The Darkness Beyond

By Norbert Condoros

A collection of four distinct horror short stories, ready to chill the reader to the bone. Are you ready to experience the darkness beyond?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Norbert Condoros
• Release date: Jul 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223088202

Book preview

Something’s Out There

Dark roads lead to dark places. These were the words which went through Jake Harris’ mind as he was driving on the lonely country road. He was coming from a dark place, a place which was not physical. It was in his past and no matter how fast he was driving, he couldn’t get out of it. Guilt is a dangerous feeling.

It was eating him for a few years, so he was driving away from the big city. He needed some time on his own. The state of Wisconsin proved to be an excellent choice for him. Jake’s late parents had a cabin somewhere north, in the woods. He was heading in that direction in order to escape for a few days.

Sleepiness crawled over him, and he had a hard time concentrating on the road. He was driving for many hours now. Driving was also a thing which he loved. Long roads were his favorite. Since his wife and son had died, he was often on the road. Sometimes, Jake just got into the car and drove off into nowhere.

The road wasn’t lit very well. It was a country road after all, which hadn’t been rehabilitated since 1980. Now, in 2005, its condition was already decayed by weather and because of the high frequency of truck traffic. Now the trucks tried to avoid this road as much as possible because of its poor condition. Many of the lights weren’t working, and nobody bothered repairing them. Jake had to pay extra attention to the road and anything on the side. He didn’t want to risk hitting a deer or a wild boar.

He reached a wooded area. I must be close, he thought, and pressed the gas pedal a little harder. After passing a dangerous curve, Jake spotted one of the light poles. Right behind the light pole, there was a sign which stated that there is a gas station at about one mile down the road. He glanced at the instrument panel. It showed that there is still some gas in the tank.

Glancing back at the sign, he saw that the light wasn’t working properly. It kept fading and then brightening again. It was a strange occurrence, Jake couldn’t remember seeing anything like that before. His eyes caught something near it in the shadows. It looked like there was a person standing there. For a moment, he thought that he saw a pair of circular red eyes, or were they red lights? He slowed down a bit, but couldn’t see more, so he kept on driving.

The front lights of his car flickered erratically when he was in line with the sign. They were even out for a few seconds. His radio went crazy, switching channels in a chaotic manner until he got past the sign. After about thirty yards or so, everything went back to normal.

This strange event woke him up from his lethargic state. Jake thought that his battery might not be working properly. A faulty wiring combined with some interference might explain both of the phenomena. It was weird, however, that they happened at the same time. A coincidence like this had a tiny chance of happening.

God, I’m tired, he thought, and sped up some more in order to reach the gas station as soon as possible. A few minutes of rest, and he’ll be on his way. Maybe a cup of coffee would be a good idea. Jake hoped to find a vending machine there. If the strange events won’t repeat themselves, then it will be all right to continue.

The tired man kept looking around to see if he can spot anything unusual between the trees. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There were only oak and maple trees everywhere he looked. Lush vegetation surrounded the road from both sides. The dark parts made him feel uneasy. He had to slow down and drive with extra care when going through those parts where the lights were out.

The gas station appeared in front of him. It was a well-lit place, but not big. The front of the station, where the pumps had been placed, was covered by a metallic roof supported by an old steel structure. He stopped his red 1993 BMW at one of the pumps and filled up the tank. Another car was parked at another pump. There were only four of them. Jake looked inside and saw a woman and a little girl through the windows. They were looking around as if they didn’t know what to buy.

He looked around again but couldn’t see anything. The lights were bright all around the place, so he wasn’t able to discern anything much farther away, in the dark. What he had seen earlier, left an uneasy feeling inside him. A shadow with a strange shape, or was it just his imagination?

He got out of the car and pulled up the zipper of his leather jacket. It was a little windy around here. Autumn had already arrived, so the weather kept getting colder each day. His legs had a hard time walking. He had spent a considerable time in a seated position, so his joints felt heavy and rusty. Jake wasn’t too old, in fact he was only forty-four, and still as healthy as a man can be at that age. The stubble on his face already turned into a beard. He hadn’t shaved for a few days. His sunken cheeks and droopy eyes betrayed tiredness, and past heavy encounters with the bottle.

He filled up the tank, then went inside the station, and bought himself a coffee from the vending machine. He waited for the clerk while listening to the pleasant music which was playing in the background. It must have been a radio, but he couldn’t see where it was. The gas station clerk came to the counter a few seconds later. He was a tall black guy, also a little skinny. The man didn’t look tired at all, maybe a little bored. He had thick lips and dark brown eyes, a characteristic to African American people.

Jake paid for the gas, but before he could leave, an agitated man rushed inside. He was in his fifties and sported an enormous beer belly. The blue baseball cap on his head was dirty and soaked in sweat. The man’s hairy chest was heaving. Jake could see that because of the partially unbuttoned striped shirt the man was wearing.

