It was a Friday evening and my family and I were in the living room, watching a movie. The dogs were looking out the window yet again, this was probably their favorite thing to do at home.
However, the blinds on the window are individual plaster strips that can get stuck together when moved, so when the dogs would poke their heads through to look out the blinds usually became stuck. It would get a little annoying.
The dogs started to bark at the window. It was probably yet another cat, so we shushed them to go elsewhere. As the dogs left the window, I hesitantly walked up towards the blinds to close them yet again. I grabbed one of the blinds and peeked out the window.
There stood the tree my grandfather had planted many years ago when they built the house, and the tire swing my father had set up long ago. I smiled but then realized something was off.
There was a black figure in the middle of the yard. I stared at it trying to figure out whether it was real or not. The figure looked as if it was a woman.
She began to look up.
My eyes widened as I realized she was looking at me too. As she came closer, I froze as I saw that she didn't have a nose or cheeks; her face was decomposing.
Her forehead was almost depleted.
I gasped in terror as her mouth opened, and from a distance I could see that her teeth were what seemed to be rotten.
I couldn't move. The woman walked towards the window. With each step she took she disappeared and appeared again. I backed away from the window and ran to my room screaming. I could hear my dad yelling,
"What's the matter with you boy?"
I put my desk chair on my door and hid in my closet. In the safety of my room I then realized I had left my parents and the dogs in the living room, vulnerable. It was too late.
I heard the window shatter and my mother screaming. I then heard my dad scream in agony.
The dogs were barking and snarling but they were soon silenced. I could hear my mother run down the hallway screaming, and I held my mouth with my hands trying to suffocate the sounds of my cries. I heard a thump near my bedroom door, like a heavy object hitting the ground.
I thought to myself,
"My dad has been mutilated, my mom has been decapitated, the dogs have been killed..."
I heard my door knob rattling,
"Eric? ERIC?" it was my mother. Did she kill that thing? I sat in my closet frozen, unsure what to do.
"Eric, honey, are you in there? Sweetie, are you okay? Open the door please Eric! Please!" she pleaded. My throat tightened. Was that really my mother?
I slowly opened my closet door, my heart was beating, my stomach was aching. I crept towards the door shaking, when I heard a soft mumble.
"Eric, don't open the door."
I stopped. I froze.
I said "Mom?" Silence.
I could hear nothing. I stood at my door for what seemed to be forever.
I slowly moved the chair from the door. I turned the knob. I slowly opened the door. I peeked my head out. Nothing.
I slowly inched myself down the hallway into the living room. There was my family watching the movie.
I was confused. What had just happened?
I ran up to my father but as I got closer I realized he was lifeless and he was propped back up on his chair, and I turned to see that my mother's head was put back in its place, and my dogs, my dogs were put on the edge of the couch as if they were sleeping. Panting, I quickly turned around to get out of my house. As I turned around there she stood, behind me, waiting.
She smelled of burnt flesh, her body covered in blood, her eyes hollow, and her hair long and matted. She leaned towards me and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes in fear, I was frozen again. Nothing. I opened my eyes and she was gone.
Twelve years later, I still see this woman. She taunts me. She appears at the grocery store, at the library, across the street, in the faces of other people, in my dreams - everywhere.
So tonight, I decided to take my own life.
I cannot live with this torment any longer.