Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25825682-20150102084826

(This connects after The Nameless Terror story)

"I was a lonely one cast out of the world. Don’t you think that gives me the right to erase my sadness...?”

Alexander woke up in the middle of the night, from seeing a spectral face in his dream. He had no inkling of whose voice that was talking to him in his sleep, nor could he recognize the face in the darkness. His mind nearly erased what he dreamed.

It rained heavily over Alki Point, within the late summer days. Alexander spent most of his time indoors, relaxing at home listening to music on his iPhone, when his phone rang. He paused after he thought he heard a white noise in the ringtone. The phone rang again, so he answered it. He heard nothing on the other end, just a scrambling white noise. As the call ended, Alexander had some concerns at whether he would get one of those nightmares again. Every so often, he would have one displaying the horrific end of that person reported missing or dead, which gave him several sleepless nights.

Alexander went back upstairs, sat at his desk and opened his laptop. He decided to look into any incidents that seemed peculiar, when an email came in on his phone. He connected his phone to the laptop to charge, and opened his Gmail account on his phone. The email had no heading or its origin, which made him raise an eyebrow.

The email asked a question that appeared in a box, with the choices "Yes" or "No," below the question. The question read, "Eathan suffocated?" and asked for the answer. Alexander thought it was sick to use a dead person as a joke email. He was going to delete the email, but wanting to know the person responsible, answered the email "Yes" instead. He sat back and waited, as seconds became minutes. He yawned and opened up his previous window, feeling disappointed.

"That was lame."

He went back to observing the reported incidents; upon reading an article on the ruined lighthouse, other articles emerged talking of the Viser family. The articles mentioned how the Viser family used to dwell in Massachusetts and abruptly moved over into Seattle, 200 years after the end of the Salem witch trials. He looked at the time and remembered an outing he planned with Olemilia and Kristian and got ready to head out

At 3:33 A.M, Alexander was sound asleep at home, when his phone began to ring. He rolled over to his other side, eventually he looked up at the screen barely awake. Sitting up on his hands, he quizzically looked at it thinking in his head, "I could’ve sworn I turned it off." He noticed it was an unknown caller. Wondering why someone would call this late he decided to humor himself and answered it. He heard nothing on the other end that was clear, just a scrambled white noise again.

At 10:26 A.M, he woke up again seeing the phone the way he left it and went to wash up. He came back to his room 45 minutes later, and saw his phone was on the floor in front of the door? Alexander did not know what to think after he saw that. It was as if someone came into his room while he was gone! He calmly backed out of his room as quietly as possible, believing the intruder was still inside.

"Mom, dad!" he called and heard no response.

Alexander went to the storage closet, opened the door and looked inside. He found his old baseball bat and took it out of the storage closet. He carefully went back to his room and checked every place a person could hide. In the end, he found no one, but still had unnerving thoughts of another person in his home with him he could not find.

Suddenly a call came in on his phone. Alexander checked it, showing it to be an unknown caller again. He answered it and then the other end replied.

"Hello, this is Murray’s motorcycle repairs," spoke the artificial voice. "Are you satisfied with...                                                                                                                                                                                                 Alexander ended the call, knowing it was just an automatic caller about to take a survey on him. He put the bat down feeling ridiculous carrying it still and put it under his bed instead, just in case. A new call came in saying unknown; he ignored this one and put his phone on the dresser. Just before he left his room, an alert sounded telling him of a voice mail. He figured if they left a voice mail, it must be important to hear at least. He played the voice mail and heard the voice of the unknown caller.

"You sleep soundly."

He paused at this recording, wondering why someone would say that to someone he did not know. Alexander, hearing the creepiness of the voice mail in his head, found the unknown callers number in the phone log and called him back. He let his call ring through until voice on the other end tell him the signal was out of range, as soon as he was going to call again knocks came at his door. At first, he did not hear them, until the second knocks. He went downstairs, seeing Kristian let in by his mother and talking to her.

"You forgot about hanging out today," laughed Kristian. Alexander had a laugh with Kristian at his absent mindedness, got his jacket and left with him. They hung out at the shopping district for a while, Alexander had a sense that Kristian wanted to say something, but would not.

