Ding dong!

The ringing was persistent. At this hour it sounded like a siren wailing into the night.

“Coming,” I muttered, walking to the door. I rubbed my eyes and threw it open. The sun was beginning to rise, and new light flooded the town, bouncing off every sparkling surface and illuminating the shadows that once crept in the dark. I hissed like a vampire caught in the dawn.

There was nobody there, and I banged my fist against the door, making the walls shake.

I screamed, swore at the jokesters who dared wake me up at 6:35 on a Saturday morning. I was sure those little rascals were hiding away somewhere, giggling at their little prank. I swear, I just aged out of teenagehood, but I was never that immature.

I was about to slam the door shut when I noticed the package on my front steps.

It was wrapped in brown greaseproof paper, the same kind you would use to wrap a steak or a rack of lamb. Already its age was showing; the packaging was dirty and slimy with oil.

“What’s that?”

That was my brother Eric. We were 6 years apart, and I moved in with him before college started in the fall. Our parents didn’t mind; hell, they encouraged it. Stay with your big bro, they had said. You might learn something useful with him.

I doubted it. Before I moved in with him, he was a bit of a slob. Mess everywhere, expecting me to clean up after him. I mean, even now, he was waddling towards me in coffee-stained pyjamas he had (conveniently) forgotten to wash last night.

Despite everything though, I loved him. We’ve been through a lot together, me and him, even when we were isolated from everyone else. We were used to people gossiping about us behind our backs, making fun of us for how ridiculous our last names were, and even more ugly stuff I had to endure for years and years. Then Covid came and made everything a thousand times worse.

But I had Eric and Eric had me. We bonded over video games and spicy Korean food. We took care of each other, and we had each other’s backs no matter what life threw our way.

Including this package.

Eric shook it. Something heavy thumped and rolled.

Eric wrinkled his nose.

“It stinks!” he cried. “Why did you order this?”

“I didn’t order anything.”

“It has your name on it,” Eric pointed out, angling the package to show me. Indeed my name was stuck on it, carefully typed out and printed. Arial, size 14. No return address.

“It has our last name,” I corrected, but Eric was already tearing apart the paper with grubby fingers, as fast as a child opening his presents. But then he screamed, and jumped all the way back, and pointed at the contents with pale, shaking fingers.

I peered into the box and my own heart leaped out of my throat. I turned around and vomited on the floor.

It was a human skull, carefully polished and bleached until it shone. Jewels were jammed in each eye socket—a ruby on the left, a sapphire on the right, but it was slanted in a way that I could see the twin soulless voids staring back between the gaps. In fact, I swore I saw the jewels blink a few times and bit back a scream of my own.

But then Eric abruptly stopped screaming. There was something in him now, something calm and collected, but I swore the temperature dropped thirty degrees because I shivered. He picked up the skull, examined it from all angles like he was just gifted a rare antique. Then he looked up at me and gave me a smile that made my hair stand on end.

“It is mine now,” he said, and before I could stop him he had locked himself into his room. I stared after him, jaw still hanging open. Eric, so willing to share, had never been like this. But what chilled me to the bone was how peaceful his face looked when he turned to smile at me. The way his eyes closed into crescent moons, or the red blush creeping into his cheeks. Or how he walked like a zombie to his room, like he was half-asleep.

It simply was not Eric.

Not at all.

It was just then I noticed that the package had come with a note. It was printed in the same typeface as the label on the box, and it said simply:

For Our Wonderful Master, Who Gave Us Everything.

Our last name was printed on the opposite side.

Master?

“I think you might have the wrong address,” I said out loud, but the moment I finished speaking I heard a thunderous roar and golden coins cascaded from the ceiling.

I shrieked and jumped back, and nearly tripped into the rising pool of coins. They fell hard and fast and sharp, like little rocks, and I darted quickly under the table to hide because they hurt. Even then the rain continued, relentlessly battering the table and everything else around it.

It was getting harder to move now, as the coins rose all around me in a tidal wave, eventually closing around my head and plunging me into darkness. I fought, fought with everything I got, as the coins rushed into my mouth and even my nose.

