The Farm

Paranormal / Horror

How far would go for the person you love?

This is the question that ran through my mind when my whole world shook beneath my feet.

I was just an ordinary guy. My life was simple, maybe even boring.

Until I met the love of my life. It was my very own version of a fairy tale.

Little did I know that a mysterious letter would change it all.

A trip to a different country. A dark family heritage.

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.

My fairy tale took a sinister turn.

Chapter 01 - Dreaming of Carla

When I first opened my eyes, all I could see was the ceiling fan rotating slowly above me.

“Where am I? Where’s Carla?” I was dizzy and confused.

I couldn’t remember what happened. I tried closing my eyes and forcing my brain to go back but the harder I tried, the more frustrated I got.

After what seemed like an eternity, I just collapsed. I must have slept for another five or six hours straight, I don’t know.

“Hello? Steve… Steve?” the nurse whispered in my ears.

I noticed her heavy Portuguese accent, which reminded me that I was in Brazil.

“Yes, where am I?” I tried asking once again. “Where is Carla?”

The nurse reluctantly drifted her eyes away. I could tell something was wrong.

“Please… do you understand English?” I had to know the whereabouts of Carla.

“Por favor, onde está Carla?” I tried asking in Portuguese, figuring it was my best shot at figuring out where Carla was.

Deep inside me I knew the answer to the question wasn’t going to be good, but I needed to know.

Without saying anything, the nurse started to inject some kind of medicine into the tube that was connected to my arm. Within a few seconds I was out cold again.

“Amor… Amor…” this is how Carla used to call me.

I could hear her muffled voice calling me. She sounded like she was in danger, but somehow it didn’t sound like she was desperate or in pain.

She kept calling me, but I wasn’t able to open my eyes or do anything. For a moment I had absolutely no control over my body or mind.

When I finally managed to snap out of that sort of trance and open my eyes, it was dark and cold.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked myself.

I knew exactly where I was this time, this room is familiar. I was at my apartment in Boston. I got out of bed, opened the curtains. It was pitch black and the weather was punishing out there. I was so cold! The first thing that came to my mind was to turn the heater on. And then I sat on my bed as if waiting for the cold to go away. I was freezing.

There was no sign of Carla. Her side of the bed was intact. Not even a trace of her belongings in the bathroom. It was the weirdest feeling. I couldn’t smell her scent around the apartment. All the pictures I had of her were gone.

It almost looked like she was never there. Except for the little note I found bellow the pillow that read: “Te amo!” - Portuguese for “I love you.”

I work as a freelance web designer and live in Boston, Massachusetts. Although my work gives me the liberty to travel or live anywhere (as long as there is an internet connection), I have never left the country or even lived in different cities. I thought my life was pretty decent and safe enough. I definitely don’t fall into the “risk takers” group. Heck, compared to the majority of people my age (early twenties), you could say my life is boring.

A normal day in my life would start at around 9AM, when I’d grab my tablet and check the emails, news, social networks and finally have a quick look at my to-do’s for the day. This would normally take around 30 to 40 minutes and then it would be time for a steamy shower.

I don’t have the habit of eating breakfast at all, so I’d just brew some coffee or get out my laptop and sit at the nearby coffee shop. In fact, I find myself doing that quite often. I guess it can get quite boring working from a home office every single day.

Today wasn’t different, the alarm sounded at 9 in the morning. It took me longer than usual to set if off. I was up late last night watching movies. One of the perks of working my own hours, an extra 20 minutes in bed couldn’t hurt, right?

After reading the news and checking my social profiles online, it was time to check the emails.

“Damn!” I babbled as I went through all the spam and junk emails.

Amongst all the useless emails was a new project proposal—a local business wanted to have their website revamped.

Whenever I had a new project on the horizon, my day would just lighten up. I closed my laptop, grabbed my phone, and went to my favorite coffee shop.

Usually I would pay attention to the surroundings as I walked from my home to the shop and snap a few pictures with my phone if something caught my attention, but not today. My brain was racing with ideas for that new project and I wanted to get to the shop as quickly as possible.

“Good morning Steve! The double?” Megan the waitress asked with a smile on her face. She referred to my favorite order a double espresso with nothing but sugar.

“Oh yes, please! I’ll need it today,” I replied while taking my laptop out of the bag.

I’d usually wait religiously for the first couple sips of my hot coffee before starting work on whatever needed to be done that day, but for some reason I didn’t even consider waiting for the coffee and jumped straight into the new project. By the time the coffee arrived, I was already working on some tasks.

The morning carried on and as I worked on the exciting new project I realized that I would need some help to get it done.

