A Deadly Name

Flash Fiction

Sep 22, 2024

Hey Nightlies, this is a space I call the Night Cap, where I share flash fiction and short stories to delight your senses.

Type: Flash Fiction

Genre: Horror

Reader discretion is advised.

My lie banished me into exile.

It is rare that anyone passes through this old dirt road in the woods. Rare is being kind. Never, is more like it. I sit here and rot in this old cabin. Dust piled on every surface. Mice have gnawed through every corner to make it their home in the winter. At night, the darkness is never-ending. No lights to soften the wood plank walls. No fire in the fireplace to warm my soul.

I’m dead.

And all because of that fucking witch and her nasty little spell. A woman named Cassandra with a special gift. A single lie has cursed my entire family. I could have told her the truth. Instead, I made her fall in love with me, stole her immortal elixir and I killed her.

Or tried to anyway.

She was immortal. A fact that she withheld—and perhaps I should have known—until she condemned me to this place. I suppose I deserved that. In exchange for the lies I told her, she put a hex on me and sentenced me to death. Now, I am a ghost. I can see myself and yet I cannot. I look in the mirror and it is void of my reflection. Instead, I see her. Cassandra. And she looks at me with her wide black eyes and cackles. And when I look away and at my body, I can see it. My body, not hers. Same age. Same clothes. I can only see her in my reflection. I have been left in exile in this godforsaken home ever since she caught me. If the Myers family were to return to our once beloved home, they would die if they say my name.

Aunt Ruthie was the first one to die. She was my sacrificial lamb. For the good of the family, of course. For nights she complained that she was hearing noises. Items floating through the air. Nightmares. I played all my ghost cards. And then she finally said it. “I swear, if I didn’t know any better, I would think that Caden was here haunting me.”

I was.

That’s all I needed. She finally said my name.

The horror in my Uncle Benny’s eyes to find his wife dead the next day was both sad and liberating. Her blood was drained from her body until her flesh had shriveled and draped to every bone like a tea cloth. Her eyes were opened and frozen in this state of extreme fear and practically sticking out of her corpse. Her cheeks were sunken and her tongue—or what was left of it—was hanging out of her mouth as if she had gagged. I had to watch the whole goddamned event.

Every time they say your name, you must watch them die.

My family never returned to this dreadful cabin. The loneliness and isolation is enough to make a man mad.

Thankfully, every curse has a clause. Cassandra said that if I fell in love, the curse would be broken and I could return to my human self and resume a normal life. So I waited. And waited. For decades…

Until one day, my new love found her way to me. She broke down just outside the wooden fence with a flat tire. Her hair was wild, curly, and black. Under her flannel shirt, she wore a white tank top that hugged her torso in such a way and her jeans flattered her every curve. It was love at first sight. For me, anyway.

All she had to do was come to me and say my name.

This was fate.

“Hello?” She called out. “Is anyone here?”

Yes, my beauty. Come to me. I rocked back and forth in my rocking chair. Come to me.

She walked to the porch and stopped when she saw the chair rocking and no one in it. “Hello?” Her voice softer than before. A shiver took over her body and she pulled the flannel closed over her tank top.

This woman was even more beautiful than I could have ever hoped for. She peered through the windows looking for any sign of life. With one finger, she gently pushed at the front door. The hinges screeched and echoed through the trees. The few mice that had been walking about in the living room, scurried off to their respective corners.

With one deep breath in and another one out, she stepped inside.

Yes, my love. Come in, come in. I stood up to walk behind her and followed her as she explored. The raven poked her head in each room of my small cabin and called out to make sure no one was here. Satisfied that no one was home, she found a resting place on my chair in the living room.

“I’m finally free,” she said with a smile so bright it could have lit the room. “They will never find me out here.”

Yes, love, they will never find you. I will keep you safe. For nights I watched her sleep. I watched her bathe in the stream in the back. I listened to her talk to the birds. For the first time in years, I felt happiness and I knew she was sent to break the curse. There was just one thing left to do.

She had to say my name.

When the dew claimed the windows that morning, I used every ounce of myself to etch my name into the window the way one would when the fog in a bathroom hits the mirror. She woke and saw it painted into the glass and uttered, “Caden.”

That was all I needed. The curse could be broken.

Then nightfall came. I watched my body, waiting for it to morph back into real flesh. Oh how I had longed for this moment! Suddenly, I felt Cassandra pull me back into the shadows and pin my head against the wall.

Every time they say your name, you must watch them die.

I watched as my new love’s blood was drained from her body. I listened through every struggled breath until her last. Helpless. Until her body was nothing more than a pile of skin on bones. My love was dead.

Confused and horrified, I rushed to her side as soon as I was freed. That’s when I saw it. The bracelet with her name etched in: S. Myers.

Not a stranger. Not my love. She was family.

Raged and heartbroken, I found myself alone again. The curse never to be broken. Banished in exile for my lies.