7 Scary REDDIT Horror Stories for a long night of horror

mr. Fisher was always a hot-headed one in a good way of course he was one of those teachers that would playfully talk smack to all the stupid teenagers in the class getting a good laugh out of all of us and he was also one of those teachers that was excellent at their job mr. Fisher's scholastic passion was American literature an oh boy he knew American literature I can't even count the number of times he would rant about JD Salinger or Ernest Hemingway relentlessly and then just stop talking and so now because it would ponder the greatness of their work in his silent bubble we would just watch him sulk in his episode of all good silence and fiery admiration for his idols don't get me wrong unlike most of the teachers in the school but didn't give a damn about our educational process he cared excessively he would go out of his way and legitimately connect with us individually just so he could crack the code of our developing minds and learn the secrets to how he can get us to pay attention in his class he was a great teacher and not to be bold but I was a great student I was his favorite student whenever he would ask the class for an answer and he never saw any hands go up he would just put me on the hot seat with no problem at all I would answer him every time there were even times when he would walk up to my desk but his hand on my shoulder and commemorate me right in the middle of the damn class session now at the time it was a bit much yes but I wasn't just going to deny his request for a correct answer the only time that I was ever concerned with in his class was that he made everything super hard we would have to study things that we never even got close to becoming attached to in class the tests were impossible his homework assignments were too long to the brink of impossibility and his grading system was complete BS his damn grading system he would grade all assignments all quizzes all tests on an entire class average so whenever there was a majority of below 50% scores that's for the entire class as a unit would get he believed this tactic was brutally fair he claimed that if we like the ability to work with each other as a class and to learn as a class as a whole then we should all burn for each other's inability to learn he wanted all of us to work together but there was always a barrier between all of the drama and all of the awkward teenage communicational blocks that would prevent each and every one of us for clicking with each other he had six high school classes in the school year we were his least successful one and he was never afraid to announce that he was always proud to make all of us feel like a waste of his time and ours okay and I feel like I'm just rambling the main point of this story is his grading system and the day Fisher went absolutely crazy in class it was two weeks before the end of the school year we're all anticipating the changes of the weather and the final day we were so excited that we even started communicating with each other all classmates were just clicking summer fever was taking the entire student population by storm and we were loving it mr. Fisher wasn't this was the day we were supposed to get our tests on capturing the Ryback and as a class average we were expecting to flunk this we all loved the novel it was one of those novels when most of the classmates even told Fischer that they can connect to the main protagonist the story itself was well written and beautifully put together but that didn't mean Fischer would make the test even remotely easy as a class average failed I noticed the pain in Fischer's face as he was handing all of us our papers back I knew some volcanic eruption of painful lecturing was coming I was wrong I was totally and completely false Fischer walked up to the door locked it I noticed this action along with several other puzzle classmates he then walked to his desk pulled out a hammer from a cabinet and whacked it on the desk all of you stay after class my face got warm and my heart dropped to my groin I looked to the clock from the corner of my eye and noticed that there were 40 minutes in class left he walked down each student row flicked a students ear and announced the class average grade letter flick II flick II flick II he did this until he approached me he messed up my hair and softly said a I started sweating my teeth were clenched with fear and my hands are shaking underneath my ass I said to my hands as a nervous habit my desk is right in front of his so right from my desk he jumped on his and stood up on it he then shut the blinds in the window next to his desk and flicked the light switch the room was a shade of dark blue now only illuminated by his computer screen in the weak ray of sunlight piercing the blind on the window 36 minutes until lunch one more week until final exams two more weeks until summer we were all frozen he had us in the palm of his hand let's see what you all know final exams start now he bellowed the now and made it echo and radiates throughout the room he grabbed the handle of his hammer and walked away from his desk the blunt side of its scraping against his wooden desk my fellow classmate Justin from across the room didn't take this body language with peace he should have just sat there he should have stayed still instead he spotted the hammer in his hands and slowly began to rise out of his desk while looking Fisher right in the eyes Justin take your seat mr. Fisher I don't know if I want to do that he said something along the lines of that but I remember but whatever he said Fisher would not let that fly past him he slowly began to approach him he taunted him by lightly tapping the hammer against his chalkboard he did this for several moments until he stopped at the edge of the board and then drove a hammer into the black surface Juston literally collapsed under his seat and his hands were shaking all over the place mr. Fisher then ran to his desk what's the hammer next to his shaking hands Justin place his hands on his lap and looked down at the floor all of the students started losing their minds they all started to get out of their desks and walk towards the door but mr. Fisher had one thing they keep all of us in our desks that hammer and he used it on Justin this is where things get out of hand he swung the hammer full force at Justin's head the force was so powerful that it made Justin fly into the bookshelf on his left he hit the floor hard afterwards and I remember seeing his body quiver and Shake from the pain this is where the students stopped what they were doing and just stayed quiet now in regards to all the loud banging from the hammer he may be wondering why no one heard it well let's see his classroom was behind the gymnasium and the gymnasium was practically near the end of the school building and physical education was a not in session therefore making the rest of the school faculty completely oblivious to the fact that Fisher was rampant in his classroom with a hammer he started smack in the hammer on Justin's desk like a gavel and then he gestured all of the students to get back in their desks despite all of the trauma getting pushed into these kids brains they still remained obedient despite all the hysterical students with tears streaming down their faces they finally gave Fisher what he always wanted attention obedience organization Nancy started the semester what do we read Nancy's posture shot up into defense and fear I I he started raising his voice and stretching out his words to mess with the head Nancy pay attention what do we read at the start of the semester his head would tilt side by side with each syllable he was toying with her completely and then his face got red the veins in his neck started bulging the lack of verbal communication from Nancy made him snap in to another episode of violent eruption he growled grabbed Nancy by her hair and threw her the chalkboard she kept trying to crawl away from the front of the room but he kept kicking her back onto the wall she was bawling your eyes out that's when he pointed at me he picked her up and put her in a headlock she was struggling but it was pointless he had a neck in one arm and the other arm was extended towards me McGrady what do we read at the start of the semester a I was 13 I was turning into a broken record I just couldn't give him an answer I was panicking and my mind was at a blank he released the neck grabbed her by the hair again and started slamming her face into the board McGrady what do we read at the start of the semester he wanted me to forget the answer he wanted to toy with me save her McGrady you can do it that's when the light bulb shot out of my brain I sprang into action death of a pig by EB white what was that death of a pig by EB white Fisher began to loosen his grip and the expression on his face was completely blank absolutely empty I had him right where I wanted him and then he let out a deep sigh until an evil smirk stretched across his face and that's when he opened his mouth slowly and said The ministers black veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne my face slowly melted into an emotion of anguish and pain Fisher pushed the face into the chalkboard with one hand and then swung the hammer at the back of a skull with the other she fell to the floor instantly you could hear the sound of the skull exploding some kids started vomiting whose either Lucas from Nicholas I know that it may seem like I'm showing no emotion to this situation but at the time I was terrified of Fisher I'm still remotely suffering from the guilt of letting Nancy down I couldn't live with myself for the longest time after that I looked at the clock and noticed there were 24 minutes left in the class he had spent a good 20 minutes since the start of his episode antagonizing Justin and Nancy getting us to shut up with a whack of the hammer every now and then after he smashed Nancy's head in he just stared at the aftermath he looked at Justin and then Nancy and then he just started hyperventilating he dropped the hammer and collapsed unto his office chair this is when tears started to come to my eyes really they did this is when everyone realized his pain his anger I shouldn't have done this but I did I got out of my desk walked up to Fisher and then knelt down he looked up at me from the palm of his hands then he started laughing tears on a red smiling face he raised his voice and greeted Grady how are you doing mr. Fisher we can help you he chuckled at my response you help me I'm a Grady your brilliant mind has been helping me all goddamn school year but these delinquents in front of me can't do hell for me mr. Fisher listen shut the hell up McGrady he shoved me into his office chair then picked up his hammer well class 18 minutes left and look what we've accomplished he wiped his hand on the chalkboard until his hand was red in pink with a coagulation of blood and brain matter he then walked up to some kid in the back I think his name was Eric and he grabbed him by the hair pulled his head back and then smear the substance on his face this show wasn't angry this was the most calm I've seen him ever as a class average you're all failures except for McGrady here learn from him because he won't be dying today although some more of you will he laughed stopped walking and then looked to his right how you doing beaker abruptly swiftly and carelessly he swung the hammer at the back of his skull whack the students were going insane literally vicious own insanity was radiating through the room and into the minds of his students kids were crying shaking and frozen in absolute shock or what concerned me is that not a single one of them tried to leave I didn't look at his spree of hammer swings but I could hear it i sat there until 5 minutes remaining class throughout a period of 30 minutes there were six watts I didn't look at who I didn't want to know who all I know is that Justin and Nancy didn't make it two people died and I killed one of them and yes I absolutely blame myself and learns his fate to this very day the bell rang but all the students remain in their seats staring at Fisher and then suddenly with a perverse smile he says class dismissed some students ran and screamed some students just walked out slowly without complaint it was one of those people and I was the last student out straying away from my class Fisher shouts out to me McGrady a thousand needle shot at my spine and then I turned around to listen to Fisher's announcement looks like you've passed he started laughing like a madman I could hear his laugh follow me as I walked down the hall and he was laugh as I took my shortcut through the gymnasium and I could hear his laugh over the incoming police sirens I work as a correctional officer in a maximum-security prison now saying that probably brings up all sorts of images and ideas but just know that the job is very different than what you see on TV there are no nightly escape attempts no big throwdowns in the yard every afternoon and if your roommates are drunk it's because they've been smuggling things out of the kitchen for weeks night shift which was sea shift is not generally very exciting but it does have its quirks for example all the guards on sea shift knew about the mysterious shower in Quad two of confinement at first it was just the curiosity to help pass the time a mystery to be solved or some bit of annoyance that inmates could complain about ceaselessly no one could have known how bad it would get in the end I've been an officer in the confinement units of this prison pretty much since I got certified there's a real need for male officers in an all-male facility shocking I know and the confinement unit is no different typically the crews small each one filling a desired need and in the two years of being here I've seen and heard some things that you don't see on TV I've heard hits planned out through the back writing in the windows I've had all men of things thrown at me through the flaps which we push their food and clothing through I've been called some pretty colorful names and I've stumbled across my fair share of bodies hanging hand leading which needed immediate medical attention shower 5o was definitely the weirdest thing I've ever seen I couldn't begin to tell you why I doubt anyone could but sometimes when you put an inmate in shower five they would reappear in shower three for those unfamiliar with how a prison quad is set up let me explain each quad holds 28 cells 14 on the bottom floor and 14 on the top floor accessible by a catwalk there are five showers in each quad showers one and five are on either side of cell one and fourteen showers two and four on either side of 15 and 28 and shower three sits between 21 and 22 we shower two quads a night which roughly takes about three to four hours and makes up the biggest part of our night quad to shower night was Monday Wednesday and Friday inmates are cuffed removed from cells weighed given haircuts and a place in the showers so we can search their cells they're given roughly 15 minutes to wash and dry off before we come to cuff them and return them to their cells while they're showering they're locked in a shower cell about the size of well a household shower while we go to the next quad over to do pretty much the same thing some time within that 15 minute window the mate will close their eyes to blink or maybe rinse their hair and suddenly appear in shower 3 it would happen anywhere from two to four times a month at first it was never anything you could count on and would sometimes take bets on when it would happen in ever happened in Reverse either shower 3 was broken so we never used it but when we did put in inmates in shower 3 for holding he never went anywhere until we were ready for him to go somewhere the shower was a mystery a mystery that provided a much-needed break from a tedious job and for the first 4 months we laughter the looks on the faces of the confused inmates who appeared in shower 3 with a head full of shampoo or frantically searching for a towel that wasn't there it was all fun and games until inmate Faris disappeared inmate Faris was one of the few who didn't request shower five every shower night the others fought like cats they get this stole each shower nights and I had come into quite many nights to the sound of them bickering about who would get it tonight we're trying to try that breakfast race for some one spot in the line one inmate in particular Garvey used the trade his breakfast tray for the spot in line that would get him to shower five every shower night he showered there nine shower nights for every ten and still never had it happen one night in particular we just packed him away and put the next man in to shower five only to return to find shower three occupied shower five empty and Garvey pouting like an angry child they all tried but in truth and none of them got to experience it like Ferris did when he came for Ferris to go he said he wasn't going to shower five normally this wouldn't have been a problem they were usually tons of others willing to take his place but tonight Ferris was my last shower Garvey immediately started hooting about wanting to take his place but I ignored him on that night all I was thinking about was the food waitin for me in the fridge and the prospect of being done with another night of showers there's also the matter of Ferris his smell Ferris had been refusing his showers for the last seven shower nights the other shift didn't quite enforce the rules as we did about bathing once a week and the administration had begun to take notice of his odor they'd sent down orders after the latest inspection that fairest would shower tonight on his own or with assistance look Ferris you're going in that shower it's the only one I have available normal a shower I ain't going in that shower he said evenly as he stared at me through the glass on the door I waved to Purvis off as he started walking towards us not wanting to spook and creates a situation where there didn't need to be one look varus we can do this the easy way or the hard way if you refuse the shower I can get a bunch of hungry men down here to pull you out and put you in the shower or you could be an adult and go take a shower so we can be done here what's it gonna be he argued for a bit but in the end he put on the cuffs and went to shower five meekly I will always regret making him go he was praying when I closed the shower door it was very religious and a shower that maybe will vanish was something he neither trusted nor understood I closed them in and took off his cuffs and at first I didn't think it would take the shower at all but as I descended the stairs I heard the water start and decided to make a trip to the officers station to have a quick bite fifteen minutes later I returned to find three occupied showers and two empty showers well not exactly empty I suppose where is his towel still hung off the door and his soap dish was sitting on the ledge but there was no sign of inmate Ferris Purvis looked around not quite understanding what had happened and wondered out loud if we'd filled all the showers before we left I said we had in Purvis and I spent the next hour searching every shower every cell in the quad in every southern shower in the other three quads too we checked the CCTV in the station there was no video of him leaving the shower the video showed him showering one minute and then gone the next the strange shower hadn't disappeared fairest of a different shower this time it had simply made him disappear the next three nights were a nightmare Ferris his disappearance prompted an emergency search of old dorms the compound wide lockdown the dispatching of the k-9 team and a countrywide manhunt that extended into neighboring countries before it was finally called off after a fruitless two weeks for three days we were questioned had to make multiple written and verbal statements and were grilled endlessly by both local and federal officers the cameras clearly showed that we have been absent from the quad when Farris disappeared so after three days they had no choice but the letters returned to work we weren't sure what to make of the incidents but we chucked it all up to the strangeness with shower five and went about work as usual we didn't use shower five anymore though it seemed like the strange magic had finally turned sour and after finally making maintenance calm down and fix shower three we stopped using it entirely we didn't see Ferris for another three months I've said we a lot in this story but I haven't talked about the men I