Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25569708-20150628044653

Hello all, this is my story in progress. Please read it and leave me some feedback afterwards. Thanks!

__________________________________________________________________________________

Let me start off by saying that as a kid I got bored a lot and, seeing as though I unfortunately didn't have cable, I liked to waste my time watching weird local TV stations. You know, the kind that play bizarre local programs and the occasional crappy made-for-TV movie, all under a thick layer of static. I’m pretty sure there's hundreds of them floating around. Well, there was one around where I lived and it was definitely weird.





I imagined some old creepy guy in a van hand picking the stuff that would have played on the station for the next week. It's pretty pathetic, really. But seriously, what is the point of it? I'm completely sure that no person would have wasted an hour and a half of their damn life watching some lousy 60's buddy cop comedy in between Henry Winkler trying to sell them a reverse mortgage. Well, except for me of course. The picture and sound quality sucked, too. It was like trying to watch TV on an oversized monochrome Lite Brite while listening to one long sustained ear-splitting electronic fart. Well maybe not quite like that, but it was pretty close.





Anyway, most of the stuff they played was, as I said, local. Stuff like animated cartoons, short films, and sometimes even music videos. I use the terms "music" and “video" loosely. It was usually just some stupid 90's pop-punk song played against a very low-quality looping video of clouds or something equally as boring. Then there were the times when an actual Hollywood movie would play. The only ones I really remembered were A Few Good Men and some dumb comedy with (I think) Danny DeVito. And half of the commercials were the "call this number if you have been affected by asbestos" type.





Another weird thing about it was that there were no bumpers before or after the commercial breaks. For those who don't know, a bumper is that short clip thing that says the name of the station before and after commercial breaks. Anyways, another thing was whenever I tried to check the info using the INFO button on the remote, it would say "INFO NOT AVALIABLE". Other than that though, nothing too strange happened on the station, except for this one time something happened that I don't think I’ll ever forget.





I remember it was in 2006 around summertime. My parents were out for the night and I was home alone. I was spacing out in front of the TV during the evening. The channel just gotfinished showing a dumb Claymation short when it started playing some COPS-like show. There was no intro, it just immediately started with a camera filming the inside of a police car. The car drove around a small suburban neighborhood at night. The camera never showed the cop's face, instead it focused on the road and surrounding environment. There was no speaking at all, either. I now assume it was unedited since it seemed like one long take.



<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">At the time I was pretty fascinated by this "show", albeit a little creeped out. Why would they show some apparently unfinished cop show episode? How did they even have access to it? Despite these thoughts, at the time I was actually pretty happy they were showing something at least halfway interesting.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">The car drove around for probably a couple minutes before the sirens went on. There wasn't any call coming in on the cop's radio that I could hear. The cop just sped up and zoomed down the streets. I couldn't see any other cars, and not just on the road. I mean, there weren't even any parked around the neighborhood that I could see. Eventually they arrived at what I assumed was the outskirts of town. There was several dilapidated-looking huts and the occasional warehouse. The car slowed down a little as they drove around. Soon, a large warehouse came into view. As soon as it did the car stopped. When I say stopped, I mean stopped. As if on a dime. One second the car was zooming along and the next second it was completely still. This is where I got somewhat uncomfortable. Was what I just saw possible? I doubt it was a cut in the video because the sound of the sirens was uninterrupted during the stop.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">The sirens were then turned off as well were the headlights. The camera zoomed in on the warehouse and appeared to slowly scan the windows and entrances, apparently waiting for something to happen or someone to come out. My heart was hammering in my chest as this was going on. Something about this video or show or whatever it was seemed wrong. I know it may sound weird, but watching this made me feel somehow unnatural. I had the feeling something really terrible was going to happen soon. At this point it struck me that I should try the INFO button just to see if it would say anything. Part of me didn't expect it to, but another part suspected otherwise.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">And, almost unsurprisingly, something did come up. The "show's" title.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">"NOTMADATYOUNOTMADATYOUYOU"

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">Before I could even begin to comprehend this, something on the TV stole my attention. Out of one of the doorways of the warehouse, a small red hand emerged, like that of a child. My heart pounded even more franticly as it very slowly came out. The cop in the car apparently did not react at all. The camera was focused completely on the hand. I was expecting something to pop it's head out of the doorway at any time, and as a result I covered my eyes out of fear.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

I sat and waited for probably 10 minutes. Nothing ever happened. I then thought I should finally just switch the TV off, but I didn't know where the remote was and I didn't want to risk seeing the screen while I searched for it. As I was waiting I vowed I would never watch this channel or anything like it ever again, a vow that I have kept ever since. I waited for what seemed like a century. Complete silence. At last I heard the sound of commercials. I had never been so relieved in my (then) short life, thinking it had cut to commercial break.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">I uncovered my eyes to see the same red arm now extended at least 30 feet from the doorway.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">My memory fails me after this point. I guess I blacked out or something. I can only barely remember waking up a couple hours later. I was lying face down on the floor a few inches away from the TV. To this day I have no idea how I ended up on the floor when I clearly remember being on the couch before blacking out. Truth be told, I don't think I want to know. The next day I remember nervously checking the station to if it would show anything. It didn't. In fact, I couldn't even get it anymore. To this day I still can't. I guess that's for the best.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">After this incident, I gave up on TV completely. In fact, the next night I asked my dad to take it out of my room. I convinced him that reading was my new hobby. It also goes without saying I stopped searching for weird TV stations. I never told anyone what happened, though the memories and fears stick with me to this day. I still get an uneasy feeling whenever I walk by a TV. Other than that though, life goes on. I eventually moved out and got my own life. There's really not much else to say other than please don't watch weird TV stations. I don't care if I say crazy, I honestly think there's something wrong with them. But if you ever let temptation get the best of you and tune in to one, I suppose you'll be fine.

I'm not mad at you.<ac_metadata title="Feedback wanted on my story-in-progress, &quot;Stay Shunned&quot; (Unreviewed)"> </ac_metadata>