"Sorry about the lighthouse," apologized Alexander.

"It was old anyway," he said shrugging off the matter. "By the way did you receive any strange calls, asking you how you were?"

"Recently," he answered

"I think... it could be my brother. Whatever you do just keep talking to him," admitted Kristian.

This new information intrigued Alexander, prompting him to ask, "Did you receive a call?"

"No," Alexander thought he was lying. "Regardless I have to ask you a question about Massachusetts."

"Okay," he shrugged by the choice in topic.

"I read this article of your family moving from there to here. Did Igia ever talk about the sudden move your family had?"

"What are you a reporter? They just left," Kristan replied defensive.

"Come on isn't that a little weird, I mean right after the witch trials."

"Who would want to stay in a place people were massacred for no good reason!" he replied.

Alexander dropped the topic, seeing how upset it made Kristian and the two spent the rest of the day together. Alexander still wondered what made that family so secretive about Massachusetts.

That night in Ms. Dugan's home, a person sat in a bathtub full of water. He appeared to be holding something down in the water. Below where he sat lay Ms. Dugan, with his hands around her neck drowning her, slowly constricting the life out of the body! The killer's face twisted into a malevolent expression, as he enjoyed seeing her life end. He soon came up out of the tub soaked and walked by the bathroom mirror, the reflection revealed the assailant to be Alexander.

At 3:34 A.M, Alexander woke up with beads of sweat on him, terrified at what he saw thinking, "Another one of those... those dreams." His phone began to ring, he looked at his phone and saw the unknown number and answered:

"Who are you? Are you Eathan?"

"Who's he?" it asked.

"Did you kill Ms. Dugan?" he questioned.

"Nothing more happened than what they brought on themselves."

The call ceased on that. Alexander strongly believed something was wrong with him, to let these nightmares and calls rule over him for this long. He decided to ignore them the best way he could.

"I just won't sleep anymore is all, how bad could that be." The next couple of days, he looked almost anemic, from the stress plaguing him and lack of sleep. He refused to go out or see anyone for days, until Olemilia came over.

"Alex what's happened to you. We haven't talked in days?" she asked. "You look so pale; let me take you to a doctor."

"I'm fine, drop it will you!"

"Well I came over because I was worried and to tell you that old cellphone works," she protested to his attitude. "I also did some research; apparently as an incident starts the rains spike during the hour of it."

Alexander figured now was the best time to tell her of his experiences. "Olemilia, the reason I look so pale, and have become so irritable was..."

"What's the matter Alex?" she asked holding him.

"Killings,” he admitted disturbed by it, but coming to accept it.

"Killings?" she inquired

"I was drowning Ms. Dugan in the tub and grabbed a rope while Micheal hung by the rafters. And I was behind Arnold as I slit his throat with a jagged knife in the cellar," he described with full clarity and detail. "I also woke up in my parent’s room, with a long black wire in hand," laughing nervously at his actions. "It's so clear I’m starting to believe I did kill them."

"You look like you haven't been sleeping. This could be a recoiled reaction from it," she assured him.

"I got that email and I answered "Yes," to it and a person started to call me non-stop," he claimed. "Kristian thinks it could be Eathan.”

"You got that to," she responded. "I had received mine earlier. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you would think I was crazy."

"I need to talk to Kristian," he said about to calling him fast.

"Kristian said he would be away for some time," she informed him.

Alexander lowered his phone and stepped back from her. Suddenly he suggested she leave; Olemilia understood she had to go anyhow, as she had to pick up her sister. On her way to her car, she had some concerns with Alexander's story.

"How did Alex know Arnold was killed with a jagged knife, and say Ms. Dugan drowned, but she's not dead yet? And why the mood swings?" she questioned to herself having doubts of Alexander's story. She wondered if he had more to do with it than what he let on.

Alexander called Kristian's cellphone, when he noticed a new voice mail. He went to the voice mail, where a call played, with a murky voice talking obscurely. Immediately he backed out of the call and went back to his phones main screen, shaken by the noise.

