Short Story : Lady Serapia || Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ( Horror Story) By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri

 Lady Serapia-Horror Story

Short Story :   Lady Serapia
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ( Horror Story)  
By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri . All Copyright Reserved 2018

In the town where I live, there is a large, old house where Doña Serapia lives. She is the town's spinster.

 

When I was young, my parents said that I was slim and tall with great beauty. At first, she was sought after by many of the young men in town, however, she decided to stay alone.

 

After her parents died, she was left without any company, but she apparently didn't care at all, continuing to reject her suitors until, in time, she grew old and bitter.

 

My parents told me that if I went out to play, I should not do it outside Doña Serapia's house, because apart from expressing a series of curses, she would wet us with dirty water. I don't know why I loved to go play on that side of the street. Doña Serapia's house had a huge garden in front of the house, the fence that surrounded it was small and I could easily jump over it. The windows were high and deep, as if they were inviting me to see inside.

 

One time when I was playing with my other friends, the ball went into the garden.

I was ready to go in for the ball, or ring the house bell to ask permission to enter. José didn't hesitate much, and immediately jumped into the garden. It seemed that Mrs. Serapia had some kind of radar that immediately realized that someone had entered her property.

 

José had barely finished picking up the ball when Mrs. Serapia came out with a bucket of water and doused him. I was caught off guard, and even though I was outside, she also doused me with water painted blue.

 

Doña Serapia was a woman of convent habits, she defied loneliness and learned to live with it. Every morning she went to seven o'clock mass at the second ring of the bell. She always wore her head covered with a black lace cloth and a candle that she lit during mass.

 

When she left, she crossed herself three times and went to the market to buy the ingredients for her meal. At twelve noon she sat down to pray the rosary with the little book of the novena. She seemed like an automaton in the way she repeated the prayers to herself. Around her neck hung a scapular that she said was blessed and protected her from any curse.

 

In the evenings she would sit in her rattan chair to roll and unroll yarns, spending long hours weaving. Later she would go out at eight o'clock at night to pray the rosary, when she returned she would sit down to listen to some old music and go to sleep. Every day it was the same routine. She did not like to greet anyone, and with a bad look, she would turn to look at whoever greeted her.

 

On one occasion, she stopped doing her daily routines. She didn't go out to the seven o'clock mass call, she didn't go to the market to buy her supplies, she didn't pray the rosary either. At first, I thought she was sick, and that it would take a day or two before I could see her again.

 

That day we started playing outside her house.

I threw the ball into the garden on purpose. I entered without the slightest care to make no noise. Nothing, she didn't appear, not even the curtain moved.

 

That was very strange. How was it possible that this time he didn't come out with the broom or with dirty water? I looked out the window to see if I could see anything abnormal. Through the window I could see inside, everything was normal.

 

I told my parents what had happened with Mrs. Serapia, but they paid no attention to me. I also went to the shop owner to find out if she had told him about her absence. I went to the parish priest to ask him if he knew anything about Mrs. Serapia. He denied it, and, puzzled, scratched his head trying to think what had happened to her. He told me to keep an eye out and if I didn't see her in two more days, to go to the town commissioner.

 

At night, under the pretext of taking a book to José, I left to go to Doña Serapia's house. There was no trace of her presence.

 

The house was in complete darkness, I stayed behind the garden wall for several minutes and saw nothing. I started walking slowly, thinking that it was all a figment of my imagination and that Mrs. Serapia was fine. Besides, why did I care so much about that lady? She only thinks about chasing us away with stones or dirty water.

 

Lost in these thoughts, I did not notice that the window curtain had been drawn back and that someone was inside.

 

With the activities at school I forgot about the matter. It was only when we left school that José asked me about her. I shrugged my shoulders to show him that I didn't care much, but in reality at that moment I realized that he did want to know what had happened to her. I made a detour to her house. I was determined to get inside and find out once and for all what was wrong with the lady.

 

It was impossible to get in through the front door. I went into the garden and went around the house to get to the back. There was also another door that I couldn't open either, but I saw a small window through which I was able to get in. With difficulty I got through that tiny space and in a few minutes I was already inside the house.

 

Most of the objects were antique. A loud sound suddenly rang out. It was a majestic grandfather clock that was chiming. I sighed, trying to calm myself down. The walls were filled with pictures of his family members, one of which caught my attention in particular. It was the largest picture of all, it had a very fine golden frame, and it was in the middle of the room.

 

She was Mrs. Serapia when she was young, she had a deep look with a smile, I was left wondering what happened to her to become such a bitter person.

 

Lady Serapia-Horror Story

Lady Serapia - Horror Story

I was still in my thoughts when a golden locket hanging from her neck in the painting caught my eye. At that moment I heard someone coming down the stairs. My first impulse was to hide behind the armchair. From that perspective I could see who it was. It was only a cat.

 

At that moment I remembered that Mrs. Serapia hates animals. For a moment I wanted to think that the cat had gotten in through some hole, but I remembered that it was very difficult for me to get in.

 

The cat seemed to be very familiar with the place because it acted very naturally. Then I saw that it went into a room. I followed it. In the hallway there was a table with a mirror. On the table was the same locket that I saw in the photograph. I opened it, and inside it was a photograph with the cat and another of her, as well as a lock of dark hair and another of the same color as the cat.

 

In fact, I was confused, not understanding what was happening. I put the locket in my pants pocket and looked for the cat. I heard a muffled meow coming from the basement. I turned on a light that only emitted a weak, pale light that barely managed to illuminate the stairs . The bottom of the basement was almost completely dark. It was almost impossible to see inside, although I could hear the sound at the bottom.

I looked for the cat without being able to find it, I was convinced that I had heard it there. I did not want to stay any longer. I left through the same place I had entered without remembering that I had Mrs. Serapia's locket with me.

 

That night I had a series of nightmares, each one of which showed her waving her hand at me, inviting me to join her. I woke up with a cold sweat running down my forehead. Suddenly I remembered the object I had brought from Doña Serapia's house.

 

I looked for it, and sure enough, there it was. I had to go back again to return it.

The next day I picked up my backpack to go to school. I didn't, I went to Mrs. Serapia's house, now that I knew how to get in. Without the slightest hesitation I entered. This time I wasn't so scared. I looked for the cat in various places, but this time I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

I entered the main room. It seemed like I was entering another era in time because of the very old furniture and decoration.

And I was startled when I saw a rocking chair that was moving, this one was in front of the window.

It was Doña Serapia, she was dead, already in a state of decomposition, and on her lap was her cat.

I was completely frozen, the only thing that crossed my mind was to get out of that place.

I ran out as fast as I could, and went home.

 

My parents were surprised that I came home so early from school. I didn't want to tell them anything, I was too scared by what I had seen.

Days went by, and I didn't say anything about Mrs. Serapia.

It wasn't until one afternoon after I came home from school that my mother told me that they had found Mrs. Serapia dead in her room.

Copyright © 2018 Prabir Rai Chaudhuri

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