一句話英文恐怖故事，讀到第幾句你嚇哭了？

- 1 -

I just saw my reflection blink.

我看見，鏡中的自己眨了眨眼。

- 2 -

There was a picture in my phone of me sleeping. I live alone.

我的手機中有一張我熟睡的照片。我獨居。

- 3 -

I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, "Daddy check for monsters under my bed." I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, "Daddy there's somebody on my bed."

我把他抱進被窩，他說，“爸爸，牀下有怪物，幫我看看。”爲哄他開心，我俯身看去。卻看見他，另一個他，在牀底下盯着我，顫抖着小聲說，“爸爸，我的牀上有個人。”

- 4 -

I can't move, breathe, speak or hear and it's so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead.

我不能動彈，無法呼吸，說不出話，聽不見聲音，陷在無底黑暗之中。早知會如此孤單，我寧願選擇火化。

- 5 -

After so many years living alone in this large house I came to a startling revelation. In this time I had closed far more doors than I had opened.

我在這間大房子裏住了好多年，突然驚愕地發現，這麼多年來，我關上過的房門比我打開過的多得多。

- 6 -

I always thought my cat had a staring problem - she always seemed fixated on my face. Until one day, when I realized that she was always looking just behind me.

我總覺得我的貓有瞪人的毛病，她總是目不轉睛地盯着我的臉看。直到有一天，我意識到她其實是在看我的身後。

- 7 -

The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06. I heard my closet door creak open.

鬧鐘閃爍着12:07——這是我最後看到的畫面。接着她腐爛的指甲掐入我的胸膛，另一隻手捂住我的尖叫。我驚坐起來，欣慰地發現這只是個夢。這時，我看見鬧鐘顯示12:06，衣櫥門吱呀一聲打開了。

- 8 -

I never go to sleep. But I keep waking up.

我從不睡覺，但卻總是醒來。

- 9 -

I walked into the bathroom one night and looked at myself in the mirror. Only one of us walked out.

那晚我走進浴室，看着鏡中的自己。我們兩隻有一個走出了浴室。

- 10 -

I always did love your face and everything about it. That's why I'm wearing it now.

我一直愛慕你的臉，以及關於它的一切。所以我現在披着這張臉。

- 11 -

The doctors told the amputee he might experience a phantom limb from time to time. Nobody prepared him for the moments though, when he felt cold fingers brush across his phantom hand.

醫生告訴那個被截肢的人，他可能會時不時有幻肢感。然而並沒有人警告過他，他還會感覺到冰冷的手指撫過自己那隻已不存在的手。

- 12 -

I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.

我醒來聽見有人在敲玻璃。一開始，我以爲敲的是窗戶，直到聲音再次從鏡子裏傳出。

看完這些小故事，你還好嗎？哪個故事最讓你覺得細思恐極、毛骨悚然？如果覺得不過癮，那再送你一份萬聖節大餐，五本經典的恐怖小說。

❶

《泄密的心》

The Tell-Tale Heart

by Edgar Allan Poe（愛倫·坡）

說起經典恐怖小說，一定繞不開愛倫·坡（Edgar Allan Poe）。

愛倫·坡對於現在的恐怖小說、偵探小說、科幻小說都有深遠影響。他那些怪異、恐怖的故事情節，充滿誇張、隱喻和象徵的表現手法，對於人性、心理和精神狀態的細膩描寫，都已載入教科書（文學專業的同學又想起了那些年被愛倫·坡支配的恐懼）。

愛倫·坡創作了很多經典，如《厄舍府的倒塌》（The Fall of the House of Usher）、《莫格街謀殺案》（The Murders in the Rue Morgue）等，也許很多同學已經讀過。我們今天想推薦的是《泄密的心》（The Tell-Tale Heart）。

這篇短篇小說是一個神經過敏、病態扭曲的年輕人的獨白，講述自己殺人的全過程。他因爲鄰居老頭有一隻像兀鷹的眼睛而心生殺機，他謀殺得手後把屍體肢解並埋在了老人臥房的地板之下，但他的幻覺使他混淆了老人懷錶走動的聲音和心臟的跳動聲。

凌晨時，警員來調查，年輕人不一會兒就被死者的巨大“心跳”聲驚嚇得失常錯亂，對罪行供認不諱。

精彩選段

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

我耐心地等了很長一段時間，沒有聽見他重新躺下。於是我決定把燈罩虛開一條縫——一條很小很小的縫。於是我開始動手——你簡直想象不出我有多輕多輕——直到最後，一線細如遊絲的微弱燈光終於從燈罩縫中射在了那隻鷹眼上。

It was open -- wide, wide open -- and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness -- all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.