I tried making some phone calls to friends that I knew had the skills to work on the project, but none were available to do freelance work, so I proceeded to call friends of friends. What started as a perfect and exciting morning was now starting to look a little less promising.

Although it was part of my routine to have breakfast at the coffee shop, I rarely had lunch out of my apartment. There was no specific reason. I just got used to grabbing fresh vegetables with some chicken or fish and fixing a quick salad at home.

Megan noticed I was still at the shop. It was 1:30pm.

“Hey, do you need another double?” she asked jokingly. She knew that by now I wouldn’t normally be around.

“Nah, I’m fine… I would like a grilled chicken and salad though.” She must have noticed that I was worried.

“Hmm… If you don’t mind me asking, is everything alright?”

“Yes, well… I guess. It’s just this new project I’m working on. I’ll need an extra pair of hands to help me this time, and I’m having trouble finding the right person.”

Megan knew what I did for a living. She stood there for a while, thinking, and then left to place my order.

“There you go!” She was back with my grilled chicken and salad.

“My God! It looks great Megan. I might have to start having lunch here more often.”

Just before I started working on that beautiful bowl of salad, Megan said, “I think I might know a person that would be able to help you.”

“Really? I’d appreciate it if you could give me an email or phone number so I could get in touch.” Knowing that Megan was a smart college girl with a lot of friends, I knew this could mean something.

“Sure. I have her email and phone number, but I believe you will meet her in person. Her name is Carla, she is my roommate. She works the afternoon shifts here. She’ll be in about five or ten minutes.”

I thought, what the heck. It couldn’t hurt to try, right?

“Cool! I’ll finish my lunch and she should be here then.” I thanked Megan and devoured my lunch.

Normally I’d lay on my couch for 20 minutes or so after lunch, read a bit to clear my mind, and then get back to the computer for some more work.

At the coffee shop I had to face the fact that I couldn’t lay down or at least it would look weird. But I did have my tablet and all my books, so I went on for the 20 minutes of pure reading joy.

“Steve, excuse me. Sorry to interrupt. This is Carla.” Megan pointed.

Now it may sound cliché, but when I laid my eyes on Carla… Boy, what a sight! Her beautiful green eyes, golden skin and silky black hair instantly paralyzed me. I wasn’t too shy around women, but here I was, completely speechless in front of this goddess.

- “He… hello… Hi! I’m Steve, nice to meet you.” I felt completely embarrassed to say the least.

Carla giggled, clearly noticing my embarrassment.

“Hi Steve, Megan told me a little bit about you and your project.” Carla had the most sensual accent. I couldn’t figure out exactly where she came from. But I knew for sure she wasn’t American.

“Well, unfortunately you guys won’t be able to talk right now. We have to get back to work. Why don’t you come over around 8 at night Steve?” Megan said.

“Sure, sure. Whatever works. I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

“No trouble at all.” Carla smiled, leaving me breathless once again.

I thanked Megan for the help and they went back to work.

When I got out of the bed I had no idea this wouldn’t be just another ordinary Thursday in my life.

As I headed back home I knew something was different, again I stopped paying attention to my surroundings. I took no pictures at all today. At home I didn’t even take the laptop out of the bag. I sat on my sofa and all I could think of was her green eyes, that smile, her mesmerizing scent. How could I even remember her scent? I guess I daydreamed throughout the afternoon, thinking of Carla.

Ok Steve, snap out of it. Time to get back to work. I pulled my laptop out and continued working on the new project. Then I realized I completely forgot to ask Megan for a portfolio on Carla’s work. What if she wasn’t good enough to help me out?

Thinking on that possibility, I went back to the search mission, browsing through dozens of online portfolios, sending out emails. I refused to think Carla wouldn’t be a good fit. I just wanted her to be… Heck, deep inside I think I didn’t even care if she was a good fit or not. I just wanted an excuse to see and be around her again.

The time went on quickly. I had only enough time to take a quick shower and head out to the cafe to meet with Carla and Megan.

Back at the cafe, Megan saw me walking in and greeted with a smile and a wave as she walked into the kitchen. I made myself comfortable, Megan approached and told me Carla was getting her stuff and would be coming in a minute.

I wasn’t nervous… or maybe I was. Not sure. I felt a mixture of anxiety and excitement.

“Hello? Steve.” Chills went up my spine when I heard that sweet voice once again. Of course I tried my best to look unshaken.

“Oh hey… Hi. Carla, right?” I stuttered, giving her clear signals that I was indeed nervous.

“Please sit.” I proceeded, trying not to make it any more obvious that I was really nervous.