He gave Kristian enough time to call back and decided to find out their secret family history himself, "Since Kristian won't answer me I'll find out from the library," he thought. Alexander grabbed his jacket, tucked his phone away in his jeans pocket and left.

Alexander rode out to the Family History Library to learn more on the Viser family. After speaking with the librarian when he arrived, he received a book of the Viser family history to read online there. The book stated the Viser family origin resided in the Netherlands since the beginning 1600's, but ended up relocating sixteen years later after the Roermond Witch Trial ended.

Alexander read more on how they ended up in what is now Massachusetts and moved again into Seattle. "Why would they all of a sudden leave the Netherlands to go to Massachusetts, and then leave there to come here?" he questioned in his head. The book then trialed off to how the Viser family established in Seattle and acquired ownership of the Alki lighthouse, Alexander was at his wits end on what that family hid, when the librarian came over.

"I know you're probably still reading, but I found this old diary in the archive. It’s a bit old so be delicate," she implored.

"Why are you handing it to me?"

"It mentions some of the Viser family in it. I figured you would like to see it."

The librarian left to let him read uninterrupted. The diary was nothing special from its cover, just plain calf leather brown. Alexander opened the book and read a name written on the back of its front cover, "Abijah," he thought. Alexander began to read Abijah's diary, it went well into the beliefs of that time and talked mostly of Abijah's life as a chronicler of the witch trials there, though it was not a legitimate occupation he took it upon himself to do so.

Alexander skimmed through most parts he deemed pointless to read, until he came upon the name Viser. It appeared as written Abijah had met and befriended the couple Lucius and Ixia Viser. Abijah described the couple having a spectral like complexion, with Ixia's having hair being as black and long as the midnight, and Lucius' hair being as bright as the morning light. He also stated how deep and blue her eyes were, as his were the color of the earth.

One day a neighbor accused Ixia of witchcraft and Lucius her accomplice, after her two children died of a mysterious ailment. The couple pleaded their innocence, but met with condemnation. Lucius went to find Abijah and protested his innocence, asking him to speak on their behalf. He agreed, but from fear of condemnation as there accomplice wrote a letter to have it read during trial.

The outcome of the trial sentenced Lucius and Ixia to a procedure to prove their origin as whether they were witches or human. Abijah wrote how a thick rope tied Lucius and Ixia, with boulders attached to them and then people threw them into the lake. If they were to float up they would be executed for being witches, on the other hand were they to sink they were seen as human.

He wrote to his surprise along with the other onlookers, the Viser couple floated to the surface alive. Stating how benevolent it would be if his eyes played that trick on him, but it was real. While protesting their innocence they did not physically retaliating. Abijah knew their fate, as he chose not to witness his friends Lucius and Ixia burned at the stake.

Making a solemn vow to himself, he wrote that he may be mad for believing them to be no more or no less human, but could not deny the power the displayed to resurface. He would always see them as his dear friends; however, he had to accept their origins were indeed in Hell.

Alexander closed the book and sat back to mentally take in all he read. The new revelation shook his mind, as he now knew the truth behind the secrets Igia and Kristian kept. "Igia, Kristian, even Eathan... are witches!" he softly exclaimed to himself. That evening at Olemilia's house, the channel was on a news network in her room and talked about a murder within Alki Point. The story talked of Ms. Dugan, a respected executive strangled and drowned in her own bathtub. Olemilia could not believe what she just heard, that what Alexander said came true.

"Did... Did this happen!” she exclaimed. That means that Alex must have- no, he wouldn't. Oh, God I hope he didn't do this."

She wanted to believe Alexander had nothing to do with the murder, but could not shake the lingering ideas of how strange he has been acting. To clear her head she got ready for a shower. As she did an email came in on her phone, she opened it reading it asking, Eathan suffocated?" having answering yes already and talking to the unknown caller, she closed out a message.

"I'll be in the shower," she called out to Maria.

"Okay," replied Maria.

Before entering the bathroom, a call came in on her phone. She paused thinking it was Kristian and picked it up to see. It was an unknown caller, but she decided to answer him.

"Hello?"

"At Ms. Dugan's..."

