Afterfear

 AFTERFEAR 

 Hey. If you’re reading this, maybe you can help me out. I’m writing this here for people to know the truth. The truth about the things we see in the dark. The truth about fear. I’m doing this here because I know people will see it and believe me. You have to! So please, before you click out of the page, listen to what I have to say. It all started last week.

 So I was looking through some scary stories, looking for some cheap scares and thrills. The night was my favorite time to read, when my imagination ran wild. That’s when the scares are the best. After reading some sub-par stories, I caught something that drew my attention. The story was simply labeled, “It’s Found You”. Wondering why a story would have such a simple name on it, I clicked and saw it was only a paragraph long, with what looked like gibberish filling up the rest of the page. I was reluctant to read what seemed like a disappointing story, but I did anyway.

 “You have been found. Right now, it’s probably knocking on the door.”

 When I read that sentence, I could’ve sworn that I heard a knocking somewhere in the house.

 “Just a coincidence…” I told myself.

 “The door slowly opens with a creak, as it begins to descend down the stairs into your room.”

 At that time I heard a door slam shut and the sound of footsteps, getting closer to my room. My heart started to pound, as I waited for whatever thing laid beyond the door. I closed my eyes as I heard a voice…

 “Brandon! Go to bed! It’s 3 AM!”

 My dad had burst into my room, obviously very angry with me.

 “Okay, okay, I’ll go to bed. Sorry.”

 My dad closed my door and I crawled into bed, still very scared and adrenaline fueling my mind. I started to drift off to sleep, when suddenly, I heard the knocking again. It was definitely louder than last time, because I could clearly hear it. I waited for someone to go investigate it, see if someone else was at the door, but there was no movement. Only the damn knocking. I decided to get out and see who it was. I quietly walked upstairs, trying not to wake my dad, and walked up the stairs. But before my cold, clammy hands could grip the doorknob, the knocking stopped. Nothing was making a noise, it was just complete silence. I walked back downstairs, very confused about this situation. I decided to go back to the bathroom, get some cold water on my face and clear my mind. I turned on the light, which blinded me for a second. I turned on the cold water, and reached my hands into the flow. I splashed some cold water, which gave me a good jolt, shocking me awake. As I looked back up to the mirror, I swear I saw somebody standing right behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I quickly turned to face this unknown entity. But behind me was only an empty space.

 “You’re just imagining it. You’re not insane,” I told myself. But I still tried to wrap my brain around what I saw. I know it couldn’t have been there, but it felt so real, like it was actually there. I shook it off and started to walk back to my bedroom. All of a sudden, I got that feeling again, like something was watching me. I quickly turned again, only to see that blackness was behind me. I turned back around, only to have that same feeling, only it was more intense. I ran. I just starting running, bumping my legs into anything that I couldn’t see, but it didn’t matter. I just wanted to get into bed. As soon as I got in my room, I shut the door behind me, and leaped into bed, and pulled the covers over my head like a scared child. That’s how I felt. I felt like when I was 6 and believed there were monsters in my closet. I felt safe under my covers, like a protective barrier had been placed around me, keeping me safe from whatever ungodly things haunted me. I started to drift off to sleep, and I began to dream. The dream is fuzzy, but I remember that I was playing in a concert, and everyone was cheering for the band. I think it was going well, until I looked in the crowd and saw that figure again, far away in the crowd, probably in the back. I couldn’t look at it, because my sight got blurry every time I set my gaze upon it, but if I looked away, it seemed to be moving closer, until the creature was in the front row. Suddenly, everything just stopped. Nothing was going on, and nobody was moving. The silence was killing me, but I saw that…thing crawl up on the stage, and I managed to get a good look at it. I don’t want to recount every detail about it, but just imagine The Grudge girl, Samara from The Ring, and any other creepy girl you’ve ever seen mixed together, add in some enhanced teeth and nails, and you’ve pretty much got it. I backed up to the edge of the stage, only to see that a vast nothingness waited below. The creature approached, ever so slowly, as if it was taking its time intentionally, to drag things out and make it more terrifying. I tried to wake, tell myself it was only a dream, but nothing was working. I pinched myself over and over, harder and harder again until blood was coming out of my arms, but nothing was working. I suddenly decided that a decent into the abyss was better than whatever that monster had in store for me, so I turned and jumped into the darkness.

 My head suddenly popped off my pillow, and I was back in my room. I was sweating profusely, and I was breathing heavily. I flicked on the lamp next to me, and checked the time on my clock.

 “3:30. Are you kidding me? It’s only been 30 minutes?!” I whispered to myself. How could it have been that long when it feels like it’s been 5 hours? I turned off my lamp and tried to go back to sleep. I pulled the covers over my head, and I slowly closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep again.



<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> “Found you.” 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> My eyes flew open and I sat up, looking around my empty room. My heart was beating fast, like at any moment it was about to explode with pure fear. Every noise in the house was intensified, and everything I saw was twisted and contorted into horrible things. I felt like I was going insane. I just wanted to lay there and scream until my lungs gave out. I started to fall into unconsciousness, and I saw that creature faintly before I passed out.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> I woke up in my bed again, and I tried to move my hand, but they wouldn’t budge. I tried the same with my legs, but the same thing happened. I tried to yell for help, but nothing was coming out. I looked in the mirror across from me and saw my mouth was sewn shut. I thrashed around violently; trying to move even an inch, but nothing was working. I closed my eyes and opened them, and I was face to face with the entity again. She didn’t say anything, instead just looked at me, like she was observing me. If my lips could move, I would be swearing more than a drunk man. She walked over to my side, and held my hand, almost longingly. I started to relax for a second, hoping that maybe this creature wasn’t aggressive; maybe it just wanted to have a friend. That thought was immediately thrown out the window as I watched her take her long nails and scratch my arm, cutting deep and hard. I wanted to scream, just to scream, but I couldn’t. I almost wanted to cry, as she took my finger and ripped it right off. Tears rolled down my cheek, not out of pain, but out of complete fear. She stopped for a second to investigate my face, like she had never seen a human cry before. She ran her hand across my face, and it seemed she didn’t like my tears. She ran her nails into my eye and pulled. Hard. I felt everything, and I watched my vision get taken from my left eye, and only had my right eye left. I started to have trouble keeping myself from falling unconscious again, and I couldn’t hold on anymore. She whispered in my ear, quietly:

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> “I’ll always find you.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> I woke up again, early in the morning, all my sheets were soaked with sweat, and my pillows were strewn across my room. I looked at my clock and read the time; 8:30. I breathed a sigh of relief and got out of bed. I decided that I was going to read the rest of that story anyway, so I got back on the computer and looked up the story, determined to finish it. It read as follows:

<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;text-indent:.5in"> “You’ve been found. It’s probably knocking on the door. The door slowly opens with a creak, as it begins to descend down the stairs into your room. You’ll try to convince yourself it’s all a dream, but it’ll be real when you wake up again.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> I looked down at my arm again to see that there were gash marks. Ones that were similar to the ones she gave me…

<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;text-indent:.5in"> “And when you think it’s safe to dream again, she’ll be there. She’ll be watching.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> I got that feeling again…

<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;text-indent:.5in"> “So to all who read this, your fate has been sealed, and you are hers forever. I’m sorry.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> I got up and turned off the computer, disgusted with this person, and turned to go outside and found myself face to face with her again. Except this wasn’t a dream. This was all real, and I knew that whatever she did to me would last forever. She whispered in my ear…

<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;text-indent:.5in"> “Found you…………”