Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Face to face, woman to woman, I stood in front of Tannell the Terror. Her hair was cut and formed into the typical fifty-year-old bob, low maintenance and out of her face. The Terror’s eyes cut through me like a hot blade through your favorite childhood barbie doll. Their blue was deep and divisive, gave one the feeling that there was more going on behind the scenes then there actually was.
She said, “That was a very interesting piece you worked up. Was that the truth or did you take certain liberties with that work?”
My nerves had made themselves known in the form of goosebumps and fluttering butterflies in my stomach. I suddenly had the odd feeling that there was something disgusting on my face, like a booger that free fell from my nose to my chin or a ton load of rheum in the corners of my eyes. My self-esteem had dropped to the lowest it could without a full system meltdown, but she needed an answer and there was no reason not to tell her the truth.
“Well, Mrs. Tannell, it was the truth. It did happen. I just didn’t realize there was a voice talking to me until we had this writing exercise,” I said.
The hallway cleared as soon as the startling warning bell barked out and gave us all a rather large scare. Tannell did not even flinch, perhaps it was the decades of hearing it ten times a day or it was something more ghoulish that no one knew about.
Pulling a sticky note free from its entrapped place, Mrs. Tannell scribbled down a few words and passed the sticky to me.
She said, “That’s very interesting Naomi. Take this. If it happens again you should call this number and let us see where it goes from there.”
The note read, ‘Paranormal Philosophies of the Peninsula’. Below that, “757-253-7629 Ask for Buster.” This caught me off guard and reinforce all that we had rumored about Mrs. Tannell. None of us knew the depth of Tannell the Terror’s craziness but I had just been thrust into the shallow end of her psycho kiddie pool.
“Thank Mrs. Tannell. If I cannot find the source tonight then I’ll give these folks a call and make sure they are able to dive in headfirst,” I said.
This told me all I ever needed to know about my English teacher. I thought so at least. She handed me her business card next with her personal number on the back labelled ‘EMERGENCY ONLY’.
“If things get bad tonight or something escalates, call this number anytime and I’ll help you out. Do you understand Naomi?” she said.
She was taking this very seriously, but I dared not ask a question. I was not sure if I wanted to hear what she had to offer or if I just wanted to exit this awkward situation. Before I escaped, she stopped me and handed me a hall pass. That was the end of my interaction with Tannell the Terror and the beginning of the rest of my day at Yankee Gifted School.
Jennifer smiled at me as if she had not seen me for a decade as I entered our Pre-Cal class. The only class in the world besides Calculus itself that taught you how X could equal F times R plus Q. It blew my mind how someone developed this as well as how anyone could get an A in this class. I prefer logic-based learning but with this style of math, logic could not be used, it had to be practiced and hope that muscle memory took over from there.
Before hitting my seat and taking a load off something gently brushed my ear. My hair wisped in the air as a voice entered my ear, “Don’t forget. I need your help tonight.”
The goosebumps returned immediately as I peered around my personal bubble to see who had said that and why they thought this was appropriate or funny. No one was near me, not a living soul.
Jennifer could see my panic and she grabbed my hand to guide me to my seat, right next to her. She did not let go of my hand for what seemed like the entire class. Tremors had run laps up and down my forearm flowing through to her hand. She squeezed tighter, reassuring me that everything would be okay even though she had no idea what just happened.
She said, “Naomi, your face, it’s white as a ghost babe. What’s happening?”
A single tear snaked down my cheek. Before everyone else noticed I slapped that tear away along with its snail trail. Jennifer saw and would not let it rest; I knew it. That is why she was my best friend. She really showed caring and affection towards me no matter what the situation was.
The real issue here was determining if the voice really happened or I just imagined it after making that story come to life in front of all my classmates. There was no way to know, not until tonight I suppose. Doing this alone was now infinitely scarier than I had anticipated. The fact that something was talking to me, a little boy’s voice at that, was going to test my mental fortitude and push it to the extreme.
“You think you can stay over tonight?” I spoke.
Without hesitation, Jennifer nodded her head and reassured me that she would be there, and we could tackle this thing together. I hated to invite her into my fear, but I did not want to do this by myself. Hopefully, this stuff, this extremely odd and scary stuff would turn out to be a figment of my imagination. We would find out tonight together.
Jennifer looked over and noticed me examining the sticky note Mrs. Tannell had given me with the Paranormal guys on it. She put her hand out and demanded I pass it over to her. There was no turning back now.
After she looked over the pink crumpled sticky, her face turned blood red. She only turned red when anger was getting the best of her. She looked over at me with squinted eyes and pinched lips, fighting a battle between remaining silent and blurting out some sort of expletives that would certainly find her in the principal's office for a stern lecture.
“Calm yourself, Tunnel was just trying to help,” she said.