"Alex, that you?" the call ended abruptly.

Olemilia was at a loss for the calls meaning, thinking it was a prank. Soon a second call followed by another unknown caller. She answered this one as well.

"Listen if this is a prank caller, know that it's childish and you need to grow up,” she said scolding him.

"At the lighthouse..."

The call ended, Olemilia laid her phone down and went to the bathroom, when another call came. She ignored it and let it go to voice mail. A voice mail was left and then another call came in, She let that go to voice mail as well before going back to see who called. The second voice mail came, however no call followed after, Olemilia checked the voice messages and saw them from the same unknown caller. Deciding to play them, she stood at her desk to listen to the first.

"At the Renbauld house..."

She was going to play the second one, but then realized a pattern, "Ms. Dugan's house, the lighthouse and then Alex's house. Is he trying to get to Alex or is this Alex?"

Olemilia called Alexander, he picked up and she told him about the call and voice mails. Alexander looked outside his bedroom window and saw no one, assuring her he was fine. She was relieved and they ended their call. Olemilia went into the bathroom leaving her cellphone on the desk, she let down her hair and started the shower, and she took off her glasses, got in, and closed the shower door.

Around that time, Maria came up stairs and peeked into her sister’s room, noticing Olemilia's cellphone light up. Maria went over to see it, it alerted of the second unread voice mail. Curious she opened up the voice message and played it:

"Outside the house..."

“Olemilia, someone’s outside. Olemilia," Maria called.

She was about to place the phone back where she found it, when a call came in. Maria thinking it was her sister’s boyfriend and wanting to know whom it was answered it.

"Hi Alex," she teased.

"Behind you..."

Maria stopped thinking it was a joke and quickly hung up, as the voice she heard sounded murky and wretched to the ears, and ran back downstairs.

Within the shower, Olemilia washed up some, and then went to wash her hair. Washing her hair, she thought she heard a sound like a radios echo. She paid it little mind and started to rinse her hair. Olemilia felt a loose hair and pulled it out, looking at it and on closer examination, she noticed it was dark red, having no idea how it got there. "My hair isn't short or this color," she thought. She felt around for anymore-loose hair, there were not any to find, so she put the occurrence out of her thoughts.

After a while she noticed the water lessen and looked up seeing barely any water come out. In its opening Olemilia saw some hair strands, she pulled them out from the shower head and saw they were short and dark red too. This seemed peculiar to her and assumed her pipes backed up.

"This doesn’t seem good," turned off the shower and opened the shower door. Before she could leave though the shower door closed tight!

She jumped at the sudden action and then attempted to open the door, which did not budge. Soon the shower head began to pour out water gradually!

She tried desperately to open the door, but to no result. The shower head burst off the wall and hit her in the head, knocking her over. Olemilia laid on the tub floor trying to get up, as water from the pipe above gushed out more water. As water poured in, something was holding her down on the tube floor, she tried to move, but could not get up.

"Why can’t I move?" she exclaimed. The tub began to fill fast, as she felt herself submerging!

Meanwhile Maria was in the kitchen, getting a snack. When the kitchen sink turned on? Maria heard it and thought it strange, so went over to turn it off. The water turned off she looked at it a bit, and then went to get a snack. The faucet turned on again, and black water came out? She went to turn it off once more, as she turned the nozzle the water would not stop. The faucets burst and water gushed out like a geyser, spraying icy cold water everywhere. Maria wanted to leave the kitchen, the door it shut fast locking her in!

"Olemilia, that you, Olemilia!" she asked shaken.

She looked around, until she heard noises behind her, like a rattling metal noise. Maria slowly looked back and saw what was behind her, a human figure with cyanosis of the skin and short, dark red hair, stood a few spaces from her.

"W-Who are you?" she asked dreading if the figure suddenly moved toward her.

Next door, a woman washing dishes looked up out her kitchen window and could see Olemilia's kitchen window from where she stood. She could not hear the noises coming from inside, but could barely make out a figure of a young male standing in front of Maria a few spaces toward the left. Concerned for Olemilia and Maria's safety she called the police.

