Chapter 3: The Necronomicon of Necrophobia

Chapter 3

The Necronomicon of Necrophobia

In a dim confined bedroom, where the only light source was the reflection of car headlights from outside that bounced off the mirrors and spread across the walls illuminating the room, laid a small child named Jude Frumpington.  S/he tossed and turned desperately craving sleep, but all s/he could hear was the distressing noise of a famished stomach. It was already 2.00 in the morning, but Jude had already decided that the only way s/he could possibly fall asleep was if s/he were to consume some nourishment.

The one problem that was holding hir back from proceeding with hir plan was that the fridge was located in the basement. Jude did not even want to consider venturing down there. Jude closed hir eyes tightly. S/he tried with all hir might to get the dark thoughts that were created from what was within that basement, and had been dominating her mind, out of hir head. There was a loud grumble and s/he looked down. ‘Would you be quiet please, stomach. I know you are hungry, but I can’t go down stairs, you know that! I would rather die.’ Hir stomach made an even louder grumble, as if it were responding to hrim. ‘Fine! What the heck, I’ll go, but I am going to regret this.’

For all of Jude’s life, which has not been very long considering s/he was only eight years old, s/he managed to never set a foot in the basement, for s/he has a great fear of doing so. Jude knew what lay within that room and because of it, s/he would only ever move throughout the house comfortably on the main and first levels. If s/he ever wanted food to eat or anything that was kept in the basement, s/he would beg and plead hir parents to fetch it for hrim.

As long as Jude could remember, hir parents had always owned their undertaking business within their house. Their procedure of dressing, maintaining, and applying cosmetics to dead bodies took place in their basement. Of course hir parents’ job frightened hir and s/he could not deny being somewhat embarrassed of it. The only reason Jude was at ease with the whole scenario was because s/he maintained the idea that if s/he managed to avoid catching a glimpse of a dead body, then everything would be just fine. Although this plan seemed genius to hir, over time, it caused hir to conjure up an extensive amount of fear towards these non-living specimens.

At this hour of the night, hir parents were fast asleep, so Jude did not even attempt to wake them up to ask for food, since they would be furious and tell hir that s/he should have eaten hir dinner. S/he could not resist any longer and gave into hir hunger.

Jude softly tip-toed down the stairs, every floorboard creaking, as the distance between hrim and the basement lessened. As s/he was approaching the basement door, s/he slowed hir pace down even more, until finally, s/he reached the doorknob. Jude grasped the cold knob and, startled by its frigid touch, s/he turned it and the door opened just a crack. Jude peeked hir head in, leaving the remainder of her body behind the door. The fridge was placed at the far end of the room, but s/he was hesitant to move and found neuself incapable of doing so. ‘Come on legs, move. The fridge is only a couple steps away. Do not look to the side, do not look to the side, do not look to the side,’ s/he whispered frantically to neuself. Just then, a book fell off the shelf and created a loud slapping noise as it collided with the floor. Jude swiftly maneuvered hir head in order to look over hir shoulder. ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnooooooohhhhhhh!!!!’ Jude screamed with a piercing echo. S/he saw it. The cold dead body was lying there on a mettle table. Before another sound could escape hir mouth, s/he fainted.

‘Jude… Jude, why are you ignoring me? Jude Frumpington! Stop daydreaming,’ one of her parents yelled.

Jude then came back to reality. ‘Fuck! You startled me! Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I must have been having another recollection.’

Hir parent seemed worried. ‘Another one, again? I thought your flashbacks were gone. Isn’t therapy helping at all?’

‘Yes, of course it is,” Jude lied. “You can’t expect me to be cured automatically. It takes time, especially when I keep having the same flashback repeatedly.’

‘Which one is it dear?’

Jude sighed. ‘The one where I fainted in the basement.’

‘But that was nearly seventeen years ago?!’

‘Yes, but it obviously left a lasting impression on me, I mean, for god’s sake, I have a fucking fear of dead people! Could you please stop behaving like it is no big deal and that I should be better by now? I can honestly say that I’m trying my best.’

‘Yeah, okay. Anyway hun, you’d better start getting ready to go to your therapy session.’

‘Fine,’ Jude moaned.

*********************************

Jude arrived at hir therapist’s building. Ever since s/he could remember, Jude had been attending these lessons, but the intensity of hir phobia had not lessoned since s/he was a child. Jude walked into hir therapist’s office and sat down. Hir therapist was settled in the chair across from hrim and they began their session.

‘Hello Jude, how are you feeling today?’

‘Well, a little frustrated and confused where all of this is leading. It seems to be going nowhere,’ Jude responded in an unconfident tone.

The therapist seemed alarmed and asked, ‘Why are you having feelings of frustration?’

