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 ominous threats.
My father puffed on a cigar, his one vice, in his favorite lounge chair and ready a car magazine showing luxurious and exotic cars that we could never afford, not in a thousand lifetimes.
“So ladies, I hear you have a special project you’ve got to work on. That sounds stressful,” he said.
We peered at one another, Jennifer and I, and proceeded to break into our rehearsed speech. Before we even got started my father interjected.
“No need to explain. I get it. I lived it. Have fun and let me know if you need any help.”
Maybe he was just saving us our breath, or he was too busy to be bothered with the details of a high school project because he was learning the sixty-foot times for the 2019 Lamborghini Urus or the one hundred to zero stopping power of the upcoming 2021 Ford Shelby GT 500. It did not matter to us, saved us the opportunity of making a mistake and blowing our cover story.
My mother stopped in the middle of laboring in the kitchen and whipped her brow.
“Better hop to it, deadlines are deadlines girls.”
That was all the push we needed to head on up the stairs to my room. The walls were plastered with boy bands and random artwork I had made throughout my life in this house. Close your eyes, imagine the stereotypical teenage girls' room, add in a few educational items like a globe and a set of encyclopedias and that was my room. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Jennifer took up camp in my desk chair, spinning wildly until her face turned the faintest shade of gray. Her laughter quickly transitioned to murmurs of concern but that did not stop my tremendous roar of giggles. She was always wild and bouncing off the walls, she never ceased to amaze me.
It did not take long for our childhood fun and games to turn into a living nightmare as the voice had returned, louder than before and for both of us to hear.
It said, “Having fun ladies? Not taking this as seriously as you should, huh? Maybe I should prove the level of severity and gut one of you here and now. Sound fair?”
Jennifer was more of an antagonist than a sheep that did exactly as she was told. She stood quickly from the chair and took a defensive stance.
“Guess what little ghost boy. You can just fuck off. I do not know everything, but I do know that you cannot do shit to us. Not a damn little hair on my head can be put out of place unless I let it happen. We want to help but trying to scare a couple of girls is childish, just like you,” She said.
The room fell silent, far more silent than it had ever been before. All the noises from downstairs, the laughter from Jackson, the dishes being cleansed by my mother, it had all been put on mute.
“Oh, we have a brave one on our hands don't we Naomi? Perhaps you children should step on out of the room and have a look downstairs. Perhaps that will prove my point and you will fall in line. If not, you will meet the same fate,” it said.
Hesitantly, we approached the bedroom door. Grasping the handle and attempting to turn it resulted in massive resistance. We were locked in. Jennifer moved me delicately aside and proceeded to take her ‘Sword in the Stone’ moment. Nothing. The door was sealed shut.
It said, “My apologies children, let me get that for you.”
The door immediately opened, and we were freed from my bedroom only to be overcome with the smell of copper in the air. Jennifer rushed downstairs, slipped in something, and busted her butt on the hard floor. I, on the other hand, took a slow and steady approach only to see a lake of crimson that had filled my entire downstairs.
Jackson was belly up floating in a sea of thick red blood. So red that it almost appeared brown. My father and mother were both face down, the backs of their heads opened, and their brains exposed. Jackson was gurgling, crying, screaming without a voice, only a hiss escaped his mouth. His throat had been slit from ear to ear.
I had to swim to him to get through the thickness of all the blood. I grasped him and stared deeply into his eyes. He was crying, not hard, but crying, nonetheless. The hissing from his open mouth continued and never stopped. It was as if he were a balloon slowly deflating. Bobbing up and down in the crimson death.
Jennifer emerged from the copper pool of blood clutching her back and hobbled over to me. Her face remained stubborn and agitated even with all the horror surrounding us.
“What the hell is this? This room did not just magically fill up with blood, your family didn’t just die without a single sound made. Not even one scream? This little fuck is performing magic tricks for the damned and you’re falling for it,” she said.
She slapped my face miraculously hard. Enough to rock me off my feet and cause me to drop below the bloodline. I broke the surface quickly, scrambling to get back to Jackson.
“Jennifer! I think we better start listening and stop fighting. You do see all this right? Real or not, look at what our spirit friend is capable of and how that might cause some irreparable mental damage,” I said.
Before her response was developed in her brain and spat out from her opened mouth, a mind-numbing hellacious roar filled the house. My vision became blurred, the windows rattled and shattered, the dishes crashed into the pool of blood.
“Girls, yoo-hoo, do you get my point? Do you understand the level of torment I can drop on your mindless little heads? Get back upstairs and start helping me before I cut out little Jackson’s tongue,” it said.
Apparently, we hesitated a touch too long, wading through the crimson to the stairwell. A large, serrated blade floated through the air as Jackson’s tongue stuck straight out from his mouth. Faster and faster, we pushed our way through the thick life juice, fighting to get upstairs. It was not fast enough. Jackson’s tongue was centimeter by centimeter detached from his body. The hissing turned to an agony of moans. The suffering filled the air covering the copper smell with death.
