Summer days sure are different with this pandemic. I’d love to go outside and hang out with my friends, but I shouldn’t make the situation worse. I’m all alone in my apartment and I did regret not coming home to the province. I thought the lockdown wouldn’t be this long, well you never know.
“What am I supposed to do?” I muttered to myself while lying in my comfy bed.
My routine is pretty much the same with everyone. Eat, rest, scroll, tweet, delete, tweet (again), scroll, and sleep. I have considered working out, but I got exhausted just by thinking of it. I’m too lazy to read nor write.
“I’m common, too common.”
This boredom might drive me insane. Or it already had? I need to find something interesting to work with, otherwise I’d rot in my bed.
I don’t even have the sense of time since my body’s so out of it. I would normally sleep at 4 or 5 A.M. and wake up at 1 P.M.. It’s messed up, I know.
“I should probably learn airbending.”
Yes, I’m actually serious.
“Another 2 A.M., nothing new,” I whispered as I scroll past my timeline.
2:15 A.M.
2:30 A.M.
2:50 A.M.
3:00 A.M.
I finished scrolling and there’s nothing new for twitter to show. I desperately refreshed my timeline, but that’s the end.
“Maybe I should sleep earlier.”
As I was about to place my phone over the desk, the last refresh popped up a new tweet.
It’s a thread. A thread about the witching hour. It’s a retweet from Lany. Oh god I miss her.
“Well this is interesting.”
-The devil’s hour or commonly known as the witching hour is not something to take lightly of. This particular hour is filled with ominous and dark presence close to that of the abyss.-
“That’s pretty good.” I thought to myself. For a big fan of horror and thriller movies and books, that paragraph gave me chills.
The thread contained a step-by-step instruction on how to fully experience the witching hour.
It only contained 3 replies corresponding to the 3 steps. Pretty short. Well anything to cure my boredom is fully accepted.
The first step is to recite a prayer backwards out loud. I’ve memorized that prayer enough to visualize its words. It actually sounds pretty creepy when hearing it. And it made sense. It wasn’t just a jumble of words. For a moment I thought someone joined me recite it.
I continued the steps. Even Gonjiam didn’t made me flinch so what can?
The second step is to lie on the opposite direction of how you used to sleep and raise your arms as if you are forming a letter T. As if I am an inverted cross. It’s a lot more easier than the first step, but this is creepier.
“I hope the next step won’t be to hammer nails on my hands and feet.” I said jokingly. I tried to lighten up the mood as everything is so quiet and twisted.
The last step is to sleep. Just that? I thought it’d be something scarier.
I looked at my phone and it’s already 3:58 A.M..
“It took that long?”
As I was so sure that I would not be getting any sleep after doing the steps. Minutes later I dropped and fell asleep.
I woke up feeling dizzy. I looked at my phone and it’s 3. 3 A.M..
“That’s f*****g insane.”
I slept for almost a day? That’s impossible. No matter how I’d get tired I should be waking up between 1-3 P.M..
It can’t be because of the thread. Right? Maybe it’s just a coincidence. I really hope it is. Please.
I tried looking for the thread, but it’s gone. I looked at Lany’s recent retweets but the recent is a week ago.
I panicked and before I knew it, it’s 3:57 A.M.. Minutes later, I fell asleep.
I woke up at 3:26 A.M..
“It can’t be, s**t.” I could feel the tense on my body. I’m so scared I cried, but immediately held myself together. I try not to think much of the witching hour, but this is the witching hour. I am within the witching hour.
But why am I waking up later than before? Why am I sleeping at exactly 4 A.M.? If this continued, would It break the cycle or would I sleep forever?
These questions filled up my mind and I know I have to do something.
I’ve thought that maybe I could undo the curse if I reverse the steps.
I recited the prayer properly, lied on my bed like before, and slept at 4:00 A.M.
I woke up at 3:46 A.M.
I was stunned. It didn’t work. I was crying for a minute, but I stopped myself and looked for another way. I’ve thought that maybe Lany did it since she retweeted the thread.
I have her cell number saved on my phone and I called her. It took 3 calls for someone to pick up.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Hi, I’m Loui. Sorry for calling this late, but I really need to talk to Lany.”
“Lany. She. She died a week ago. She died on her sleep.”
“No, that can’t be. THAT CAN’T F*****G BE.”
I hanged the phone and cried. I was furious, scared, and hopeless.
“What am I supposed to do?” I shouted.
It was 3:58 A.M..
A thought occurred to me that if I should go ask my neighbours for help. I got out of bed, wiped my tears, opened the door, and fell asleep.
I woke up at 3:56 A.M., lying on my bed positioned in an inverted cross.
Who placed me here? I’m sure no one even heard me opening my door.
The thought is frightening, but I am more scared to know what happens in the next few minutes.
I picked up my phone and immediately saw the thread.
There was a fourth step. It claims to undo the curse if I retweeted it. I am desperate so I did.
It’s 3:59 A.M.
“Ha, I’ll be saved, I’ll be saved,” I muttered to myself while slowly drowsing off to sleep.