那隻眼睛睜着——圓圓地睜着——而我一看見它就怒不可遏。我當時把它看得清清楚楚——一團渾濁的藍色，蒙着層可怕的陰翳，它使我每一根骨頭的骨髓都涼透；但我看不見臉上的其餘部分和老人的軀體，因爲彷彿是出於本能，我將那道光線絲毫不差地對準了那個該死的藍點。

❷

《弗蘭肯斯坦》

Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley（瑪麗·雪萊）

《弗蘭肯斯坦》被西方文學界公認爲世界第一部科幻小說，而作者瑪麗·雪萊，也就是英國詩人雪萊的夫人，也被譽爲科幻小說之母。

《弗蘭肯斯坦》的主人公維克托·弗蘭肯斯坦是個熱衷於研究生命起源的生物學家，他頻繁出沒於藏屍間，嘗試用不同屍體的各個部分拼湊成一個巨大人體，當這具怪物終於獲得生命睜開眼睛時，弗蘭肯斯坦卻被他的猙獰面目嚇得落荒而逃，怪物卻緊追不捨地向弗蘭肯斯坦索要女伴、溫暖和友情。而一系列詭異的懸疑和命案更是接踵而至……

精彩選段

I perceived, as the shape came nearer (sight tremendous and abhorred!) that it was the wretch whom I had created. I trembled with rage and horror, resolving to wait his approach, and then close with him in mortal combat. He approached; his countenance bespoke bitter, anguish, combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes. But I scarcely observed this; rage and hatred had at first deprived me of utterance, and I recovered only to overwhelm him with words expressive of furious detestation and contempt.

等到那個巨大、可怕的身影離我越來越近時，我已經確認無疑，那就是我親手造出來的魔鬼。我渾身發抖，又氣又怕。我下定決心，打算等他靠近時猛撲過去，跟他拼個肉搏戰。他漸漸向我靠近，臉上的神情痛苦幽怨，還夾雜着一絲倨傲和怨毒，而他非比尋常的醜陋模樣簡直讓人不忍直視。但是我並未注意到這些，心頭燃燒的怒火一開始幾乎讓我說不出話來。後來我恢復過來，把滿腔的憤慨和輕蔑化成犀利的言語，噴湧而出，一下子將他震懾住。

❸

《睡谷的傳說》

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

by Washington Irving（華盛頓·歐文）

《睡谷的傳說》講述的是發生在哈得遜河畔的一個名叫“睡谷”的地方的故事。這個地方鬼氣森森，流傳着許多恐怖故事，其中無頭騎士的故事最爲可怕。傳說在美國獨立戰爭時期的一次戰役中一個騎兵的頭被炮彈打飛了。死後，他的陰魂常在夜裏騎馬飛奔，到戰場上去尋找自己的頭顱……

精彩選段

The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle during the revolutionary war; and who is ever and anon seen by the country folk, hurrying along in the gloom of night, as if on the wings of the wind.

在這個地區幽靈中最神奇的那個好象成了這裏一切的統治者。在睡谷的人們看來，那幽靈的形狀像是騎在馬上的一個人——一個無頭的傢伙。有人說那是在革命戰爭中被炮彈打掉了腦袋的黑森士兵的鬼魂。據說這個無頭騎士常見在夜間飛快地遊蕩。

His haunts are not confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent roads, and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great distance. Indeed, certain of the most authentic historians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the floating facts concerning this spectre, allege that the body of the trooper having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head; and that the rushing speed with which he sometimes passes along the Hollow, like a midnight blast, is owing to his being belated, and in a hurry to get back to the churchyard before daybreak.

他不光在這個山谷中游逛，而且還到鄰近的路上，尤其是到不遠的教堂裏。事實上，當地人相信他去教堂是有當地歷史根據的。他們說那個士兵的屍體曾葬在教堂的院子裏，那個鬼就每晚騎着馬在戰場周圍尋找他的頭顱。這些權威的說法試圖解釋他爲何在山谷中急速遊蕩。他們說由於他遲到了才匆匆忙忙，而且必須在早上返回到教堂的院子裏。

❹

《螺絲在擰緊》

The Turn of the Screw

by Henry James（亨利·詹姆斯）

聖誕前夜，幾個朋友圍坐爐旁講起了自己聽到的鬼故事。其中一個人說到郊外一個家庭女教師遭受鬼怪困擾的故事。只有家庭女教師懷疑先前的女教師因爲某種邪惡的動機正在控制着莊園當中的兩個孩子。所有的人都認爲她瘋了，兩個孩子卻對此諱莫如深。

爲什麼小女孩始終不承認清清楚楚立在湖岸邊的人影？是小女孩被迷惑了，還是女教師在妄想？作者並不急於馬上揭示答案，但是脊背在發涼，螺絲在擰緊……

精彩片段

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.

當我們聽完故事的時候，全都屏住了呼吸圍坐在火爐旁邊。只有一個人慨嘆說，這是個可怕的故事。在座的各位都很贊同這個說法。要知道現在是聖誕節的前夕，我們又是在一幢老房子裏，在這樣的環境下，這樣離奇的故事當然會產生這樣的效果了。除了那個人以外，還有一個人進行了評價，說這是他第一次聽到小孩子遇到鬼的事。

The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion — an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him.

在這裏，我還要解釋一句，剛纔所說的那個鬧鬼的故事就發生在和我們聚會的這幢房子很相似的老房子裏面。故事講的是，一個面目猙獰恐怖的鬼魂出現在熟睡的小男孩面前，他被嚇壞了，連忙將睡在身邊的母親推醒，可母親還沒來得及安慰受驚的孩子，沒來得及哄他入睡，自己也被那個嚇壞了小男孩的鬼魂嚇到了。

❺

《它》

by Stephen King （斯蒂芬·金）