Jennifer and I made it back to my room, the door slammed behind us even though neither of us had touched it.
It said, “Now that we are on the same page, get your act in gear and get to work. Find me, find the thumping, and save me. That’s all you have to do.”
The painful silence evaporated, and the sound of that silly laughter entered my room once more, the washing of the dishes as well. Jennifer looked at me, not phased one bit.
“Oh Naomi, it’s on now. I am the master of mind games. I can’t fill a room with blood or fake kill people, but you know I can seriously decimate anyone’s brain. This little monster will regret what he’s just done,” she said.
My lovely friend, friends since forever, will never learn. She truly thought that talking tough to an entity that we could not see, sense, smell, touch, prove, was a smart thing to do. My letter opener, given to me by my father for ‘all those college applications’ that would come rolling in (at least that is what he said) floated its way through the air and pressed directly against Jennifer’s throat, her jugular to be precise.
“I’m so sorry. I guess you thought I was gone. Maybe I had just gone on about my business like all the other ghosts do? Child, trust me, I hear all and I know all. One more word and it will be your last. Pinkie promise,” it said.
Tears feel from my eyes, like they already have numerous times in this tale already. Not Jennifer though, her eyes remained enraged, a fire burned in them that raged on even with the threat of death being literally pressed against her throat.
She said, “I double dare you kiddo or are you missing those little boy balls that push the testosterone throughout your tiny little frail body? Go on now, you cannot turn down a double dare. That makes you a pussy.”
A sigh of frustration filled my room. Followed by a low rumbling growl. The letter opener floated back to its resting place on my desk where it patiently waited for all those college scholarships to come rolling in.
She said, “That’s what I thought bitch.”
As she triumphantly crossed her arms and smiled at me, the letter opener flew across the room and went straight through her neck. Instincts quickly went into action as she grabbed both sides of her now gushing neck. She spray painted my room with her blood. Her eyes fell gray and lifeless. If that was not enough, her hair seemed to be grabbed by something and she was raised in the air, dangling by a handful of hair. She managed a wink and then fell limp.
My room had been accented with my best friend's blood and her body was the pinata I never wanted. My scream alerted everyone in the house as without a seconds notice my door burst open, my father to save me. As the door burst, everything returned to normal. Jennifer had experienced all that had happened, the suffering, the pain, the death, but she was back and cool as a cucumber. I, on the other hand, was hyperventilating and entering the first phase of a panic attack. Something I was all too familiar with.
My father caught his breath and attempted to spit out some words.
“Girls, what...are you...are you guys okay? What was that scream? What happened?” he said.
Not ready to fill him in just yet, we played it off as much as possible. Jennifer took the lead.
“Mr. Ericson, I’m so sorry. I dared her to scream as if she were terrified. We were going to have a contest, but I did not know she was going to scream so loud. You know me, I would have warned you.”
She threw out a solid wink which caused my father to pat his chest, right over his heart, laugh and they all exited the room as quickly as they had entered.
I supposed it was time to call Mrs. Tannell. This was far beyond our comprehension and we needed help desperately before the little bastard showed off some more.
“I have yet to begin my lesson, you wayward pupil. But, fear not, you will learn before sunrise.”
― Azaaa Davis, Hiss, Rattle and Bite
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
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
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. 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 hHaunting Naomi Chapter 9
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 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 rocketHaunting Naomi Chapter 11
The demon boy had now taken my best friend’s body hostage and was using it against me. The level of contortion this demon placed Jennifer’s body through was unsurvivable by any human on Earth. My room went from glowing orange to the faintest hint of light being emitted from my pendant. All went quiet except for the popping and cracking of ligaments and bones from Jennifer’s twisted body.Without warning, my mind entered a dizzying speed that I had never experienced before. My eyes widened as their pupils dilated the size of soup bowls. I looked down at my hands, the fingers on them had been replaced with webbed claws, talons if you will. My voice vacated my body as a soul grabbing growl took its place.Disregarding Jennifer and the demon boy, the two of them joined together in a twisted disturbed
It turns out that the migraine and the immense disorientation it came with was the least of my problems. Because of the light sensitivity, I left the lights off in the bathroom, only moonlight came through the small window adjacent to the shower. Barely able to see, I cranked the hot knob to maximum heat and waited the brief seconds it took for the water to turn into clear lava. Entering slowly, careful not to slip, I lowered my body to the ground, sitting on my knees allowing the molten hot water to batter my head and neck. The pain from the migraine was replaced with rushes of air flowing through my sinuses allowing me to breath and put out the internal fire consuming my skull. At this moment, I was at peace. No pain, no trauma, just pure relaxation. The moon continued to gently illuminate my surroundings as the steam from show
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 moChapter 151
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
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