Finally all was quiet, and I poked my head out of the solid water. I coughed, spitting out the last of the coins, and gulped in fresh air. It tasted heavenly, sweet like cold lemonade. Then I swam out into the open and had a look around.

There weren’t as many coins as I thought, yet they still filled half the room. I impulsively picked one up to examine it further.

Just the weight alone confirmed it was made of solid gold, no alloys, no funny business. A crown was engraved on one side of it, and the other side had the head of a demon. It glared at me with scarlet eyes, its forked tongue darting left and right, its hackles raised like a snake primed to attack.

I had an idea.

How much was all this loot?

I couldn’t wait to find out.

I gathered as many coins as I could and rushed to the pawn shop.

The pawn shop agreed to buy them at a thousand dollars PER COIN. Extraordinary, he said.

Of course I agreed.

I could never be happier. I spent the next few hours running back and forth with bagfuls and bagfuls of coins. And the money? Well I spent it on everything and anything. All of my favourite things; all of my favourite foods.

I tried to invite Eric along for the shopping spree. I knew he had been stressed recently with work. He always would come home too tired, too pale, eat without speaking and then disappear into his room to sleep. This trip would be a breath of fresh air for him.

But his door was tightly shut and locked, no matter how hard I jiggled the doorknob. What disturbed me though was the laughter seeping in underneath the door.

It didn’t sound human.

Eric screamed.

“Eric?” I yelled, heart pounding, palms sweating. “Are you okay?”

Silence from the other side, save from the squelching of flesh. I waited on the other side, holding my breath. Part of me wanted to grab my phone and call for help but I couldn’t move.

Finally his voice floated under the door.

“I will be fine. Do not worry about me.”

He sounded sick. Like something rough was scraping against his throat.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “Do you want anything? I’m going out.”

I was squeaking like a mouse.

“No.”

I got him some lobster anyway. It was something he always wanted to eat, yet he couldn’t as it was too expensive for either of us to afford. Freshly-caught, grilled in front of my eyes. I bought him champagne too—another luxury he rarely got to enjoy—but his sick voice, the way I heard him shuffling around in his room before I left—it was all gnawing away in my mind. And it stayed there, even as I tried to enjoy myself. A couple of times I couldn’t take it any longer, so I ran home to check on him, but I was either met with silence or the same response every time.

I will be fine.

When I finally headed home for the night, I was met with stone-cold silence. It was so dark that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face; and even the shadows blocked out the moon.

I turned on the light.

I froze. My purchases shattered on the ground.

Holes. The kitchen and living room was filled with holes. They were of varying sizes, some small enough to fit a mouse, others even smaller—and some so big they destroyed my furniture, but they were all the same shape.

A three-pointed crown.

Creak…

One of the holes was widening. I stumbled backwards, nearly tripling over my bags.

My nightmares crawled out.

Or at least, it looked like it could come straight out of my nightmares. It was small, barely as high as my knee. It had green skin, sharp pointy ears and was naked except for a loincloth tied around its waist.

It hissed, chattered in a language I did not understand and more of those creatures came crawling out of holes. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands, advancing towards me like little soldiers.

The nearest one reached out towards my leg.

Screech!

I didn’t know what was worse, the high-pitch squeal as long nails raked against bare flesh, or the pain that soon followed. But it was enough for me to snap out of it, and I backed away as far as I could, but they pounced on my chest, knocking me over. They were chattering excitedly now, savouring victory that was inches away from them.

I could smell their breath. It stunk of fresh death.

A claw dug deep into my face, and the pain that exploded into my skull afterwards was enough to snap me into action. I shook off the monsters to the best of my ability, and fled to my own room, fighting them off with increasing desperation. I locked the doors, but I could still hear them yelling outside, and given how they managed to chew through wood, I didn’t have much hope.

Besides, every time they yelled a shiver ran up my spine.

My room was unchanged, save for more crown-shaped holes in the walls, but thankfully these holes appeared to be deserted. I went to my bathroom and washed myself best I could, but my body was still riddled with cuts and scars where claws met flesh. To make matters even worse, I realised with horror I left Eric’s food outside. Yet I didn’t feel safe. Images flashed into my mind of the creatures dragging my corpse all the way down to hell and I shivered.

