The Hand on My Shoulder

As a cold chilling grasp tugs at my shirt collar, I choke out demands, it doesn’t hear me, no one hears me, hell I’ll be damned if anyone even knew I was there, unlucky, misfortunate, as I dwindled to the remaining light in the room, I felt relaxed and fell to the floor full of regret.

Day 1 - October 4th 1991  8:30 a.m.
It happened just a bit ago, it was a warm spring morning and as I woke up, I felt as if I were in heaven, it was my birthday and that meant that I finally got to move to my own place, on my own, until, well you know. After I kissed my mother goodbye, I felt like a new man. I was alone now, driving down the familiar streets looking for houses for sale, but there were no houses up for sale, which was odd, everyone moves out eventually and most put their houses up for rent if it’s theirs, why not today. I felt like turning back and waiting till tomorrow to find my own place, but it was mid-morning and there was no U-turning this far down the road.



            It was about eight forty-five when I felt hopeless and all I was doing was burning gas, well money too. I was half asleep and there was no way, I was going to find anything. I rode until I found a rest stop and settled in the back of my truck with nothing but a rucksack for a pillow and a stray hoodie for warmth, the only lights were the stars above my head and the occasional car alarm going off. I started to blink and before I knew it, I was dead asleep.

Day 2 - October 5th 1991 - 5:30 a.m.
I awoke at five thirty and started to head out and about. I called up my mom when I could, she said she was happy for me that I took this step into adulthood, she also told me of certain houses to look for and to make sure I meet someone I can agree with. Later on, I was ALL alone on the road, which was completely odd because it was a busy street usually. While I was going down an outskirt meadow drenched road, I saw a distant town, as far as my eyes could see. The small town had a tower, well what I thought was one, maybe a lighthouse? I don’t know. It looked amazing, it had everything a view, homes, a hospital, and it was great to be here. I moved towards the town and when I did I felt a small pain in my temples

            “Oh my God! What is going on?” I exclaimed to myself. Clenching my head, I ultimately settled down after about five minutes. I grasped the wheel and kept making my way towards this little settlement Every few meters my headache grew stronger and stronger, I finally took some head medicine and now I felt calm. I knew this was nothing special though, I have always had this problem on planes, and my ears wouldn’t just pop, they’d break in sharp pain, so I knew this was nothing. Making my way towards the tower where, I knew many would spend their time, I knew it was a tower, maybe in memory of someone…important?



            Shortly after I looked for any houses, none were open. So for the night I knew I would have to stay in the hospital, I was pissed beyond believe I went through a headache and wasting money on gas, sleeping in a truck stop. I had set up a night stay at the hospital, it was a damn sure fact I wasn’t’ going to stay in that tower. The nurse showed me my room, it was nice for a hospital room, she had cleared out all of the medical equipment, needles, etc. The bed had a comforter on it of what seemed to be a checkered pattern, it was torn up badly though, that’s beside the point anyway. As I drifted on to sleep I felt my headache coming back to me, I somehow ignored it though and drifted into a deep sleep for what seemed like a long time, I should have never woken up.



Day 2 - October 5th 1991 - 9:15 p.m.
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "ErasDemiITC","sans-serif"">            I awoke to the sound of beeping, I was in an actually hospital room, hooked up to a lot of medical equipment, my “alarm clock” was my heart beat, the nurse walked in with a scared expression on her face.“Thank God! Your finally awake, we thought you lost too much…” I interrupted her there “Whoa! Too much what?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "ErasDemiITC","sans-serif"">“Lift the blanket and see…” I lifted the blanket; my shirt was drenched with blood, “Oh god! What the fuck happened?!”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "ErasDemiITC","sans-serif"">“That’s Just it, we don’t know…You mouth was leaking blood, we brought you in here so we could heal you up.”“Okay, I have been having these headaches for a while on my way over here.”“Oh no, you...Y-You need to go to the tower, NOW!”“Whoa! Hold the phone! Why do I need to go to the tower?”“The Hand….” She looked sick by the pale way her face looked; it was too much for her. I looked over and I saw nothing, no hand, nothing.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"ErasDemiITC","sans-serif""> I stripped myself out of the needles and bloody clothes and put on the stray hoodie form my truck the night before. I headed out of the hospital and looked towards the tower, I trudged my limp body over to it. When I walked inside, I saw a girl; she was young, really young like eight or nine years old. She was not afraid of me just barging into the door. She looked dead at me and smiled, the smile soon shrank into a frown, “Oh no, they chose you…” she had a look of concern on her face. “Does anyone want to explain this to me, seriously I need to know what this is!” I was angered at her statement. She simply replied back, “The hand…on your shoulder…” She pointed to my shoulder with a look of pure terror. I peered over and saw what the nurse what talking about. I ghostly white hand had been resting on my shoulder; no one was behind me, just a hand. As if angered by her gesture at it, it grabbed my shirt collar and jerked it hard. I was gasping for air and as light dwindled away from my lights, I heard the origin of my headaches, a small tune from a music box being held by another hand, I fell to my knees in agony and before I hit the ground lifeless, I heard the voice of the being killing me at this moment.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"ErasDemiITC","sans-serif"">            “Welcome to Lavender Town…Enjoy your stay…”

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