served with in confinement Purvis was our muscle six feet tall and built like a barrel and I'm pretty sure all the inmates thoughts he communicated through grunts and the occasional good a hell if you weren't an inmate though he was one of the nicest guys you'd ever care to know I've spent many afternoons on his back porch with a beer in my hand and the smell of stake in the grill as I chatted with a third member of our trio McMahon Sergeant McMahon was a ten-year vet who spent most of his time doing paperwork or fielding questions from the brass he let us handle most of the day-to-day drudgery while he insulated us in a warm blanket of correctly managed reports and accurately maintained logs McMahon was far from what you'd call imposing standing about 5 - with thick glasses and a slim frame but he was knowledgeable about his job and always had something to talk about he was the last sergeant I ever served with in that confinement unit three months passed and Faris's disappearance was starting to fade after the inquiries and inquests determined we had nothing to do with the disappearance they put his back in confinement and told us to keep a closer watch in the future we talked about it sometimes speculating what could have happened to him but ultimately we lost interest after the paperwork ended and the hype died down he was gone and we still had a job to do so the showers went on and days turned into weeks it was a Sunday when he came back Sunday's were normally a pretty easy day in confinement we didn't do showers on Sunday night and the night was spent cleaning and passing out toiletries and generally just finding something online to watch as we ran out the clock we brought food in to share most Sunday's and this was no exception I brought chicken Pervis broad soda the McMahan brought a pecan pie that his sister had made by nine o'clock we caught up on paperwork passed out all our toiletries and were full of ticks and ready to find a movie I had my feet kicked him on my desk I was getting ready to enjoy a nap and the son of butand doors started in quad to Purvis looked up from the screen and sighed I knew it was too good to be true we headed out since the quad to see what all the kicking was about as purpose and I came through the door we were buffeted by screams of shower three and it's Ferris and his dying we came with the stairs two at a time and what I saw will haunt me until the day I died I'd seen men get hurt in this line of work I'd seen men get stabbed and I watched a few men die but I had never seen anything to top this level of cruelty it was Ferris alright we'd arrived in time to seize the last few breaths listen to him wheeze as his lungs finished filling with blood he lay in the floor of the dirty shower his blood pooling as he tried to flow into the drain and shut it out the last minutes of his life he was naked and we were saved having to look at his mutilated genitalia because the fetal position had taken a nurse would later tell us that they had been cut and sliced cruelly before he died and his stomach and intestines were massive punctured tissue we didn't know about this until later but what we could see was horrific enough his skin had been sliced by long claws and his back looked as though something had tried to peel him a strip at a time his arms his legs his neck his face and especially his back with bloody tatters and when he finally died I considered it a true mercy go gather Sarge Purvis said and I was relegated to the bubble on McMahon went to the floor to access the situation they took Ferris out under a sheet and it was dripping red in its wake this started a whole new bombardment of paperwork CCTV footage being combed over her frame at a time and witness statements being filled out and dispositions being taken luckily we had done around some time one of us was on camera not even 30 minutes before he disappeared in the shower and it was agreed upon that the incident have been no negligent of ours the narrative they constructed was as unsatisfying as it was unbelievable but he kept our bacon out of the fire so we didn't argue Varys had managed the worm his way into the grates through the shower and it made it into the ventilation system the other inmates had likely been feeding him and telling him to stop moving this was before audio was normal in the dorms so we couldn't check and after three months he'd gotten bored and wandered into one of the big fans and gotten cut up he drugged himself back into the shower shower three this time and called for help and that's where we found him no inmate admitted to having talked to Ferris since he disappeared and no blood was ever found in the vents but this was a much better narrative than a shower that kept sending inmates from one shower to another sometimes the administration just wanted paperwork to look good making sense for secondary after that no inmate would go near shower five it spread the combat seemingly overnight and any inmate that came into quad two would refuse to go into shower five we were more than happy to oblige the request one more weird occurrence and they pull us all out and separate us between the other dorms we all liked being where we were and were in no hurry to get sent somewhere else for the next month we kept a low profile and tried our best to keep disturbances to a minimum if we needed a reminder of the incident all we had to do was look at the red stains on the floor of shower three we managed to keep the wetness to amendment for about a month before I came completely off the rails Pervis and I were conducting showers in Quad three and four when they brought in our latest wild child Evert was what we call a frequent flier and had we known he was coming in we'd have put him in the cell they just released him from three days ago he had gotten into another fight probably over gang politics and now he was sitting in the Sallyport again and cussing up a storm when they asked us where we wanted him we didn't even think about shower five we told them to just put him in the shower on the other side and we'd deal with him later I don't know if he said something to them or not but they later told us that they'd loaded him into shower five leaving the cuffs on because he was being combative and left we finished showers late that night and just about the time my butt out of the chair I remembered Evert I haven't heard a peep out of him did they load him into a cell wingman log did his board and shook his head pretty sure they put him in a shower a quick look through the glass told us that he wasn't in one of the ground-floor showers how could he be we had used all the bottom showers to shower thee of the quads when we asked them why they put him in shower five they answered that it had been funny to watch him pees pants in fear of the mystery shower it was far less funny after the events of that night we were preparing to go put him away when a chorus of screams brought our attention to the quad the inmates were screaming terrified wails that only the doomed two capable of and the whole quad was going nuts we could always see the door to shower five heaving and bucking as something slammed into it with a machine gun like rhythm that wasn't like any kicking I'd ever heard and added to the screaming it put me on edge shower five had become something sinister something not altogether understandable and I did not want to see what new horror it had in store for us I started to move despite my upper engine but McMahon stopped me I've got this call the captain and get some held down here well we can see what's going on his actions saved me [Music] Ian Purvis left the station in a hurry piling up at the door as they hunted for keys and came through the door one behind the other as they mounted the steps they were at the top of the stairs and heading towards the shower on the door - our five buckled outward the door was reinforced metal and whatever was on the other side that separated it from one of its hinges the hinge hung lamely concrete still clinging to it and something dark and groping tried to climb through the hole snapping mouths glistened in the overhead lights as the creature scrambled and pushed to be free of its prison I saw Purvis take a step back bumping into McMahon as the two tried to process what was happening and all thoughts of calling for help had fled from me as I watched the events unfold the creature freed itself from the whole black goo glistening on the torn door and made its way up the wall with a hellish shriek and a metallic clattering I could hear through the glass the whole quad had started screaming and their hellish chorus was only drowned out by the creature screams of pain as it left a glistening trail behind it on a concrete wall the two officers my friends stood like statues as the thing swung its eyeless head from side to side it seemed to be confused by all the screaming with sound bouncing off the concrete and I thought my fellow officers might escape as Purvis took another tentative step backward that's when McMahon started screaming I'd seen McMahon face down even the most hardened of inmates seen him hold the line during last summer's riots as we held the gate against dozens of screaming inmates but this creature was too much for him he screamed and it cut across the hellish sound of the quad like a knife through butter the creature then turned its eyeless face towards him and the front of its bulbous mouth split open to reveal lines of serrated teeth and a high-pitched sound like a piece of farm equipment scream it lept coming Stickley off the wall but its path took it straight in the Pervis who was frozen in front of the screaming sergeant it groped him to the ground knocking mcmahon of his feet and the strange mouth ripped itself open to reveal the rows of black glistening teeth its mouth Tove and it taught chunks of flesh out of the screaming man as McMahon scooted backwards in the state of sheer terror he reached for his gas the small can of chemical spray that is normally our best offense against aggressive inmates but his hand seemed unsure of how to break the seal that held it in the holster or even whether or not he wanted to the creature meanwhile of a quick links and grenading Pervis Pervis was not a small man I had seen him lay hands of men who would have given me trouble and put them on their faces as easily as someone subdues his child Purvis was straining against a thing as it tore strips out of his shirt his undershirt and his chest but his biceps are losing purchase and he was starting to weaken the creature raised this muscle all at once and bit down on his face engulfing the man's head in a single bite and his pelvis kicked and thrashed under it I saw McMahon get to his feet and make a run for it the catwalk had two points of egress and McMahon seemed to think that he could get to the other side he could elude the creature and put the solid steel door between them he almost did too until the creature looked up from the strips : it was now chewing on and heard him running down the stairs it lept frog-like and hit one of the overhead lights and the cage light swung drunkenly before falling to the concrete with a shower of glass and twisted bars as it fell the creature left off of it and caught McMahon in the back as he ran for the door the door is framed by two large glass windows that stand about 25 feet high so you can glance out to the quad and see what's happening in any given time the creature slammed into pink man and that him against one of these windows like a bug his nose broke his glass is shattered and as he slit down I could follow his progress with a trail of blood he left the only thing visible was one hand spasmodically grasping at the impenetrable barrier between him and freedom as the creature devoured him I didn't know what to do I just stood there with a phone in one hand dial tone blaring at me and the radio in the other hand putting out the same good-natured chatter it usually does at this time at night it was so weird to think that somewhere around the compound there were people having normal nights while my two best friends are being devoured before my eyes there were actually people out there having comfortable nights filled with nothing more pressing than a bellyache or an unruly inmate who wouldn't go to bed it didn't even seem possible that our universes could be on the same plane of existence I think I think that's when my mind snapped or maybe it was when I looked up on the radio and saw the creature looking at me it's eyeless face staring straight at me and my mind simply unraveled I let the phone slip out of my hand but the radio clattered to the desk and simply curled in a ball on the floor I don't know how long I was there but when I came back to the captain was shaking me and all hell had truly broken loose they had come in after I didn't answer the radio they'd used the emergency keys that come into the station and found me on the ground in a catatonic state they had then looked out and seen the blood splattering on the window and feared that a riot was under way that assembled their response team a seven-man team with a variety R and proceeded into the quad as I looked out into the shadowy hellscape I could see that several their cells had been open somehow and there was a lot more blood on the floor than I remembered the remains of body armor and broken shotguns lay everywhere and the lights in the quad seemed to be in a constant state of flicker the team had gone in and been attacked by what they thought was a mountain lion or some kind of big cut they had been ripped to shreds in a matter of minutes and only the team leader had managed to escape after throwing a flash grenade in the thing's face it had battered the door a little while trying to get at him but had eventually gone back to meeting the remains of the other six members the team leader said it looked like some of the other inmates had been killed though he couldn't figure out how this thing was getting into the cells they looked to me Francis but I had none the team leader joined me in the fetal ball in the corner while the captain made calls for backup i sat in the station the next two days nodding off when sleep finally took me and watched as the State Police and Animal Control tried to figure out how to get this thing out of the quad after the third police officer was ripped to shreds we got a visit from someone higher up he told us that the quad was to be quarantined until further notice the reflective lenses on his sunglasses making him look as inhuman as the creature and that no one was to go in or out until this thing was dead the captain asked him what we should do about the men trapped inside men who hadn't eaten in two days and he simply shrugged and said if they were in there then they were as good as dead already a thing isn't going to let anyone out once they're in and a rescue attempt isn't going to do anything but lose you more men don't worry though we'll make it so no one who's gone through that door ever existed he was true to his word - McMahon and Purvis were unmarried bachelors and so they could just disappear one day after work after 27 inmates that had been in that quad I don't know the files were gone when I came back but DC numbers and CDC records were expunged and all the cells were open and empty the doors the quad too was sealed shut the door welded closed and caution tape draped across it I was offered McMahon's position as confinement sergeant and I took it not because I wanted it but because I felt it was my sacred trust to stand guard against that thing every night I've never seen it during the day it doesn't seem to like the light but at night you can catch glimpses of it in the darkness is it stalks to rats and roaches that still live in the quad the new officers they put back there always ask me what happened to quad too but I never tell them the whole story if they knew they might try to get his attention and add more blood to my hands I've seen officers come and go in the ten years since that day but I haven't told anyone about the incident my captain is a major now at another facility everyone from my old shift has either quit or moved on and I alone keep my vigil here every night sometimes I see him in the semi-darkness looking at me and thinking after 10 years I imagine he's hungry for something more than rats maybe in another 10 years he'll question how thicker glasses between him and real meat when he does I'll be here I fully admit to being a STONER but I promise you I'm not making this up no mounds of roaches can cook up a fever dream like this so don't stop running excuses the wave of my story all right let me explain to you how this went down so picture this I'm on the loan of the high I got off of popping inedible and playing some mortal kombat when I get a series of texts from this chick I'm totally head over heels for asking me for a favor Eve was everything I wanted in a woman she was about as goth as they come always wearing dark lipstick that matched her hair some kind of fishnets on her legs and this big oversized beanie that hosted some spare dollar bills to spend on pop-tarts she had a sharp tongue a sharp mind and even sharper nails when he became familiar with each other towards the tail-end of high school where I started selling a weed at a discounted price that made a smile we had a habit of smoking together but our relationship never went past friends who hotbox that dad's garage sometime after we both graduated she got a gig as a late-night gas station employee whilst I stayed drifting at home collecting scraps of cash to fund my mom's dream of me going to college but here she was texting me at 9:00 12:00 p.m. begging me to fill in a shift for a couple of hours had this been anyone other than her I would have either told them I was busy or ignore the texts outright but for her well I'd do anything mom wasn't home so I had to call myself an uber to get to a gas station in time I sneakily picked some of my neighbor's flowers out to the garden holding them in a glass cup I brought from home the last thing I grabbed from home was a tiny baggie of dope along with some rolling papers just in case this is it I thought to myself on the ride there this is where I wore off those big platform boots she wears maybe 15 minutes later my uber driver dropped me off I paid him a generous tip and walked to a little gas station a couple flowers in hand how boxing may not have been the best pick-up tactic but what kind of girl doesn't like flowers I'm a tall blonde head stoner how could she say no was i overconfident maybe but confidence is key fellas I only been to the gas station in the middle of nowhere a few times but tonight it felt like coming home the doors opened on their own as I walked in seeing her pale face smirk at me from behind the counter Tokyo times shown up she said running a hand through my hair I gave her the suave his response I could well you know me so how come you gotta split from your shift I placed the cup of flowers firmly on the counter noticing the single swaggering ping / tuner inside she plucked it out of the cup and sniffed it pleasantly it's some stupid anniversary for a friend of mine I forgot I would have been boned had he not been here though that sneaky eyelash butter she did have her eyes widened like a puppy damn she had me a ran of finger and she knew it you bet I said proudly I'll do whatever you need me to do but I want something return her manicured eyebrows arched curiously you need something here I thought you were here at my beck and call she belted as much as I wanted to succumb to her infectious charm I'd stay strong in playing hard to get well I don't mind lending a hand as long as you were let me yours if you know what I mean I made the motion of putting on a ring of my finger owning a chuckle from her you're a riot Cole she put the petunia inside a beanie and patted my shoulder a tall task for her given her height difference even the boots she wore didn't help I'll be back around 1:00 a.m. all right she said once I come back you can go home just be ready for when I text you tomorrow for our date my heartbeat started thundering in my chest as soon as she said it you can count on me I shouted giving her a thumbs up she smokes back at me and she eggs it to the store very aware of the fact that I loved watching him from behind once she was out of sight I raised my arm into the air feeling a sense of beautiful triumph over winning a date from her and all I had to do was watch him gas station for three hours how hard could that be I paint my words pretty damn fast when I found out the fact that I was