Author: Josephine Smith

Most scary stories take place at night. There are shadows for ghouls and wicked spirits to hide in. By our human nature we are scared of things that go "bump in the night."

But the night also gives warning to us, an ominous message telling us to watch out. It is the unexplained phenomena in the light that sends a sword of fear tearing through our heart. We feel a sort of safety in daylight, indoors, and in groups, but when those shields are proven not as safe as we once thought, we begin to question if we are ever truly safe. Safe from the things that go bump in the light.

It was late October, and I was spending the weekend with some friends at a lovely vacation spot surrounded by woods. The trees were shedding their golden brown leaves, and Evelyn (Eve for short) and I were jumping on the biggest piles of them while making the most noise we possibly could.

"You nerds!" My boyfriend, Jason, yelled at us.
"Oh yeah?" Eve and I cried out in unison.
I immediately ran over to Jason and tickled him to the ground. We began to play- wrestle, but were interrupted.

"Alright, you two!" Brittany put her hands on her slim hips, "We need to unpack. You can play later."

"Alright," Jason let me out of a head lock unwillingly, "But you're gonna get yours!" he whispered into my ear as I walked by.

I just smiled and pulled a leaf out of my hair, skipping up the concrete walkway to the tall, looming building on top of the little hill.

The building was old, to say the least. Every step I took made the floor boards of the porch groan in protest, and I was greeted by a fog of dust when I opened the front door. I went into quite a few coughing fit and forced myself to stop simply in fear of the building collapsing on me like an old mine shaft.

Despite it's harsh looking exterior and its dilapidated porch, the house was rather cozy. We all decided unanimously to sleep in the living room together. No one argued, and surprisingly no one pointed out exactly why this had seemed like such a good place to sleep. The fact that it was the closest room to the front exit of the house was probably a factor, but I chose not to point it out to the others.

All together, there were five of us:
Eve, with her beautiful strawberry blonde hair layered around her face and cut short and sensible, and her crystal blue eyes.
Blonde Brittany who reminded me of a princess with her fair skin and long, wavy blonde hair.
Gary, a tall and handsome guy with deep brown eyes and black hair.
Jason, my boyfriend, was tall and built. He was the epitome of one of those jocks from the movies about high school. Blonde hair, brown eyes, a handsome face, very athletic, but sweet as a teddy bear (though he'd be the last to admit it). I was constantly asking myself what someone like him could possibly want with someone like me.
Me, Janet, strange Janet with the black, curly hair and sea green eyes. Jason could melt steel bars with one look, and I hardly existed to anyone. It was a mystery to me.

The evening went well, and we stayed up telling some of the worst jokes known to mankind. Then, at about three in the morning, someone Eve dared to bring up what was on everyone's mind.

"So ... let's play WWWEEEEE GGGEEEEEEEE or something!" (Referring to Ouija.) She drew out the word to brighten the situation.

"Sure... uhhh... do we have a board?" I asked.

"No... let's make a pentacle on the floor and chant some of the things from this book and see if we can get out of that test on Monday!" Brittany joked.

Jason and Gary just leaned back and looked at us girls, smiling. They looked sinister with the light from the fireplace flickering and the shadows emphasizing their already huge grins. They watched us for a full hour, while we danced around this big star in a circle, Brittany constantly asking for a way out of her test on Monday.

Everyone got a good laugh in...that is,
until we heard it.

Jason heard it first, and the smile suddenly fell from his face. I looked questioningly at him and he raised his index finger to his lips. I indicated for everyone to be quiet.

It was deep, heavy wheezing, coming from around the front door. It sounded choked and moist, like a very old man with a mouth full of mucous.

I stood their, mouth agape, not knowing what to do. I glanced around the room.
Eve's expression mirrored mine, and Brittany was almost in tears. She was shaking very badly.
Gary's normally tan face was white, and he looked as though he might throw up.
I didn't look at Jason, I didn't want him to see how scared I was.

