The Candle of Four

When I was younger, my world was based entirely on the supernatural. Whether what I saw and believed was reality or a creation of my mind, they were still memories that happened, and this is one of them.

My Step-sister Shannan and our friend Elly were staying over our other friend Allissa's house for the night. For the night we were there, we were bored and made our own horror movie. But my story isn't about that night, but rather, the morning.

It was around five o'clock in the morning when I was jolted awake by Shannan and Allissa who had woken up early and was stuck with nothing to do. I lazily got out of bed as they woke up Elly and I went to the bathroom to relieve myself before getting some breakfast. When I was finished in the bathroom I went into the kitchen to find the girls rushing around the house and collecting what looked like different types of old wax.

'What are you guys doing?"I asked suspiciously, knowing only too well what their answer would be.

"We're making a four wick candle!" Shannan exclaimed delightedly, while pouring all the different wax they had found into a pan. "We're going to melt it all down and cut up an old wick into four parts, one for each of us."

I was intrigued by then, being so fond of candles and their supernatural relation; I looked around for more wax to help make the candle bigger.

When we had gathered all the old wax we could find we melted it down in a frying pan. I watched entranced, as the waxes melted into each other, blending colours into a disturbing moldy-looking green colour--and that was when things started to get weird. We were still laughing and chattering away when Allissa poured the melting wax into a stainless steal bowl and handed us a wick each, which we had to hold upright until the wax cooled. As we waited, the air around us became chilled, not as in cold, chilled, but we were acting hesitant to each other. It wasn't long before we were snapping at each other and saying mean things. All I could do was stare at my friends dumbfounded, the things they were fighting over made no sense, random things like "someone wasn't holding their wick right, or, they were breathing too heavily."

Finally the wax cooled, and everyone calmed down a bit and the excited atmosphere came back, we couldn't wait to light the candle! Allissa ran and got some matches, when she returned; she slowly lit one of the matches and proceeded to light her wick first, but stopped.

"What you doing, Allissa?" we said, thinking she was hesitating on purpose. "Hurry up!"

I don't know if it was just me, but I swear she cringed as she lit her wick. After hers was lit, we each carried out the same process, lighting our own wicks until all were lit, as in some kind of ritual. It was then that we heard the screaming. It was coming from the paddock outside, unbearable screaming, like someone being horribly tortured by some unthinkable means. We blew out the candle to go and investigate, but when we did the screaming stopped, and the eerie feeling that had come with it was gone. We all looked at each other worriedly, slightly freaked out, and being the girls we were, totally clued into witchcraft; we went around the doors and sprinkled the entrances with salt to keep out whatever evil might be lurking outside.

However, we didn't realise that the evil, was closer then we thought. We went back into the kitchen and lit the candle up again, for some reason we had to, and didn't know why. It was the moment after we lit the candle, that Elly's wick suddenly sparked up and fell over, to be smothered by the burning wax We thought it irrelevant, but only for a second, as the phone rang a moment later. It was Elly's mum telling her that she was coming to pick her up so Elly packed up her things and left when her mum arrived and took her home. We said goodbye and then we went over to the candle and lit it once again, just to see if anything happened. It did.

There is a door in Allissa's house which has no handle on the outside, and by some unseen hand, it swung rapidly open at the lighting of the candle. Shannan grabbed the salt and we all went out the door to sprinkle the salt around, a silly move, as when we had all gone outside the door slammed, locking us out. Totally scared out of our wits, and being home alone, we ran around to Allissa's bedroom window and one by one climbed in as we had locked all the other doors to the house. Shannan and Allissa both needed help to get up through the window, and when at last it came my turn to get in, it was much harder as there was no one to push me up. I looked up to the girls for help, but when I saw their faces everything stopped dead. They began to point behind me, their eyes wide and screaming. I needed no help through the window after that, I literally jumped in, although the window was way above my head. When I got through, the girls were shaken, they said they had seen the water in the swimming pool suddenly shoot up, like something huge had been thrown in there, but when we looked back, there was nothing there. Now why is it that the most terrifying things happen with candles and porcelain dolls? Well, I have no reason to say porcelain dolls aren't cursed from what happened that day after getting through the window. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the candle bringing it back to the bedroom. Shannan and Allissa told me to leave it alone but I couldn't, I had to light it again, had to see what would happen. I mean, it was only a candle we made, nothing scary about a home made candle, is there?

I took the candle and placed it on one of the shelves, next to a small porcelain doll sitting on a swinging chair. As I lit the candle I swore I saw the dolls move, however I ignored it and lit the third wick. The doll began to swing. There was no breeze in the room and nothing to provoke the swing, it wasn't meant to swing. I blew out the candle quickly and covered it in salt. I grabbed Shannan and Allissa and showed them, I slowly uncovered the candle and as I did the doll would start swinging, and softly, but clearly humming some horrid little tune. I hope my mind was playing tricks on me. So frightened now, we took the doll outside and got a large rock and smashed her to pieces and threw out the candle. We spent most the morning attempting at smashing her into dust, we did not succeed, for the only part of her that was impossible to destroy, was her eyes.