WXRB-TV

I spent most of my early life in New England. I was born in New Hampshire, and sort of moved around the region up until 7th grade. In 8th, I moved to Florida for the rest of middle and high school. Once I finished high school, I decided to move back to New England for college. After being accepted to a school in southern Maine, I moved to a small apartment in Portland, mainly because I missed the smell of the ocean, and absolutely loved Portland as a child.

Anyways, my first year of college went pretty well, and with me finally being off for summer, I could relax. While I had internet, television always had some sentimental value to me, so I decided to buy a computer monitor from Goodwill and use that to keep me entertained through the warm-ish Maine summer nights. I couldn't afford cable at the moment, I was working in a shitty gas station with a pay just above minimum wage, so I just used a dusty pair of rabbit ears. It all worked out fine. I would leave it on as background noise until midnight, when most stations would sign off.

One night, I had come home from work at 11:30 PM, and turned on the TV, once again as background noise, while I was cleaning around the apartment. While cleaning my room, I noticed it was about 12:15 AM and the station I was tuned to, WXRB-TV 5, hadn't signed off yet. I walked out to my TV to see what was going on. It seemed like a repeat of the 7:00 news from a few hours ago. I figured it was just a fuck-up with the transmitter, but intrigued, I decided to leave it on and get back to cleaning, in case anything happened. Nothing really happened, and I went to shut it off, until I noticed something. While the reporter was reading off a local story, helicopter footage of my apartment complex with police and medical vehicles swarmed around it was being shown. I didn't remember anything happening today. I figured one of the older tenants had suffered a stroke or something, but, confused, I kept watching.

"The man found dead in his apartment was identified as 19-year-old James Deacon, a freshman in college. The cause of death has yet to be determined, but foul play is suspected."

At this point, my heart stopped. Not only was my name mentioned, I was apparently found dead in my apartment. I continued, shocked, as they showed various interviews with other apartment tenants that were all talking about how they didn't know how it possibly could have happened, and how friendly of a kid I was. According to police, I was found sprawled on couch, with no sign of blood but a small puddle on the floor next to the couch, with my neck slit.

Lightheaded and panicked, I turned the TV off, sat on my couch, and sat, wide-eyed, thinking about what I just saw. Last I remember were three loud knocks on my door, and I had blacked out right after.

I woke up the next morning, relieved that what I saw was just a horrible nightmare. I got up to get ready for work, got dressed, and while I was putting my shoes on, I noticed a small puddle of blood on the floor.