Suprising everyone, including myself, I walked over to the door. I peered out the peep hole, expecting, no, hoping, for there to be nothing so I could blame the noise on the wind or something of that nature.

Never in my wildest dreams, my worst nightmares, and all of the gory horror flicks that I had ever seen, could I have have imagined there was a creature as disgustingly repulsive and horrifying as the one that was standing outside the door that night.

I imagine it was about seven feet tall, not incredibly enormous, but behemoic enough to break someone as tiny as Brittany in half.

I jerked away from the door, repulsed. I didn't get a good look at it because of my premature retreat, but from what I had seen, it looked strangely like a mutant human in its body form, besides the fact that it was covered in black hair.

I turned to the others,
"It's out there!" I whispered.

"What is?" Jason asked calmly.

"I... I... I don't know!"
I burst into tears, and the creature slurped loudly in response to hearing something inside. I was suprised that it wasn't trying to beat the door down yet. As if on cue, right after that thought, he began hammering on the door and bellowing so loud that I was positive my mother, three states away, could hear and would rush to save us.

Scared out of my mind, I curled in a fetal position by the couch and continued to sob. Eve and Brittany joined me; Jason and Gary stayed watching the door. The bellowing stopped, and after two hours of nothing, I drifted into an extremely light sleep.
Or so I thought.
I slept the rest of the night and a good portion of the morning.

When I awoke, I noticed Brittany was gone. I had almost forgotten about the previous night, but then the memories pierced my thoughts, but I pushed them back, refusing to believe them. I was safe now. We were safe. That thing was just an imaginary goblin
...that's it...
an imaginary creature made up to scare us!

I walked toward the window by the door to look outside. Creeping quietly, I pulled back the navy blue moth-eaten curtains.
I screamed.
On the other side of the window, just inches from my face, with only a thin plate of glass to protect me from it, was the thing. It had been waiting there all night!

Its face was horrid. A gnarled mess of fur and bone and lumps. It resembled a human in many ways, but was deformed like someone had smeared it, like paint on a canvas. One eye was bugged out and twice as big as the other. Its nose was turned up almost like a hog's, and its mouth was hanging open. It grinned a set of decaying teeth with masses of gunk settled between them. It looked as though the flesh was peeling off of its repulsive skull, and blood was caked on it's face.

Jerking away, I opened my mouth to scream for Jason, Gary, Eve,
someone
, but the creature broke through the window and grabbed my right wrist. I screamed for anyone as its dirty fingernails sunk into my skin. I braced my feet against the wall and pushed off, ignoring the pain of the monster's fingernails and the glass ripping through my flesh.

Jason and Gary ran to me. Jason had a chair leg in his hand, and he beat the creature's arm until it released it's grip. It jetted into the woods, with a bracelet it had torn off of my arm. It was the gold bracelet with "Jason and Janet" engraved into it, the one that Jason had given me for my eighteenth birthday. I sobbed as I told Jason of the loss, but he only patted my head and said it could be replaced.

My attention then went to my arm. It was in shreds, and I almost fainted at the sight of it.

"I'll go to the kitchen and get some water, if there is any," Gary offered.

I nodded as I sat on the couch and tried to not look at my arm. Fifteen long minutes passed with no Gary. Eve looked at me, then at Jason. Jason shrugged, and I sighed.

Finally, Eve spoke, "Well," she said, "I'm afraid to do it, but I think we'd better go find Gary. It's safer in groups."

I nodded, tears of fear and pain pouring down my face. I was afraid for Gary, but my flight instinct was kicking in and all I really wanted to do at that moment was leave. I tied an old shirt around my elbow to cut off the blood flow, and Jason helped me to the kitchen.

My eyes immediately went to the center of the room. On the counter of the kitchen was Gary's headless carcass, gutted and shredded almost to the point where he was unrecognizable beyond the blood soaked Nike jacket that told all.