Her face resolved back to its normal pinkish hue just as Mr. Hopkins announced, ‘Pop Quiz!’ What a day it had been already and now we had to conquer a pop quiz that could very well have been written in hieroglyphics. None of it made sense and nothing would allow me to earn higher than a D at best. Maybe my little ghost friend knew some Pre-Cal and could guide my pencil to show all my work and get to the right answer. If only that had happened.
After successfully bombing the quiz, Jennifer and I exited the class followed by the rest of the pop quiz victims. We all entered with hope and joy, but we all exited with doom and gloom. That is pretty much how the Pre-Cal days went.
“Are you kidding me with this bull crap right now? Tannell the Terror is trying to convince you that the story you wrote has something to do with ghost and goblins?” she said.
I took the sticky note back from Jennifer, folded it up securely and put in my front pocket. On our trek to Science, we had to pass by Mrs. Tannell’s class. As we approached, I grabbed Jennifer’s arm and tangled it up in my sweater I carried every day. Conveniently, this forced her to stick with my momentum instead of allowing her to fly into Tannell’s classroom and cause a scene over nothing. We were not having that today.
I said, “Nice try Jenn. Not happening today chica.”
Her face glowed red once again. This time, judging by the shade of red and the intensity of the glow, was a mixture of anger and frustration. I could feel the warmth coming from her face as she scowled at Mrs. Tannell on our way by.
“That’s so messed up Naomi. You know it is.” she said.
I disagreed with her and remained focused on the short term, getting to Science without being late, and the long term, figuring out what the hell was going on inside my head. Both tasks would require a significant amount of focus and I needed to have Jennifer by my side for both.
Today we would be dissecting frogs and examining the inner workings of their bodies. I was not doing this without my best friend. Absolutely gross!
A quick text to both of our moms resulted in an affirmation that the sleepover would take place but only because we both lied and said we had a massive project to work on and it was due this Friday. That only left us four days to accomplish the task and gave us some wiggle room with the rest of the week just in case Jennifer needed to stay over again so we could grasp this freakish thumping and little boy voice thing and get it under control.
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.”
― Robert Bloch
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Haunting Naomi Chapter 4
Jackson met us at the front door of the school, his hair was impersonating an electric shock and his cheeks were bright red. Jennifer and I instantly got the most intense belly laughs. Kindergarten cannot be that rough, can it?“Rough day with the finger paints Jacks?” Jennifer said.He shook his head but maintained a lifeless face free from emotion. His body was warm, and we had a good mile to walk before we would be home. It seemed as if he may have come down with something while swapping germs with the other little booger pickers.I said, “You want a piggyback ride or something? We still must walk home. What happened to you?”It took a good thirty seconds for Jackson to register we were talking to him. His head slowly turned to face me, creepily slow, like how I thought sluggish death worked. He dropped his bookbag and proceeded to stand li
Haunting Naomi Chapter 5
My mother joyfully hummed to herself as she cleaned the dining room and kitchen. Her humming resonated through the house only broken by the clanging of pots and pans as she dismantled the mountain of dishes from the delicious meal she had prepared.Jackson sat in front of the television digesting every bit of comical genius the Simpsons had to offer. His shirt, hell, his entire wardrobe was covered in lasagna stains but that just showed how much he loved it. Every now and then he would impersonate Ralph, the silly kid from the Simpsons, and yell ‘I ate the purple berries!’ in his goofy voice. That was the best.Poor kid had no idea his entire life may depend on Jennifer spending the night. What if an emergency came up and she had to rush home or she fell ill and had to be rushed to the hospital? Judging by the seriousness of the ghost boy voice, I was not willing to test him and his omi
Haunting Naomi Chapter 6
Before grabbing for my cell phone, I stared into Jennifer’s eyes. Her glorious blue eyes had remained dead gray. She seemed alright, but something was off. There was no doubt about it. The sun that used to add sparkles in the light blueness of her eyes now reflected from her dull, dead eyes in search of some sort of excitement.“Jenny bug, how are you feeling? Everything running like normal? You look different, less vibrant than usual,” I said.She chuckled, brushed her mangled hair from her forehead and turned to grab her bottle of water that she always carried with her. As she turned, just the slightest rotation, the side of her neck grabbed my attention like a hot guy slowly climbing out of a swimming pool. My jaw literally sitting on the floor was all she needed to see to cause he
Haunting Naomi Chapter 7
The world around me went dark, deep rich dark. Not a sound could be heard no matter how hard my ears stretch to grasp at any sound near or far. My family and best friend had just been burned to death in a house overtaken by licking flames and heavy smothering smoke. Nothing was left to see, the house rested in a pile of what used to be and in it, my allies rested.The demon boy had vanished from the roof when it collapsed and seemingly decided to rest his case with this nightmare he left me stuck in. I had never experienced screams like those that had come from the inside of that house. The panic on their faces, the pain, agony, it was nauseating.Trapped in that universe of despair had left me still unconscious in the corner of my room with an even tighter grip around the letter opener that I clutched think
Haunting Naomi Chapter 8
Mrs. Tannell worked her way out of my bedroom, reminding me to call her again if I needed anything. She was going to send the Paranormal Specialists over this weekend when my parents went to the Yankee Gifted School football game.That would buy them a three-hour window.As she bounced down the stairs with the youthful exuberance of a teenager, Mrs. Tannell locked eyes with Jennifer and then Jackson. She recoiled ever so slightly as to not frighten anyone. The dual set of gray eyes peered questioningly back at my English teacher. She hugged Jennifer and whispered something in her ear. Next, she high fived Jackson and carefully examined him, careful not to draw attention but she did note the offset his tongue now had.
