The Omniscrolls

It had been three years since we last went on a vacation. At the end of the year, I took my husband, Josh, and our two daughters, Helen and Carina, to the Canary Islands. According to the weather forecast, it was going to be sunny and warm for a week. The night we reached the house we had rented, Helen and Carina woke Josh and me up with excited yelling around 1:00 a.m. “What’s going on? Why are you two up?” I asked. “Mom, it’s snowing outside, and there are huge snowmen!” Helena said. Josh and I held their hands and walked over to the front. The air was much colder than it was when we had arrived that evening, and to Josh and my surprise, when we came upon the living room windows, we found the outside world blanketed by snow. It was most likely ankle deep. While the snow was just unexpected, what was bizarre and eerie were the snowmen that towered around the vicinity. Each of them was of humanoid form and were well over eight feet tall. How could anyone have made them so quickly? The ...

I grew up by the sea and spent most of my weekends with my parents at the beach. We would always watch the sun sink into the fiery horizon, and I would take in the scent and the tenderness of the sea breeze as I watched the giant waves swallow the shore and crash into the nearby rocks. It was a tranquility that no amount of words could ever describe. I continued my family’s tradition even after my parents were gone, visiting the beach whenever I was free on weekend evenings. Five years had passed since they were taken from me in a car crash, but their memory still lived on both in me and at this beach. I often worked on paintings by the beach as well; it was the only way I knew to express the feelings locked deep within me every time I was there. My husband Ben would sometimes join me, but he was often impatient and would sometimes break my concentration. We were seated on a rock while I painted one day when his impatience began to test my limits. I needed hours to focus on my work, so...

“No, I won’t let you destroy the town,” a woman said as she stared at the man before her. “You can’t stop me, Helena,” the man replied. As he did, a sudden explosion reverberated in the distance. “No!” Helena said, nearly jumping out of her bed. There was another woman seated next to her, who held her as soon as she realised it was a nightmare. “Sherry, we need to leave.” “What are you talking about?” “I need to get you somewhere safe.” “Helena, you’re not making any sense.” Helena clenched her fists and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll explain, but promise me you won’t freak out.” “It’s okay, I promise.” “I’m a witch, Sherry. And I just had a vision about a demon who will undoubtedly kill the two of us and this entire town unless I stop him.” Sherry just sat there confused, her brows furrowing at Helena’s words. Helena sighed, swinging her hand and making the dressing table move. Sherry jumped off the bed and backed up against the wall. “No, please don’t hurt me!” “Sherry, I won’t hurt...

King Ashwin and Queen Adriana were loved by everyone in their kingdom. The couple were kind and generous and had everything they could ever dream of, except for a child. For years, they longed for the day they could have a son or a daughter, but their prayers seemed to go unheard. One day, one of the new maids at the castle, Lara, spoke of a secluded pond found in the nearby woods that was said to grant anyone with a good heart what they desired the most. “Anything we desire?” the queen asked. “Yes, your highness. Anything that is good, for it is a sacred pond,” the maid replied. The king and queen heeded her words and visited the pond to make their wish. Their prayers were finally answered a month later, when the queen realised that she was with child. The following year, she gave birth to a baby girl, whom they named Arianne. The princess treated everyone in the kingdom the same way her parents did. Life couldn’t have been better for the family until, one day, King Ashwin fell gravel...

I woke up in a hospital bed without a single clue as to how I got there. I tried to get up, but I didn’t have the strength to move a muscle. “What’s wrong with me? How did I get here?” It was then that a nurse walked into my room. “Oh, you’re awake. Let me call the doctor,” she said. As she turned to leave, I asked her what was wrong with me, but she looked at me a little confused and said she didn’t know what I was saying. “What do you mean? I’m asking you what’s wrong with me!” “Ma’am, please rest. I’m sorry I don’t know your language, but I’ll see if I can find someone to translate.” I was perplexed. Was I not talking in English? Was I even awake? The exhaustion I felt and the pain I was in were both unmistakably real, so what was happening? The nurse came back with a doctor, who introduced himself as Paul. He told me that a neighbour had found me unconscious in my yard. I tried to ask him what had happened, but he couldn’t understand me either. The doctors did several CT scans on m...