the only person who was gonna come into the gas station for my entire shift I didn't expect a big turnout at this time but no one at all I've never felt this bored in my life the apex of my excitement an hour into the shift was putting some spare change I had lining my pockets to open up and boil a package of instant ramen with a crappy electric kettle the store had in the closet I got intimately close will the contents of the closet mostly just dusty plastic trays and all chip packages I did find an old register though I guess I got have some fun pressing the buttons and hearing the sound effects coming from them the first hour is where I realized that in my rush I had actually forgotten my phone leaving me with only my wallet the rolling paper and dope bag in my pockets as much as I wanted to smoke it I was kind of paranoid thinking about if someone caught me so I kept them sealed tight maybe another half hour passed and I started to find the terrible fault of chairs are found out back becoming more and more comfortable as I sat down and began to close my eyes for ten-second bits those ten seconds surely became 30 which then became minutes at a time just before I was going to fall asleep for good a sudden and loud thud jolted me awake the whole building shock for just a moment the fork I used to eat the ramen Clank to the ground and the already damaged lights began to flicker peering outside through the glass doors I wasn't able to see anything what had caused that tremor did I nearly just sleep through an earthquake over my ears I was able to hear the faintest sound of plastic hitting the ground I could have been thrown with force sneaking through the aisles I found everything was in place so nothing here got knocked over the sounds of pus that could be heard again this time dragging against the ground it took me a second but I eventually got the idea for the recycling bin I saw her back was being knocked over and raided by raccoons always hated those furry buggers arming myself with a broom I was huddled by the counter I made my way to the end of the gas station and kicked open the door prepared to shoo away any raccoons I saw what I didn't expect was they see the recycling bin completely torn apart lying empty on its side this wasn't the kind of damaged trash pandas were capable of the bin was completely torn in half from the middle with thick stroking claw marks like a damn bear just came through it tore it apart damn was there a bear I sure as hell couldn't defend myself with a broom if there was I went to open the back door and my heart sank to realize that it had closed on its own and locked I'm pretty sure Eve took the key needed to unlock that door with her by mistake so I had to walk all the way around the store to get back inside via the front as I walked I could see slash marks remarkably similar to the ones that had torn apart the recycling bin across the building scouring the concrete that building was made out of like it was flesh these marks looked far bigger than any bear claw so the bear idea was out of the window what kind of animal was they dealing with here before I could come up with any more theories I heard the most fearsome grumbling raw I've ever heard in all of my life it sounded like a mountain line being drowned in icy water letting out his final screech for help before its life was snuffed out the worst part it was coming from inside the store I peeked around the corner and saw that the automatic doors were stuck open struggling to shut themselves closed a tangle of sopping wet black hair entangled both of them acting like a rope holding both doors open the lights inside were now flickering rapidly chipping away and my already miniscule resolve swallowing deeply I tiptoed closer inside and got an eyeful of what was making the noise a black scaly alligator like creature with a horse like Maine running down to its rat-like tail was scurrying across the floor lapping up crumbs and dust with his forked tongue the Beast was easily ten feet long and 4 feet tall bumping into aisles and knocking things over each one of its slimy scales used with a dark liquid they began to pull on the floor like tar I stood no chance with God knows what this thing was so I went to turn around and sprint away but I dropped my broom in the process the creature noticed and whipped his head around so damn fast I thought it would break its own neck this thing had human features on his face dark brown eyes a small button like nose and the soft pitch buckle lips of a woman all these human features plastered on his lizard body made for disgusting sites that looked straight out of a Photoshop nightmare I booked it away from the store as the greeter turned around and started crawling after me hissing its forked tongue a lizard was surprisingly fast despite its appearance practically gliding across the concrete with his glittering claws at first I made a straight dash in front of me near a road but I made a hard left in order to gain the upper hand and use the momentary speed advantage to escape and use someone's phone to animal control or the police or anyone to deal with this thing unfortunately it seemed to predict this motion wholesale because it turned around to its left the precise moments I was going to heart curve it he made a slash from my ankles but I just barely hopped out of the way and kept running the Beast groaned in Crete as it chuckled at me but kept it's frightening pace feeling the stress of exhaustion weighing on me I used my last bits of energy to run behind the store and into a small collection of thick trees hopping under the nearest one and climbing it as fast as I could I was never much of an adept climber as a kid but hysterical strength is a way stronger drug than any weed of smugged I quickly made my way onto the top layer of the branches hearing the creature scratch at the base of the tree angrily I was afraid it would try to tear the tree down but it instead snarled and screeched to me once more seemingly upset that its prey had evaded it after maybe another minutes of it wrong at me it trotted off in the opposite direction practically galloping like a horse my immense relief was short-lived as I spotted someone walking along the dimly lit road they were wearing a huge pea green military coats and had long blonde hair just walking idly down the road I didn't allow myself to question why they were walking as the creatures spotted them and started running down the road I wanted this shout and alert the attention of the bystander but fears grip on me was too tight I slid down the tree carefully and took a four minutes a gather the strength to one hook myself from it and ran inside the gas station peeking from the windows by now the bystander had walked far enough to nearly reach the parking lot of the gas station making direct eye contact with the creature the Beast chuckled once more and started charging for the bystander but they had far more tricks of their oversized sleeves than I anticipated skillfully they rolled out of the way and pulled out a massive knife from behind them making a precise slash against the beasts cheek it screeched in pain received another slash that cut along his scalp and marked a single eye it went into full panic rage mode as it blindly swung its claws of the mysterious man who was able to dodge all of them he took what I thought to be some kind of fighting stance as he looked for an opening all with a completely blank expression on his face in a final move the by sander left and plunged their blade directly into the malformed skull of the Beast twisting and taking the blade deeper and deeper until it stopped screaming and went silent I couldn't believe what I was seeing how the hell was this random night walking guy able to dispatch this being so fast hell why did he even have such a massive knife on him in the first place the man pulled out a rag from his jacket pocket and wiped away the dark blur that coated his blade sticking it behind his back once more using both hands he dragged the Beast away from all of the streetlights who leaned over it like a dentist would to operate on their patients he started rubbing the Beast up and down with his bare hands and I kid you not it started disintegrating at his touch he was as quick and efficient as a masseuse causing the Beast that crumble and fade away into a mountain of ash and dust within seconds looking non the bothered he swept the ash off the road and made his way towards the gas station I ducked under the window and heard a look in the corner praying that it wasn't going to do the same to me I felt like such a damn idiot for forgetting my phone I was so damn ashamed I wasn't going to be able to call anyone call Eve or even my mother I could hear the man tearing away the bundles of hair that held the doors open and walk inside his big boots sending my hearts into shock with a thick reverb against the floor I held my breath as he seemed to walk aimlessly through the aisles picking up food and putting it down indecisively finally he walked up to the counter and placed the bag onto it anyone there he asked out casually praying everything would turn out alright I made the Karma's face I could manage instead of rapidly getting an eyeful of this mysterious monster hunter honestly he looked pretty average he was just the youth probably near the same age as me kind of a tall and pretty long hair and thick bags under his eyes he looked at me blankly as he waited for me to check out his bag of cough drops he had put on the counter as I nervously checked him out he decided to make some small talk with me quiet shift he asked no actually it wasn't a quiet shift I think it was the worst shift I've ever had in my life I almost died for Christ's sake but I don't think he saw me being chased by whatever the Beast was so I played it cool yep not much going on how come you're up so late before I could kick myself for asking such a stupid question he responded not much really I'm just a night owl the fact that he can go from killing and vaporizing a monster too casual small talk all were the same expression on his face chilled me to the bone and he noticed you're right buddy he look like you've seen a ghost no I just my ride left me last minute I lied no clue how I'm gonna get home now I don't mind driving you he said my car's just down the road come on my heart flew into a panic as I raised my hands the trying politely refuses offer getting into a car with this guy no chance I'm fine really I stammered don't worry about me the man gave me a curious look but didn't press me on the matter how come you don't have a nametag he asked earnestly a goat I'm just filling in for a friend explained name's Cole the man gave me a slight smile and reached his hand out which I quickly shook his hands was so so cold like he just stuck them in an ice box nice to meet you son he said he looked no older than I but by the way he called me son felt all too natural like he was my elder in mind of a body a name's Jaime I fumbled giving Jaime his change for his cough drops nearly dropped on a stack of quarters in my hand you have yourself a good night hear hear he said probably ain't too safe for this hour and nodded my head quickly as he left the store casually parting with a wave of his icy hand as soon as he was out of sight I let out the longest side of my life and fell to my knees crippled with fear it was a long walk but I hoped it out and ran all the way home do my best to stay away from any street lights I was terrified of running into any other creatures or Jaime but I had to get out of there I felt like crap for abandoning eaves shift like that but once I got home and called her of the phone she would hopefully understand my situation my legs are exhausted when I finally reached my house which I proceeded to lock down as much as I could I got my hands my phone again and sent out a dozen calls and several dozen messages to Eve to try and explain the situation but as of now I haven't gotten any responses it's been an hour after the incident but my heart is still very much stuck in panic mode I think I'll just unwind with a bag in my pocket and wait till markets home I don't know what the hell the creature was or who Jamie really was but I'm in no mood to find out I'm never going to that gas station again I knew I'd made a mistake in coming but I took a seat nonetheless all of the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on my side of town seemed warm and welcoming all of the people were friendly and knew me by name there were hugs handshakes slaps on the back the rooms were well-lit with comfortable chairs ever always freshly baked cookies or doughnuts a recent falling-out with my sponsor Ralph had caused me to choose to avoid some of my normal meetings though I had already been down to two meetings a week which Ralph had so poignant Lee called me to the carpet on so I didn't want to cut those out completely I had been feeling antsy lately and probably needed to go to a few more never the type to ask for help I was unwilling to admit it though instead I decided to try a few meetings on the other side of the tracks Whitehall the seedy part of town stupid Ralph you're only as sick as your secrets he said I'd made a list of all those I'd harmed and went about making amends to them all some accepted my apologies some didn't all I could do was clean my own side of the street there were a few men's that were impossible to make but I had admitted all my sins to either my sponsor my therapist or my priest all but the one thing that is that's what Ralph kept harping on I had stayed sober for 15 years I deserve to keep the one thing to myself didn't I stupid Ralph I chose a group with the innocuous name of New Hope that met in the basements of st. Pete's Episcopal Church while group sometimes did actually meet in church basements they were rarely as depicted on television or in the movies as just other way things worked Hollywood had gotten the coffee and doughnuts part down to a tee but missed the mark on most of the rest sadly there weren't even any donut to the new hope group I wish that I'd known I would have sprung for some a a had given me my life back and brought a good bit of financial security with it so I don't mind giving back now and again I made my way over to the coffee urn making eye contact with a few people on the way I didn't even bother to smile and most they got was some grunts and shrugs as I walked by had already decided that it wouldn't ever be coming back to this group so why bother I wasn't about to walk out though giving up was for losers I grabbed a styrofoam cup from the top of the stack which already had some black smudge fingerprints on the outside and filled it with a sludge that they called coffee here at st. Pete's after a buck into the basket on the table and plopped into a chair that seemed to be farthest away from everyone else this was nothing like the usual meetings I hid the church's basement room was about 40 by 40 feet square there were eight rectangular folding tables set up in a makeshift circle with wooden chairs set along the outside unfortunately there will be no speaker this was a discussion meeting they would most likely read something out of some bit of AAA approved literature the big book 12 and 12 was a meditation book and then go around the room weighing in on their own personal experience strength and hope I didn't feel like talking but the one bit of my sponsors advice that I had latched onto early was to always say something always be part of even of the ceiling held banks of fluorescent lights the room still seemed cold perhaps is the type of bulb they used were they different types perhaps it was the way the light reflected of the sickly yellow linoleum floor and institution green walls it smelled funny to how well I thought it's only for an hour I'd spent twice that amount of time scraping together change for another bottle while fighting off the shakes in the past in comparison this would surely be more pleasurable than that that's what it came down to wasn't it for me to drink is to die there were times that I'd done the most disgraceful things in order to get drunk things that would have sickened me if I had been sober and not feigning for the next drink so if sitting through a boring meeting in a crappy place meant not drinking even for only an hour then so be it not a difficult choice I am NOT a snob but I thought that people there seem to be a little lower class than what I was used to I'm by no means rich but by now I've gotten my life together I am back in the upper middle-class demographic the meetings that I attended were regularly frequented by businessmen doctors Realtors and other professionals frankly even the blue-collar people at my normal meetings seem to be upper-class compared to these people these people were and I have to remind myself that I was being honest and not uncaring the dregs of society unshaven unkempt tattooed greasy foul-smelling ia had taught me not to judge there but for the grace of God go I still it was hard just before the meeting was called to order a man popped down into the chair next to me oh come on buddy I thought ten empty chairs plenty to keep enough distance between all of us and you have to sit right next to me my side at least this guy seemed friendly short stout pc4 obese with a red round face he introduced himself hi there names Mike how about you Danny I said as I extended my hand at least Mike was dressed well button-down shirt slacks dress shoes he was even wearing Cologne or was it the smell of booze no I decided it was Cologne the guy's breath smelled bad though not smelled as in drinking smelled but just to read his teeth seemed white enough but it was as if he hadn't brushed in ages Mike tried to make small talk I haven't seen you before how long have you been coming to these meetings about 16 years I replied I came in for a year and then decided that I wasn't ready to stop I went back out for a while and have been sober ever since 15 years one month one week in two days Wow Mike seemed truly amazed how many minutes I just smiled me Mike continued I've only been coming for about a month now I left 30 days on Wednesday well congratulations for some people those first 30 days of the hardest real white-knuckle time Mike was definitely pink clouding it there's the term for a A's in early sobriety who think that life has suddenly become wonderful and carefree after a good period of sobriety and it kicks in that drunk or not life still has challenges there's just no more alcohol to make the bad feel go away I'll be getting my chip Mike was of course referring to the colored aluminium medallion that although not universally used has become almost synonymous with a a surprise he counts them selves do not help people stay sober as much is the meaning behind them that is important when a person receives a coin for one month three months or a long period of time the coin gives a sense of pride is staying sober as long as they have and to motivate them to continue if a person should feel the desire to drink again they might finger the coin in the pocket to remind them of all the headway they've made up to that point it makes them ask themselves if they truly want to throw away all that progress I never liked the chips I would occasionally step back and remember exactly how much sober time I had remember that last Strunk vividly but I didn't want a constant reminder I felt it would make it easier to ask the question has it been long enough am i cured now the conversation was surprisingly pleasant enough but I was happy when the meeting began all the same same old same old business first then reading then around the table sharing when eight o'clock rolled around the chairperson indicated that it was time to close and they join hands for the Lord's Prayer a a is not a religious organization but saying the Lord's Prayer at the end is sort of a tradition in most but not all groups it's a sign of unity if nothing else I've really didn't plan to stick around for fellowship afterwards but I always stayed long enough to help clean up however before I got to the door Mike cornered me hey I am I going to see you around here again hey I pulled a face probably not I live in the other side of town I just stopped it tonight because well it was convenient I guess that had not technically been a lie Hayes had to be careful practice these principles in all of our affairs lies paved a slippery slope Oh Mike seemed dejected it's just that they say to get phone numbers you know it's a call for when you feel like drinking and I was wondering if I could get yours my shoulders