Shadows in the dark (the finale) - by The Silent Pen 🖊

The Compound That WaitedBimbo woke up choking. Mud filled her mouth.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/91840FB7-D14C-4089-AF80-071509A710E5.png" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"/>Cold water soaked her clothes.For a few terrifying seconds, she couldn’t understand where she was.Then lightning flashed. And she realized she was lying in the middle of the compound. Rain poured heavily from the black sky above, washing over her face like icy fingers.The compound was quiet again. Normal. Almost. The doors were closed now. No whispers. No creatures. No shadows.Just silence. Bimbo staggered to her feet slowly, her entire body shaking violently. Her shoulder still burned where that cold hand had touched her. Then she noticed something strange. The compound floor beneath her was covered in footprints.Hundreds of them. Bare feet. All leading toward her room. None leading away. Her stomach twisted. “No…” Another flash of lightning. This time she saw her neighbors standing outside their rooms. Motionless. Mama Chinyere. Old Baba Tunde. The tailor’s wife. Even the little children. All standing still in the rain. Watching her. Their faces looked pale. Too pale.Their eyes hollow. Bimbo swallowed hard. “Mama Chinyere…?” Nobody answered. Not even a blink. Only the sound of rain. Then— Slowly… Every single person smiled.Too wide. Too identical. Bimbo stumbled backward. “No… no no no…” Mama Chinyere’s mouth opened first.Then all of them spoke together in one terrible voice: “You opened the door.” The lights in the compound exploded. POP. POP. POP. Darkness swallowed everything again.Then came the sound. Dragging feet. From every direction. Bimbo ran. Barefoot, slipping through muddy water, screaming as she rushed toward the compound gate.But the gate was gone. Her breath caught in her throat. The entrance had become a solid wall of cracked cement. As if the gate had never existed. Behind her…The dragging sounds stopped. Bimbo turned slowly. The neighbors were no longer standing far away. They were much closer now. Their bodies twitched unnaturally. Heads bending at impossible angles. Smiles stretching wider. Rainwater poured from their open mouths like black liquid. Then Sola stepped forward from the darkness. Or what used to be Sola. Her neck hung loosely to one side.Her eyes were completely black now. And her feet… Bent backward. Bimbo began crying openly. “Sola… please…”The thing wearing Sola smiled. “You left me alone that night.” Bimbo froze. Memories slammed violently into her head.That night. Three months ago. The night Sola begged her not to go out. The night Bimbo ignored her. The night armed robbers entered the compound. The night Sola died screaming in this very room while Bimbo stayed at a party, ignoring seventeen missed calls. Bimbo’s knees buckled.“No…” “Sola, please, it wasn’t intentional, I swear to you” “You heard me begging.” Sola’s voice became distorted, deeper now. “But you muted your phone.”The other figures began whispering around her. “You left her…” “You abandoned her…” “You killed her…” Bimbo covered her ears and screamed. But the voices only grew louder. Then Sola pointed upward slowly.Bimbo looked.And her soul nearly left her body. The ceiling of the compound… Was covered with them. Dozens of twisted creatures clinging upside down like giant insects. Their black eyes gleaming in the rain. Smiling. Waiting. One of them dropped beside her. THUD. Another landed behind her. THUD. Another. Another. Bones cracking. Limbs twitching. The smell hit her next. Rot. Wet earth. Blood. And a voice “We’ve been waiting “ Bimbo crawled backward helplessly as they closed in around her. Then Sola crouched directly in front of her.Too close. Her smile widened slowly until the skin beside her mouth tore open again.“You know what the worst part was?” Her voice became a whisper. “I stayed alive long enough to hear your laughter from the party video.” Bimbo screamed in horror. The creatures all screamed with her. A deafening, inhuman sound that shook the entire compound.Then suddenly— Silence. Complete silence. Sola tilted her head. “We were lonely.” The creatures began smiling wider. “So now…” One by one, every head in the compound turned toward Bimbo. “…you’ll stay with us.” The darkness rushed toward her violently.Cold hands grabbed her arms. Her legs. Her face. Pulling.Dragging. Bimbo’s screams echoed through the compound long into the night— Until they suddenly stopped. The next morning, the compound was empty. Abandoned. Neighbors claimed nobody had lived there for years. They said the place was cursed after a young woman was murdered there during a robbery. Some say if you pass the compound during heavy rain, you can still hear whispers from inside. And sometimes… Very late at night… A young woman’s voice softly calls from behind the gate: “Please… don’t leave me alone.” Thanks for reading everyone 🙌🏽

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