I was here browsing Reddit yesterday, mindlessly scrolling through various subs, and ended up on this subreddit. Being a horror aficionado, I started to read tons of stories around here, each scarier than the last. Then I discovered the podcast. And then fan narrations on youtube. I got so far down into this rabbit hole, it almost became an obsession. Now, at 21 years old, I feel like it is time to jolt down some things that happened when I moved to a new city at 10 years old, strange things, still not fully explained. I am terrified of opening this box of memories, but I guess the first step in healing is verbalizing (writing?) the story.
I never had many friends. My parents moved constantly from state to state, and I never stayed enough time in one school to make meaningful connections. I was always the weird new kid, but that changed when I met my dual best friends, in a small city in the Ozarks. Both had red hair, freckles everywhere, and a brand new Playstation 2 console that would entice every 9 year old. Even though they looked almost like twins, they were not related. I wouldn’t even consider the possibility of inbreeding until I got much older, but they were my best friends, independent of their family histories.
We used to ride bikes until the outskirts of town, pry at the adolescents bathing in the sunshine in the city’s lake, and usually cause as much mayhem as possible. I used to be a very quiet kid from the lack of friends, but now that I had them, I was happier, more talkative. My sister was furious with the constant moving and usually could be found sulking in her room. My father officially transferred to the local sheriff’s department and things were starting to look very good. I was about to start school, and the thought of possibly meeting new friends excited me.
As with all small towns, there were a number of urban legends floating around. “Oh, a prisioner got hanged on that tree”, “Did you know there’s a monster at the mountains?”, “People go… missing around here“, all of those testimonies, as a horror fan, were like alcohol to an addict. I even went to the city’s archives to learn more about the legends. But, no luck there.
My best friend, Keith, liked horror too, just not as much as me. When he saw I was disappointed, he made a point that at least I didn’t get Ms. Tverdy as a teacher. That did make me laugh, and elevated my spirits; everyone knew how awful that teacher was, and Keith got the misfortune of ending up in her class. That’s just who Keith is, he could always put a smile on your face with the dumbest of jokes and puns.
Kylie, on the other hand, did not have a rebellious attitude like us. She liked reading books, studying, and it was clear she would have a great future. Even as I reminisce, my guess is that she could outsmart a 16 year old at only 10. But in spite of our different hobbies and opinions, we still were a trio, biking on the weekends, getting ice-cream from the only ice-cream parlor existent in the town, and playing videogame together.
One day at lunch I noticed Kylie reading something different. I didn’t recognize the word in the title, and asked her about it.
“Oh, it’s just a word for mine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Why are you reading a book about mines, though?” I enquired. She frowned.
“You can call it a feeling. This town is getting stranger by the hour.”
“How do you mean?”
At my subtle request, she put the book on the table and slid it down to me. I picked it up, curious. In the well worn pages of most library books, with a leather cover, I found it weird that the author would choose such a strange word for their story, but according to the dictionary it really existed.
The rest was a bit frantic, I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I remember asking Kylie pretty please to let me borrow the book and she agreed to transfer it to my card on the local library. I swear, the book was somehow wordlessly making me move with its own will. After the trip to the library, I thanked her and said I’d meet up with her and Keith that evening. I was scared due to my actions, but like I said, I love horror stories. So I started reading the book.
“It’s a long story, but one you’ve never heard before”. I scoffed, perceiving this as just a dramatic writer wanting to hype the reader up, but I was unfazed by this.
“At first I was upset when they told me we were moving to some little town out in the Ozarks.” Okay, even at 10 I could admit this was eerily familiar. “I remember staring at my dinner plate while I listened to my sister throw a temper tantrum [and she] cried, pleaded, and then she cursed at my parents.” What? Whitney? But she is MY sister. What is she doing on a book that appeared to be much older than both of us? “…she stormed off, slamming every door in the house on the way to her room.”, yeah, classic Whitney, but I couldn’t stop the rapid heartbeat or the adrenaline running through my veins.
I continued the book, horrified and disgusted over what happens with Whitney during the course of the story. What the book said my father would do to her. I even felt for those new characters, Kyle and Kimber. The only thing that I couldn’t find in the story were Kylie and Keith, so they should be OK as long as the book didn’t mention them. I was reckless and stupid to not tell them about their possible futures, I know. But I was scared a worm hole would appear or even stranger stuff. So I kept everything from everyone, lied to Kylie I had lost the book on my extended family’s house, and didn’t think much about it. I was safe.
Until Whitney disappeared.
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Original concept/worldbuilding/everything is cc C. K. Walker at https://ck-walker.com This short story is to be consider (almost) a parody, as it will eventually divert its course.