Short Horror Stories

The Jabberwocky

Authors Note: The title and poem are real works, and belong to lewis carrol and his estate. I do not.own them, no they belong to lewis carrol.

"Beware the Jabberwock my son, the jaws that bite, the claws that catch."

When I was kid, I used to love Alice In Wonderland. From the mad hatter to the Red Queen, everything about the book just spoke to me on a soul deep level. I loved the Jabberwocky the most of all. Back then, it was a short simple poem that was fun and happy and made me laugh. Now though, now I wish I had heard the warning in those words, that I could hear the truths spoken in those lines, long lost and buried in the whimsical fashion that they were.

After all what better way to subtley warn the masses about such a horrible beast without causing mass hysteria at best, and being locked in a mental asylum at worst than to hide it in a childrens book that no one would take seriously?

If You're reading this then I'm probably dead, they won't let me cover the mirrors in this place, but I know i'm not safe. I can sense it, that beast is still out there, biding its time and waiting for the oppurtunity to strike. I know, in the darkest depths of my heart that I wasn't strong enough to kill the beast, and for that i am truly sorry, for if you are reading this then he is most likely after you. Be warned though, they will make you out to be crazy. They did it to me, those in charge don't like it when we tell the truth. They called it a psychotic break, Not mentally stable, and I get it, I really do. For those who have seen, its either disbelief, What I have gone through is one thing you have to experience for yourself to truly be able to truly understand it after all, or fear, which is also and understandable reaction. But, I still don't like it, being locked away like this. It makes the deaths that were caused, the lives that were taken. It makes them seem pointless. Anyway, enough about my troubles, if you are seeing this, you're looking for answers, and you will get them, but they probably won't be what you are looking for.

Now, my identity doesn't matter but for posterities sake I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Alexandra Blythwick. I was born on October tenth, and am currently seventeen years old. I had a twin brother by the name of Alexander, and this story starts with him.

You see, my brother in his friends were hanging out on all hallows eve, or Halloween for the uninitiated, with his friends. Remy, J, and Snake. Before you ask, Snake is his real name he has a birthmark that looks like a coiled snake on his right ankle hence the name. They were bored, and its that time of year when you just want to be scared, ya know. Well anyway, they had seen this article about a new haunted game. It was simple in premise really it was supposed to be a sort of cross between the apex, the Ouija board, and a crossroad summoning from Supernatural. For the game, you were supposed to need a box, a lighter, a dagger, a candle,a non-electric watch, a talisman per player, and a slip of paper for each player. Oh and a shovel. You wre supposes to go to a dirt crossroad after dark and dig a hole big enough to completely bury the box. Then you were supposes to take the dagger and make yourself bleed onto the paper and write a question you truly wish to know. Then you light the candle and let paper dry before placing it the talisman, and the dagger in the box before closing it. Then you bury it. The watch was for timekeeping. The purpose of the game was to summon an entity that would hunt you down from the moment the contract was made to sunrise, if you won you would get the answer to your question once you dug up the box. You formed the contract with the entity by performing the previous steps, then blowing out the candle. Apparently, the game was more real than they, or even I, as an occult junkie, could have ver predicted. Eveeything went fine. They dis the steps correctly blew out the candle, then dicked around the woods until sunrise and got the scares they were after. They even got answers to the questions they buried. Something, somewhere must have gone wrong, however because the game didn't stop there.

Three days later, Remy didn't come home from school. This was incredibly unusual, especially seeing as he had known he had to babysit his younger sister that afternoon. He was declared a missing person at ten thirty. PM that same day. Now, don't get me wrong we didn't get on very well, hadn't since we were about eleven or so, but I had known the guy since I was six, and he was one of my brother best friends, so I had known him pretty well. Hence my knowledge of his behavior, which is why when I had heard he had gone missing, I imeadiently went to check the woods. Specifically the small cave system at the western edge of the woods. You see we live in a medium sized town thats fairly close to a state park, and away from a lot of the more developed areas, so we have a pretty thick patch of woods on the northern border. Theres a small system of caves close to the north western corner of those woods. The reason this cave system is so important, is because my brother and his friends liked to go explpre the caves and seeing as they are well hidden and with little to no cellphone reception, I had figured he had probably gone up there , got himself hurt and was unable to call for help, he could be reckless like that if he got bored enough.

I remember very strongly grabbing my bag, and some basic medical supplies, and walking my way to the southern border of the forest. It was incredibly dark, but i lives about two minutes from them and practically grew up in them. Making my way as quickly as possible over the slightly worn, and very familiar path towards the caves, I arrived around eleven. Making my way into the hodden entrance, I quickly aimed my phone ligh down the tunnel to get visual of where I was. I kept calling his name. Moving towards the back of the entrnace where it starts to branch off. I chose the middle path. It was the one my brother and his friends went down the most often, so I figured that's where he would be. About halfway before the first split off that path, i turned my flashlight towards the floor, i had stapped in something wet, whoch isn't normal in that part of the cave, only to see that I was standing in a blood trail. It wasn't a lot at first, like i like the kind i would get if i were to cut my hand on a sharp rock, small enough to be minor but enough to be noticeable, so I wasn't all that scared, more like annoyed as with how little blood there was, I felt he was probably fine. Still looking up, I hadn't noticed how far I'd gone until I had kicked something soft. Turning my phone light towards the ground, I had to bite back a cry of utter terror. There on the ground, was Remy's body, with his throat torn so badly , he was almost decapitated.

Knowinf it was a bad idea to scream in a cave, I booked it over towards the nearest border of the woods, knowing I needed to call the police. Making it, unknowingly at that point in time, to the crossroads where my brother and his friends perform the botched ritual, I unlocked my phone checking for service. Three bars. Dialling 911, it answered on the first ring. "911, what's your emergency. " Shakily I took in a breath and Answered, "My name is Alexandra, and I..i..i just found of the body of Remy Taylor.""Miss, I'm sending a squad to you, can you tell me where you are?." Deep breath, shaking holding back a sob," I'm at the crossroad that leads to the old entrance to the park. I'm about half a mile from the body. Theres an old, well hidden system of caves there. That's where he is. Please hurry."

END OF PART ONE.