Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26835140-20160118101013

My name is Timothy Dempsey, but I’ve always been called T, I lived in a rural area a little far from my town, Rico, (about a 30 minute drive), with my pet cat Tito (my little nephew tried calling me T, but it always came out Tito, so when I got a cat I thought it was a great name). Rico is a small little town in Colorado. When I bought this quaint little establishment I was given a small discount, the owner whom sold it to me said it caused him many troubles, and the extra money should be able to repair most of the problems. (Bad wiring, rusty pipes, etc.) About two weeks after I bought the house, there was a local news article about a man who was murdered in his newly bought home, who was the previous owner of my house. Police said that it was an attempt to cover up a murder with a fake suicide.

“According to coworkers, he had also been very stressed over the past few weeks.” the reporter covering the article stated. I turned off the T.V. and wondered what anyone had against that man; I gave him a moment of silence, and proceeded with my day. There were a lot of things I needed to do since I was just getting settled in, I was told about a gym, and would be given a basic tour from my old friend, Jackson, who lived in the town for around ten years. He suggested a deli, which he said he liked, and that we should meet at around 3:00. I looked at my clock down the hall, it was 2:15, I fed Tito his new food that I was told to buy for him by his vet, He’s a flame point Siamese so he needed food with all sorts of different ingredients. It’s a bit more expensive, but I didn’t mind. My home phone had a service booster on the mount, so before I left the house, I called up Jackson and asked him for the address of the deli.

“Hey man I’m just about to head into town, can you tell me the address?”

“Yeah bro, it’s 2516 Main St.”

“Ok, I’ll let you know when I’m in town.”

“Alright, peace.”

It was good to hear from him again; it had been a while since I’ve talked to him, since we’ve lived pretty far away from each other, once in a great while I would come to visit. I started the car up and went to my phone’s GPS but, I had naught service, I knew how to get to town from my house and I could just use it from there.

About 10 minutes in the drive, I noticed something I hadn’t before. There was a shrine, just a white cross. It was neatly cut and nailed, but it had no name on it. Which seemed odd. I thought I’d ask Jackson about it since he would be spending the night in my new domicile that night.

So I’m in town after the short drive, and I enter the address in my GPS and I turn out to be just two blocks away, so I decided to walk. I paid the meter and started walking. Just when I was able to see the deli “Midtown Heights.” I hear a loud voice.

“Hey T!”

I nearly snap my neck to look for my old friends voice, and across the street stands this 6’0 guy with bed hair covered by a beanie with a stubble beard. Jackson.

“Jackson!” I yelled, ignoring the couple to my right, noticed them and apologized. (The residents of Rico are rather docile.)

I hadn’t had too much experience in snow or ice, so I cautiously made my way to Jackson on the crosswalk, while he looked like he was on ice skates and slid towards me. I’m 5’10 but I am very fit and prepared myself for the massive bear hug that I was in for.

“It’s been forever man!” Jackson stated, whilst crushing my innards. I replied with a hug of my own and actually popped his back.

“Ooohh dude that felt amazing, thank you.” he said, as we burst of laughter. We headed towards the deli together.

Once inside the deli, we got some sandwiches, and caught up for around an hour, we checked out the gym, and he told me about some great bars.

Once my tour was over, I drove him to his house and he went out and got some clothes, but he also came out with a carnation. Once In the car I asked him,

“What do you need a carnation for?”

“You go down Saldeña on the way to your house right?”

“Yeah,”

“Ok I’ll explain on the way.”

15 minutes in the drive, he asks me to start to slow down a little, so that when we get to a certain spot he can get out for a second. He then waited until we saw the white cross I had seen earlier, and he asked me to stop. He jumped out of the car with his carnation, and planted it in the ground near the cross, he then jumped back in and said to head home.

“So did you know that person?” I asked.

“No, not personally, but there was a girl in her early twenties who died there, Her name was Ashley.” Replied Jackson.

“What did she die of?”

“Murdered, when she was killed she was almost framed for suicide by jumping in front of a car, but it was in fact the man driving whom killed her.”

“Drunk?”

“Bingo.” He looked almost melancholy for the girl.

“Did they put the driver away?”

“Yeah, he got life.”