relaxed a little I've cost Mike it's never a problem never feel like you can't use it Mike wouldn't use it most of the newbies never did I pulled out a pen and jotted it down in the back of Mike's meeting pamphlet anyway there you go thanks Danny Mike shook the pamphlet I would definitely use this you're a lifesaver you guys are great Mike bounced the way I made my way out into the parking lot and slid behind the wheel of my 2012 Kia I said a little prayer for Mike hope he makes it who knew maybe being at that meeting was God's Way of putting him in the right place at the right time I rolled to the Burger King drive-through on the way home to become an artery-clogging dinner I just wanted the flick on the television eat shower and get to bed it had been an exhausting day I barely pulled into my garage when my cell phone began to jingle I finished parking and buckle my seatbelt and answer the phone right there in the front seat it was an old habit probably not a healthy one but I just had to pick up the phone when it rang I could not bear the thought of someone leaving a message I had heard stories of AA's who were never able to get through to someone and things didn't turn out well once their faith in the system was broken especially the newcomers they didn't trust it anymore hello no no it's Mike uh I shifted the phone to my right ear what's up Mike oh no no no no don't worry Dan I'm not thinking drinking just wanted to test out the number practice call you know they say to get used to calling when you don't need to and that way it'll be easy to call when you need to right yeah Mike that's a great idea so what's up um well not a whole lot since I saw you I drove home that's about it I said with a smirk on my face I'm about to have some dinner and then it's off to bed oh okay Mike replied you have your dinner and get a great night maybe I'll talk to you tomorrow sure Mike tomorrow I showered toweled off and padded into my bedroom I slid into a pair of silk boxers and fell into bed I didn't imagine that I would have any problems sleeping I was physically exhausted but as usual my mind raced a mile a minute I was never able to fall asleep without the radio turned on even when I was ready to pass out my head would hit the pillow and the stinking thinking would kick in that's how I discovered the wonders of torque Radio dialed in to a pundit recapping the day's news in a soothing voice I pulled the chain in my bedside lamp and plunged the room into darkness the pillow was cool my stomach was full my mind had can't sleep began to my phone jingled i propped myself up on one elbow used the remote to turn off the radio and grabbed the phone from the nightstand it's green lit up with a number of the incoming call but I didn't recognize it it wasn't a name that had been programmed into my phone I briefly considered putting the phone back down and letting it go to voicemail but I knew that I would not be able to sleep until I heard the message and more than likely called whomever it was back my side hello Danny Mike's only graved this time sorry to call so late I mean I know you said that you're going to hit the hay and I didn't want to bother you but it's okay Mike go ahead remember how I said that I'd be getting my chip in a couple of days yeah I can't believe it'll have been a month already you know they took my last drink was a special day every day is a special day when it's your last drunk day Mike yeah yeah but I mean special it was the anniversary of well Mike began to get flustered see my wife and I my ex-wife that is and I lost our daughter that day I swung my legs out from under the covers and sat up oh I'm sorry oh don't be Danny it happened so long ago long time ago it would have been a 21st birthday Mike child off so long ago the denial the depression the sadness the anger I started drinking after it and just never thought to stop until now that is that's a long time to be suing in it Mike do you want to talk about it nah Danny no sense dredging up the past not when I'm doing so well you're only as sick as your secrets Mike god I hated it when my sponsor was right yeah yeah maybe when I'm feeling a little more stable Danny maybe I'll talk about it then I'm just not doing so well right now I spoke with Mike for about half an hour and when I was convinced that Mike was over the urge to drink let him off the phone and promised to meet him the following day I laid down my phone and swung back under the covers a smile on my face why was it they say even if Mike went out and drank that night at least I stayed sober help yourself by helping others have forgot to turn the radio back on and that night I dreamt about the one thing I awoke to the sound of my phone it wasn't the alarm tone but the ringtone another call I come to recognize Mike's number by now this was getting a little annoying but sometimes that's the way it went Mike would either fall off the wagon soon or he would start to make new contacts in the meantime I would just have to deal with it good morning Mike dan my man good to hear your voice yeah I said scratching the back of my head it's been like six or seven hours now huh oh yeah I'm not bothering you am i no no yes yes I thought so how did last night go didn't drink tit yet nope and I owe it all to you Dan Wow Mike you picked to the phone and made the call so you can give yourself a little pat on the back that phone can seem real heavy when it stands between you and a drink ain't that the truth so are you hitting the meeting this morning no Mike I have a job I tried not to sound ticked off I have to work today I promised that we'll get to one tonight you pick it out and call me back around 6:00 okay got it Dan oh six talk to you then my worst fear came true three more calls during the day Mike had picked a group called as bill sees it on my side of town I decided that I would need to have a talk with Mike that evening calling when in need or even for occasional friendly supporters fine but there was such a thing as abusing the system you know the boy who cried wolf sort of thing I was about ready to throw my always answer the phone policy out the door I didn't look forward to the conversation and had a rough time forcing my dinner down that evening I wasn't hungry but as usual I tried to keep my stomach full Hult h al t hungry angry alone tired for things an alcoholic never wanted to be any of those could be a setup for another drink as I was finishing my second hot dog wrapped in white bread with ketchup just as I liked them my phone rang again I checked the screen bloody Mike again and decided that I wouldn't answer it and let it go to voicemail seconds later into rang again then that guy get the message her letter go to voicemail again another few minutes passed and it rang again I wondered if Mike had changed his mind maybe he couldn't make it to the meeting after all still I let it go to voicemail thankfully more minutes passed and Mike did not call back I felt like a heel but I just couldn't deal with it anymore at around a quarter of 7 I tie my shoes and gathered my wallet and car keys as I headed to the door my phone jingled Mike this time I answered hey Mike I'm headed out the door right now I think God Dan exclaimed Mike I couldn't get a hold of you and then I started to worry I wondered if maybe you went out drinking again I I Mike slow down buddy I was beginning to let my temper get the best of me would you I'll luck just wait for me the meeting outside we need to talk Mike was breathing more regularly now Oh Danny you really had me going there well anyway you can ride with me what I stride out of the back door and press the button to lift the garage this is door rolled up he gradually revealed a battered green Honda sitting in the drive Mike sat behind the wheel with the engine idling I was taken aback I walked briskly up to the driver side door a motion from Mike to lower the window after a moment with a confused look in his face Mike hid the button and the window glided down what's wrong Dan up in I thought that maybe we could ride to the meeting together there maybe grab a cup of coffee after huh I was fed up no no Mike no meeting no coffee after I don't have time for this I don't know what to do with you you cannot keep calling me how the hell did you even find where I live Oh Mike looks shamefacedly I guess maybe I followed you home last night what the hell sorry Dan I'm new at this I really don't know how it works how it works having a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps we tried to carry this message to our garlic's and to practice these principles in all our affairs I thought it over and softened okay Mike here's how it goes I said calmly I'll come to the meeting but I drove there myself we talked a little after the meeting I come home alone no coffee no more calling unless you really need to like I'm going to drink me too I'll be clear Mike looked a little hurt or replied okay cleared I know I got into my Kia and followed Mike to the meeting we sat next to each other but Mike was uncharacteristically quiet afterward we separated in the parking lot with an airy word see you tomorrow Danny maybe oh hey said Mike there's a candlelight meeting called night owls tonight at the all right sorry tomorrow Mike I stressed I thought that Mike may have gotten the message but just in case I turn my phone off for the evening for what was probably the first time in years that night I had a nightmare about the one thing I pulled myself from bed and showered in the morning an enormous forgotten my phone still wrapped in a towel with damp hair I walked over to the nightstand and turned it on I returned to the bathroom as it went through the boot up process and then I heard a message stone from the next room hmm wonder who that could be six missed calls from Mike one two voicemails or texts thanks for coming down said one sure you don't want to go to the meeting said another great meeting should have been there and need a talk I didn't want any confrontation today I turn my phone back off dressed and left home I knew just knew that Mike would show up at my door after not receiving answers for long enough I planned to not be there even though it was a Saturday I would hang out at my office there was a couch there I could take a nap if need be and I did need it after the previous night I felt silly and demoralized it was my own house dammit I was being chased away from my own home by well a stalker should I call the police no I decided I would talk to my sponsor first not daring to turn my cell back on for fear that it might ring in my hand upon arriving at my office I picked up my desk phone and dialed in Ralph's number ralph was no help at least he didn't tell me what I wanted to hear just suck it up I've had my share of pigeons who either tried too hard or didn't try hard enough my guess is that this might guy will turn out to be one of the other why don't you bring him along to tonight's meeting I'll meet you guys at the acceptance group tonight maybe I can ever talk with him yeah I suppose I'd turn myself back on in order to call Mike and invite him to the acceptance group that evening six missed calls and it was barely noon I sighed and began to scroll to Mike's number when my phone jingled I didn't even need to look at the number to know who it was hi Mike Danny I'd ride too yeah I know Mike I've been at work I just turned my phone on who saw that you were called an Icee thought ran down my spine did Mike know where I work too anyway my sponsor suggested that I introduce you to him tonight we're going to st. Andrews through a meeting called the acceptance group want to come are you kidding do you even need to ask I would never pass on the chance to meet my sponsor sponsor it's like but Mike Rann sponsor whoa I thought about it and never had the talk of me being Mike's sponsor come up a sponsor is a recovering alcoholic who has successfully made some personal progress in the a a recovery program he or she is asked by another a a member to take on the individual responsibilities of sponsorship a sponsor shares their experiences on an individual and personal basis with another alcoholic who's trying to achieve or maintain their own sobriety through the AAA program they help the person focus and navigate through the stages of the program the relationship between an AAA member and his sponsor is usually a pretty close and intimate one and not gone into lightly not only does an alcoholic need to carefully choose a sponsor but also the potential sponsor must cautiously decide whether taking on a sponsors prudent I gave him the benefit of the doubt though Mike was new at this hey now Mike I'm just another alcoholic willing to help you out I'm not really in the right state of mind to sponsor anyone not until I read my conscious of the one thing anyway oh okay don't feel bad Mike you're new you'll catch on to how this works then I had the thought one that might rid me of Mike for good Ralph really helped me out maybe he'd be a good choice for you to consider yeah he won't be the same as you Dan you'd be surprised we're all the same in one way or another promise me that you'll keep an open mind okay anything for you Dan oh I hung up and takes the directions to the meeting then I tell my phone back off I decided I'm trying to catch a little nap after all and so cold up on the couch in the reception area of my office I drifted off almost immediately but it didn't last long I woke screaming and in a cold sweat just 45 minutes later I've got my face and realized that I've been crying also I dreamt of the one thing why thoughts of it returned and in such force damn Ralph he brought it up and started pressing me that would make sense although and a feeling that Mike had something to do with it guilt over avoiding him constantly having to look over my shoulder and avoid phone calls ah perhaps the fact that Mike had lost his daughter I pushed the one thing to the back of my mind once again and decided to cross the street to McDonald's to get in at least one meal before that evenings meeting I had to cross a four line street in order to reach McDonald's it was the middle of the afternoon Claire weather and being a Saturday there was only light traffic I have some mindedly glanced in both directions and crossed not bothering to walk the corner and wait for a signal I was about halfway across when seemingly out of nowhere a car came racing up me the driver was noticeably straddling the dough strips centerline of the road and overcorrected when he noticed me at the last moment I could hear the tires screech as the driver got back into his own lane and sped off and drunk knew the signs when he saw another drunk driving under the influence this guy was definitely drunk probably drinking his car all morning and then falling asleep of the wheel after finally deciding to go home I didn't myself on many occasions even though I could have stayed home and drank intently and safely in the comfort of my living room I would choose the sit at a park on some mornings and drink in my car I thought about strange the ritual was and how it was not unique to me on any given morning there would be a spattering of cars in each slot all parked as far away from each other as a lot would allow each car with a single occupants seemingly just sitting there every now and then with glance over and catch the sights of a bottle being raised the driver's lips Fred and then the guy from one of the meetings would occasionally go down to the local park and work it he'd walk around the Lots and catch drunks pretending that he had just been walking by and was looking to make conversation sometimes his presence was enough to make the drunk drive away sometimes they'd stay and talk sometimes they would even offer him a drink only twice as far as I'm aware of did Fred actually get a drunk to open up about his problem and agreed to take Fred's advice it might not have seemed like a lot but that may have been - life saved + countless others if you figured in the innocent lives a drunk might take along with himself on the highway to hell I began to hyperventilate around the rest of the way across the street and sat on the curb mccords rising and tried to calm myself but could not eventually I threw up in the gutter he was in the first time but in the past had always been drunk or hungover I realized how pitiful I must have looked I never seem to care in the past eating was out of the question I went back to the parking lot of my office crossing the street with extra care this time and got into my car I drove straight to the church I would be almost an hour and a half early but that was ok someone was always there early to open up the rooms and make coffee it was nice the shop and chat sometimes not surprisingly Mike was already there when I arrived he was sitting out in the parking lot but remained in his car it looks like he was dozing I walked over and rapped on the driver's side window a few times Mike startled and he rolled down the window Danny you're early that's great yeah couldn't wait to get here Mike I said sarcastically tell you what let's go around back and grab a bench I've had Mike behind the church it was a small outdoor Chapel of sorts just a few benches facing on large wooden cross and overlooking a small stream a motion from Mike to take a seat and then sat down next to him Mike let's talk I felt surprisingly calm I know that you're pretty new to the program and this may be skipping ahead quite a bit but let me explain how the fourth and fifth step of a a goes they are to me at least probably the most important steps of all 12 they are where you begin healing sounds great then not really I did a really bad job on my fifth step remember how I told you that you're only as sick as your secrets Mike nodded yeah Danny the fourth and fifth steps ask you to make a searching and fearless moral inventory and then admit to God ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs I can see where that would help I have so much guilt or remorse Danny sometimes I think it's what makes me drink I shook my head no Mike you drink because you're an alcoholic it's a whole lot easier to get sober when you get your head on straight when you get rid of all that mess that's deep down inside the stuff that regrets are made of so are we going to do that now not we me I thought you already did your steps I nodded I did Mike I did but the fourth and fifth steps are carried on throughout the rest we have to continue to make a model inventory and do those steps over and over because we are human just because we get sober doesn't make us Saints we still make mistakes Mike nodded slowly and remain quiet It was as if he knew that I was about to say something important and it was time to keep his mouth shut he seemed like there was something that I never admitted in my fifth step something that I couldn't admit the one thing that I wasn't ready to give up I don't know why it is catching up to me now I'm afraid that if I don't let it go I'm either going to drink or kill myself or both what is it then oh this is probably a mistake telling a newcomer especially about the one thing in fact this would be better left with a priest but at this point it doesn't matter because I'm going to have to own up to it the one thing is something that everyone will find out about sooner or later probably sooner now you can tell me Danny your secret is safe with me suddenly It was as if Mike had become the old-timer his demeanor changed he surely didn't seem like a newbie anymore the whole way he was acting he'd gone from being an annoying overexcited took quiet comforting soul at least in my heart I took a deep breath I've been sober for about 15 years one month one week in four days I told you that I came into the rooms about 16 years ago though well something happened about six months into that I've been dry sure but still an alcoholic still exhibiting all the same behavior that's what the program is for by the way not to make a stop drinking but to make a saner healthier people well Mike I my breath pitched in my throat I was already regretting bringing this up but I felt it was too late now go on Donna I'm listening it was late summer around 7 o'clock dusk I was driving up Parkside Avenue you know the place yeah as a matter of fact I used to live in a called Sackhoff Parkside then you know the hill about Midway's anyway I was coming up over the crest of the hill tolling in long pink clouding it stone-cold sober mind you a girl a little girl damn it she came out from between two parked cars and just just ran out in front of me oh god Danny no yeah I couldn't stop it I ran