My voice echoed in the bathroom as I began to yell in frustration. Did I need to call a priest to come here, find me wacko, and then the town avoid me like some filthy bum on the streets? Like it was my fault? I turned quickly, and the shadow, again, was gone. However, when I faced the mirror this time, my blood ran cold. Steam replaced where I had wiped, and then, as if some invisible finger was floating in the air, I read aloud the words it wrote across my blurred reflection, “Do Not Hear, Do Not Look.” I asked, “Do not hear or look? What the fuck does that mean!?” yelling again, but the house’s response was silence. Whoever or whatever it was left me to figure it out alone. Going to the kitchen after I was dressed, I grabbed more chips and chewed hard. I wasn’t hungry, but I refused to smoke or drink, so it was as close to relieving stress as I could muster. When I was done and the bag of chips had been demolished, I noticed the house got colder as temperatures started to dr
My voice got more aggressive as I got agitated. “Ah, now calm down. What you see is what it is, a party man. We are having a party in your brain. Bout’s time too.” I shook my head. It was too unreal. I could understand the nightmares, but this one was too crazy to grasp reasoning. “You’s trippen again? See, I told you you’d find what you not be looking for out here.” I threw my hand across the space of nothing, “Out here? There isn’t a goddamn thing out here!” I pulled at my hair, and my hand came back with a clump of it. “Ah, now see, you changing, told you, should have stayed in the tub, want a hit?” Again, the zebra man offered me a drag of his blunt, but I was so pissed I smacked it from his hand with my fisted clump of hair before watching the hair and the blunt fall into nothingness. “Awe shit, you gone and done it now,” he said in a tone that suddenly worried me. The feeling of the bass stopped, and the entire room of freaks turned to look at me as the lights froze, no
The sun had warmed the house enough I could shut the windows before going outside and making a fire pit. Several bricks and cinder blocks were sitting next to the shed, so after using a very old shovel I found, I dug a small burn pit and surrounded it with the blocks and bricks. It took me a while. The ground was hard from the cold, and for being supposedly fertile dirt, there were a shit ton of rocks. Once I was finished, I went inside to start grabbing the stuff I had planned on burning. The small pit was halfway between the house and the woods, so it was safe from setting fire to either. Eventually, I had a nice blaze built, have found a random lighter in one of the boxes Abby gave me. It was easier than lighting paper on the stove. Standing there and methodically tossing stuff in, I failed to notice the farmer, Chuck, had come from the backside of the house. “Heya, Mr. Lake, having yourself a BBQ?” He startled me initially, and then I felt slightly irritated, but I just no
In a small building complex, very close to the Sunny Field Market, was the local police station coupled with a fire station and a small courthouse. Unlike larger cities, where you’d find them separated and imposing their position, this small complex served as a multifunctional beacon of enforcement and reliance for the town. I prepared myself for what I would ask as I pulled into the parking lot. Sometimes, we can get the most profound answers with the simplest questions. It’s human nature to share, boast and be informative, and to sound important and knowledgeable. I grabbed a pad of paper and a pen before getting out and opening one of the double glass doors to the sheriff's department. A bell jingled when I walked in and up to the front desk, much like Sunny Motel's desk. However, behind it, the room was open with several desks holding computers and at the back, behind a glass partition, was the sheriff's office. “Can I help you?” a woman said, standing up from the desk. I no
I felt the same confusion the young officer did when he asked, “Assault, sir?” Frank grinned and held up his hand, showing bloody knuckles where he punched Ron, “Yes, officer Tigs, assault. His face assaulted my hand.” The young officer, Tigs, just nodded and looked back at his desk before he started writing. Ron spat blood onto the floor and seemed calmer when he said, “Ha! Good hit, Frank. Always easy when someone can’t defend themselves, but you WOULD know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Frank quickly turned and went back for more, giving Ron a couple more punches to the face. I wanted to stop him. His beating on the guy seemed a little excessive and unprofessional. “Put him in solitary confinement for a week, and add threat and destruction of property to the charges. Maybe he’ll learn to keep his mouth shut then,” Frank said once he was done pummeling the knocked-out Ron. I looked at Buck's face, and there was amusement at Frank's actions. This wasn’t a place for law enfo
When I got to my driveway finally, I noticed two large boxes and a package of blinds thrown next to the mailbox. I figured they’d leave it there. I hated getting things by post. The shit either came up missing or was delivered, ripped, smashed, and plain old snooped through. Seriously, how can we not notice a hole torn in the corner or a flap of plastic ripped off? When I pulled up to the house, having taken my time driving along the field, I decided to fix the door to the shed. It was hanging loose again. Grabbing everything from the truck and trying to balance it with one hand, I unlocked the front door and went in. Setting the boxes down, I looked around, and nothing seemed out of order, so I went back outside. The sun, fighting through incoming clouds, was still a ways away from setting, so it gave me plenty of time. With the small toolbox from the back of the truck, I walked toward the shed. The door had shut again, but as I got closer, it moved. I watched it for a moment
The little furball and I headed back to the house, and heavy rain started hitting the windshield. I was carefully driving but prayed the little thing wouldn’t make the ride difficult by suddenly jumping on the dash or climbing my face. Luckily, that didn’t happen, but the rain was coming down harder when I parked out front of the house. Making a plan, I stuffed the kitten in my hoodie the best I could and grabbed the bags before darting out the door and up to the house. After fidgeting with the keys, I was able to get in. I still managed to get soaked a bit, and the kitten wasn’t too happy either. “I’ll get your poop box set up first and then change,” I said out loud to fill the silence in the house. I put it in the spare room until I could move the desk in there. The kitten seemed grateful to relieve itself, and I left it alone to get out of my wet clothes. I had just pulled my shirt on after drying my hair when I heard scratching noises and loud banging outside. The kitten w
With a brick in hand and the full intention of breaking the damned window, I stood there frozen and unable to rationalize what I had just experienced. Was there really some bastard that had broke into my home and mocked me, or was it just another delusional dream, and I was about to wake up soaked like I had pissed myself yet again? The innocent black kitten continued to bat around a small paper ball, oblivious to my staring inside. I dropped the brick. The sound of it hitting wet wood on the deck was loud enough to echo, and the sound reached inside, making the kitten bounce on all fours before he ran to hide under my recliner. Turning, I ran down the steps to the front yard, almost sliding on my ass, drenched and feeling the coldness of wet clothes. But, of course, no one was there when I spun in circles looking around me. “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I had yelled loud enough that my voice cracked, but I knew if an intruder was there or not, no one would really answer