I gagged and came close to vomiting. Eve covered her mouth and tears began pouring down her face. Jason turned his face the other way and I could tell that he was getting sick as well.

"Let's get out of here,"
I sobbed and we all ran out of the kitchen and into the hallway... only to run into the the monstrosity. We pivoted and ran deeper into the house, praying there was a back exit. Jason pushed me forward, helping me escape. I was leading the group of us, and I immediately saw a window in the back of the house, in one of the rooms with an open door. We all ran into the room, and slammed the door behind us. I propped the door shut with a chair. Then I ran over to the window, but paused before I tore it open.

The heavy breathing...
I heard it again. It was coming from the closet. I ripped open the closet, and there it was. The beast. I screamed, Jason had already ripped the chair from the door, and we dashed through the house and onto the porch.

Hanging from the rafters was the corpse of my dear friend, Brittany. She was scalped of her beautiful blonde hair, and her body was shredded just as Gary's had been. I swallowed my sobs and ran past. I had to get out of this place.

Eve and Jason were on my heels. We ran for the black Mustang. The creature was chasing us, and he was gaining quickly. It plunged it's teeth into Jason's shoulder and Jason went down. I screamed for him, but he shook his head and threw the keys at me. They landed at my feet, and I bent over, blinded by tears, and picked them up.

Eve and I jumped into the Mustang, and I didn't wait for her to even shut her door. I gunned it... straight for the creature and Jason. I slammed into them and Jason rolled over the car. The beast screamed a blood curdling howl and vanished.

I ran out, Eve followed. We grabbed Jason and threw him into the back seat of the car. We peeled out of the driveway, and never looked back.

Three months later, Eve was receiving counseling. The shock of it made her close to crazy.
Jason had been in the hospital with a few broken ribs, but other than that, he was okay. He also was receiving counseling.
I was receiving counseling, and living in paranoia. I still can't look out windows without the lingering fear of seeing IT again. I was getting better and the shock wasn't so bad...
until I found the box on my doorstep. The one with a bracelet in it. A gold bracelet... with "Jason and Janet" engraved into it and a lock of wavy, blonde hair tied around it...

That wasn't all...
Something the size of a bowling ball wrapped in newspaper was in the bottom of the box. I never looked at it. I was paralyzed by the sound coming from behind me... the heavy, choked breathing that was coming closer...
and closer...

My palms were sweating and a chill ran down my spine. What should I do? Surely if I ran, the thing would pursue me and tear me apart. If I stood there, I would certainly be shredded just like my friends had been. I suddenly began to shiver: Had it gotten to Eve and Jason? I didn't want the answer. Deciding that whatever fate awaited me, I had to face it. I couldn't live my life in this paranoia.

I spun around to find...
NOTHING!
Absolutely nothing.
I ran inside my house and locked all of the doors, not that it would help any. The damn thing completely vanished and appeared out of thin air. I sat on my leather couch and began to think...

Why was it following me? When was it going to get me, how, and was it just my imagination, as my shrink had said?

I picked up my cup of coffee, black, and paused. There, in the reflection of the dark liquid, was the hideous face. I spun around.

Nothing, yet again. I started to cry, and walked to my bathroom. It was going to get me. It was playing a game to terrorize me, and then kill me.
Like it had killed my friends. I stepped in my shower, fully clothed, and turned on the cold water. I didn't know what to do. After a few minutes, I stepped out of the shower and knew what I had to do.

I couldn't let it win. I wouldn't let it win. I would end my suffering on my own. I couldn't let this thing control my life. I didn't want it making the decision whether I live or die or when. I looked in the mirror and wasn't suprised to see it's hideous reflection in my bathroom mirror.

"You aren't going to win!"
I screamed at it,
"YOU AREN'T GOING TO GET ME!"

I was suprised when it held up the heads of Jason, and Eve. So it had gotten them, too.
I was the last one.
Thinking that it was all my imagination, I spun around, and gasped. It hadn't disappeared this time.