a down mic a little girl that's horrible my grimaced but it was an accident Danny he said so yourself he was sober she ran out from between the cars you couldn't have known no but it was what I did next that was unforgivable what then Mike rocked back placed his fingers together and knitted his brow he declare headed look about him one that I had never seen a mug's face before what was unforgivable I took a deep breath I didn't stop I just kept on driving I panicked it was like I'd been drinking I didn't want to get caught after what I realized that it was mistake at the time I just panicked I acted just like a drunk would have had left her there Mike maybe she was still alive but I left her there what if she was just hurt and could have been saved if I just stopped she was dead the instant you hit her down you couldn't know that I didn't know that and I was there I do know her Danny that's what the EMT said dead on I jerked my head up it was as if my stomach had dropped out from under me but the first Hill on a roller coaster what did you say when I got there that's what the EMT told me dead on impact she didn't suffer she probably had no idea what had happened what the hell are you talking about Mike she was my daughter Danny I was speechless i sat still for a moment and then started shaking my head violently no screw you Mike her father is dead I followed the story in the papers he killed himself two months after the accident got drunk and drove into a bridge why the hell would you even say something like that Micah tears welling up in the corners of his eyes because now I know Danny now I know that you are ready to free yourself of the one thing screw you Mike how can you pull something like this how can you even say something like that do you think that this is a joke as DOM Dawei sobbing and walked over the church Ralph had arrived and was walking in himself he noticed how upset I was and stopped me grabbing my shoulder and turning me around somewhat forcefully Danny what's wrong what's going on the hassle I told him Ralph I told him the one thing and do you know what he said slow down Danny said Ralph if you're ready why didn't you tell me what the one thing is first my secret is no longer a secret I told Ralph exactly what I told Mike and he said that he's a father a dick who Danny who Mike that idiot who's been harassing me where is he Danny is he here I'll talk to him I turned pointed at the bench he was sitting right there Ralph cocked his head Danny are you okay no I'm upset and with good reason I just told him that one thing and he goes out and says that Ralph's brow wrinkled with concern Danny have been in for 20 minutes waiting for you to go inside I saw you sitting them in the bench talking to yourself and thought that you were praying or needed some time to yourself you were alone the whole time Danny I scanned the parking lot no battered green Honda I started to breathe heavily and pulled up my phone I scroll through my core log all of the calls I'd made received all of the texts nothing the only call in the last three days was the one I had made to Ralph that same morning it was one message waiting in my inbox it had no number associated with it I forgive you Danny across the bridge over the creek and down to Beckford hallo mind your head and don't turn back lickety-split we'll follow the call was about 1:00 in the morning I didn't know you're back in town is a pause I don't have a number saved but I recognized the voice the slight stutter the round vowels sure yeah staying in my uncle's caravan park for a little while till I'm back on my feet at least how did you know I was here that I was back rain beats against the thin metal of the caravan news travels an itch a concentration lapses for a second as if she's seen something can you remember I do remember at least some of it I'm trying to organize my thoughts into something that might actually make sense when a voice changes grow slower concerned you are okay though right I don't know what she's asking about if she's just checking up or if she heard about my breakdown about how I ended up chewing my lips and so my pillows are brown and crusted with blood staring at the ceiling and so they had to break down my door maybe she's just being nice I'm fine like I'm all good sure swing by tomorrow yeah it'll at least give me something to do she hangs up before I have a chance to respond good to know she hasn't changed still finding ways to get you to do what she wants little turns of phrase or actions that make is so hard to say no to I wonder if she's changed as much as I have if it affected her as much as it did to me if she still has trouble sleeping I heard then in the dark someone off in the distance singing it probably drunk on their way to the cam toilets are walking back from the pub the same song that's been sung in this town since I was a boy since my father was a boy the verses change with the times but the melody never changes lickety-split my phone buzzes a text 1:28 make sure you come tomorrow have something to tell you it's important the drunkard gets closer singing louder now and I think they must have woken half the sight up when they stagger and steady themselves against my Caravan the noise makes me jump makes my heart start racing they continue the song losing the melody somewhere but soldiering on regardless words slurred under the branches through the trees the flower are a touchy what's your tongue and hold it now lickety-split is watching and reminds me of how we'd sing it as children in the playground the woods the creek I wake early the next morning wash my meds down with cold coffee from the night before stretch on the walk to the showers I see that whoever was drunk had vomited just behind my Caravan damn real nice in Stark almost the color of ink and I can vaguely make out the shapes of love breeze a small dark berry they grew in the woods each bordered I make a mental note to call my uncle let him know the walk de blake's doesn't take too long maybe half an hour and it's nice to be out in the morning air despite the season it's cold nips my exposed skin between my fingers under my jaw as I get closer memories start to flip back half form things after school walks our first cigarette I ring the doorbell stand back her house is huge imposing although empty I studied the vines calling up the side the vast windows on the ground floor the small windows of a room we used to open to smoke from the top floor was a parent's although I guess now just a mother it's hard to see but for a moment it seems as if there's something in the top window against the glass someone I make eye contact with her mother so much older then when I last saw her her hair a white mess her cheeks sunken eyes fixed on me I want to look away and focus on the footsteps that I can hear coming to the front door but I can't I swear she's mouthing something to me or herself and just as I'm trying to decipher what it is wike opens the door damn Isaac I'm lost the words it's been so long red hair still a mess glasses still perched so far down her nose I'm not convinced she can see out of them at all her grin all teeth older though for a moment I can see something in her eyes a brief sadness but she pushes through pulls me into a hug it's been so long I hug her back too long I know I know I should have moved out by now but since mom got sick she's been bedridden can't even get up to dress herself or go to the toilet I'm cheaper than a nurse right rents cheap too she smiles wide but I can see she wanted to get this out of the way that she had this prepared beforehand maybe even rehearsed it and that talking about it is painful I think about mentioning her mother in the window the words she was mouthing but I decided against it it must be hard enough already in the same way my body still knew the hills and the turns of the town it still knew her we knew the rhyme of each other's conversations of our jokes our silences and after five minutes we're talking like old friends she shows means of the kitchen makes a cup of tea offers me some food we talked a while until she pauses chewing her lip concentrating on something then her mind springs into action all at once upstairs I want to show you something I don't say much nod this way I leave my tea on the table follow her I have no idea what it is she wants to show me what it could possibly be but it must be important she's acting different no longer all jokes and smiles as there has grown underfoot and the landing is bare she gestures to a door after you and push it open slowly and take a second to absorb what's inside stacks of paper piled on the floor on the tables plates of food amongst of teeth dotting the floor whiteboards covered in scribbles of black pen port and the walls huge in ancient books stacked under the tables she moved to the mess with a practice tease picking her feet up just before they knock something over bending at just the right time to avoid a stack she turns to me look I know it's a lot to take in but I figured well I don't know if there's a nice way to say this I figured that you out of anyone would have a little more sympathy for all of this I'm thinking about what she means what any of this is for and as if to answer my question she continues lickety-split the nursery rhyme I remember the verse from the night before the endless shifting verses of my childhood who do you think wrote it she waits expecting a reply look like I don't know I don't know if this is she cuts me off the verses change year-on-year they shift and they change and no one notices it just happens I think of the conversation we had downstairs of how she seemed a little preoccupied tired this has been keeping her up and I'm not sure how much good it's doing her and I've been talking to Michael I don't know if you guys keep in contact but he teaches at Manchester Union out for the linguistics department the name Michael brings to mind a face and sets of memories jealousy the three of us drinking in fields the shed we built he specializing in local dialects and songs he's been really helpful she starts going through the stack of papers now putting some in her teeth as she flicks through we've been logging the appearance of verses as best we can when they crop up in home videos the yearly short film the school makes with the kids which isn't easy to get trust me she shifts collecting all the pieces of paper she has now pushing her glasses a little further up her nose to read these verses just change one day the kids are singing one thing the next they're singing another no one knows why they change has any memory of changing them it's like they come from a sort of collective unconscious wrinkles our nose choose ellipse now this is where me and Michael disagree he thinks that they were in response to events that the readings we have aren't accurate enough but they're an unconscious response the trauma deaths in the town this is this is she's time as a little her brain obviously working faster than a mouth you need to trust me ok this looks weird sure and the next bit will sound weird but I'm not making it up all the deaths that happen in this town and the forest Lawton in 2003 Tim Jones 2007 all the rest the rhymes predict them she looks to me her eyes white now as she just shared something private a secret the look you give when you tell a friend how you really feel or when you confess the rhyme predicts the deaths Isaac and I don't know why I don't know if it's a collective premonition or if there's something someone out there using us it's my turn to cut her off now Blake this isn't fair I can't do this you know I can't do this I haven't been well I'm not well I'd hop on my temple indicating where the illness is I've just recovered I meant to be taking it easy all that stuff from when we were teenagers I couldn't handle it I don't know if you could but I can't do this with you I don't wait around to see if she'll try and persuade me to see if she's got some way of reeling me in I thank her for a hospitality and head down the steps and out of the door as I open a gate a turn to look at the house one more time to see if she's watching from a window nothing except on the top floor her mother same as she was before but closer to the window now as if she's desperate to see me mouthing some words almost shaking her eyes fixed on me going through me the walk home takes a long time I wanted to help her I really did and I wanted so much to have a friend again but I know what I can and can't do what this will do to my mental health but it stays in my mind the way she'd explained it to me not just frantic but almost pleading as if each new fact about her theory was a reason for me to stay not to leave her alone in that huge an empty house with the mother I passed a playground on my way back and stopped for a while the swings and frame are the same fresh coat of paint maybe but I can still see where we'd climb where we'd hide at night getting stolen spirits and I listen a few kids are playing climbing and the parents sit on the sides watching and as they watch the kids begin to sing through the gate and into the house let your friends come near you talk as if you know what's right the kitty split can hear you the last line makes me uncomfortable makes my chest ache I have an image of her mother again her eyes wide her mouth moving as if on its own I could hear Blake tell me about how sick she was it didn't make sense the room we were in was below her mother's room I knew that much but now the children continue the day is new the day is old these thoughts are Paley crowning junk and rain and stuck in mud lickety-split is drowning as if on cue it begins to rain again gently and as I walk he picks up Lorraine thrown by wind growing thicker and faster and to have to lean into it Thunder the path turning from gray stone to black I hurry home trying to stay as dry as possible breaking into a little jog my lungs hurt and before long I'm soaked the roof and out of breath I stopped leaning back gulping down air I haven't run in years and my body isn't nearly as up for it as I thought my half walk half jugged the rest of the way although when I finally get back to the caravan park there's a huge commotion a crowd of people gathered around a caravan not too far from me the caravan I was sure belong to the drunken singer from the night before I bust through them to get to mine ignoring the face as they pull at me that is until I see him the story they tell after was that he fell whilst blackout drunk slipped on the wet metal steps holding a bottle face-first onto the glass had dislocated his jaw on his lips to shreds and then when his face pressed into the wet mud he'd been too drunk to pull himself out the plot and the earth had made a sort of suction and you could see the thin scores in the mud either side of him or he desperately tried to pull himself out let's say he drowned in the mud not even a foot from his own home but that he'd really drowned in the bottle 20 years earlier that he was waiting to die anyway no kids dead wife but I saw the body as they pulled it under the stretcher I saw the look in his eyes terror the waist mouth is bloody and his jaw hung loose there's no way he drowned in the mud had seen faces like that before Blake and Michael - I spent so long in therapy convincing myself it didn't happen like that it couldn't happen like that and now it had happened again right in front of me there was no denying it I thought on it for the rest of the day and so night came I called Blake she picked up instantly as something happened are you okay Blake yeah sort of but it's complicated let's just speak tomorrow I think I should cut me off hold that thought speak tomorrow got it hold up sorry noises upstairs your mum probably she doesn't work anymore sometimes falls out to bed have to help her get back in gotta go she hung up before I had a chance to interrupt her to ask about her mother to explain what I'd seen and it's probably nothing anyway I tried calling her a couple of times but it doesn't go through I watch news online with the volume as loud as possible to drown out the noise from outside someone's reporting from the local school on the roof that collapsed in a building in the storm in the background a couple of kids mill about waiting to be picked up by their parents the reporter moves closer to ask them something but they seem engrossed in their game instead together in their small voices slightly out of tune they sing now you're here now you're back collected your composure buck the door and hold your breath lickety-split grows closer this town was built with bloody hands and we are done with waiting keep it hush bite your tongue lickety-split is escaping I find it hard to sleep I can't stop thinking about the accident what it did to all of us the way it changed us I think about Blake and her mother and that vast empty house who made our three or four and how much I wanted to apologize to her how much I wanted to take it all back I think of the Blackwater the oil slick of a blood on the surface there we had teeth hung just below the surface like fishing lures it turns inside me all these thoughts these old anxieties and I do the only thing I can do to control it I hold my breath I hold my breath under my lungs felt like they going to burst until all the pressure inside of me built up to match the pressure I feel from the outside and as I'm in this state chest hurting I swear to God I feel as if something outside is holding his breath with me I feel as if through the thin metal something is on the other side mimicking me breathing as I breathe sometimes I think I can hear it this breathing any out of tempo with mine I hold my breath until I fall asleep Long's run ragged and I dream of mud of broken bottles songs half forgotten I wake early there's nothing in the way of sound insulation in a cheap Caravan and I can hear all the sounds of the sights starting up the sputter of a generator conversations between neighbors the faint hiss of the showers it's only when I look in the mirror that I see it blood in my sleep I've chewed my lip compulsively and now my chin and pillow are brown with old blood I tried to send to myself try and think calming thoughts I haven't done this in a while sure but I tell myself that this isn't a relapse isn't a return to where I was before it comes off in the showers turning to a red puddle around my feet I decided to head over to Blake's as early as possible slightly concerned by a message from the night before I'm lost in daydreams when someone calls out to me an old man sat on a bench both hands clasped over a walking stick he smiles broad shrunken gums missing teeth lovely day for it a nod and keep walking hoping that passes for a greeting he repeats himself lovely day for it All Things Considered that stops me my tracks I think of the drunk the night before drowned face caved in by the bottle I think of the shallow marks in the soil where he desperately tried to pull himself up as he felt himself drowning the old man suddenly seemed less friendly less charming and it's as if he knew I realized then that although his face is fixed in a smile his eyes don't smile at all they are level probing set in a face they were entirely at odds with we stand like that for a while I'm unsure whether to say anything and he just stares back hands shaking slightly on his stick then he stands and tips his cap before walking off singing just loud enough for me to hear pay attention little ones the morning is abating we shall sing this song for you for lickety-split is waiting it occurs to me that something might have happened to Blake that she might be in some sort of danger and begin to feel my heart pound I can hear it it's beating so fast and for the last minute of the walk I hold my breath again until I feel my lungs swell and I see spots in my vision I stop outside her house breathe I ring the buzzer and step back perhaps it's habit now or a morbid curiosity but I look up to a mother's room from this angle I can see less of it and I think for a second she's not there but as I wait tapping my foot she appears again now looking down at me still mouthing those same words she looks stranger now more hunched her face meaner and her mouth moves fast I pressed the buzzer again text her her mother is watching me more intently now and I start hammering on the door images fill my mind like dead on the kitchen floor hanging from the rafters half drown and I can't take my eyes off a mother as she speaks it seems like something is crawling out of a mouth something slow a spider perhaps with long white limbs no not a spider but a hand fingers