The Novella Life of Illuscia Nester Himawari

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) “Arise, my daughter. Come.” Maya opened her eyes and found herself standing a great big hall made of gold and silver studded with precious jewels of all kinds. Her blood-soaked dress was replaced with a magnificent gown the colour of forest-green with diamonds and black laces everywhere. When she lifted her skirt, it revealed a pair of dark green buckled shoes that shone when it caught light. A diamond and ruby-studded tiara settled comfortably on her head and a long veil flowed down her silky brown hair, like she was in a wedding dress. As she walked down the hall, she saw four thrones that towered all the way towards the ceiling and people of all forms of features, shapes and sizes sitting on both sides of the hall like one would in a stadium. The whole place looked like a church, with stained glass that let the light in, illuminating all the jewels in the hal...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) Maya watched quietly as the Count sewed up his torn face in front of a mirror, his back facing towards her. She didn’t know what happened and didn’t understand what the Count went through to get that cut, but she didn’t have time to investigate. Her sole mission right now was to get her fiancée as requested. She managed to trace a door on another side of the wall and find herself in the Count’s study. Ever since the Countess died, he carried his son everywhere he went with his portable crib. He would never leave the baby out of his sight, except when he had to go off on business, both legally and illegally. And right now, Alexandra was sleeping in his crib a few feet away from his father. She hid under the table when she saw the Count done with his sewing, moving as silently as possible behind one of the bookshelves when she realized that the Count felt her pres...

In almost every building, there is one corner, one small enclosure that no one ever looks at. It’s the corner in the basement that has been blocked by a disused sofa for years; the thin space in the attic between the wall and the stacks and stacks of crates full of junk you never use, but could never throw away. The space that never sees the light of day, or any other kind of light at all. Where darkness does not merely dominate, but practically oozes out from around the edges of its prison. No one knows quite how long a space must remain concealed for it to acquire this particular property, nor if there are any specific conditions it must meet. But it is a far more common occurrence than you might think. In newer buildings, when this happens, the residents often report feeling cold when passing by, even in attics during the hottest of summers. Whenever contemplating taking a quick peek to see if there is anything actually there, an unnatural dread seizes them, and they le...

My cousin and I had gone to San Antonio, and we had heard rumors of some haunted railroad tracks. The story was, a school bus full of children had stalled on these tracks with a train coming. The train was going too fast for there to be time to get the children off. So they all died. When we finally found the tracks, we stopped the car, parking it right on the railroad tracks. We were both a little nervous, and scared, and waited for something to happen. Just when we were about to leave, the car started rolling. We were both too freaked out to do any more than grab each other and gasp, eyes wide, mouths open. After what seemed like an eternity, (but was actually less than five minutes tops) the car stopped rolling. We looked around, and we were off the railroad tracks. Now, that may not seem spooky, but what we saw next scared us enough to jump back in the car and make the six hour trip home THAT NIGHT. Both of us got out of the car and walked around to the back. After the first six ho...

I am Thomas's reflection. Every morning, he rises from sleep and walks into the bathroom. ...and he makes faces. I am so tired of the faces. He makes them for at least half an hour. Mocking, ridiculous faces. I have no choice but to mimic his every action, although inside I am seething with anger. He does this every day... well, USED to. One morning he awoke as usual, and entered the bathroom. On this particular morning, against his will, he picked up a pair of scissors. On this particular morning, against his will, he gripped those scissors tightly in his fist. ...on this particular morning, entirely against his will, he plunged those scissors directly into his right eye. Thomas screamed, and screamed. I screamed and screamed too - with one difference. I can't mimic his pain. Just his face.