“So, I suppose Megan told you a little bit about me?” I asked.

“Yes, she told me you’re a regular here in the mornings. And that you were looking for someone to help you with a new project,” she replied. Again I was struck by her voice and accent.

“That’s right. I’ll need some help to finish this one in time… Can I ask you something?” I had to know where she came from.

“Sure, shoot.”

“You are not from around here, are you? I mean, where were you born?” Man, the second after asking I thought I was the dumbest guy in the world. Really? “You are not from around here?” My God, Steve!

“Oh I don’t mind at all. I get asked that all the time, I guess my accent just shows doesn’t it? I was born and raised in Brazil. Moved to the US when I was 18, you know… I was just looking for an adventure and better opportunities.” I felt a tone of sadness on her voice.

Brazil, that explained her accent and probably the looks as well.

“Wow, that’s awesome, Carla! I’ve never met a Brazilian before.” She smiled and looked astonishing.

I thought it was time to get back on the subject and asked her more professional questions. We spoke for maybe an hour about the project and what she could do to help me.

Everything worked out. It turned out she was a very skilled web designer. She didn’t have an extensive portfolio, but the samples I saw were more than enough. Plus, I probably would have hired her even if her samples weren’t as good.

We exchanged phone numbers, social media profiles, emails and a few good laughs. Megan also joined us for a couple of beers as the hours passed.

On my walk back home it seemed that everything was much more radiant. I was able to take a handful of pictures of the surroundings. What a night!

With the project deadline no longer in danger I thought it would be a good idea to go to bed earlier. I felt so relaxed, just lying down on my bed.

My thoughts started to run wild. The stage when you’re still awake but it feels like you’re also starting to have dreams. I don’t remember how long it took for me to actually fall asleep.

During my sleep I started to hear strange noises. It sounded like footsteps, approaching and then walking away. I could hear someone crying and random rumblings in the background. My chest felt heavy. It was hard to breathe. I felt my feet starting to tingle. Was I dreaming? I didn’t know.

I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t even move my legs or arms. Still, I wasn’t scared. It just felt different - an interesting feeling. The only discomfort was the heaviness on my chest. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

“Steeeve… Steeeve…” I could swear it was Carla’s voice whispering in my ears. I could almost feel she was in the room. Her sweet scent was too real for a dream!

That was when my dream or experience or whatever it was started to feel weird. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. It was getting increasingly hard to breathe.

The voice continued saying my name over and over, like a chant.

Then I heard the most horrifying scream I’ve ever heard in my entire life. It didn’t sound human. I had no idea what the scream meant, heck, I wasn’t even sure it was said in a known language.

I was able to open my eyes very quickly and there she was. Carla was standing near my bed, naked, bruises all over her body. Her face was almost unrecognizable, her eyes were pitch black. Her sweet scent vanished completely, replaced with a terrible smell, like something was rotting.

I tried talking to her but my voice wouldn’t come out. I still couldn’t move my body. I felt exhausted just trying to keep breathing… then I finally collapsed.

The phone rang.

“What the hell?” I rolled sideways and quickly checked the time (01:00pm) as I reached for my ringing phone. Carla’s name was on the screen.

“Steve? Hey, sorry to bother you but last night you said you would email some specifics so I could start working,” Carla said.

“Hi Carla. You’re not bothering at all. I should thank you for calling. I overslept badly! I’m so sorry, I was going to send the email first thing this morning. I’ll work it in right now. You should get the email soon, okay?” I was so confused about my dream or experience. I still had no idea what had just happened during the night.

“Sure Steve, I can’t wait to start working. Hey, me and Megan are going out tonight. She was going to talk to you about it at the cafe, but you didn’t show up. Would you like to join us for some fun?” Carla asked.

I couldn’t believe she was actually inviting me to go out. My day wasn’t even started and I was already feeling great about it.

“I think I could use a break and a fun night out… yes, I’ll join you tonight. Let me know the place, time and where to pick you guys up.”

My body was feeling tired, could it be because of last night? What really happened? I decided not to think about it for now, since I had no reasonable explanation for what happened during my sleep.

As I was typing the email to Carla I thought of asking if she had any strange dreams last night. But that would sound too invasive and plain weird to ask, I couldn’t risk having her thinking I was a weirdo. I got rid of that thought and continued working on the email.

I had nothing special for lunch, just grabbed a microwave lasagna, not my favorite but I didn’t feel like going out to eat. After devouring my frozen and almost tasteless lunch I was able to do a lot of work.

The rest of the day I just procrastinated, basically waiting for Carla to call or email me with the directions and hoping the hours would go by faster.