slowly her hand is pulling its way out of a mouth resting its fingers and a sunken cheeks more and more emerging from the dark of a throat I'm leaning on the buzzer now banging the door with my fist and it opens Blake is in an old t-shirt with a cup of tea Isaac I was just upstairs listening to a a bush pasta your mouth of like she was at the window saying something has been before and there was something in her mouth I'm sure of it hey hey slow down she speaks the way she did when we were hurt or upset putting her hand on my arm easy we have to go upstairs your mother Blake she's been watching me from the window I start up the steps she follows trying to reason with me to calm me down as we go up explaining that her mother never gets out of bed can't get out of bed hasn't walked on our own in years and I stop outside the door I think I can see a shadow against it as if someone stood on the other side waiting I feel sick I could smell rot an old wood Blake pushes it open her mother lies completely still in bed the sheets tucked over her as if they were made this morning her eyes however how wide open staring bolt upright fixed on the ceiling happy now I immediately feel a pang of guilt I try and explain myself that I saw her by the window speaking oh sure of it when Blake speaks I can hear the pain in a voice it makes it thick and strained she's looking at me now like I'm not a friend but an intruder like I'm mocking her Isaac my mother wasn't by the window because she hasn't gotten out of bed in years she hasn't said a word in years let alone a whole sentence I try and interrupt to apologize but she can't stop so don't burst into my house a God knows when in the morning telling me my mum's up and talking talking to you of all people when I've been here every single day every single day in this town praying she gets better and she won't even look at me and takes it out of her and she deflate her shoulders slouch she looks to the floor hey I'm sorry I didn't sleep and she shakes a head it's alright we're standing in the strain silence now when a note is something on the windowsill what looks like scratch marks in the white paint revealing the wood beneath and then we hear it from downstairs something repeated over and over a voice several voices chanting lickety split lickety split lickety split lickety split lickety split the sound carries itself through the empty house creeps of the stairs and hangs between us that word over and over again and I don't want to mention a mother again but I swear the expression on her face changes as camuto's eyes suddenly seem to have intention behind them a life Lexx eyes go wide and she runs down the stairs I follow into the room she had been conducting her research in a needle had skipped on an old record of lickety-split she'd had that had been pressed on vinyl but there was something weird about it each time it skipped the voice is changed not just higher and lower but different textures accents as if each new skip came from someone new she lifts the needle we talked for a while I try and be as understanding as possible give her time to talk to explain a theories and research hoping to make up for upsetting her earlier I explained about the drunk at the campsite the way he drowned in the mud the songs I heard before it hey Isaac I hope this isn't weird but Michael called me the other day I should have mentioned that last time but he's driving down to come see me to help out I think I mean he's probably on his way now I felt jealousy nest between my ribs under my tongue she shows me a video he sent of him talking he looks a holder handsome Claire frame glasses the way he says his excited the meter makes my stomach turn he mentions my name says he's excited to see me - all things considered and for a moment I forget about the jealousy I remember him as a boy the way he threw his head back when he laughed his big Yap of laugh so loud you couldn't help but laugh - even if you were trying to sulk she suggested we go for a walk around the woods clear our minds and that she's managed to pinpoint the rough locations of a few local deaths and disappearances can't hurt to check it out the idea of spending the day with her wins me over eager to make up for the way I'd barged in this morning I almost for a second forget about Lickety forget about the song offhand I mentioned the strange man this morning Blake freezes missing teeth little hats were like this she makes a gesture about this high I nod yeah that's him she goes pale withdraws into herself for a moment runs a hand through a tangled hair that's Jane's dad he looks so different to how he did that night I think an images flashed through my mind the collapse trying to get her out the sound of metal on bone doubled over heaving on grass I remember her Blake held her until the ambulance came how I could do nothing but sit and heave and heave and I thought I'd run out of air to breathe we leave the house packing a few supplies for a walk food bottles of water it's strange but on our walk to the start of the woods it seems as if by coincidence everyone in town is coming out to see us behold women and men as by the bedroom windows watching us walk past children step out into the road people sit still in their cars a few children kick the odd ball down the road ahead of us scattering leaves singing be polite and well-behaved oh they will be furious he wonders where you're going now lickety-split is curious i phone buzzes it's Michael trying to FaceTime she picks up putting him on speaker but on his end it's just black we wait for a while to see if he'll realize but nothing she goes to hang up wait listen and so we do partner is closer to the phone and we can hear him talking to himself this frenzied monologue speaking so fast it's like the words are pouring out of him as if he has no control over it and we only catch snippets of what he's saying they're wrong they're wrong they're wrong people assume language and reality are distinct but they're the same always have been we cannot understand it all without language you must understand language changes it is fluid the dead dream and a thieves speak gutter and this town this town sings and sings he's shouting now into the phone hoping he'll hear our tiny voices from his pocket and stop something about it freaks me out the way the words just tumble out the deranged stream-of-consciousness style of it none of it makes any sense the town sings has always Sun built with bloody hands built with bloody hands which our louder and there's the sound of fumbling Michael pauses up leans his face now is completely changed from the man who sent the video a few days ago to put it bluntly he looked like hell bruised purple bags under his eyes hair greasy and face covered in sweat when he sees us his eyes go wide and he looks away I think is driving he looks back you called Michael you called us pocket call how long ago I don't know we've been listening to you ramble for what a couple minutes if it was possible his face grew a little paler his teeth worked against the inside of his lip I was talking rambling he pulls over what was I talking about Blake I was I talking about I don't know language singing it didn't make any sense I could see the panic spread across his face watch it as it reaches his eyes the corners of his mouth Jesus there's a sound of fumbling something being cut and he leans over Blake turns to me pulling a face and then Michael sits back up and covering the bottom of his face are two thick strips of black electrical tape they cross over his mouth which he seems determined to keep shot we have nothing to say can say nothing can only stare as he nods to us face now forcibly held in a state of panic and hangs up he texts a second later 11:23 will explain have brought books and then 11:23 stay safe the overcast skies cast a dim light on the forest and the roots and earth seemed to merge into one as if the whole forest is this one dark organism we pick our way across it following a well-known path Beckford holo until we find the site of the first death hannahb Lawton the site's now covered in wildflowers lilac and pale blue against the stone we stand in silence for a while unsure really of what to look for of what we expect hey Blake calls me over I like the way she speaks outside the way she makes a voice a little quieter like she's trying to respect the forest around her she's crouched down and pointing at something I follow her finger there planted in the earth like a seed was a tooth milk-white Blake picks it up and drops it in her pocket and now she does so we see an older couple walking down the path heading out of the woods they nod and as they pass I hear the song they're singing this new season these new seeds bold and white and bony don't get lost stay on the path lickety split is lonely I feel this need to get out of the forest the verses feel as if they're following me as if they match the world around me and as the melody fades I feel like the forest turns on me the trees swell and the shadows grow darker we need to go Blake nods as we make our way out of the forest we see more and more teeth on the ground enamel shining through dirt and realized that the whole of the forest floor is covered in them these new seeds we pick up our pace sounds echo in the spaces between the trees rustling a humming I feel my back stiffen fear works its way up my spine and into the base of my skull when did we walk so far in I feel as if there's something else out there something watching us peering from the space is under roots from beneath stones hidden in piles of leaves we push on I swear I can hear it occasionally the sound of a foot breaking on a twig or a foot on bark something behind us keeping his distance eventually the woods thin and we find ourselves back in the town we both take a deep breath and I think secretly don't want to admit to the other how scared we were it doesn't take long for us to find our way back to her house eat spend the afternoon discussing the teeth the recording she has we decide that we need to take a deeper look into this town's history see if we can find anything in the local library or online and she gets a text 1925 at Bigfoot's Road must be Michael and then 1926 help and then a phone doesn't stop buzzing and his message after message text after text all just one word repeating himself over and over and over 1926 help 1926 help 1926 help 1926 help 1927 help 1927 help we have no choice we've run out the house what's the fastest route she takes a moment looked me in the eyes winces through the woods damn and as we make our way back to the woods we see them figures coming to the windows peering round corners endless pale faces in the half-light we hear what they're singing as they move forward all in unison you've heard the words you know it's true it's starting to be clear now watching waiting and coming for you Nikita splint is here now a mind has depth we don't forget born from the embers try as you might you cannot hide lickety-split remembers we move towards the woods the night is heavy the shadows an oil slick on our skin as we draw closer to the woods the tall black trees the new seeds that wink at us from the earth I feel my chest tighten i brace myself I can't help it images of Jane come to mind the situation plays itself out in slow motion drunk cheap cider rocking her in the shed making noises telling us something was locked in there with her unable to get out I remember the way she hammered against the door begging us to let her out we start trying we can't lock stuck she's saying it's not funny it's not a joke there's something in there with her she's sure of it it's getting closer in the dark I was shouting back that we're trying we're trying were trying we actually are now we actually are trying but the door stuck and the woods are a different kind of dark imposing try as we might we kind of help but shake the feeling we're not alone no birds I want to say something to Blake say something that might make this better easier but I'm mute we pick away along the path by the light of a torch and then slowly make our way down a hill trying to move as quickly as possible scanning the earth for roots or stones all we can see his teeth she's kicking the door now and it swings open Jane stumbles out younger than us by a year or two and the momentum carries her she stuck his door right slips on the edge falls into the river her head catches on the edge of the boat with a brief sharp crunch then silence for a moment the sound of water lapping against the hull against the shore we push on Blake's talking out loud periodically we have shown herself reassuring me saying that we're not far now are we getting closer that she hopes Michaels okay doesn't know what's gone into him I can hear this slight shake the tremor in the longer words she's just as scared as I am occasionally I can hear twigs crack in the distance the sound of dislodged soil something's following us at least shadowing us whatever it is keeps his distance chooses instead to watch us both following this white circle panting plate goes first a helper leans over the edge they try and grab hold of her but she stumbles steadies herself against the rear of the boat which starts the drift away she shouts Michael and I too drunk to react for a second then we come over both grabbing the back of the boat taller heaving it towards Shore Blake joins in - and for a second we think it's okay Jane comes out of the water head against the lip of the shore a cuts on her forehead she's gasping for air it happens in slow motion it's too late the boats in the water there's no friction not really tons of metal and wood that we've managed the pole the boat won't stop slowly gliding towards the stone shore the only thing between the two is Jane's head we can see streetlights through the trees back foots road Blake begins to shout Michaels name sprinting now stumbling but steadying yourself against the trunk of a tree running out onto the grass and then we can see his car expensive black and michael doubled over the hood as if retching the boat one stop tons move to slick over water Jane's head services resting a head against the stone for a moment a white crunch as the boat makes impact her teeth like popcorn scattered over the shore blood and clear liquid burst from a nose I don't remember much else I remember coming to on the grass tasting bile and hunched over Blake with something in her arms some wet and red mess sirens Michael pacing up and down tank oh god oh god oh god oh god the stones of the shore slick with something as black in the moonlight white teeth scattered and Michael bent over the hood of his car he's retching something's coming out of his mouth hanging there for a moment her hand with long and grasping fingers slowly pulling its way out and then a wrist and a forearm reaching and we can see that Michaels eyes are wide in terror and he's shaking and he can't hear us now we're both shouting his name as loud as you can maybe 20 seconds away he staggers falls behind his car we can't see him there's a wet tear a sound like stones against a car door then as we draw closer to the car we see it some shape white and hunched all bone and joints and it's running off into the woods we find Michael glassy-eyed and the other side of the car dead his throat pops like a ripe fruit is joined to he stares up at us motionless as if to say too late this isn't like when we were teenagers I don't retch Blake doesn't cry we stand there in silence stealing ourselves we can see the paint of his car scratched for her long trails dragging from his door to the hood the CD he was listening to is caught like the vinyl and so quiet we can hear it now it says lickety split lickety split lickety split lickety split lickety split blake brings us leaves to her eyes leans forward and takes a bundle of letters and papers from the front seat she bends down takes his phone from his pocket no passcode she thumbs in 999 calls them reports an accident and drops the phone still on the call into his lap we need to go now I tried to protest but she cuts me off we don't have time to explain she looks the Michael his corpse odd we even say try explaining she gestures to the state of his face that and so we move back through the forest in a grim and determined silence now and blake saying that we have to get to the library to read michael's notes and the hole up there and see if we can figure out what this is what's happening that thing i've raised the point that it might be out here following us on our trail it had the other way isaac at least i hope it did cold sweats chewing my lip now so much my mouth begins the taste like iron my hand shaking even in my pockets I think of the way we rabbits react when picked up stiff and terrified but helpless I am a rabbit I think caught in the headlights of something I do not understand whatever it was has not followed us through the forest we emerge in town picking away through the streets silently found the library an old building stacks of books leaning against dust grey windows paint peeling on the door Blake moves ahead follow me we hopped the wooden fence to the side of it find some bins a small stairway that leads to the basement they never lock it like sighs I must look confused because she follows up with look you don't spend your life here without picking up a few tricks good point I think Michael's death hasn't hit either of us yet that our bodies are running on pure adrenaline we make our way down the stairs open the door it creaks a stagette lonely sound the room stinks of old books of mothballs damp wood Blake shuts the door behind her a torch is the only light now giving our faces a white glow and casting a long shadows in the rest of the room she walks to the corner a single desk facing the wall she flicks on a dim lamp sit here starts Michaels notes I'm going to she pauses ahead upstairs a few books I think might be important stay quiet remember we're not meant to be here and with that she's gone I'm alone in a room I realize I do not know the size of as completely dark except for one dim lamp in front of me I start reading there are bundles of academic papers pages and pages of handwritten notes that are I assume Michaels photocopies of all the books of nursery rhymes written in Old English images of old wood etchings of witches and beasts with goats heads and men's bodies round fires women with horse's legs and hanged men newspaper clippings I don't know where to start and all I can do is flick through them trying to absorb them to see if I can pick up on what Michael and Blake seem to know this hidden thing that links all of these I read about a language called gutter but thieves and speak that it can mean two things at once that they use it to communicate that with it you can say things that aren't possible in the tongues we speak I read an old text from some group in the 1800s called the next-of-kin at least a member of the next-of-kin called MT Miller who suggests rather dead speak a language of their own that they dream and that if you could somehow harness these dreams you could my attention wanes it makes no sense the ravings of mad people a noise behind me the flicking of a page as if someone stood behind me in the rows and rows of books watching me casually slowly leaving through a book waiting my breath grows shallow I can feel their eyes on me and the room suddenly feels so huge like my voice is hoarse and quiet too scared to commit to normal volume instead only offering a half whisper footsteps something moving behind me I turn around trying to see what it is but the lamp only goes so far and most of the rows and rows of books are completely obscured in shadow for a moment like something swimming in the corner of your eye I think I see a shape something pale humanoid on all fours I tried to collect myself tell myself I'm just imagining it but there it is again as I feel my heartbeat rise I can hear it in no voice I recognize a voice that's somewhere between a child and a man as if some alien voice is forming around words not meant for it we've tasted now that hidden fruit trust me we will free you stay where you are don't go now lickety split can see you then before I know it I'm running running towards where I think the stairs are as fast as I can not caring if I slam into something or knock something over only wanting to be out of here to be back with Blake not to be so alone and I can hear whatever it is running after me uneven and scratching footfall I keep running as fast as I can and the books never end it's as if there are now thousands of shelves stretching on for so much longer