Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-24719047-20140322171640

 The Lingering Man…

Growing up, my parents’ jobs had us moving often. I’m sure in the beginning each new place was like an exciting new adventure, but with us going from town to town I never really had a chance to make any real friends. It was frustrating because I never could connect with any of the kids. That was about the time I started having these dreams of a man…I would wake up in this long dark hallway and he would slowly approach me with a big grin on his face… But the dream usually ended with me just inches from him and waking up in a terrified state with my parents trying to calm me down. All I could ever remember about those dreams besides that hallway was the way he… always spoke in my head, almost as if his thoughts were my own thoughts….It terrified me but I never really understood what it was until one night… when I met him face to face…..outside of my dreams…

We finally settled down in a small town of no more than a few thousand people. After a few weeks, I happened upon a kid my age, his name was Tyler and he was homeschooled. We quickly became friends..... His parents being huge sticklers about education kept us from hanging out too much during the week. It was the weekend, so of course taking advantage of his freedoms, my best friend invited me over to spend the weekend playing games and causing mayhem. That night was going great we had finally beaten one of the games from his collection, when all of a sudden the lights went out. Tyler decided it was a good time to tell some ghost stories. I figured why not and so told him about the man…. halfway through the story he started to get uncomfortable, shifting uneasily. That’s when something caught my eye and I noticed the door in the hallway was open. I could have sworn it was closed. “It’s just my imagination playing tricks on me” I muttered to myself. Finally his dad called up from the basement, and the lights came back on and we continued our gaming. It was just about 2 a.m. when I began to feel exhausted and suggested we get some sleep. When I had just begun to doze off, I got this strange feeling of being watched. It was strange, sort of cold and creepy, but also menacing. I had the feeling like someone was staring right through me….just waiting for a time to strike. I couldn’t figure it out, but as I looked around the room I noticed how it seemed each of the shadows were moving, getting bigger and smaller. The shadows seemed alive…but they couldn’t be right? Just shadows nothing more… “Must just be my eyes” I muttered to myself. As I continued looking around the room I noticed how it seemed to be darker out in the hallway than inside of Tyler’s room. I figured his parents had gone to bed and must of just shut off the lights, but that’s when I felt it again…That weird feeling as if someone was seeing right through me and could see each beat of my heart… that dreaded feeling had returned. That’s when it suddenly got cold…so very…cold. I tried to wrap myself up, but it just kept getting colder and colder and that’s when I finally noticed the room… the room had gotten dark… so dark almost as if I was in an empty and lonely void. That's when I heard the sound of laughter...it was a childish laugh...it sounded human, but at the same time, sounded something not of this world. Almost as if it was a dead laugh….there was no feeling behind just a mindless laugh.

I had the sudden urge to scream, but no sound came out. Something was stopping me from screaming…. I was afraid and with no one to help, I freaked and that’s when I felt it. A slight tugging on my blanket and in my fright I yanked the blanket up and off the bed… but when I looked nothing was there. And suddenly the room seemed to get brighter almost as if the shadows were never there, and I could actually see the door and the lamp on the desk. The cold had gone away, but that feeling… was back…someone was out there watching, staring, waiting….

The next morning, as I was sitting at the table I asked Tyler about it to see if he had been just messing with me. “Come on man, you think I would really be that stupid to pull a measly prank like that. If I wanted to I would have gotten you already” Tyler said to me. “Yeah I guess you’re right, must have just been my imagination.” I replied. I asked his mom about it and she replied “No I had already gotten to bed way before you boys went to sleep.” “Weird…”I replied. “Man you probably scared yourself with that story of yours,” Tyler said to me. “Yea your probably right,” I answered nervously. Tyler and I left to explore the house and this is when we discovered a creepy crawlspace in the laundry room. Just like any crawlspace, it was dark and damp. What made it stick out, was the weird feeling of being watched as we looked inside. It was a small area, but it was so dark that not even our flashlight could pierce that blackness. What was worse was it was the same feelings I had last night. It seemed as if no one had used that crawlspace in so long, but there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere almost as if the dust was afraid to collect there. It was as if a presence was preventing anything, even a spider from living down there….

“Hey Tyler… Let’s go back to your room and play same games” “Nah man, I want to see what’s inside” “But Tyler…. I think that’s a bad idea. We shouldn’t be down here man.”

That’s when the feeling returned. After a couple more minutes of me trying to convince him otherwise, he agreed with a promise to come back. He asked me what was wrong and I just answered "I don’t know...I just feel the need to leave." We went back upstairs to play some more games. About an hour later Tyler then declared, dramatically, his need for sustenance and volunteered me to grab the snacks … Figures I get stuck with getting the food. As I slowly made my way to the kitchen I got that feeling again of being watched. I looked around and noticed the house was dark....so quiet. Every shadow seemed to have a movement of its own. “Dang why did I agree to this…” When I reached the kitchen, I noticed the basement door was open again. Mumbling to myself about my overactive imagination, I went on to get drinks and snacks. On my way back I noticed an odd shadow at the end of the hall. Almost had the shape of a child, but Tyler was upstairs…. Then it seemed as if the shadow moved closer…I rushed to Tyler’s room and slammed the door.

Tyler gave me an odd look as I tried to explain. “Man you crazy there’s nothing out there.” He laughed at me nervously.

Finally after giving him his stupid snacks, we continued the game. Later on I began to get tired and suddenly the image of the shadow popped in my head. I couldn’t stop seeing it… and worried me. Around 3:30 a.m. was when I awoke to a strange scratching sound at the closet door, then I heard it… it was faint but there.

The laughter of a child, at least I thought it was. I tried to ignore it, but the tapping seemed to move around the room, it seemed as if it was coming from the walls... I had this cold sweat and my gut was telling me not to look and just go to sleep. Being stubborn, I looked anyways. I saw the door begin to open and that’s when I felt dread in the pit of my stomach. The room became darker and darker. Then right next to my ear, I heard something whisper “I found you…”  And that’s when I felt it the presence of never ending coldness.

Suddenly it was freezing, and as I tried to wrap myself, the blanket was ripped away. Then I felt a hand on my arm, and I tried to break free but the grip was to0 strong. I pulled and struggled, and that’s when it asked me “Do you want to live?” I could hardly believe my ears; does this thing really mean to kill me? As I held this thought, the creature again repeated its question, “Do you wish to live child?” “YES!!! I do! I do! Please just let me go!” I screamed. And then it was gone. It was over. I had survived! I looked down to my trembling hands, and I noticed there was a message on my arm where the creature had grasped me. It read, "Do not forget. I will always be near. Waiting, for you to change your mind…." I cried and cried until finally everything just went black….

"Wake up" Tyler shouts trying to wake me. "Dude your freaking out, wake up!" Coming to I find Tyler and his mother standing over me with looks of concern. Still in a daze, I look around remembering what had happened. That creature was gone and the message was gone all that was left was a bruise on my wrist. I will never forget my encounter…

Have you ever walked down a hallway or gotten home late and you just have that creepy feeling your being watched. Does it make you nervous to stand near doorways, or even windows? I don’t know about you, but I just can’t stand that feeling of being watched, it just makes me nervous to know something is out there just staring… but you can’t figure out what it is or where it is. You just know…. It’s out there. The darkness… You may have bad or good days… but never give up your will to live… or one day it will come for you…asking one simple question…..



 Do You Want To Live?  </ac_metadata>