After a while my phone vibrated, it was Carla texting me the details.

“Hey, we’ll go to Pulse. It’s an e-music club, really fun. I hope you like electronic music. ;-) We can meet there or go together, whatever works for you. I’ll be at Megan’s. Her address is…”

I sat on my sofa, staring at the phone thinking.

“Electronic music club…” C’mon Steve! Have some fun for God’s sake!

The girl I was hypnotized by was inviting me out. How could I say no? Not a chance!

I replied Carla’s message:

“Sounds like a lot of fun Carla! I’ll take a cab and pick you guys up at 10. Megan’s place, deal?”

“Deal, see you later!” she replied.

In one hand I wasn’t that excited about the place, on the other I was thrilled to spend a whole night in Carla’s presence.

While waiting for the hours to pass, I tried reading a book, but it was one of those moments when your mind is racing so fast that the reading makes no sense at all. I had to jump back 5 or 10 pages several times just to try to connect to the storyline, over and over again. After a while I decided to give up reading, it was not possible to focus. The anxiety was taking me over.

I still had time to kill. I headed to the kitchen, brewed some fresh coffee and thought of playing a video-game. It had been ages since I’d played my Playstation 3. Maybe that would help me relax and kill time.

Of course I went straight into my favorite shooting game, grabbed an extra cup of coffee, got my headphones, and logged in. To my surprise, most of my game mates were still around. We talked briefly about life and work and then started with the action. I wasn’t surprised when after a few rounds I was one of the worse scoring players. Boy, how had I managed to get so bad at this? Of course, my mates immediately started to make fun of me and my lousy playing. Back in the day I would retaliate and talk back. But they were right this time, I really was doing a horrible job. But that wasn’t bothering me at all. My goal was to relax and kill some time and guess what? It was working perfectly, I was laughing hard at my playing style and the time was passing quicker than I would’ve expected.

Playing with my old mates was the best decision I could have taken for that afternoon. If it wasn’t for Carla, I probably would have canceled the night out and kept hanging with my friends all night long.

Another round had just finished, losing again thanks to me, when a friend started to complain about the audio on my headphones.

“Damn Steve! What the fuck is that noise on your end?” he said.

“Noise? I’m not sure what you mean. I can hear you clearly,” I replied while checking the volume and connections, everything was looking fine.

“What the fuck, dude?! What’s with the weird girl screaming in the background?” Another mate asked. I could tell they weren’t just messing with me. They sounded really annoyed.

Immediately after hearing him mention the weird girl screaming, my TV image flickered and I noticed a strange reflection right behind my left shoulder. I felt a cold wave blasting all the way from the tip of my toes to my hair. It was so intense that I dropped the video-game controller. I instinctively closed my eyes even before the controller hit the floor, and on that fraction of a second I felt a mixture of Carla’s sweet scent and the same rotten smell from last night. My headphones went mute and I couldn’t hear my friends any more. By the time I opened my eyes I still had a chance to see the reflection on my TV screen. This time I could notice it was definitely a woman. She was even closer to my left shoulder. I could almost feel her hand resting on top of my shoulder. Before I could turn my head around, a terrifying scream blasted through the headphones. Again, this didn’t sound human. I threw the headphones on the floor and jumped out of my chair by reflex.

When I looked back all I saw was my bedroom door slowly closing, as if a window was open and the airflow pushed it closed. The TV reflection vanished. Whatever was behind me was gone.

I was scared, really scared. What the heck was that scream? Who or what was behind me?

I sat down again, put the headphones back on and told my friends that the noise was probably the music I had playing in the background. Although I didn’t really have any music playing, I thought it would be better to just make something up than to try and explain what just happened. I had no clue what the heck was going on. We played another round and I logged off.

It was almost 8:30pm, just enough time to shave and take a good shower before heading out to get Megan and Carla.

I couldn’t take my mind off what happened earlier. I was trying to find logical explanations to the whole thing, but nothing made sense. How did my friends hear the screaming at first and I didn’t? What was that reflection? Not to mention the screaming. What caused my bedroom door to close itself when all windows were closed? Why could I feel Carla’s scent around my apartment when she never even visited it?

It was clear that I wouldn’t find a reasonable explanation for all this, so I tried to let it go and just think about the great night I had ahead. I turned the music on while shaving and it did the trick. It helped me forget about that weird afternoon.

I was finally in good spirits again, almost dancing while I shaved, but that wouldn’t do any good. At most I would get myself cut.

The music was so loud that it took me a few seconds to realize the knocking on my apartment door. I rushed to turn the volume down. It wasn’t the first time I had forgotten this was an apartment with thin walls and not the nicest of neighbors.