Haunting Naomi Chapter 9
Shivering and in pain, I took my slumber on the cold concrete floor of the garage. For some reason, the demon boy did not pursue me down here. All night long I awoke every few minutes to hear the same thumping that started all of this. It was far quieter than when I was in my room, but the noise was still present.There was not a peep from any of my family or Jennifer through the night. I had no idea what was happening inside the house or how I would explain myself if someone were to find me sleeping on the garage floor.As the sun rose, I stood tall and straight. Every bone in my body seemed to crack at once. An orchestra of pops and cracks bounced off the garage walls and back to my ears. Walking like an old woman with arthritis, I grabbed the door h
Haunting Naomi Chapter 10
The release bell howled angrier than before, at least it sounded like that. The ferocity of it hurt my ears and caused me to flinch. I would normally allow myself to get annoyed or distracted by that but I needed to know what Mrs. Tannell was smiling about. She was the key to helping me resolve my ghost problem and get back on track to normal teenager issues.Jennifer trudged out of class not even looking to see if I was following. Her body was going through the motions, but it was just an empty vessel, she was gone, at least until I could get things worked out and back in the proper order. Death looked like it really sucked especially because no one could tell except for me and Mrs. Tannell. The other kids just assumed she was having teenage problems or on drugs like the rest of the cool
Haunting Naomi Chapter 11
The remainder of the day was demon free. Except for my Spanish teacher but he is ruthless when it comes to Spanish grammar. Jennifer disappeared right before the bell, took all her stuff with her and everything. To ensure I was not going to get another unwanted surprise, I let her walk it out and do as her non beating heart desired.Jackson waited at the archway for me. His little head was bouncing from left to right, left to right, left to right but in a very loose and relaxed way. It was as if he had no control at all of his body or its actions. I just want my little brother back, even with all his annoying burps and farts, barging into my room, eavesdropping on me, all of it. I want it all back.We began our walk home without Jennifer, she was nowhere to be found. She could have been flying a rocket
Latest Chapter
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 157
Todd was back amongst the living, standing with Jennifer and Jackson, as all three of them stared at me with the fire of one thousand suns. I am certain that not one of them had any idea why I was motivated to trade my life for Todd’s but it was not their concern. The main concern now was to stay alive just long enough to eliminate Mrs. Tannell and destroy the portal to hell that resided in her living room. Through all of this, the killing, the death, the pain, the suffering, it had come to me out of the blue that Mrs. Tannell must be provoking these attacks, especially if she knew I had killed Sarah Macly, her lone granddaughter, she would have all the motivation in the world to make my life a living hell. The end was drawing near, not only for me, but for Mrs. Tannell as well. It was time to end this, once and for all. On
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 156
Todd, the backbone of our alliance, the mini one and the real one, was now lying on his back showing no signs of life at all. His eyes rested still and gray. They were wide open, as stoic as they had ever been in his entire life. His stomach stopped rising with life, he was not breathing at all now. Death had one hand around him, holding on for his dear life, waiting to take his soul away into the ether, never to be seen again. In your last moments, death has a way of making you look as peaceful and calm as you have ever been before. It is the darndest thing, being in the worst position of your life, your soul is floating away, and the lights are beginning to dim, you are dying but from the outside, you look as calm, cool, and collected as you have ever in the history of your breathing days. This generally applies to any and all deaths, except for the horrified ones. Those will make you sick to your stomach. Jesus Christ hims
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 155
Todd was in very severe pain, whatever was attacking him was clearly making sure this event was filled with pure pain and horrific suffering. With his pant leg ripped from its seam, Todd’s burn wound throbbed and pulsed with an alerting rhythm. His body was being manipulated by something, some sort of demon that we could not put our eyes on. This put the three of us at a severe disadvantage. It had become very obvious that we needed to act fast, but we had to act efficiently. Flying off the hinges would almost certainly result in a catastrophic failure, that was absolutely unacceptable. All we came here to do was secure demon Sarah where no one would think to find her and we ended up being attacked by an old demon woman, demon wolves, a huge mimicking demon, and I killed a man. This could not have gone any worse, except for some sort of death on our end. Now was not the time for reflection though, Todd needed us, and it was looking
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 154
