That October Night

Hello, Internet, I guess, I dunno, never really did this before. I've lurked this place for awhile. I needed somewhere to let this out...

I guess I'll start from the beginning. It was an October night, cold, crisp, and dark. The moon was only half out that night but I could still see a queer glow cast throughout town. The trees, without their leaves, made shadows of things that you'll probably see in nightmares of a child...

I was walking for what seemed an hour now. I was swearing at myself for bringing my good school shoes; originally a pristine white, they now had became a shit-stain brown. Walking to my friend's apartment was never an easy task (Let's just say that forests shortcuts ain't worth it). I did manage to make it there, although my shins were muddy. I banged the door with 3 powerful punches like I always do when I came over to this particular friend's house and waited for him to open the door (We'll refer to him as "Ed" for now on.). He asked me where I had been, and I explained that I hadn't been able to call him because my phone was broken.

I entered the house as he also told me that they had already used up the "stuff" that they had for the night. I was not in a good mood to say the least. I walked into Ed's room were the whole gang was in circle, clearly very high. We'll refer to them as Carla, Earl, Roy, and Jackie.

They were just gossiping about unimportant school drama as I made my way into the room and joined their conversation. I was there for about an hour when Jackie pulled something out. It turns out she had bought a Ouija board for Halloween. She explained to us that it's suppose to help us communicate with the dead, and all this other shit.

Now, this is the part of the story when I  tell you that, at this point, I was a huge skeptic and didn't any of this, I was an "Agent Scully" you might say. But after this experience, I really don't know what to believe...

She was telling us what we were suppose to do. I was only partially listening to this, thinking how this was all bullshit and Jackie was a fool for spending money on this. She asked us what we all thought and I spoke the truth. I was then told I shouldn't participate since I could scare away the spirits with my negative energy and yadda yadda yadda...

They then start the ritual with a little prayer as I watched in the darkness, candles were our only light source. They asked any spirits to make a sign. The indicator moved to hello. While everyone had looks of astonishment in their faces I looked on with disinterest. I'm pretty sure Ed was moving the indicator, he pulls shit like this.

Just then something peculiar happened. The indicator went from a D, to a E, to a A, and the to a T when all of the sudden the power went out. I nearly jumped out of my skin as soon as the darkness surrounded me. Then I could hear the distance sound of thunder. I then heard Earl say that we had probably blown a fuse; as fate would have it Earl's father was an electrician. He went to go fix on the behest of Ed and Jackie, since she claimed to an intense fear of the dark. To be honest, I was also pretty afraid of the dark--until I later learned that there are worse things to be afraid of...

So, off went Earl with a flashlight we had found. The rest of us sat there, surrounded by darkness, and waited. And waited. And waited. After 45 minutes we called out to Earl, no answer. So we waited another half hour for something, anything. Eventually, I asked if anyone wanted to go down and look for him. They stared back at me with fearful, bloodshot eyes.

"Fuck it", I thought, and went down to find the cellar door. The only thing I could really see was my own breath... God, it was cold. I kept calling out for Earl, but no one answered. I'll admit that I was stalling; I really didn't want to go down there. But, eventually, I figured I had no other choice. I had to feel every bump and crevice in the wall to get to that door, but I made it. When I finally opened it I was hit with a coldness like that of a Nordic winter. God I really didn't want to go down there.

I went down each step, each one creakier then the last. By the time I was down there I was too focused on the smell to notice the darkness. Holy shit that smell, I swear to you it was not of this world. So after vomiting a little I tried to tell myself Ed had some dirty laundry but I knew that wasn't the case. I got to the wall and felt around for something. But what I found was something I wanted that I would later regret finding.

Blood. Splattered in the corner. It felt thick and warm. I think I screamed, and that's when it hit me - it was light, like a bump or a poke, but it hit me like a cannon ball. I dropped to the floor and began to crawl, trying to avoid whatever it was that had touched me. I had to get to the stairs. I yelled out to Earl even though I knew he was gone and never coming back. I thought it was a sick joke. A prank. I was scared and need to get out.

Something was done there with me, and I knew it wasn't Earl. I got to my feet, determined to move faster, but - BOOM. This time, I was hit hard. Disoriented, I felt the dark space of the cellar become a pitch black, directionless void. I was deep in an eternal darkness, and I wasn't sure if I would ever make it out.

When it finally grabbed me, it was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. It was as if the thing had a hold on me that went deeper than the physical; I felt it in my bones, I felt it in the core of my being. But it try to drag me away as fast as I thought it would. It pulled me slowly and deliberately, as if on a conveyor belt. Finally, my body came back to life, and I found my voice. I screamed for my friends, but I knew they would not come to my aid, so I started kicking as hard as I could. Miraculously, my foot made contact with something and it's grip loosened. I wrenched myself away feeling weak.

Whoever watches over us decided to bless me that night, as I was able to find the stairs in a matter of seconds. As I raced upstairs, I didn't have time to look back at my assailant - maybe that's for the best. I slammed the door shut behind me and ran back to Ed's room to find my friends. They were gone.

The police came and could not find Earl or another living being in that house. Although the blood was in fact Earl's. The incident still haunts me to this day along with all my friends. Ed has since moved out and gotten a new apartment and no one has seen Earl.

But you know what really scares me the most? How cold and dead that hand felt when it gripped me...

in baseball

Original post can be found here