I am currently sitting in front of my computer, scared witless. Any moment now I am going to be killed. Today a friend of mine told me a story. His aunt had taken care of him since he was a small boy, and she told him last night about how his parents died. He did a very fair imitation of her (I knew them both pretty well): “They were doing mission work in some nasty little south american country when a man burst into the mission hospital one night, terrified out of his mind. He told them that his sister had been killed by a Muerto blanco, and that he was certain that it was coming for him next. What is a Muerto blanco? Apparently it was some sort of bogey-man, something like that dumb chupacabra or whatever. They called it the White Death or the White Girl, because it was the soul of someone who hated life so much that they came back in their shrouds to kill those who told of them. The man had been told about the vengeful spirit by his sister hours before her death. It was a...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) Pedro knew it was now or never. He had to leave tonight. Suspicions were hovering around the manor and the Count, although he did not mention it directly, had his eyes especially on Pedro. He was handling the children with Alberto one day when one of them, out of anger, lashed out at him saying that they would be caught by the law-enforcers and burn in hell for what they were doing. When the Count asked what he meant, the child blurted out about some of his friends being smuggled out by an errand boy to be given to the law-enforcers in order to testify against him. The Count tried to squeeze more information out of the child, the child said he’d rather die than betray the errand boy and help the Count in his dastardly deeds and banged his head against the wall hard, killing himself instantly. Pedro knew he was going to be in trouble. He had been involved in the dealings wi...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) The rain was pouring outside the manor, signaling the rainy seasons. As Maya would volunteer to send in the Countess’ meals for the day, she accidentally overheard the conversation between the Count and Alberto and his men in the study. She was surprised that Pedro was not in the room as Pedro was also part of the trading business—pretending is more like it, to be exact. From what she understood from their hushed talking, she discovered that the Count had begun to suspect that there is a mole in the manor trying to bring their slave trading down and throw them into the slammer. They were planning to investigate and interrogate each and every one of the workers in the household as they were the most suspected ones, and errand boys were not excluded. Maya’s heart skipped a bit. Errand boys? But that would mean Pedro would be interrogated as well! What if Pedro didn’t know wh...

When you are admitted to a hospital, they place on your wrist a white wristband with your name on it. But there are other different colored wristbands which symbolizes other things. The red wristbands are placed on dead people. There was one surgeon who worked on night shift in a school hospital. He had just finished an operation and was on his way down to the basement. He entered the elevator and there was just one other person there. He casually chatted with the woman while the elevator descended. When the elevator door opened another woman was about to enter when the doctor slammed the close button and punched the button to the highest floor. Surprised the woman reprimanded the doctor for being rude and asked why he did not let the other woman in. The doctor said “that was the woman i just operated on. She died while I was doing the operation. Didn’t you see the red wristband she was wearing?” The woman smiled and raised her arm, “something like this?”

An elderly man was sitting alone on a dark path. He wasn’t certain of which direction to go, and he’d forgotten both where he was traveling to and who he was. He’d sat down for a moment to rest his weary legs, and suddenly looked up to see an elderly woman before him. She grinned toothlessly and with a cackle, spoke: “Now your *third* wish. What will it be?” “Third wish?” The man was baffled. “How can it be a third wish if I haven’t had a first and second wish?” “You’ve had two wishes already,” the hag said, “but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. That’s why you remember nothing; because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes.” She cackled at the poor man. “So it is that you have one wish left.” “All right,” he said, “I don’t believe this, but there’s no harm in wishing. I wish to know who I am.” “Funny,” said the old woman as she granted his wish and disappeared forever. “That was your firs...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) The next day, Maya offered to bring in the Countess’ breakfast. The least she could do for the Countess after her bloody ordeal was to look after her as much as the doctor and the Count would allow her too. After all, the baby inside her is still her husband, and since she couldn’t love the one she want, she might as well make an effort and love the one she’s with. In order to do that, she had to make the Countess feel better, and this was where the mandrake root given by Faun came in. As she entered the room, she saw the Countess having a slightly fitful sleep, moving here and there occasionally, as if she was having a bad dream. Flashbacks of her own nightmarish encounter with the creature rang in her mind, making her wonder what would Faun’s reaction be if he were to ask of her mission, but that would be a matter settled later. She had important business to attend to. M...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) Maya was awakened by the creaking noise the floor made and the soft rumbling sounds the mixture of cat and lion purrs. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Faun came into view, making a house call. “You did not carry out the task,” Faun said in a matter-of-fact way. “No…” Maya replied apologetically, “Well, you see, there’s the engagement ceremony, and then my mother-in-law suddenly fell ill…” “Bah!” Faun waved her explanation away hastily. “That’s no excuse for negligence.” “I apologize…” A few seconds later, Faun materialized a piece of root that looked like a crossbreed between ginseng and ginger and handed it to Maya, saying, “Look, this is a mandrake root. A plant that dreamt of being human. Put it under your mother-in-law’s bed in a bowl of fresh milk and give it two drops of blood each morning. That should do the tri...