and the room seems to be endless and I just keep running as it grows darker barely able to see now except for in the gaps between shelves when I come to the end of one and just before another starts in that gap I can see something bounding after me only separated by rows and rows of books that's keeping pace with me taunting me the room cannot be this big cannot be this long I want to turn back to see if the lamp is still there only a few feet away but I can't I have to keep going not allow whatever this is to catch up with me to get me to find me it's playing with me I know that and then it's gone from the gaps and I think for a second I might have lost it but then I hear it and I know it's change lanes he's now behind me grasping for my heels and I slam into Blake knocking her books everywhere the two of us over her back hits the wall I stumble through the doorway and skin my elbows in the carpet lie there for a moment what the hell she stands up torch in my face and I can tell she's angry but then she sees my face how real the terror is I said to trying to explain in short sentences I can't help but shake the feeling that he wanted me alone that it's gone now at least for a while we walk around the room with the torch it's tiny I don't know how I could have run for that long we check each corner empty Blake sits at the desk takes out a pen hey get some sleep she gestures to the carpet better than nothing sleep takes me almost instantly I want to stay awake to keep watch but my eyelids are so heavy and I wake it's a Blake shaking me she meets my eyes speaking too quickly I know what it is she leans back looks around as if she can't believe it Isaac I know what lickity-split is she starts to stack the books on the desk takes a few pieces of paper and puts them in a pocket and I know how he stopped it try as they might they can't escape the truth is drawing closer of blood and fire and guilt and song Lickety splits not over we walk this land in bolts and chains a hole what pain these men bring our skin is torn our bodies tired for lickety split we sing before the Romans came to this wet spit of rock before they brought their endless roads and numerals and sweet wines the land belonged to someone else before they called it Britannia or England it belong to them tribes who roamed and bred and painted and fought who sang and moaned and the salt rocks of the coast who knew the land and its gifts the deer the wolves the small red berries that grew to your shins the thorns and thistles and wild dogs who prey to things that had no name and needed no names things that moved in the dark at the edge of the glow of the fire things that lived in the streams and trees an earth beneath our feet things that lived in song that were song and when the Romans came to the town now known as it and made cattle of its people the men's throats slit and hungry earth the women and children made slaves the weak inaud thrown into cold water told to swim they thought they could vanish well the tribes sang to but the tribe should not stop singing even in shackles and marched the way marched to the coast and the slave ships and they would not stop singing in between gulps of muddy river water or when flocked under the skin was raw and wet and ragged they sang even with her lips bruised when their throat was so dry it hurts a breathe they sang in to the storms and the sea spray even when the wind stole their voices and threw them back the words changed from man to man from woman to woman they changed as the world around them changed but the melody stayed the same and even once they were driven out the Romans could not lose the melody he was stuck in their heads leering at them from the dark corners of the forest in the chattering of rodents the quiet roll of thunder and the melody knew them it knew this strange and cruel invasion and it would not let them forget they tried to control it tried to ban the song but it failed it was not their song to finish they found men dead jaws and throat popped like wine skins men who had taken the sword to themselves men who would sing the song to anyone who would listen and so they drank themselves to death men who'd been singing the melody on top of cliffs and then never seen again this land was not theirs and they knew it that's what it is Isaac the song look at he split they're the same I try and wrap my head around it something a spirit of a creature ancient that stayed in the mind of this town that uses the town and lets the town use it something unpredictable powerful but the thing we saw the thing I saw should cut me off it's the song they're not distinct things Isaac the thing can only exist with the song and the song needs it to exist but it's the town's conscious it uses people works through them in its own way it thinks it's defending the town the same ways defended the town for years but the murders the death they didn't do anything at least not that we know of no but I don't think lickity-split works like that I didn't think it weighs things the same way we do it feeds when it wants to feed it protects who it wants to protect old pagans believed in spirit in rivers in trees well this is the spirit of song enforced silent for a while Blake speaks up if it's the town conscious Isaac you know what we have to do I did but I didn't want to admit it you have to give to the shed to where Jane fell I closed my eyes tried to steady myself and we have to hope it forgives us there's a pocket of time we have before we leave as we brace ourselves you both know what this means what it might cost I think of my breakdown of waking up in a bed face crusted with dried blood having chewed a hole in my lip of the numbness that spread from the center of my brain to my toes I thought of bike here all these years with no one but a mother comatose in silent only a mile or so away where it happened left in some small village in England before we leave Blake turns around and puts her arms around me rests her face against my neck and I can feel that it's wet with tears we stand like that for a moment amongst the old books the scattered papers wet with sweat and rain clothes dirty and just breathe in out then she pulls away and we're off as we make our way through the streets more and more people start to emerge not just old and young now but everyone faces we recognise and faces we don't crowding windows and doorways that pier at us singing and now we know why they know what happened have always known that this song has to happen this time there is no other way things end as they begin you can't hold the past or your guilt let lickity-split in we keep moving and as we draw closer to the river we notice the crowd change more and more and more of them hundreds now coming from all the angles from the roads walking from the woods all looking at us some dressed in tart suits some and what seemed to be sat cloths and leather some with war paint dubbed in their faces some in tunics and robes some lurching drunk some smoking pipes some naked some carrying tools and weapons and books and they're all looking at us singing the same song the same melody and between them occasionally we see Flitz of color of white a creature all bone and joints on all fours scoring between their legs over the shoulders peering from between the teeth from the darkness of their throat something that thrives on the song they all sing that needs it that is it and as we step foot on the grass and can see the shed where we use the tie of the boat the singing cuts go silent we move across the grass wet with Dew hand in hand and it plays out in front of us again in agonizing detail we see the four of us drinking Jane not noticing the faces when she turns her back here the stories we tell about what hides in the shed on the shore what horrid and monstrous things live there after dark and we see a walk-in on a dare disparate to prove herself to be our friend we can do nothing but watch as we lock it behind her as we hear her scream pound on the door to be let out I wanted to turn away I want to pretend this never happened but I have no choice the fall the sound of a for head against the boat the panic desperately trying to reach her the boat gliding in so heavy the sound of a skull fracture in her teeth breaking the top of a spine failing and I can't take it can't handle watching it again knowing I'm powerless to stop it and so I run forward to the edge of the river leaning over trying to push these apparitions away to help her myself and I can hear by calling and I'm unsure whether it's her ghost or her I leaned over the small gap between the boat and the shore where the blood is an oil slick on the surface of the water I try and grab Jane desperate to pull her out but it's not Jane what grabs my hand from the water is bony and all joints and teeth and leering at me lickety-split they have my wrist now tugging me pulling me harder and I'm trying to scramble back but I can't - hands down my wrists climbing up my arm gripping me so tight my fingers are going numb and slow and I can hear the melody now coming from underwater and I can see what lickity-split wants me lungs filled eyes glazed over it tugs sinking below the surface and I feel myself come with it losing my grip my center of gravity shifting and then I'm falling in unable to stop myself all I can see is the churning water and lickety-split mouth and teeth and eyes fixed on me and as a moment of stillness underwater it is silent I dunno yet need to breathe and I can see nothing I am alone there in the darkness I see it all play out before me around me I am in those ancient fires dancing at the edge singing the same song that my ancestors song joining hands leaping over hot embers and with his Centurions sick and freezing in these new wetlands the melody stuck in our heads trying not to sing it eyeing the swords the height of the cliffs I'm in the rivers in the woods so many places so many winds and the people change but the song stays the same this melody that's just as much a part of this land as the earth as the roots or the valleys I'm generation after generation a niche and all the secrets their worries their private guilts and hopes their loves their songs their regrets and dreams and I'm Jane's dad silence and numb with grief anger like a wound on Jane's mom who can't take it anymore who stops eating who refuses the drink who lets go and fades and Blake younger with Jane in a lap her face bloody and unrecognizable and I'm singing Jane a song stroking a hair despite it all trying to keep her conscious until the ambulance comes until her parents come I'm Michael pacing up and down my heart hammering my ribs guilt so intense is like a coal and my skin my mouth dry Hut tears in my face but I don't know who's and for the briefest moment I'm Jane herself terrified desperate to make friends to impress her somehow for us to love her like she loves us to have us dogon her the way she does in us and I'm a her terror as she stumbles out the cold shock of the water the sensation of a skull fracture elekid he split wants me to know wants me to know all of this and more wants me to see my place in the song wants me to understand that it is not my song but I am just a part of it but the song has been going for so much longer than I have and will continue for so much longer after but I am just a small part of it and that this part this part of the song that's so horrid and pained is partially mine and that no one else can own that for me I do not know how long I've been underwater I do not know much Who I am anymore I open my mouth to breathe you've come so far reached the end gone as far as you can go ancient songs and fresh new guilts lickity-split nose like a displayed nose lickety-split nose I come to embed a familiar sensation my chin my throat coated with dried blood have consumed my lip staring at the ceiling I think I'm alone I think it started again but I've been comatose forgotten the exact events after impact lost it again covered in blood and mine broken and I realize I have no idea how I got out of the water that Blake may have come in after me may have heard herself that the town may have to go to her or lickity-split and the feeling of not knowing makes me so powerless makes me realize that anything could have happened that I'm alone again and I let it happen happen as it did all those years ago that lick display got what it wanted has always wanted and here awake light comes through the door hair down holding a mug you know for a while whatever it was it's finished with us the questions I want to ask must register on my face because she nods takes a seat next to me takes my hand in hers it's done now over her bores birds outside the wind in the leaves I'm here though the Morning Sun glitters through clouds she squeezes my hand I'm here you've come this far you've seen it all the singers take about these things so old that will not go it's all over now it's all over now it's all over now I work in a hospital call center it's not great work but it pays the bills working for a hospital call center you get a lot of calls showing your eight hour shift usually it was just people trying to find a relative who might be there or someone trying to schedule an appointment in the surgery departments or maybe even people seeking medical advice I'm apparently not qualified to do any of those things so the job becomes a lot of one moment while I transfer you then they're sent to the desired departments you get a lot of angry people too most looking for the billing departments because the hospital dared to charge them for their services those people are best sent off quickly before they can get a good head of steam under them there were four to six of us in the basement at any given time mostly college kids or older people and then all I think around ten of us work the switchboard we take turns covering the midnight shift most of us working the day on mid day primarily and at the end of the month you'll walk away with a nice chunk of overtime for our trouble people being people there's always 12 to 16 hours of overtime a month no one Minds much the job is easy I used to really like having a job where I could finish my school work or play my phone for 8 to 16 hours and still get paid that was before the heavy breather ah pervert I turn to see Mary sitting on a headset and making a notation in the call log the notations were supposed to be for strange / unusual calls and for the last few months most of the entries had been for quote a heavy breather we would name the call of that because all they cause were the same he'd pick up the phone and hear the telltale heavy breathing on the other end and know what was going on we all figured it was some pervert some lonely sicko trying to get his rocks off to someone in the other end he'd hang up before he could get the satisfaction and make a note of it in the log book I say these things like there were regular occurrences but in truth idea to get the mystery caller every other operator had got to him at least twice sometimes three or four but I never managed to see what all the fuss was about he say anything this time I asked her without really expecting any great revelations just heavy breathing as usual I wish this pervert would get a life and find someone else to bother they agreed though I'd never spoken to him I knew he was a nuisance but secretly I wished I could get this mystery caller like everyone else I wanted to be part of the outrage I knew it was petty but I wanted to hear the ragged breaths on the other end I wanted to be like everyone else who'd gotten the call but I look back now and wish I'd never heard of the mystery caller I'll get my wish three days later three days of Midnight's my boss shrugged at me as she sank the push pins into the bulletin board she posted our schedule by hand every week despite the rest of the hospital having access to an electronic payroll system that generates the schedule for the week Martha his old school though probably been here since they pulled her out the foundation when they broke ground and she's one of the best bosses I've ever had she doesn't like how shorthanded we are any more than we do sorry Roger says he's taking the weekend off to go visit his boyfriend I swear I'd have fired him on the spot if he weren't so short-handed you're the only one with an open schedule kid I'll give you next weekend offer it if you want scouts honor Martha couldn't have known that this would likely be the last weekend I ever sat behind the desk Friday night went normally I arrived at 11:00 p.m. brewed a thermos of coffee and got to my desk around 11:15 Jordan and Aidan were there finishing up their calls while cleaning of their stations as they waited for Midnight's he chatted a little as I logged on discussing call volumes and talking about tonight's callin schedule apparently there was a team I needed to call in at 4:00 a.m. for a 5:00 a.m. case and they added that the heavy breather had been calling a lot today they don't say anything they just keep calling about once an hour like they're looking for someone pumps where's she heard them say her name before they hung up but Pam likes to make stuff up for attention I got a little excited when Jordan told me that if they were calling more often and maybe I get to talk to them I know it's way to hope that a crazy pervert will call you up and breathe in the phone but I really wanted the experience I felt like it would make me like everyone else and I was a little sore that I hadn't gotten him yet I would give my wish about an hour later he was around 12:30 when they called out sitting the call center basement sipping coffee and checking read it on my phone when I heard the computer chirp and informed me that I had a call used from an unlisted number not that uncommon and when I picked it up it sounded like someone was sitting too close to a fan or driving with a window down the blowing was annoying but I was professional and I tried to power through it Southwest Medical Center how may I help you the noise and the other end sounded different slightly and realized that it wasn't a fan but rain coming down hard and a window somewhere was it raining outside it hadn't been when I came in there hadn't been a cloud in the sky the rain covered it slightly but as I sat in silence I begin to hear the deep breathing on the other end there he was there was the weird caller hello Southwest medical can I help you the breathing persisted overtopped by the rain that hit hard and the windows of whereof they were a reach of the book to start scribbling down the usual message when I heard something over the phone I heard a voice I'm sorry I asked taken aback it's always dark here the pen fell out of my hand no one had ever heard this person talk before it was always just heavy breathing for a couple of minutes before they hung up had they been waiting for something I wondered for a moment if they talked before and maybe no one had told me or was I the first person they talked to it's always dark here they're repeated and this time I stopped thinking and really listened where are you I asked not sure what else they say the rain is so loud tonight they said the voice was neither male nor female and sounded low and growly like someone was getting over a cold look I'm not sure who you are but you've called the hospital if you need some help I'll be happy to help you but otherwise I need to cherish says hi the voice whispered that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up I had a sister named cherish she was about 12 and as far as I knew she was asleep of my parents house I shook off the fear and began to become angry whoever this was they were obviously having a laugh on my account and it really wasn't funny who is this Roger if this is you then I swear to God and go to HR this isn't a little bit funny and you need to but that's when the line went dead I held the phone against my ear for a few more seconds before putting it in the cradle and looking around nervously expected Roger or Jordan to pop out of the break room with their cell phone laughing because they it spooked me but all the company I got was the sound of the air-conditioning cycling overhead i sat for a few more minutes drumming my fingers and trying to forget the call but the more I thought about it the weirder it got my co-workers would have called back to make fun of me if this had been a prank if it wasn't them then some stranger on the phone had called up and said my sister's name coincidence or not I needed to be sure my mom picked up on the fourth ring and I could hear dad grumbling in the background hello she asked Lyra Lee mom hey