Don't Trust Words

I'm going to tell you a story. Most people would never believe me, but I've decided to post this on the internet to warn you all. Please, watch your back with every move you make. If you don't, he could appear. You might even barely make it out alive, like I did. Let me explain.

I remember the date very clearly, it was September 20th, the day my dog, Duke, had passed away. It happened a few years ago, I still feel like it's my fault, since I was the one who left the door open. He ran away during the night, we found him the next morning laying on the side of the road, he didn't make it far at all. Dad said a car had just hit him, but he seemed perfectly fine to me. It was almost like he just dropped dead right then and there. What bothered me most was the smell coming from him. He smelled of rotten carcasses mixed with vomit, like, a shit ton of vomit, maybe even worse. Dad had wrapped his jacket around Duke and carried him back to the house. I remember Mom complaining about the smell, Dad just told her that we would bury him out in the backyard. Mom agreed, but I think it was only because of the smell coming from him.

We had buried Duke in the backyard close to our old burn pile, we never went over there anyways so it was a good spot so that he could rest in peace. Mom had me make a cardboard sign for Duke's gravestone while Dad buried him, probably just so I wouldn't be near a dog's dead corpse. I was only about 8 or 9 at the time, and I was a single child (which I still am) so Duke was really the only one I could play with. Dad had to work a lot and Mom was always talking over stuff with clients. I'm 13 years old now, it's been about 4 years since Duke passed away and it still bothers me to this very day. I always go out to our little burn pile area to check on Duke's grave, since it's the respectful thing to do. I went out to Duke's gravestone, which was now made out of stone instead of cardboard, and knelt down in front of it. What I saw wasn't my own writing, it was written in some sort of different language. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, got onto a translator, and typed in what the writing said on the gravestone. It said;

"Hello Marcus"

I didn't know any other languages and neither did Mom or Dad. None of us could've done this, and it's imprinted on the stone, that couldn't have been changed. I decided to deal with it later and headed inside. That night I couldn't go to sleep, it was almost like someone was walking around downstairs. It was probably just Mom or Dad walking around, but it almost sounded like nails clicking against the floor. Thinking it was just my imagination I tried going to sleep, but I still couldn't. It was almost like something was keeping me awake.

In the morning I felt very tired, but something was telling me not to fall asleep. Instead of trying to fall asleep like I wanted to, I decided to go outside and fix Duke's gravestone. When I got out there I saw that there was completely different writing on it now. "Okay, whoever's doing this is just asking to get beat up!" I shouted out into the fields, but nobody responded. I just sighed and decided to see what this message said, so I got out my translator and typed the words on the gravestone into my phone.

"Don't you recognize me?"

I scoffed, knowing this was some sick prank one of the neighbor kids were playing on me. I went to go get a new stone and my chisel for another gravestone, but all the stones were gone. Even my chisel wasn't here. Pissed off, I went back inside and told Dad about it. He agreed with me and said it was just some kind of a prank from some other kids. After that he took me to go and get another chisel and some stone. When we got back I was able to make another gravestone for Duke and I went to go replace the other one. As soon as I got back there, I realized there was another message on here, replacing the last one. I typed it into my phone, just to see if any of this could tell me who wrote this down.

"DON'T REPLACE THIS GRAVESTONE"

Shaking my head, I take the gravestone down and put the other one in it's place. Mom shouted from the porch that dinner was ready, so I shouted back saying I'll be inside in a minute. As soon as I turned back to the stone it said something completely different than what it did before. I stepped back a bit and looked around for anyone, but nobody was nearby that could've done this. Not like anyone could've done it while I was standing here anyways, but I looked away for literally a second and it just changed. I type the message into my phone again, not sure how the message even got there in the first place.

"I warned you Marcus. Why don't you ever listen?"

