Heads Out

Heads Everywhere

IT’S BEEN A MONTH and I don’t have nightmares anymore. I stopped seeing the dead man’s pitiful corpse every time I close my eyes. And I stopped hearing the horrifying shrieks of the dead calling for my help every now and then. Now, I can really say that I’m free from the living hell I’ve been through—and I can say the same thing too about my friends.

After the priest’s opening speech, everyone bowed their heads to start the mass. Everyone’s solemnly pray for the souls of the victims of the fire. I prayed for the peace of their souls, especially the soul of the man we saw—the man who died in front of us.

I don’t know what got into me but in the middle of praying, I raised my head and opened my eyes. I have no reason to stop praying, but I did anyway. Something is telling me to do it so. And there, I saw something horrifying—something that reminded me of the living hell I’ve been through.

I saw hundreds of faces carved in the old big tree near the principal’s office where the priest is standing. It’s as if they were calling me to look at them and I can’t take my eyes off of them. As I try look around, there are more head-like figures popping out on other trees, and even on the walls of the new building.

When my eyes turned to the ground, I gasped and covered my mouth immediately. There’s a face coming out from the ground where I’m standing. I was shocked—terrified—to see whose face it belongs to. It’s the man we tried to help. It’s the same old man that cried for help—and died in front of us. He was looking at me—not a glare, just a look. Even though its presence seems non-hostile and I don’t feel any demonic aura from him or the other people on the trees and walls, it still gives me shivers down my spine.

“Rika, are you alright? You look pale,” Jackie, who was behind me, said with a concerned tone.

“Jackie, can you see them?” I told her as I held her shoulders, panicking.

“See who?”

“The heads on the trees and walls!”

“What are you talking about? I don’t see anything.”

I looked again at the spots where I saw the heads—but they are not there anymore.

“N-never mind. Maybe I’m just tired, that’s why I’m seeing things.”

I know that I’m not imagining things and I’m not hallucinating. This is not the first time I encountered paranormal events so I’m sure that they are real. I’m no ordinary girl. I have the eye to see strange things; things that an ordinary people can’t usually see; things I never wanted to see. But, I’m still hoping that those heads are really just my imagination.

But I guess they are not.

Because as the days go by, I can still see some of the heads popping out around the school from time to time. I suspect that these heads belong to the victims of the fire.

And I was right.