“Fuck, I hope the volume wasn’t that loud,” I said to myself while putting some clothes on to check the door.

The knocking was really persistent. The person was either in a rush or very angry.

“I’m coming! Geez,” I mumbled as I walked to the living room.

The knocking was so strong that it brought down a frame I had on the wall besides the door.

As soon as I touched the door handle the knocking ceased completely. I noticed the handle was freezing cold, but that didn’t prevent me from opening the door. To my surprise there was no sign of life in the hallway. Everything was dead quiet.

I looked down and noticed muddy footprints on my doormat. This was really unusual. Who the hell would come knocking heavily on my door at night with bare and muddy feet and then run away? Looking back up at the end of the hallway I noticed the last light starting to flicker. At first it looked just like a regular light bulb malfunctioning or something, but then it started to go on and off almost at a regular rhythm. For some reason I was intrigued by it and kept looking. The flickering went on. The rhythm got faster. Now the light next to it was also flickering. And the one next to that as well. I could almost smell that now familiar scent again. The adrenalin started rushing in.

Suddenly all lights went back on and stayed on. I kept looking. Maybe I wanted to see what would happen next, hoping to find an explanation to all this. Or maybe the person knocking on the door would show up, who knows? Maybe it was a kid messing around. I guess I really wanted to see a kid coming out of the stairway laughing and running.

But deep inside I knew the chances were slim. I kept staring at the lights and nothing happened.

I laughed and shook my head, thinking how silly I was with half of my face shaved looking out the hallway waiting for something weird to happen. As I snapped out of it and started closing the door I heard something. It wasn’t a scream, this time I could barely hear it, almost like a whisper coming all the way down the corridor.

I stuck my head out and tilted it sideways trying to hear it better, when I felt a chill blow past my right ear as if something passed by running. This made me jump back into my living room leaving the door wide open. Now I could see a dark shadow standing by the very end of the hallway. I wasn’t able to tell if it was a person. The shadow stood there as the whisper-like noise started to sound closer and closer.

The corridor lights then started to go off one by one, approaching my apartment. The shadow seemed to get closer as the lights went off. For a second I wasn’t able to move. I was terrified and wanted to shut my door closed and locked. But somehow I couldn’t. As the lights started to go off faster, the whispers were now quite loud and the shadow was moving towards my door in a rush.

When there was only about two or three lights left until my apartment I heard the cellphone ringing in my bathroom. I was able to jump to the door and shut it close as fast as humanly possible. I immediately managed to lock it and jumped back as the door shook almost as if an earthquake hit the building. This went on for only a couple of seconds but it felt like an eternity.

My phone kept on ringing as I ran back to the bathroom. It was Megan, asking if I could come earlier and buy a bottle of vodka on the way to her apartment.

Now I had to rush and was really scared. That kind of thing never happened to me, I always thought scary movies were silly. I made fun of friends that got scared by ghost stories and such.

I managed to finish shaving, but I thought it would be better to leave the music off and locked the bathroom door before getting into the shower. Why? I honestly don’t know. It just felt like the right thing to do. For some reason it felt safe.

I usually like to stay in the shower for a good 20 or 30 minutes just feeling the warm water on my head and body. Unfortunately I didn’t have time nor did I want to stay in my apartment any longer. I just wanted to get out of there after all the crazy things I’ve experienced.

Without wasting much time I picked up a pair of new jeans and one of my favorite shirts, got dressed and ran out of the apartment. As I was locking the door it suddenly hit me that I was going to cross the very hallway that scared the crap out of me a few minutes earlier. That thought got me almost paralyzed facing my apartment door. I was scared to look back and almost too scared to move.

What if that shadowy thing appears again before I’m able to reach the elevator? What if the lights go off? What if that horrible scream echoes throughout the corridor? What if I smell that horrid rotten smell again?

I was fighting the fear in my head. Telling myself all this had an explanation and for some reason I was missing the point. Or maybe it was all in my head and I was just having a bad day. This trick worked. I got the courage to turn around and face the hallway. All lights were on and stable, I could hear people’s TV’s and an occasional laugh. And so I slowly walked to the elevator, which to my surprise was already there. Thank God!

I got out of the building and whistled a taxi without any weird incidents, good! Now I was able to breathe a little lighter and started to get in the mood for the night of fun ahead.

Thanks for taking the time to read the first part of my story. Please feel free to leave me a note with your suggestions/opinions.

I'm a non-native English speaker. I know my writing lacks quality, believe me… I'm also a reader. ;)

That's ok, I just want to keep going and improving.