Scratchy Scratchy

As a child, Jeremy heard scratching coming from a section of wall in his bedroom. For years, he imagined such things as the murdered body of his brother clawing at the wall, trying to be found.

His mother, however, believed he was reading too many scary stories before bed. When Jeremy kept complaining she told him that the wallpaper in his room—an old floral print—was there to protect him from the evil spirit.

“So it keeps them out?” Jeremy asked.

“No,” she said with a frown. “It just keeps you safe,” she replied cryptically.

Years later, Jeremy had left for college and one Christmas decided to come back to see his family. That night, he slept in his old bed and was almost asleep when he heard the old, horrible scratching sounds coming from behind the walls.

It was then that an older and braver Jeremy got up, turned on the lights, and ripped the wallpaper from the wall to try to get a better look at things. Once the paper was gone, he spied a small, fist-sized hole in the wall.

Jeremy only meant to pull back a small piece of the wall, but managed to rip a large, child-sized area of wall. There, his eyes were met with rotting wood and scurrying spiders.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he tossed the section of wall to the ground, vowing to get some plaster in the morning and patch the whole thing up. However, something caught his eye that terrified him.

As he looked down upon the back of the wall, he could see dozens of deep grooves that looked like claw marks, most of which seemed to have been burnt into the wall.

Turning around, his eyes were met with a pair of fiery circles, standing where the section of wall once was. The last thing that passed through Jeremy’s mind was the realization that the paper was meant keep the evil spirit in.