I'm sorry is cherish okay I know there's a wave question but I could hear mom sitting up in bed are you okay you sound very upset please just answer me his cherish okay I don't know hon she's asleep away at Camp this week my blood ran cold I need you to call down there and make sure that she's okay hon what's all this about she asked groggily I just I got a weird call a man a go and I have to make sure she's okay my phone rang and I looked at the number unknown name and unknown number it couldn't be them again mom I need to call you back just promise me he'll call the camp and make sure she's okay mom said she would and I hung up and picked the phone back up I was immediately bombarded by the sound of rain and glass and muffled heavy breathing we call his voice sounded watery slurry like they'd recently choked on some water they sounded like someone with a sore throat in a bad case of pneumonia like a drowned person hello who is this cherish needs your help I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream into the phone whoever this is you need to stop I'm not amused and you were not funny I wanted to he's gone to get her she thinks he's her friend but he isn't he wants to hurt her you have to stop her who's gone to get her the woodsman he's a bad man and he wants your sister I didn't have the slightest idea who this person was talking about but what if they came was and I was starting to freak out look this isn't funny if this is a joke or something it's really gone - the line went dead then and I was left with static I spend the next hour in a fitful State I didn't want to call mom back and bother her with this but what if whoever that was wasn't kidding around surely my sister wasn't stupid enough to go off with someone into the woods right I didn't know and that lack of knowledge made me nervous I began to feel the walls of the basement closing in on me and the cost of phobia feeling made me shake and the phone rang again I caught it on the first ring without even looking hello I could hear the quiver in my voice the rain was softer now but the voice was no less intrusive he has her it all but screamed at me and I thought I could hear someone in the background crying and screaming just under the raspy husk he's hurting her please hurry where are you I screamed almost crushing the phone in my hand where has he taking her if this was a prank I was buying it hook line and sinker I could hear someone a small girl is sounded like screaming and crying and someone did God knows what tore my cell phone roared to life I looked down to see that it was mom and picked it up without thinking mom was hysterical on the other end she and dad were in the car and driving up to the camp the counselors had gone to check on cherish and found a bed empty what's more they found money boot tracks going into a cabin and then leaving out the same way I can't seem to track them the rain hair has been torrential but the State Police are bringing in tracking dogs and they're going to get started as soon as they can she's in the woods mom someone has her I spotted still hearing this screams on the phone my mom was silent for a few breaths how do you know that I've got a call on the phone who says she's alive but he sounds like he's hurting her they're in the woods mom tell them to search the woods she hung up on me and when I picked up the phone it had gone dead again i sat in the silence and felt utterly impotent should I leave and go help them look my job wasn't really the thing holding me here I was sure people would understand if I abandon my post but I was hoping that the mystery caller would give me more information every second counted now if my information could help them find her a little quicker then all the better I modeled there are few late-night calls while I waited and I'm sure that people knew the rent could tell how I was tense after an hour mom called to let me know they had arrived Lorraine and made it very difficult for the dogs to find a trail but they started searching the woods anyway the police were confident they could locate her but mom wasn't so sure she sounded scared and tired and just plain defeated when she hung up I stared at the phone on my desk and willed the mystery caller to call me they'd been so chatty before why they'd gone silent now I bolted the call logs on my computer then and started trying to find the number No Name no number was all I ever got though I know in movies the police can easily decode these private numbers but I work for a hospital and not even the emergency part of the hospital my resources were limited to what I could do on the out-of-date computer I had been given to work with when the phone rang 20 minutes later I looked the number and almost knocked it off the desk in my haste No Name no number hello hello where are you I needed to he's killing her the voice whispered harshly he's trying to make it last but he's killing her where are you the police are looking for her but I need to know where you are the voice went silent for a moment and I thought I had lost them again on the other end I could hear whimpering and the person making those noises salad broken hot tears ran down my face as I listened to what could be my sister's final breaths and I began to beg the voice to tell me where they were I lay my head on the desk and cried and let the tears flow as the voice seemed to contemplate how to answer me when played here it was about a mile from the camp over a creek past the blackberry fields and of a little hill his house is at the top of that hill I've been here for so long though I don't know if any of those things are still there please sorry she doesn't have much longer [Music] the line went dead then I called my mom and gave her the information when she related to some of the counselors they knew exactly where she was talking about the house had belonged to the groundskeeper and he had lived there for a long time she said the police were on their way now to check it out and she asked me to thank the person on the phone if they called back I waited for an hour another long an agonizing hour and when my cell phone rang the number made my skin crawl a no-name unknown caller well they call him my cell phone this time that seemed unlikely and when I picked it up I was greeted not by the raspy voice of a sick child but by the stony voice of officer Daryle from the State Police he told me they had found cherish and the groundskeeper in his cabin she's not in a good way the guy used the time he had for some pretty upsetting things she's alive and we're sending up a LifeFlight to the nearest hospital the one you work at I believe I thanked him and told him to tell my parents that I would be waiting for when she got here your mother tells us that you've been in contact with another child and that they gave you directions to finding your sister yeah she just called me out of the blue I don't even know how she knew my number he was silent for a moment you'll forgive me for saying so but that seems highly unlikely I started how do you mean the groundskeeper didn't have a phone in his cabin his cell phone was on his person when we recovered him and there was no other children in the cabin that's that's impossible they said they'd been there for a very long time they've been calling for weeks look I appreciate you helping us find your sister but this whole story seems very far-fetched that being said I don't think we'd have found your sister without your help I want to take a statement from you when we get there but just know that we don't consider you in any way connected with this despite the oddness of your claim and I thanked him and he hung up I was getting ready to call Marta the 6:00 a.m. person so she could come in to relieve me when a familiar caller popped up on my screen No Name no number and I picked it up as I prepared to thank the caller for their help I just started thanking them when I heard the heavy breathing on the other end and stopped the sound was completely different Nicola had a husky tone to his breathing and you could clearly hear their breaths dragging up and down as they went about whatever they were doing this was no child's breathing this was an adult and I hung up the call before I could think about it too much i sat there in a daze as I pulled the call log towards me I locked the heavy breather but thought for a moment about recording the other caller too they had saved my sister's life whoever they had been and a thought better of adding them to the log I called Marta and told her what had happened she agreed to come in for me and I said I'd see her soon before I hung up I'm sitting with my sister now in the ICU but I can't help but wonder who that mystery caller was how did they call me how do they know where to find me my sister is heavily sedated right now but I'm a little afraid of what she might tell me when she comes out does she know who the girl is did she tell her how to contact me I'm afraid to go back to work now I'm afraid of who else might call me when I again man the desk what other lost souls might be just a phone call away [Music] the rural area I grew up in may the smallest towns appear densely populated it was a sort of place where he had to cycle a mile or so to the nearest neighbor and the bus only came through twice a day most kids think growing up on a farm is some sort of constantly thrilling adventure the kids in my school in the nearest town certainly did they didn't see me waking up at 4:00 in the morning just to get ready in time for my parents to get me there or how lonely weekends were when your friends live so far away no they thought it was all just chickens and tractors in truth I resented it the farm was on a large plot of land yet acres surrounding the house ending in a thick forested border had separated us from two distant neighbors and some fields my parents would let me play freely in the farm from a young age my only rule was a staying on land that we owned where the tree started and should have always stopped boredom was a killer chickens aren't so exciting when they got day-to-day life and there's only so much fun a kid can have on his own when I was about 8 years old I started to explore the woods that made up the border at first weaving in and out of the trees on the edge of the farm and eventually building up the courage to go deeper into the forest I was careful making sure that I embarked to my benches almost as soon as I left the house so that I had maximum time to explore without being caught by mom or dad the day I first made it through the border I was trying to time how long it took to walk through the trees it was 15 minutes until I reached the clearing owned by mr. Hinchcliffe an elderly potato farmer to the left of us he was known by the local people for being insular and quiet it was a large circular clearing cut off from the rest of his land by separate species of trees to the ones in the forest it's like they've been planted years before to create and keep the clearing separate and hidden in the center of the circle was a man stood facing me unmoving he was terrifying at first convinced but mr. Hinchcliffe was about to march me home for trespassing I tried to conceal myself behind a tree whilst keeping an eye on the man realizing that he hadn't moved an inch it took me a moment but the poles eventually gave it away that's in the lack of feet the figure started from the ankles the men in the clearing wasn't a man at all he was a scarecrow I was fascinated I stayed behind my tree but strain my eyes to try and get a better look my parents put scarecrows up around our crops but none of us were ever as elaborate as the one stood in the middle of mr. Hinchcliffe clearing he was realistic more realistic than anything I'd seen before he wore a red checkered shirt a straw hat and a wide smile stitched across his face from the corners of his lips I wanted to get closer but as I started to emerge from the trees I could feel his eyes on me and I could have sworn that I saw his fingers move I ran back through the woods to the farm eager to get home and tried to forget about what I'd seen my little heart pounding I didn't tell my parents about the Scarecrow or the clearing but as I laid him bed that night all I could think about was that smile stitched across his face I spent hours that night convincing myself that scarecrows couldn't move what I'd seen must have been the wind I was just freaking out over nothing I tried to stop myself going back but I desperately wanted to get a closer look I wondered what mr. Hinchcliffe had used to make his scarecrow look so realistic and my curiosity eventually got the better of me three days after my initial discovery I left the farm and made my way through the same dense section of woods until I reached the clearing again I stopped behind the same tree inspecting the Scarecrow until I gathered the bravery to get a little closer mr. Hinchcliffe scree a ssin was more spectacular up close I couldn't work out on material he had used to make the face but it was like something out of a film I touched the skin to try and understand what it was but I couldn't if I liked my own just called her I was incomplete or the smile had been hand-stitched into the skin like material it must have taken the old man hours if the scarecrow had ever had feet they had been buried in the dirt to try and help him stand the poles were driven into the ground behind him and tied to his torso keeping him propped up and secured the longer I looked at the scarecrow the more I started to feel like he were alive in ways I was certain that he occasionally blinked and that his chest rose and fell I was curious more than a little unsettled but I took my time and inspected him as much as I could walking back to the farm through the forest I couldn't get the scarecrow out of my thoughts I struggled to make conversation over dinner my mind's completely filled without stitched-up smile I became obsessed I returned every day for the next three weeks the clearing became my place of Solace and the Scarecrow that stood there my best friend not said by his planted ankles reading and drawing in my sketchbook an anus cake or pita and I spoke to him whenever I could I told him my devious thoughts and feelings cried to him when I was sad and spent every moment that I could with him I was careful not to sit in the clearing for too long and always return to the farm before my parents felt I was gone too long I wished I could spend more time with Peter it's sad when I think back to what a lonely kid I must have been to spend so much time with an object a glorified effigy of a human with every visit the rising and falling of Peters chest lessened I stopped catching him blinking and his skin started to sag and gray after a few days of rain I knew it must be me getting used to him realizing that he was never going to spring the life and answer me like a real friend but it still made me a little sad after a while Peters magic was gone I would go and visit like always but he didn't feel the same the clearing was as empty as the rest of my life and my propped up friend in the middle was in a sorry state the stage smile barely held itself in place and lumps of the material that made up his skin and started as dry and fall off he couldn't even scare the birds away anymore and often had multiple perched on his straw hat and shoulders pecking at his face one day towards the end of that summer I made my way through the clearing to find it empty Peter was gone there wasn't a trace of him left by the poll that still stuck firmly in the ground despite the fact that my initial fascination with Peter had already depleted in still felt like a loss my parents couldn't understand why I was so withdrawn I was grieving for someone that had never actually existed eight years old and I already understood what it was to mourn a friend a visit to the clearing multiple times and it remained empty school restarted and the autumn hit bringing with it the ice-cold wings that would frost the entire land I spent less time outside and barely visited mr. Hinchcliffe clearing through the winter by the time we reached the next summer Peter and the time I'd spent with my silent friend was all but forgotten it was by chance on a sunny day that I decided to walk through the woods one more time to my old sanctuary I didn't expect it I thought that part of my life was over but there she was an entirely new scarecrow propped up just like Peter had been and was pressed firmly into the ground with poles behind her she wore a different outfit dungarees and a yellow checkered shirt but the straw hat was unmistakably the same her chest rose and fell gently Mike Peters once had and her eyes appeared to move barely millimeters as I looked into them it was almost impossible to see but I was sure that she was alive she gave me hope that I wouldn't have to spend a summer lonely and sad on the farm her stage smile gave me the same familiar comforting feeling as a warm hot chocolate and a chilly night the process repeated just like it had with Peter as the weeks passed she started to look more Haggard and less alive the magic became less the loneliness returned and eventually she disappeared entirely every year would be the same summer would come and with it mr. Hinchcliffe would build a new scarecrow they came in every age shape and gender a new friend that I knew would wither and vanish just like the others regardless I grew attached to every single one of them as I got older and my parents awarded me with more freedom I was able to spend more time in the town with friends that spoke back after a while I started to forget about the scarecrows entirely favoring girls and nights out to sitting with inanimate objects years passed by and I left home to take a degree in art university changed my life for the first time I had a group of friends around me all the time ones that weren't planted in the ground I moved in with them and only went home for Christmas and never forgot about mr. Hinchcliffe scarecrows they were my lifeline for so long but I did move on I didn't need them anymore it's been three years since I last spent summer on the farm and a lockdown has forced me back here when my housemates all returned to their families I couldn't bear the idea of just me in the house so I did the same I wasn't intending to visit the clearing in fact it's been years since I really thought about it I've been too wrapped up in a social life I've never had as a kid it was only when my mother brought up a new friend Linda who now lives on the farm to the left but I was reminded of my childhood secret one that I now wish I could have raised what happened to mr. Hinchcliffe I asked my heart sinking at the sudden realization that I would never get to see another one of his amazing creations my mother hung her head trying to plan her response it was awful charlie all over the local news he stopped responding to assist this calls last year and after a while she sent local police to do a welfare check when they arrived he wasn't in the house so they started searching the land they found him collapsed in a wooden bit just the other side of our trees he died of a heart attack why would that make news I asked a bead of sweat running down my neck as I imagined mr. Hinchcliffe dead in the clearing my clearing went with his face somehow lowered further he wasn't alone Charlie they found a woman strapped to a pole next to his body he'd been injecting her with some sort of drug they kept her completely paralyzed or conscious he'd planted her feet in the ground to keep her upright and dressed her up like a scarecrow police comb the land and found 45 bodies buried he'd been at it for years I felt bile rising my throat my mind started to connect dots that I'd never imagined what happened to the girl I asked she survived Bailey when he finally got a conscious she wrote a letter explaining that she'd been strapped to the pole for two weeks before she was found Hinchcliffe took every precaution possible to keep her alive up there worst of all she can only communicate through writing now after what he did to her face the sicko cut a mouth up only to stitch it back into a smile [Music]

Channel: CreepsMcPasta

Views: 527,619

Keywords: creepypasta, creepy pasta, creepypastas, reddit, reddit stories, scary story, nosleep stories, reddit horror stories, creepy story, nosleep, r/nosleep, creepypasta reading, horror stories, creepsmcpasta, horror, Scary Stories, creepypasta stories, paranormal, asmr, podcast, audiobook

Id: qHxVX9ZfSSQ

Length: 209min 33sec (12573 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020