The Ring

She came to me in a dream. She was panting, her face was pale, but her voice was forceful. “They’re after me,” she said. “It’s too late to stop them, they’ll be upon me in a minute. Take this, don’t take it off and don’t tell anyone who you got it from. Because once they have me, I’m sure they’ll come after you.” She slid a plain gold ring on my finger, and then the darkness enveloped her.
When I woke up the next morning, the ring was still on my finger. The dream came back to me. The woman’s face seemed familiar; although I was sure I hadn’t seen her before. Of course it was a dream, strange things like that happened in dreams. Or was it? If it was only a dream, where had the ring come from? I pushed the matter from my mind and went about my day. Or, I tried to. I was going to take the ring off, but her face kept coming back to me, and I couldn’t. I didn’t tell anyone where I got it from, I would sound ridiculous if I told them a lady in my dream gave it to me, instead I told anyone who asked that it was given to me by a friend, and they said no more on it. Two days passed, and I tried not to think about it. Then the ring started chaffing me, and in frustration I slid it off and flung it on the floor. It must have been a practical joke, someone giving me that ring. As for the dream, maybe there was some new technology that let you send dreams to people. I had no idea, but I was completely put out by it, and I was not going to let myself be creeped out. Still, it took me a while to get to sleep that night.
I dreamed pleasant dreams, then like a commercial breaks through a TV program, her face came through, the image of the darkness surrounding her. My eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright. Then I noticed a faint light in the dark room. I looked for the source, and saw the ring. It was glowing, a soft golden light. And in that light, I noticed the darkness around it. It was swirling, writhing, a monster, like the darkness in my dream. I had never been afraid of the dark before, but this, this was something else, something unnatural, frightening. Then, it saw me. I stood, paralyzed by fear. This darkness, it was evil itself. There was nothing more frightening than the fact that somehow it knew me. It’s writhing stopped, and it came towards me. It left the ring for just a moment as it turned towards me, and in that instant, the ring blazed with uncontrolled golden light. That snapped me out of it, and somehow I knew that the ring would protect me, that I needed that ring. I crossed the room to it in one bound and scooped it up. The darkness creeping up around me was blown back the instant I touched it. I slid the ring back on my finger, promising myself I would never take it off again. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but it wasn’t a coincidence or practical joke, this was something real, something powerful.
I tried, but simply couldn’t fall back asleep. Finally, and 5, I decided I was done trying, and thought I would go for a walk through the cool stillness before dawn. The sky was just beginning to lighten around the edges when I stepped outside. It was a chilly morning, so I wore my coat, scarf, gloves and boots. I set out at a brisk walk to the park, then through it, on my way to my favorite spot. There was a bench under a curly willow tree, with roses to the side, their sweet fragrance filling the air. But as I approached, I realized there was a man sitting on the bench.
I would have turned and gone back, but he saw me and beckoned. Now you may think me foolish, but I went to him. It would have been rude to walk away now that he’d seen me. As I drew closer, I noticed a strange smell. Of course, I could smell the roses, the soil, the chill fresh air, but under those scents was another, one I had never smelled before. It was almost like the smell of burnt cookies, sweet but awful at the same time. The man patted the bench next to me for me to sit down. The scent grew stronger, it was overpowering, and then, suddenly, it was like my brain cleared. The smell was there, but it wasn’t so overwhelming anymore, just there, and really quite pleasant. The man began to talk. He was actually fairly handsome. But if I hadn’t been under his spell, I would have noticed when he flashed a smile at me, that his teeth were sharp and pointed, or that his hand when he touched my cheek was cold, stone cold.
We talked for about an hour, until I realized I had to hurry home or I would be late for work. He asked me to meet him later that evening for dinner. The place he suggested was my favorite place, and it was very expensive so going there was a rare treat. I agreed with alacrity and moved through the rest of the day like in a dream. Then about an hour before I was to meet him, the thought of the ring crossed my mind. It was a bit suspicious that he would know exactly where to find me, especially with my encounter with the darkness the night before. Did he know about my ring? But no, I chided myself, how could he? I wore gloves the whole time. I realized the darkness seemed to be following me although it was still light. It lingered in the shadows, its appearance diminished by the light, but not its power, that I knew. But I knew it wouldn’t dare come near me as long as I wore my ring. Reassured, I pushed aside all nervous thoughts.
An hour later, I was completely ready. The doorbell rang. It was him, here to pick me up. I felt a brief wave of uneasiness; because I didn’t remember telling him where I lived, but I quickly squashed the thought and walked down to meet him. He drove me to the restaurant, and while I was with him, all thoughts of suspicion completely left me. I was calm as a clear summer sky.
A week passed. We spent as much time together as possible. Every time I saw him, I fell more in love. I hardly noticed his smell anymore, in fact I hardly noticed anything but him. I had no doubts about him anymore, and I all but forgot about the trailing darkness. Once, I briefly wondered why I even wore that silly ring, except it was pretty and I remembered it was from someone special. I decided to keep it on.
One evening, exactly a week and a day since I’d first met him, he picked me up and we walked to the park and through it, to my favorite bench. We sat and talked, watching the sun set, and the twilight begin to turn to night. Then he took my hand in his, and asked me, “Why do you wear that ring?”
“I don’t really know. It was given to me by a friend.”
“Take it off.” When I hesitated, he pressed, “Please, do it for me.”I pulled my hand out of his and grabbed the ring with my other hand. I got a strange feeling, like I was sentencing myself to my doom, but I ignored it. An owl hooted, a cricket chirped. It was a new moon that night, and cloudy, covering the stars, but I could make out his face. He seemed… strangely excited. I pulled at the ring. It was stuck. I pulled harder.
The ring flew off my hand. The darkness swirled, pounced. I came back to myself and realized what was happening. I screamed in terror, the most terrified I had ever been in my short life. Desperately, I looked around for the ring, but I knew it was in vain. Beside me, he laughed, the cruelest laugh I have ever heard, and dissolved into more darkness, surrounding me, swirling, surging, writhing, swallowing me up.
I was in it. I was gone. I became one with it. I was blackness. I was evil.
I was a vampire.