After a few moments of silence, I brought up my home’s previous owner, and how he was also killed last week. And how his death also was to be covered up by a suicide. Jackson contemplated this, and stated that Ashley died in the winter as well. I thought nothing of it.

At this point we were pulling up in my driveway, and we threw all of Jackson’s clothes in the guest room, my house contained a small bar, and we made some drinks, and began a couple games of pool. A power outage happened at around the third hour of us being home, so, I guess it was a sign to hit the sack. The grandfather clock chimed. Which, I must say, was very eerie in the dark. Eleven chimes, it was late.

“Hey man, is there a silencer for your clock?” A worried Jackson asked.

“Yeah, I can silence it, you don’t like them?” I replied.

“No, never did, they always freaked me out as a kid.”

“Ok, ill put the silencer on right now.”

I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight, I navigated down the hall to my right to find a meowing Tito,

“Hey Tito! How are you doing?” I inquired

“Meow”

“Just as I thought.”

I proceeded to the clock and opened the base; I pulled the two latches out that stopped the chime from ringing. From this point I lead Jackson to his room and said goodnight, I headed to my room with Tito, as always. I went to bed after about ten minutes of dealing with seven whole pounds of cat on my bed.

Later in the night, a hungry cat awaked me, Tito’s food bowl is in the closet in the hall, and so I needed to open it for him. I tested a light switch and we were, indeed powerless. On our way to the closet, Tito jumped on my shoulder, which he only does when he is tense, he then jumped down for his food.

DIING, DOONG, DUMM Three in the morning.

I was greeted by the grandfather clock with my ear inches from the chime, since I was pouring food for the cat.

“REEER, FFFFT!!!” my cat freaked out and hopped right on my shoulder again. I didn’t exactly keep my cool either, I was NOT expecting the noise, and since it was so loud, I screamed as well. I was very confused though, because I put the latches down to stop the chime, once again I opened the base, Turned on the internal light, and sure enough, the latch was down. I flicked the chime just to check, and no sound came out.

I began to worry about Jackson, because in the darkness, a few seconds after the chime, I heard a large thud come from the guest room. And since I caused such a ruckus, I figured I should explain it. I entered his room, and my heart nearly jumped out of my throat.

Jackson had been hanging from the ceiling fan in the center of the room, and one of my metal stools was toppled on the floor. His window had been opened prior, and the full moon illuminated his expressionless gaze. With shadows engulfing his eyes.

“JACKSON!!” I cried, looking for my knife to cut him off of the ceiling, in hopes that he hadn’t asphyxiated yet. He had one in a bag, so I grabbed it and cut frantically at the rope suspending him, I got him laid down on the floor and was checking his heartbeat...nothing. His neck was broken. I sat there, looking at his face; I began checking his body for any marks. There were bruises on his neck and jaw.

Meanwhile, my cat hadn’t moved from the doorway, staring into the darkness, in his stalking position.

“RRRREEEEERRRRR!!!!” “FFFFT!” My cat was VERY tense.

Tito dashed into the darkness, leaving me with the dead body of my best friend. I held the knife ready in my hand, ready for an intruder, judging by the bruise marks on Jackson, the recent killings, and the fact that Jackson had two kids and a wife; I figured Jackson wasn’t one to kill oneself. I entered the dark hallway, ready to attack (or defend), since the guest room was at the end of the hall, the moonlight gave me partial view of the hallway. I studied closely at the end of the hall, before advancing. My shadow partially obscuring my view down the hallway, I saw a pair of feet irradiated by the moonlight. The rest of the body was shrouded in shadow. At about my head-height I could see the reflection of two irises emerge from the blackness.

That was enough to get me out of that house, instantly; I dashed down the stairs to my left, and bolted for the door. Ignoring the doorknob, I used my momentum to break through it. On my way out, I saw Tito, hiding in between my wall and my fridge, and I knew he’d be safe. I sprinted my physical limit down my driveway towards my car, and I realized it was on fire, so I instead ran down Saldeña and began running in the direction of town. Never looking back, up the road I saw something, Lights!! It was the most happy I’ve ever been seeing car lights! When the car came closer I began to raise my hands to flag it down, but I couldn’t raise my arms, something was constricting me. I began panicking, trying my hardest to raise my arms, the car was getting close, and I was going to lose my ride. In one final attempt to raise my arms, I felt hands on my back, as I was pushed in front of the speeding car. 