‘Hey! Something’s out there,’ he said, barely catching his breath.

‘What?’ asked the clerk with a surprised look.

’There’s...′ the big man began while he was huffing and puffing, ‘there’s something out there. I saw a...’

‘What’s out there?’ asked Jake with furrowed brows.

‘I don’t... I don’t know, but it looked like a man.’

‘So what?’ asked the clerk, ‘Maybe it was a man.’

‘Yeah, but he was black.’

‘Haha, no shit! I’m black too, man.’

‘No, not like that. He was completely black.’

‘I’m completely black too...’

‘No, not like that...’

‘Maybe you just saw a hobo. Or maybe your ass is just high on some grass.’

Jake and the clerk both laughed. Funny guy, thought Jake, but the genuine distress on the fat man’s face was still unsettling him.

‘You don’t understand,’ shouted the fat guy again, ‘it was black as tar. I couldn’t see anything else. No details, no nothing! Except the eyes, they were red... I think.’

‘Where have you seen it?’

‘About one mile from here, that way,’ he said and pointed with a puffy finger, ‘near the road.’

‘I saw it too...’

‘I don’t know what the two of you saw, but I ain’t seen shit all night. So with all due respect, please stop talking crazy stuff. You’re scarin’ the lady and her little daughter.′

He pointed towards the woman and child. They were close by. The woman was a nice-looking brunette with long curly hair and a decent physique. She was talking to her daughter, who also had brown hair and an angelic face. The little girl looked about ten years old.

‘Look, man. I think that what we’ve seen was just a trick...’

‘No, it wasn’t! I saw it moving and the lights of my car went out. I barely got here, man! Couldn’t see a damn thing.’

’Come on, man. Cut the bullshit. We all are tryna get through the night, so please calm your ass down!

Just after the clerk finished the sentence, the lights on the road went out. They all threw concerned looks toward the road.

‘See what I mean!? Are you people satisfied now?’ the fat man said, hoping for an acknowledgment.

‘Oh, come on,’ said the clerk, ‘damn lights weren’t repaired in a hundred years...’

‘Damn it! Then I’m outta here! Whatever that thing was, it’s coming,’ the big man said, turned, and headed for the front door after seeing the lights go out.

‘Hey,’ said Jake, ‘was it beside the big road sign?’

‘Sort of. It was farther down the road by a light post, but not far away from the sign. The light wasn’t on, it was pro’bly not working. Anyway, I’m not stickin’ around much. It crept the fuck out of me!′ said the fat guy and rushed out.

‘The guy’s crazy,’ said Jake, but deep inside he knew that the other man was right.

‘Yeah, man. But haven’t you said that you’ve seen it too?’

‘I don’t know what I’ve seen,’ said Jake and turned to go.

Jake didn’t like this. If there’s one more person who had seen the strange apparition, then there might have been something there after all. He didn’t see it well and didn’t want to draw conclusions. It might be just a prank by local kids. He remembered a story from his teens. What he saw earlier was eerily similar to that.

A long time ago, he and a few friends cut a piece of cardboard in order to resemble an evil face. Then they folded it up to look like a cylinder. After that, they glued a piece of cardboard to the top and one to the bottom. It resembled a jack-o’-lantern in the end. They cut a hole in its back and put a candle inside, then they stuck the thing on a tree in the park of their hometown. After nightfall, a young boy and a girl came to have some fun where nobody could see them. When they noticed it, they got scared and ran away screaming. Jake smiled at the thought, he still saw their scared faces. It sure looked like one of those pranks.

The woman and the girl just arrived at the counter, and the woman wanted to pay. Jake looked at the woman and her child, they both looked back at him and smiled. He did the same, then headed to the door. Don’t even think about it, he thought, you don’t deserve it!

The little girl’s face struck him. She resembled his late son, Clark. The girl had the same cheeks, a very similar nose, and the look in her eyes was just like Clark’s. She was smiling with her eyes too; she was beautiful. Her smile brought back some painful memories.

These memories dated back four years, and Jake hated them as he hated himself. His wife and son were no more because of him. Only death could save him from the guilt he was feeling. He didn’t start a new life since their death, he couldn’t. The road was his salvation when he wasn’t working. Jake was driving because this way he could avoid the damned bottle. He couldn’t drink himself to death when being at the wheel. His life mattered little to him, but he didn’t want to kill anybody else. Sometimes he was fantasizing about saving somebody else at the expense of his own life in order to die at least half at peace.

Jake walked out the front door and saw the big guy driving out of the station. He was driving an old pickup truck. Jake was wondering how it was still in one piece and didn’t fall apart a hundred years ago. The man wasn’t hesitating much. He must have stepped on the gas really hard because he was out on the road in no time. The fat man was speeding away in his decrepit excuse of a car with no working lights, and he disappeared behind the trees.

He didn’t get far, however. Jake heard tires screeching and then a loud