will happen next
over and over. I cannot wait to share what is going to happen next for everyone to
read.

In the midst of the silent darkness, a frightening aura wafted through my room.
I could even hear my breathing and also hear my heart pounding and trembling. My
sweat began to flow, which is against the cold air in my room.

Suddenly, I could feel a slight tremor coming from behind my back, and of
course, it was from the old wooden wardrobe behind me. But even then, I still keep
my eyes closed. And I think of the thing I desire. Shortly, the wardrobe began to vibrate
even more, along with a terrifying scream that sounded out of the wardrobe.

This time, I can not close my eyes anymore. I decided to open my eyes and hurry
to get up and run to the corner of the room. Then turn around and look at that wardrobe.
I look at the wardrobe door that slowly opens, along with the figure of something that
is gradually creeping out of the wardrobe. Its shape looks like a big black bear. It has
two horns on its head and its eyes are blood red. It was staring at me and slowly walked
towards me. I could not cry, and before it reached me, I lost consciousness and fell.

How much time has passed and I don't know? But as soon as I got up and
looked around. Everything is still the same, the bed, the desk, everything remains
unchanged. I let out a sigh of relief.

I am not dead; I am still alive. I hope the thing that happened last night must
have been just a dream. But the notification sound coming from my laptop. It pulled

me out of my thoughts a moment ago. I headed to the laptop of mine to see what is the
sound from?

I looked at the screen and saw that it was the sound of a lot of comment
notifications on the online platform where I wrote yesterday. I suspect that many
people are waiting to read my story about the ting happened last night. Well, I will be
able to tell them what horrible things I experienced last night.

" It is true." Now many people are reading my short story. I doubt it is because
of last night's ritual. Even if it is a little scary but it is worth what I am getting right
now. I sat happily looking those comment notifications but wait…, why most of them
commented he same thing like " This is a very scary short story" Even though I have
not posted anything I found last night.

With very surprise I felt, so I pressed on to the page where I left typing
yesterday. But then something weird happened, because now It is a sequel to the story
I wrote yesterday. It tells about the story I met with myself last night. However, what
is even more shocking is in the last sentence of the story.

“I WAS KILLED AND TAKEN OVER BY THAT TERRYFYING DEMON
"

I try to think to myself, have I come to write this story myself last night? Or
maybe it is because I sleepwalked to write. While I was thinking hard about what was
happening in front of me now. The sound of the bathroom door opening made me
quickly turn to look.

The sight in front of me is me in a towel, walking out from the bathroom and
walking past me to my table, looking at my laptop that lying on the table. Those actions
made me confused as to what exactly happened. Why there are two me? If I am not
dead yet, and who is the person in front of me?

When I turn to look myself in the mirror beside my bed. It makes me
understand everything. My doubts are clear and clear. For what reason do I feel that
way? I think everyone would be wondering. And the reason I feel that way is
because........

" The mirror does not reflect my image but.........it reflects the figure of
something that looks like a big black bear, which has two horns on its head and has
eyes blood red instead."