I hoped Eric would be okay with cold lobster tomorrow. I could still hear him through my walls, thrashing and yelling at something only he could see. I hoped he would be all right.

I got into bed, but my mind was still going a million miles per hour. I glanced worriedly at the door, hoping it would hold. Long enough for me to buy another apartment, another house, far away from these things that now infested the flat I called home. I had the money now, after all.

My eyes grew heavy, and I yawned, but then I woke up in a body that wasn’t my own.

I was strong. I was powerful. I glared down at the creatures at my feet. The biggest one—the chief—was trembling like a leaf.

“He got away, Master!” he cried.

He knelt down and pulled at my cloak.

“He must be punished,” I hissed. The voice wasn’t my own either. It was too cold, too high-pitched, like listening to a snake trying to talk. Every hair on my body stood on end listening to my own voice. My head was spinning.

This wasn’t me.

“For what he has done.”

A door shimmered into view. A wooden door. My door.

Nailed onto the door was my head, blood running down the wood in the shape of a cross. My skull was bleached, polished until it shone in the most unholy light of this place, and a golden coin was stuffed in each of my eyes.

I screamed, and my eyes snapped open and I jolted out of bed. The lights were on. The place reeked of death.

Blood crawled down from the holes, raining down on the dead bodies that were scattered all over the floor. It was the creatures, I realised, perfectly still and so pale in their final moments.

They were surrounded by piles of human guts that curled around them like steaming hot noodles.

Every one of them had a golden coin stuffed into each eye.

I was truly awake now. Plans came racing through my mind. I needed Eric. I needed to get out of here. I needed to call the police. I needed to…

Heavy footsteps stormed into my room, and all those plans flew out of my head as my mind crumpled.

“Eric?”

It wasn’t Eric though. It looked like somebody had torn off his face and put it on himself like a mask, but didn’t put it on properly. He towered over me, easily three times my height, and glared down at me with scarlet eyes as I shrank back against the walls. A forked tongue darted out and tasted the shadows.

“Thief!” he thundered. “You dare steal from me?”

“You dare spy on me through my dreams?”

Eric raised an arm, pale and spindly like tree branches, and more of those creatures poured out through the holes.

I edged towards the door.

“No!” I blubbered. “I…I just…”

Time was not on my side. One of the creatures noticed me trying to leave and jumped up and down at Eric’s feet.

The message spread through them like wildfire. They lunged for the door.

I squeezed out and slammed it shut, and bodies clattered down to the floor. But the holes were getting bigger, swallowing up our television, our furniture, everything—and this time they were armed. Spears stuck on sticks, the blades made of human teeth.

They chittered, they jabbed, and I ran, faster than I ever had in my life, until my breath was coming out in short gasps. I got to the front door and just managed to dart out. I could still hear them yelling on the other side; and already a crown-shape hole was forming on my front door. A baby at first, but growing at a rapid rate.

A single golden coin fell at my feet. Head’s up, coated with blood.

I wished now I left those things alone.

Then one of the creatures poked their head through the hole. It hissed, prepared to jump.

I knew what would happen if I stayed there any longer. I ran.

---

I had been moving around ever since, not daring to stay in the same place for more than a day. I didn’t use my newfound wealth, for fear that they would find me. Rather, I slept behind rubbish bins and in deserted alleyways, hoping they wouldn’t find me.

Today, I am huddled up against this vandalised wall, typing on a cheap laptop I bought for myself. The cold wind is biting my cheek and slices into it like a knife. I shiver and rub my hands to keep myself warm.

Something is hitting my head.

Plonk

Plonk

PLONK

It is raining golden coins.

I don’t dare look up. I already know who is on the roof. Eric’s shadow is falling against my own.

Gotta run, gotta go. But I don’t have much hope left. I know this could possibly be the end.

Because a hole is opening up in the wall right behind me.

It is the shape of a three-pointed crown.

SK