‘It’s as if my parents don’t understand the extent of my disorder. They can’t comprehend just how serious it is and the complexity of it; they think I am just holding onto this fear for no apparent reason. My parents believe that this problem can be solved easily and that I am just not trying hard enough. I don’t even bother trying to explain to them anymore, they will never understand and their sympathy is wearing thin.’ Jude’s eyes were glossy, but s/he held back hir tears with great effort.

With a look of great concern, hir therapist said, ‘Don’t worry, I will be sure to talk to your parents and straighten everything out, they will understand.’

‘No, don’t even bother, trust me. They lost faith in me a long time ago. I think perhaps...perhaps the answer is for me to just accept my phobia and move on with my life. Maybe that’s what’s holding me back. I have been trying for so many years to cure it, but maybe there is no cure and I should just learn to live a life with it.’

          ‘I will get back to you on that in a second, because I definitely do not think you are seeing things clearly, but first, has there been anything else lately that has been troubling you?’

‘Actually, yes there has been. Do you remember those flashbacks I was telling you about?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Well, they are emerging from my memory more and more now. More specifically, there is this one re-occurring memory that has been overwhelming me. It’s the one when I was eight years old and I saw a dead body for the first time. This flashback keeps occurring at random times during the day and is interfering with my ability to function normally. It even consumes my mind in my sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night, shaking and in a sweat, feeling deeply disturbed. I not only have a phobia of dead people, but now I think I am developing paranoia!’

‘I can definitely prescribe you with a medication for that, to alleviate your stress and any feelings of paranoia.’

Jude thought to neuself, ‘Wow, that is any doctor’s way of solving a problem, isn’t it?’

The therapist continued, ‘To get back to the topic you were previously expressing, of how there is no point in continuing with trying to concur your fear. Well, I don’t think you should just give up on yourself that easily. You may find that these sessions are not helping in any way, and that may be true, but I still think you should try searching, but maybe try a new mechanism. All I can do is try to help you in any way that I can and give you suggestions, but that can only go so far, right? I suggest, that instead of asking me what to do, maybe you should ask yourself what you should do. Some sort of activity may help you. Get yourself more involved and interactive with it, try and face your fear, but you alone have to decide what it should be. Don’t give up though. Anyway, our time is up! I will see you again next week.’

‘Okay, see you later,’ Jude said as s/he trailed off.

Jude was in deep thought and kept pondering in what hir therapist had said. S/he decided to go for a long walk along the trail nearest hir house to help clear hir head. S/he admired the nature that surrounded hir and s/he loved hearing the morning doves as the sun set. The sound of their singing put hir into a sort of trance as s/he thought heavily on hir last therapy session.  Jude thought to neuself, ‘What can I do? What possibly can I do? S/he does have a point though, I mean, if anyone could understand my disorder, it would be me, I know it the best, I am the most familiar with it. I mean, I’m the one who actually has to experience it on a daily basis. S/he told me to get more involved with it, what the hell does that mean? How do I do that?’

Jude arrived back home and as s/he entered through the door, s/he saw that the television was left on, so s/he decided to watch whatever was on.  Jude flopped neuself onto the couch and s/he instantly felt the weight come off hir body. S/he then popped a nitroglycerin pill into hir mouth, the ones that hir therapist had prescribed hir, and washed it back with some water. It felt so satiating for hir to finally relax. Just then, she realised what was on the television, s/he nearly screamed, but instead s/he gasped with fright and could not look away due to the terror. S/he was looking at a dead body on the screen. It was a television show about murder mysteries. Jude hastily removed neuself from the couch and left, but as s/he was frantically walking away, practically running, s/he had an epiphany. ‘That’s it! That is exactly what I’m looking for! Yes!’ s/he exclaimed.

‘Are you okay in there?’ Jude’s parent asked curiously.

‘Yes....yes just fine, actually, more than fine, but never mind.’

Jude thought to neuself, ‘This is the next step, this is getting myself involved, facing my fear, one little step at a time. I mean, it’s not like that dead body is in the room right? I nearly scared myself half to death, but I am not dead and maybe that is exactly what I need. I wouldn’t be human if I never experienced fear; it’s okay to be scared, as long as I can face it. The reason I have this fear is because I never experience it and instead of doing that I always just run away, allowing the fear to build up in me. That is what I am going to do; I am going to watch this show about murders, even if it makes me have nightmares for a month.’

That’s exactly what Jude did; s/he sat neuself back on the couch and began to watch. Throughout the show, s/he couldn’t help covering hir eyes and looking away at some parts. Jude managed to sit through a whole show, which in nearly every shot had multiple dead bodies. ‘Wow, it’s over, I managed to watch the whole thing and I’m still alive. I can’t believe it! It wasn’t that bad I guess, although I may have troubles falling asleep tonight. I cannot wait to tell my therapist!’ Jude whispered to neuself, which s/he often did; s/he had a habit of talking to neuself.

It was the next day and as Jude awoke, s/he was still in awe that s/he was able to do what s/he did last night. That was the first time s/he had ever watched a show related to dead bodies. S/he felt on top of the world and like s/he could concur anything. S/he was so proud of hirself.