Todd, with his leg wound, would have to wait just a bit longer while we investigated what we thought was the man I killed as he ran into the light. Obviously, if I killed him, he would not be able to make moaning noises or anything like that, so it was fairly easy to discern that the dead man had been turned into a demon and he would certainly be looking for some sweet, delicious revenge. I mean, who would be alright with getting killed out of the blue? Jennifer and Jackson had taken the lead as I made a fine attempt at catching up to them as we headed towards the corner of the abandoned K-Mart. The moaning was like a mating call, this was not the typical ‘I am in pain’ moan. It resonated incessantly, calling us to come and see what was happening. Judging by previous experience, I had no clue about what may be around the corner, all I knew was that we were walking towards danger, and we had to be ready. I said, “Slow down, guys. Le
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 153
I could not hold my curiosity back from taking a peek at the filthy, old three-ringed binder. I sincerely wish I had; I was not in the right mental space to read what I had just read. Gaining the knowledge that was hidden away inside of that binder was more of a curse than it was a blessing. The way I thought about life, in general, changed dramatically from that point on, nothing would ever be the same again. Written in ink on a hardened piece of lined notebook paper, I read the following: ‘Today, September 23rd, 1976, I met a few young women that claimed they had been in an accident. Linda Ericson, approximately eighteen years old, Sandra Tannell, approximately twenty-four years old, and Wanda Williams, approximately twenty-eight years old, were in the old Sander’s coffee shop talking amongst themselves. I was studying up on my favorite subject, which will remain nameless because it is so obvious, especially if someone other than m
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 152
The slaughtered body of the homeless drug addict that I split in two with a hellacious laser beam from my inscripted hand before we entered the darkness had disappeared. It was clearly splayed out for all to see and showed no obvious logical signs of going anywhere anytime soon. How it had magically disappeared was beyond me, there was not even a sign of blood or fragments of flesh lying about. It truly baffled my mind as to how a body that had been split into two distinct halves could have disappeared along with all the splattered pieces that went along with it. We had finally broken free from the darkness of the abandoned, decrepit K-Mart and had made our way into the light of the outside world. Todd’s van was still where we had left it, everything was still in place just as it was before we entered the darkness to save Todd and defeat the Haunting Naomi
Chapter 151
There is a time that comes in every single person’s life, no one is immune from it, that you see someone you love as the worst being on the face of the planet. It happens to all of us, it does not last long, but it does happen. None of us want this to happen, who wants to hate someone they love so dearly? At this moment in time, after what Jackson did, after I tell you what he did, you will understand how I had this feeling.It all happened so fast, to be honest. There was no time for any of us to respond to what he thought was the right thing to do. Telling the story now, even as dead as I am, my heart still hurts from that moment. More than how horrible I felt when I found out my mom hit a child with a car, killed him, and left the scene. It is the worst I have ever felt. Jackson made a decision and performed an action, he was scared, and he acted out, it was a mistake, but he did not see it as that in the heat of the mo
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 150
The giant wolf had been struck one time by the now deceased mimicking demon that had taken Todd into the darkness of the abandoned K-Mart. Shining the spotlight on the wolf’s body, the attack by the demon had contacted its torso. Ribs and blood, internal organs and shredded flash all filled my line of sight when inspecting the giant wolf that had saved the day and eliminated the mimicking demon. As usual, our mission’s objective had been modified on the fly. We had to get to Todd, he was hunched over in the corner, we were still not sure if he was alright or if he was in need of some rejuvenation. Now, I felt we were obligated to take care of the giant wolf, the one that formerly was possessed and under control of demon Mrs. Williams. It was the least we could do considering the fact that the wolf had single handedly taken care of the demon and saved us a lot of heartache and potential damages. I said, “Jennifer, go to Todd. Make s
- Haunting Naomi
Chapter 149
Navigating as effectively and efficiently around the poor homeless man that I had just split in half after he came running out of the darkness, the three of us walked briskly into the abandoned K-Mart ready for a fight to save Todd. On my way in, I snatched up the spotlight and made sure it illuminated every square inch of real estate in front of us, ensuring our path was clear or we would be able to see anything dangerous in our way so that we could work our way around it. Shining the light back and forth, covering my two counterparts from any attacks from drunks or druggies, we pushed in as fast as possible without risking any chance of injury or worse. Jennifer and Jackson led the charge, side by side, ready to get into the action and accomplish our goal of getting Todd back in one piece. I took up the rear, providing the light needed and also making sure nothing snuck up behind us as the darkness chased behind our feet. In the distance, as we ru