I'm usually not the one who gets scared easily, but this really got me spooked. I ran inside, acting like everything was okay. My parents wouldn't believe me if I told them the gravestone changed on it's own while I was looking away for literally a second, so I didn't mention it at all. That night, I was finally able to go to sleep, despite the fact my mind kept telling me not to fall asleep, I did anyways.

When I woke up, I didn't hear anyone moving around downstairs. It was 7 in the morning, Mom should've been awake by now, if not Dad too. I get dressed and walk downstairs, while doing so I hear a crunching noise coming from Mom and Dad's bedroom. I peek into the bedroom, letting out a bloodcurdling scream. My parents were torn apart limb from limb, a dog was gnawing on their bones, when I screamed it looked at me with it's bloodshot eyes. It looked as if it was slowly decaying from the inside out, but all of a sudden I got this strange feeling. I knew this dog. This was Duke.

He started moving towards me, limping a bit and staggering around with that same odor coming from him. It was almost like a toxin of some kind. I ran outside of the house and towards Duke's gravestone, which I quickly translated what it said on it.

"N O E S C A P E"

In that very moment, I was knocked to the ground, barely conscious. My vision was blurring, all I could make out was Duke standing in front of me, there was someone else standing next to him too, I couldn't tell who he was though. They both seemed...upset...it was my fault he died that night. "No escape Marcus. We warned you." I heard some people shouting in the distance, then darkness clouded my vision.

I woke up in a hospital bed, having an extremely bad headache. I asked a nearby nurse what happened, she replied with, "I should be asking you that." I asked her what she meant and she just shook her head. Every time I tried asking what was wrong she wouldn't answer. Eventually she looked me in the eyes and said, "You are going to die Marcus, just like your parents."

This strange feeling came over me as the nurse left the room, she didn't seem what I consider normal. I got up from the hospital bed I was laying in and surprisingly I wasn't in a hospital gown. I didn't care about that at the moment though. As I headed towards the door I felt a chill go down my spine and I remembered my parents. I had done all of this, just because I was careless that day. I stood there for a minute or two, completely zoned out in my own thoughts. I finally snapped out of my thoughts and walked out of the room. There were no lights on in the whole building, and to make matters worse it was pitch black outside. I slowly made my way around the hospital, bumping into things occasionally. The thing that bothered me the most was that nobody was out there, not even the nurse from before. They couldn't have just vanished...right?

Despite the fact I was absolutely terrified, I continued through the hospital. Eventually I started to hear footsteps behind me, they were getting louder by the second. I started to walk faster, the footsteps started going faster as I did. Soon, I started sprinting through the hospital, completely blind as to where I was heading. I kept crashing into walls and medical carts/equipment, but that's not what I was worried about at the moment. I was more worried about my survival and what was chasing me. I kept my hands out in front of me the whole time, hoping to feel a door handle or something of the sort. After a while I finally saw lights from street lamps outside. I ran over to the doors and opened them, rushing outside of the hospital. I looked back into the dark and quiet building for a few seconds, then closed the doors.

Just as I was about to walk away the same nurse from earlier ran over to the door and started banging on the glass. She looked like she was crying, I could barely hear her though. Just as I was about to try and help her get out, she started screaming, "WE WILL FIND YOU MARCUS! WE WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU!" I stepped back in horror as her body started to decay, revealing what looked like a man in a skull mask. He started laughing like a fucking psycho, and I saw Duke again right behind him. I ran. I don't know how far I ran, but I didn't stop and look back ever. I eventually came across a couple of people and asked them for help, telling them that a killer was after me. They just asked me where my parents were, I responded with, "He sent someone to kill them. Now he's after me." They obviously felt bad for me, but they just said that they couldn't help me at the moment.

I ran again, afraid that they might catch up to me. I didn't know who this person was and what he did to make Duke mad at me, but they were coming. Nobody would believe me if I told them, so I kept running. I'm still running to this day, only stopping for a bit of rest. I don't talk to anyone anymore. I don't know who to trust, he could be anyone. So please, don't disturb the dead. And don't trust anyone's words.