Despite there being dead bodies in the murder mystery show s/he watched last night, s/he found it quite interesting and was willing to taste some more fear. So Jude thought it was a good idea to download the whole series on hir laptop, keeping in mind that the programme wouldn’t be able to run on the television whenever s/he wanted it to and if s/he wanted to keep up hir progress, then that would be the best solution.

Jude was in hir bedroom and s/he laid down on hir bed placing hir laptop in front of hir. The show was done downloading so Jude decided to watch it, starting from the beginning of the series. S/he played the first episode and s/he began to watch with great fascination accompanied by fear. Many hours had passed and Jude was not paying attention to the time, as she was glued to the screen and did not look away for one second. S/he had just noticed that s/he had been watching the show all day and it was already almost dinner time. S/he didn’t even flinch or cover hir eyes anymore while watching the show. Jude had been watching the show for such a long period of time now that it seemed that s/he had become tolerant to the dead bodies on screen and s/he didn’t seem to mind anymore.

Jude heard a loud whistle coming from downstairs and knew right away that it was hir parents calling hir for dinner. Jude pressed pause on hir laptop since s/he did not want to miss a single moment of the show. Jude made hir way downstairs and sat at the table.

‘Guess what! Guess what! I just watched a full series of a murder mystery show! Well, minus one episode that is,’ Jude said with great excitement.

‘No you didn’t! Are you serious?’ One of hir parents said in a surprised manner.

‘I’m serious, and I actually enjoy the show. At first it frightened me to the extreme, but now I can’t stop watching the damn show. Just yesterday, I came back from a walk and it suddenly occurred to me, that it would be a genius idea to actually try and sit through an episode and I managed to do that. I think it’s great!’

‘Wow! So do we; I honestly cannot believe it.’

‘Good job! Really, I am so proud of you, this is quite the accomplishment,’ hir other parent said with great excitement in hir voice.

‘Yeah, I’m so thrilled, I have never gotten this far before in my life. I am actually making progress and I did it all myself. Anyway, thanks for the dinner it was great!’ Jude said as she quickly dismissed neuself from the table.

‘But you didn’t finish!’

Jude couldn’t hear what hir parent had said; s/he was already half way up the stairs. S/he rushed straight back to hir room and immediately pressed play and continued to watch. Jude did not realise it, but s/he was slowly becoming obsessive. S/he desperately wanted to defeat hir fear.

It had been a week since hir last therapy session and today s/he was to go in for another one. Usually Jude dreaded going, but this time s/he was very excited. S/he could barely wait to tell hir therapist what s/he had been up to. Hir parent dropped hir off outside the building and s/he briskly walked inside and made hir way to hir therapist’s office. S/he sat down and explained all the exciting news that took place in the past week.

‘I am so happy to hear that you came up with an idea, a great idea to help you understand and learn more about your disorder and how to fight it. I knew you could do it, and I knew all along that only you could find the solution and only you could make it happen.’

‘But you gave me all the right suggestions, and you coaxed me. It’s just that now, I don’t know what do next. What is the next step?’

‘Well, I believe you are going in the right direction, and you have made it this far, so I believe that you will figure something out as you search, trust me.’

It had already been an hour and Jude’s parents were waiting for hir in the car. They drove hir home and s/he went straight to hir room. Jude felt like s/he had gotten so far, but now there was a bump in the road.  S/he went back to hir laptop and started doing some research. S/he researched about the show, but as the clock ticked, s/he found hir research lead to more things. Jude was reading about real life murders and was intrigued. Jude noticed that the same words kept popping up in hir research. It consisted of three words which were, ‘Sewer Entrance B.’ It was the name of some sort of sewer. S/he kept reading and s/he was very interested to learn more. It said that it was a slum and that it was demilitarised. Cops never roamed that area and were never to be seen. It had been said that Sewer Entrance B was notorious for having dead bodies lying around.

Just then, a light bulb went off, and Jude had another groundbreaking idea. ‘I know what to do next; I’m going to take it to the next level. I am going to go out and search for these dead bodies, and not only am I going to do that, but I am going to solve the mysteries for these murders....in Sewer Entrance B.’ Despite it being late in the night, Jude was so eager to fulfill hir plan, that s/he decided to set out right away and so s/he quickly printed off a copy of the directions to Sewer Entrance B and began the search.

Jude was getting close to the location. It seemed that every step s/he took, the sky would get darker. S/he saw a large theatre in the distance. At last, Jude arrived at the Sewer. The fear had just kicked in at this point, Jude had not noticed it before since s/he was too focused on finding the destination. Jude was shivering and hir teeth were chattering due to the cold. S/he could barely make out what was in front of hir, it was too dark. As Jude went to make hir next step, s/he paused and squinted hir eyes. In the gutter, not more than twenty feet away, stood a hooded masked figure that was standing over a dead body.