Three days had passed since I moved to the suburbs, but I had yet to see any of my neighbours. Everyone’s lights came on at night, but I never saw anyone on the road, neither during the day nor at night. One evening, I noticed a teenage girl looking at me from her window. I waved at her, but she just disappeared behind the curtains without even a smile. I thought I’d introduce myself to the neighbours in that house and approached their house. The girl from before opened the door. “Hi, my name is Grace. I recently moved into the neighbourhood.” “I’m Jo. My mom wanted to visit you, but she’s a little unwell.” “What’s wrong with her? I’m a doctor; maybe I can help.” “She has been having a terrible leg pain for the past three days.” The girl led me to her mom’s bedroom. Once we were inside, she shut the door behind us. There were three more girls inside, whom Jo introduced as her sisters. Jo’s mother was old and frail; she lay there on the bed before me with her eyes closed. “Come closer, ...

“Mommy, where are you?” I almost jumped out of my chair the second I was awakened by those words. Was it a dream? It felt too real, too close. The scrolls I had been deciphering were scattered both on the desk and on the ground. Perhaps I had knocked them over when I woke up. I got off my chair and approached my office door. The halls were empty, and there was no other sound around me. Looking at the time, I noticed that I had slept for two hours. I decided to resume my work, but moments later, the voice returned. “Mommy, I’m here.” It was a little girl’s voice, and it seemed to echo through both the halls and my office. I felt a sudden chill pervade the air as the voice dissolved in the distance. I stepped out of the office and looked around, but there was no child to be seen. I told the security guards about what I heard; as they searched for the girl, I put on my earphones on and got back to work. However, it was not long before things became stranger. “Mommy! Stop ignoring me!” the...

“Lanie, where are you?” “I’m here, mommy. Look what I found,” the little girl said as she ran out of the basement entrance. “We’ve been here only a minute and you’ve already gone into the basement?” “It’s alright, Cathy, she just followed me inside.” Cathy’s husband, Tom, said as he stepped out from the entrance to the basement. Cathy looked down at what Lanie was holding in her hands. “Is that a music box?” “Yes, and there’s a fairy inside!” “Oh, let me see,” Cathy said with a smile. Lanie opened the music box and, to both Cathy’s and Tom’s surprise, there was truly a fairy inside. The fairy was clad in dark grey clothing, but was wrapped in a pale blue light. The fairy’s eyes furrowed as her cold eyes met Cathy’s; the expression sent chills down Cathy’s spine. She pushed the music box out of her daughter’s hand and pulled her into her arms. The fairy yelled as the music box fell; her body rattled against what seemed to be invisible walls that covered the exact dimensions of the music...

I woke up and found myself in a log cabin riddled with dust and cobwebs. The room was almost entirely dark, save for the faint light that shone through a single window ahead. From outside I could hear the continuous whistling of the wind, which was followed by a hundred sharp stings upon my skin that gave me goosebumps almost instantly. Where was I? How did I get there? Did someone kidnap me? The questions made my head reel. I had no recollection of what had happened. The last thing I remembered was visiting my mom for Christmas; she and I were talking while I was going through some of my childhood belongings. It wasn’t snowing when I met her, so I wondered just how long I had been in that place. I dragged myself out of bed whilst rubbing my hands together; the chill was beginning to settle deep within my skin. Through the window, I could see flakes of snow swirling and fluttering in the air, concealing a sea of trees in its white haze. My legs trembled as I walked down the stairs. Wit...

“Anna, where are you going?” Rose said as she leapt to stop her daughter from sleepwalking out of the house. As Rose grabbed Anna’s arm, however, Anna pushed her back and knocked her off her feet. “Leave me alone!” Anna said, opening the door and marching outside. Rose got to her feet and bolted towards Anna, pinning her down and slapping her twice to wake her up. Anna struggled to break free from her mother’s grip, still only half-awake. “Hon, it’s me, your mom!” Anna came back to her senses as she opened her eyes and saw her mother’s worried face. “Mom! I thought…” “Yes?” Anna shook her head. “I don’t remember anymore.” “You need to start seeing your therapist again, hon.” Anna nodded as tears began to emerge from her eyes. “Sorry for the trouble, mom.” “It’s alright, hon. You don’t need to apologise.” Rose helped Anna back to her feet and escorted her back to the house. As Anna got into bed, she told her she was locking the door, just to be safe. Anna opposed the idea at first, but ...