In Gjoberdik, a small fisherman’s village in the country of Bulgaria, on the dawn of January the first everyone closes their curtains and hold their breath for half a minute. Hours after the craze of midnight’s celebrations, children look questioning at their worried parents, but can not help to shiver in the embrace of their shaking parents. One can hear the sound of bells being struck exactly 25 times last year, in this short timespan. The nearest church however, is over 32 miles away. You will find no one out on the streets in these faithful 30 seconds, and even the birds will stop whistling. Some have gone out of their houses, roaring boldly in disbelief of this century old tradition. On the first sunset of this year, two people gambled their fate in the very first rays of sunlight. The next dawn, the bells will be struck 27 times.

Remember this - Should you ever despair of life so much that you want to die, you have the means at hand and yearn to end your life, you have written a suicide note to those you will leave behind and you are prepared to die… at that moment, stop. Get a pair of scissors. Cut away at the note until you end up with a piece of paper in the shape of a key. Go to a door, any one will do. Push the paper key forward and turn your hand as if unlocking an imaginary lock. The lock is real. Open the door. There you will find it. The other earth. The one that awaits to replace this one when it dies. That death is inevitable, but in the meantime the other earth will belong to you. Be warned: the other earth is very different from this one.

There it goes again. Something definitely moved this time. It was very brief, but out of the corner of your eye, you saw something. But wait. All the doors are locked, no pets, and your parents won’t get home until 10. So there’s no way something moved. It’s just your imagination getting the best of you. Sitting alone in your room, the only light emitting from the monitor of your computer, you stare into the darkness for several minutes. Just to be sure. Now you feel silly. What were you thinking? Of course there’s nothing there. What, are you 6? Go back to what you were doing. 15 minutes later, as you prepare to go to bed, you’re in the bathroom. The shower curtains shift. Wait… no. Stop spooking yourself. It’s just an overactive imagination, filling your head with what isn’t really there. You gaze into the mirror at yourself. You say it to yourself, slowly and clearly, “Imagination.” With a sigh, you turn the lights off and head towards your room. Laying in bed, you star...

A 15-year old boy in a small town in Maryland sat down at his computer after getting home from school one day. He turned it on and logged into an instant messaging program, and was then surprised to receive a message from a classmate of his, who had been absent that day. It consisted of two words; “please come”. Confused, the boy sent a reply, asking why he’d been absent that day. After two more messages and fifteen minutes with no response, he decided to get on his bike and head over to his classmate’s house. It was a short ride, only about five minutes away. When he got to the house, he found the door was unlocked. Inside, partially dried blood was splattered over the walls and floors, and an unrecognizable figure was crumpled against the far wall. It was missing an arm and a leg, and bloody streaks on the floor lead away from the body and into the kitchen. The boy slammed the door closed, and immediately called 911 on his cell phone. When the police arrived, they found...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) “Alright, Book of Crossroads. Show me what my next task is.” Maya was in the bathroom as usual opening the Book of Crossroads, waiting to see what was in store for her. After her meeting with Faun and the upcoming engagement ceremony, Maya was more determined to complete her mission and get the heck out of this manor. Especially when she had discovered a few skeletons in the Garcia Manor’s closets. For example, after her meeting with Faun and after eating the cheese Pedro gave her, she went down to the kitchen secretly to get herself a glass of water when she accidentally saw the Count, Alberto and Pedro talking in hushed tones with a few burly-looking men in black coats and hats through the gap of the door of the study. When she quietly followed behind them towards the warehouse, she realized that the Count actually kept dark-skinned children at the underground...

PRINCESS CARMELITA (Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”) Once upon a time, when the forest was young, it was home to creatures who were full of magic and wonder. They protected one another and slept in the shade of a colossal fig tree that grew on a hill near the manor. But now the tree is dying. Its branches are dry, its trunk old and twisted. A monstrous toad has settled in its roots and won’t let the tree thrive. You must put the three magic stones in the toad’s mouth and retrieve the golden key from inside his belly. Only then will the fig tree flourish again. Maya fingered the three stones in the pouch before putting them back in. While she made here way into the mountain woods, she opened the book she took from behind the bathroom cabinet and sure enough, the pages began to fill themselves again with the words and pictures, revealing the drawing of a huge fig tree surrounded by magical creatures of every kind and a toad sit...