An hour went by; Alexander was at home in the kitchen. He examined the contents of the fridge and saw nothing satiating to eat. He decided to head out for a quick meal, as he went out to his bike he noticed it raining suddenly and that the temperature in the garage dropped. Thinking it came with the rain Alexander got on his bike and left.

Riding up to Olemilia's house, Alexander saw a crowd gathered outside in the rain, curious he pulled up to the scene and saw the EMS there helping Olemilia and Maria out of the flooded house. "What the hell happened here?" he thought. He walked up to get a closer look and saw Olemilia and Maria’s terrified looked. Alexander then saw a figure standing in the doorway inside the house. Amid the commotion, he went under the police tape and approached the figure believing he knew the figure with cyanosis, as if mesmerized by it. Suddenly he felt himself stopped by something.

"You can't be in here kid," spoke the police officer.

"You don't understand, someone else is...,"

Alexander looked up and then realized there was no one at the doorway.

Back at home, he was very concerned if Eathan was going to try to kill him and pondered over why he would try to kill Olemilia. He did not want to sleep that night, the thought of another nightmare made him shudder and breathe fast. Alexander barely slept that entire night, and decided to get answers from Igia. The next morning he went to see Igia at the psychiatric ward. He saw her at the far end of the patient room, sitting and reading. Alexander calmly approached her noticing minor burn injuries from that lighthouse fire. "Mrs. Viser," said Alexander.

"What a pleasant surprise to see you." greeted Igia. "And how are things at home with Rachel and Jonathan?" Igia asked.

"Mrs. Viser," he implored her to stop. "I need to ask you about Eathan. I... saw him three weeks ago in Olemilia's house."

"You must have been seeing things dear," she replied. "My son is..."

"I can't believe that anymore."

"I see. Then there is no point in hiding it any longer then, very well," Igia agreed. "You see I took my sons body to purify it, but it seems to have done little."

"So I'm not going insane," he said secretly relieved.

"I saw him in your shadow the first day you came over to visit the lighthouse."

"The truth is that you're witches," stated Alexander.

"My you are a clever boy," she complimented.

"Enough! I want to know why I'm getting these fucked up visions killing people," he demanded.

Then she shot up and took hold of Alexander’s face, from each side with both hands. "Alexander, keep Kristian safe! He knows what Kristian knows, and will never sleep until he's not alone any more. That's why he projects himself through you in your dreams."

Igia then sat back down quiet and calm. Alexander had no idea what to say to each other, so he just left to go home. Three weeks after the event at Olemilia's house, Alexander had gone over to see Olemilia, now living with her aunt and uncle. They sat in the sitting room, to talk privately.

"My aunt and uncle are gone at the moment, so I can ask you now. Have you had anymore visions?" asked Olemilia.

"I haven't been able to sleep, if I do I'm afraid I'll carry that nightmare out," he replied.

"At least try to get some sleep during the day," she suggested concerned for his health.

Alexander looked at Olemilia for a while with a listless smile. "You're right I should try that."

"Good," she smiled back. "I don't want to lose you to this mess too."

Alexander put his hand over hers and sat there content smiling at her. "C'mon I have to show you something."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Come see." Alexander led Olemilia to the kitchen and stopped by the kitchen table.

"Okay what is it I needed to see?" she inquired.

"Oh something special I discovered. Alexander pulled at the back of her hair hard and pushed her onto the table. He opened the knife drawer and pulled out a buck knife.

"Alex what are you doing?" she exclaimed. She got up from the table, but soon forced back down by a tight grip on her neck. "Why, Alex...”

Alexander just smirked and said, "Because you survived the first time." He began to slash and stab her on the kitchen table, laughing psychotically. After a minute of attacking her, Alexander came off the table and breathed with a sigh of excitement. Suddenly he could hear Olemilia's voice, even though she was dead on the table.

"Alex... Alex." she spoke. "Why are we in your kitchen?"

Alexander blinked his eyes and saw him holding Olemilia's hand as they stood in the kitchen. All of a sudden, he shoved her away from him, "Get out of here!"

