This once peaceful town had grown morbid, revealing the darkest of secrets, and Ricky was at the centre of it all.
In modern-day Massachusetts, the picturesque landscape could never be more fleeting. The once breezy town, Provincetown, watched as it decayed into the embers of its heart.
Ricky was a young lad who lived with his elder sister, Laura. Together, the two catered to each other's needs and tried to live a peaceful life.
"It's so warm today. I just want to go to the beach and relax." Laura said.
"Well, I don't. I have a lot of things to do, and besides, there's a curfew by 6 pm and I don't wanna get caught up in the fun that I miss the curfew." Ricky replied.
"That makes one of us, as for me, I'm gonna go have some fun." Laura said.
She had not long left when Ricky went in to paint. He was a good painter often known and respected in the town. Long before he started painting, Ricky had always been afraid of monsters. He'd have several nightmares and each time he woke up, he painted an image of whatever monster he had encountered in his sleep.
He had this immense insomnia due to fear of facing the demons in his sleep. This all changed when he met Aviya, an old woman.
"You seem to be having trouble sleeping, Ricky Goldberg." She said, disturbingly.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Ricky said, curiously.
(Chuckling)"I'm the woman that's about to change your life." She said with a grin.
"You needn't fear me; I was once like you, battling the demons in my sleep; trust me and let me help you." She said, showing little to no emotions.
"What demons? And besides, how can you help?" Ricky said, stuttering.
"Here are some lavenders. Make sure to constantly drown yourself in its aroma just before you go to bed, and whenever you sleep, you'll be free from the monsters you fear." She said.
"But there's a catch." She said.
Ricky snatched the lavender from her palm and ran away without hearing what the catch was. The old woman let out a sly grin, giggled morbidly, and went on her way.
Ricky ran home, locked the doors and observed his heartbeat frantically. He was scared and terrified but was also intrigued by what the old woman said.
It was night-time and while Ricky and Laura would talk for hours, Ricky would constantly zone out and remember what the old woman had told him earlier.
"Why don't you go to bed, sis? I have to organise, uhm, some stuff." He said, mischievously.
"Okay. Good night, bro." Laura said, oblivious to Ricky's frets.
Ricky locked the doors, sniffed the lavender and lay on the bed. He hoped hard that he would really be free from the monsters in his head.
The next morning, Ricky woke up as energised as never seen. It worked! The old woman's lavenders did the trick. He slept like a baby and seemed to be overcoming his fear of monsters.
"Ah, so this is what sleep feels like." He said, sighing heavily.
"I guess that old hag was concerned about me, after all. Well, it's a bummer I wasn't able to hear the catch. Besides, who cares? I got all I wanted." He said, happily.
What Ricky didn't know was that the catch was, in effect, about to change his and the lives of others in the town.
On the last full moon of the year, Ricky was about to sleep when he heard a strange noise from the attic of his house. He rushed upstairs and saw a strange door. He had never seen it before, and this made him curious. He wasn't ready for any adventure, though, as he was about to go to bed. He was about to leave the attic when he caught a familiar scent.
"I smell lavender. Where?" He said.
He looked at the floor of the strange door and saw a lavender flower lying on the ground. "How did this get here?" He said, in a worried tone.
As he bent down to pick the flower, he noticed that it was stuck. He pulled and pulled, and as he let out one last pull, he hit the door and it creaked and opened slightly.
He saw a bright light creeping from the corners of the door and he slowly grabbed the doorknob and pulled it gently.
On opening it, he saw nothing in there and the once bright light had grown dim. As he was closing it, there was an instant noise as if something was coming out of the door.
Alas!
He saw the very monsters he had been afraid of. They all came out of the door and chased Ricky.
He ran, scampering, in a bid to escape the monsters. The monsters came out of his house and ran into the streets causing chaos and frightening everyone.
As Ricky ran, he heard a strange noise in the woods, where he was.
"W-W-Who's there?" He said, stammering.
"You didn't hear the catch." A voice whispered from behind a tree.
"What catch? Who are you? Show yourself."
" Why do humans always have to be so impatient?" The old woman said chuckling, as she revealed herself.
"If you hadn't run away, you'd have realised that taking those lavenders I gave you would mean letting those monsters out of your sleep and into your home."
"NO!! What have you done? Please, fix it. The monsters have destroyed everything, I'll give you anything. Please, help." Ricky said, sobbing.
"It's too late, now. You brought this upon yourself. Deal with it."
"On the night of every full moon, these monsters will reappear, and you can't leave this town." She said, vanishing into thin air.
Ricky was in utter shock. What had he done? He rushed through the woods and met his town in a devastated state. Laura was weeping uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry, Laura. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry." Ricky said, weeping.
Ricky had overcome his insomnia but was faced with a more daunting task - staying alive in a town full of monsters.
As Ricky sniffed more lavenders, he created more monsters. He wouldn't, couldn't stop, as that was the only way he'd be able to keep the monsters away from his head.
Left alone with Laura in the town, Ricky had to fight for his survival with more monsters lurking behind closed doors.
Image source: Pixabay.
Thanks for reading.
