Category: Short Stories

In times like these we should stay safe, think of one another and appreciate all the beautiful little things that surround us. And, Alchemy will keep you company through this challenging period with a little story now and then.

‘I love Christmas. People are jolly, happy, they gather around the table and eat, drink and laugh all day long. They eat lots of meat and sweets and become fatty and…juicy.’

Jolly Zombie

I look daily at the pictures we took together. Even though it hurts, I can’t live a day without looking at them, looking at your face and your smile. The world was at our feet back then and nothing could have stopped us. At least that’s what we thought.

You hated crowds so we always spent the evenings in beautiful and deserted places. We’d light a candle, put some music, dance and just dream, though our dream had already come true. We found each other.

Yesterday…it seems such a long time ago. I think about it and don’t understand why today can’t be like yesterday. The sun is rising just like yesterday, people are going to work, the world goes on just like yesterday but to me the world has stopped moving. The world is gone, it’s missing. I feel like I’m gone, like I don’t belong, as though I am a mistake. And I only have myself to blame.

People have such a terrible opinion about us. They think we are cold murderers, rotten on the inside, no more than decaying souls, wandering this cursed world until we turn into dust. We are incapable of emotions, of empathy, of love…

Perhaps we are…

Imagine how easily crimes could be solved if you could smell, sense and track the murdered within a matter of minutes.

I didn’t know her. She just contacted me through social media stating she urgently needed my assistance. According to her, I was the only one who could help. She wanted me to inspect a body but warned me that the details would shock me. I told her, as an experienced Forensic doctor, nothing could surprise me any more. She insisted this was something unique.

‘Love is eternal.’

‘Eternal? So, in other words as a vampire I should love the same person for as long as I live?’

‘Eternal…that is the idea, I believe.’

‘The definition of the word “Masquerade” is: a party, a dance or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises; a costume or disguise worn at such a gathering; façade, pretense; existence under false pretenses. False pretenses? Tell me, what is more falsely than the human nature? They hide behind their fleshy masks every day. They cover their frustrations with a polite smile. They lie so often that they believe in their own stories. A masquerade, false? What nonsense!’

A few years back everyone was watching movies inspired by us, inspired by our kind. Year 2017 and everyone seems to have forgotten all about it. It was ‘cool’ to be a vampire a few years ago.

‘Tell me again, how did you meet this girl?’

‘In the bar, just around the corner.’

I was sitting with my friend in a café during a short coffee break. We both worked in the same office building and met daily for a chat. He always had something new to share. This time he was excited about a new girl he had met. I had my doubts. But then again I have always been suspicious of people. He on the other hand could not stop talking about her.

I have seen a few cases in my life. The work of a psychiatrist is quite surprising from time to time. I’ve had patients who thought they were possessed by the devil or thought they were being haunted, patients who believed they were constantly being followed or even patients who believed they came from another planet. I was able to cure most of them the answer being something as simple as confronting one’s fears. But Lidia…she was…something else.

I knew I was cursed the moment I set my eyes on him. I don’t know how he did it but I was completely mesmerized by his features, his dark eyes and unbelievably kissable smile. It was as if time had stopped just for me to observe the beauty that stood before me. I wasn’t having an easy life lately. I was so buried in problems and stress that I hardly paid any attention to my surrounding. Until he forced me to.

What better way to celebrate Christmas than with a few grisly horror stories?

‘Where there is no imagination there is no horror.’ Arthur Conan Doyle