"What's the matter with you?" she inquired

Alexander flung open the kitchen drawer and wielded a buck knife saying, "I'll kill you if you don't leave."

Olemilia not taking any chances left, leaving Alexander in the kitchen. Just minutes later rapid knocks hit the front door, upon answering it he saw Kristian.

"Good you're here. Why'd you go see my mother?" questioned Kristian.

"What's it matter to you," he replied shrugging.

"Well what you get out of her, the fact we're a bunch of witches?"

I won't tell anyone," he assured him." Besides we also learned how Eathan was calling us; it was from the phone Olemilia found in the cellar."

"You found his phone!" he exclaimed. "Idiot, where is it? We used a spell to purify his body and bind his ghost. Eathan knows the spells, and knew how to escape it.

"Olemilia has it," Alexander replied.

"Did she just leave?"

"Y-Yeah," he assured.

"I can head her off and warn her of Eathan. There's still one spell I can use to bind his ghost," he claimed.

Kristian took a ritual knife out of his pocket and gave it to Alexander, "Here, if he calls your phone, don't answer. Let him leave a voice mail and then follow through with that knife."

"Wait, what will you...?”

"I have to get to Olemilia before he adds her to his phone."

“What do you mean add her to his phone?” Alexander asked horrified

“His killings were limited when the phone was in the cellar, getting no messages. Ever since you and Olemilia took it, his murders increased. With a new voice mail appearing in his phone from any new person he took,” he explained to Alexander.

Downtown, Kristian had parked his car in a lot and looked around for Olemilia. She meanwhile, calmly drove up the street, listening to the car radio. Olemilia hummed away to the song to calm down after Alexander's episode, until the radio made strange white noises, it began to rain as a call came in on her phone. She put it to voice mail not to get distracted. Another call followed that she put to voice mail too. Olemilia believed it was Eathan calling her to try and kill her again as the phone rang once more; she hesitated to answer the phone as it started to leak.

"What do you want!" she shouted at the phone.

Scramble white noise responded, it was then  she looked in the rear view mirror and froze at seeing a human figure with similar descriptions to what Maria saw in there house, on the trunk of her car in a lizard contortion! He came closer bringing his head through the car, making a white noise.

"Behind you... Behind you," it recited.

She started to panic and tried to veer off, Kristian was on his phone trying to reach her, as he crossed on the red streetlight. Just then the entity vanished, she then saw Kristian crossing with her car going straight for him. Alexander sat in his bedroom messing with the ritual knife. A message came in on his phone though he anticipated a voice mail. The message showed a video of Olemilia's car hitting Kristian and slamming into a streetlight. Petrified at the video Alexander had not notice the voice mail until it played by its self.

"Now we can be alone together. All you need to do is..."

Later that evening, Alexander's mother came home. Rachel removed her coat and bag, and then she heard a sharp scrapping sound coming toward her. She looked up and saw Alexander standing in the archway to the hall.

"Oh, Alex you nearly scared me to death," she expressed.

Alexander playfully swayed the ritual knife back and forth by his side. "He won't stop. Not until I'm alone."

"Alexander, what are you talking about, is something wrong?" she asked concerned. "Just place the knife down, so we can talk."

"We have to be alone otherwise we won't stop. Don't you see?"

Alexander took his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to the floor. A voice mail came in and played, along with Alexander reciting the same words it did. He walked toward the phone and his mother swaying the ritual knife back and forth, "Behind you... Behind you," as he laughed.

A year passed since Alki point was at the grip of a phenomenon no one understood, but now the memories of the incidents began to fade away.

On the evening of April 16, Maria was in a new home having a sleepover with her friend Ashley. Ashley decided they play a popular game and tried coaxing Maria to play.

"Go on," coaxed Ashley.

"I don’t know," replied Maria.

"It's just Justin and his friends trying to scare us," Maria decided to leave her email unanswered.

"Chicken," she teased.

"Then you do it."

Ashley decided to delete the question and did. "See, told you it was a dumb joke."

After she did that Maria could hear a faint white noise resonate in Ashley's phone. The noise brought up the memory of that human figure she saw a year ago.

“Behind you…” 