I tried to scream, but the beast dropped the heads on the ground with a sickening smacking sound and grabbed my throat, lifting me off the ground. I gasped for air, but nothing came. My heart pounded and I was certain that if this thing didn't kill me, my heart would pound out of my chest on it's own.

I sobbed, for my friends, and selfishly for myself. I reached blindly for something, anything to get rid of the thing. I grabbed a can of something... hair spray I think. I sprayed it into his eyes, and the beast screamed a loud moan that shook the walls. It squeezed harder on my throat. It seemed like an eternity before my hand found something else. A knife...no, scissors. I wanted to pound it into his face, but decided I needed to release it's grip first, or I would pass out. I pummeled the scissors into it's hand and it released it's grip.

Catching my breath, I slammed the scissors into its... nothing. The damn thing had disappeared again. By now I was agitated. The coward didn't have enough guts to even kill me off right. I stormed into my living room where I ran into it again.

"What now?! You going to try to kill me and as soon as you get a boo boo, run away again? If you're going to do it, get it over with. Otherwise, leave me alone!"
I was suprised by my own courage.

Then I wondered if maybe I was just talking nonsense. What if IT didn't understand English?

Anyways, I was in no mood to give language lessons. If it understood, it understood. If it didn't, it didn't. I was actually lecturing IT, this thing that could rip my head off at will.

It grunted and disappeared. I sighed, and walked to the kitchen. There it was, standing by the sink, but with a knife in it's hand. I backed out of the door, and heard it stepping after me. After shutting myself into my room, I went to climb out the window. Looking around, I didn't see anything, but knew it was no use looking. When I slid out of the window, head first, my head was stopped by something soft and furry, that smelled of old blood and a stale old attic. I looked up. There was nothing. I slid back inside.

Realizing that this would never end unless I did something, I grabbed the revolver from my dresser drawer. Pressing it to my forehead, I pulled the trigger.
Nothing...
Just a click.

I knew there had been bullets in it

Then the beast was in my doorway, holding six shiny silver bullets in it's palm, grinning.

I ran straight towards it, screaming, and hit the wall. It had disappeared again. I was going crazy. There was nothing I could do. Nowhere to go.

I grabbed my coat and walked down the street, heading for this little witchcraft shop I had seen a couple of times before "everything" happened. I asked a young, blonde woman behind the counter about the monster. When I described it, and what had happened, she practically threw a book at me, and screamed at me to get out.

When I got home, I read the book in my living room, with that thing hovering over me, or in a dark corner, or somewhere else in the room the whole time. The book said that it was the spirit of someone that had suffered great tragedy and selfishness in it's life. It would kill to the equivilant of it's losses (i.e. if its family of four was killed in a fire, it would kill four people). The last person it killed could connect it to other people to kill if it so chose.

No wonder the lady had screamed at me to get out. She didn't want to die. The book didn't give me much hope for survival. It also didn't give me a solution. I had no hope.

Jumping in my car I drove. I was driving on a bridge, not a good choice I suppose, and I saw it again.
In the windsheild.
I couldn't see the road. I accelerated, and all I could think was

It got me... it finally got me.

I plummeted into the water below.
---------------------------------------

Friday, January 13th

Today the body of Janet Harris (19) was found 2 days after her car was seen driving over the edge of the Oak Field bridge, into the water below. Janet is suspected for the murder of her boyfriend Jason Pier (19), her friend Evelyn Parker (also 19), and the dissappearance of Brittany Roydon (20), and Gary Forest (18). The case is still under thourough investigation, and police are still trying to see if there was an accomplice. It is beleived that Janet was not mentally stable, and in rage, killed her friends. After realizing what she had done, or maybe she had planned it like this all along, she took her own life. This is only a suspicion at the point, but evidence is beginning to confirm it. We'll keep you updated as the story progresses.
---Parker Jones, Beach Tree Tribune