I am 40 years old, U.S. Army Chef who recently moved on with military stuff to start a career as a Cook who works as a school cafeteria in a certain elementary school across the western side of the country. It was not a farfetched decision. 3 years before dismissal, I had visited a school to volunteer in a veterans day festival, and there I met an old colleague of mine, after some discussion with him, not to mention that I had been dealing with multiple reports in private relating to the terrible school food situation in America. While this might not sound like a big deal, the problem was that the school was located in Kansas, which is halfway across the country, and at that time I was living in Washington DC.
I still have no Idea Why I have decided to work at a school halfway across the country. I was serious about working there, but at the same time, I didn’t think about the distance between work and home first. When I told my mom about it, she said she knew this would happen one day.
I’ll admit it, I am a legitimately stupid person. I can go as far as saying that I am the stupidest man in Washington DC. While I had no trouble with basic knowledge and math and all sorts of things, I was stupid when I was in a state of making a choice. You know how there are some characters like Patrick Star from Spongebob who are considered as a definition of a dumb characters, imagine that as me.
Won’t go into details about the things that I have done with dumb decisions, but to make a long intro short, I was going to move halfway across the country to work as a chef for a school cafeteria.
I immediately contacted the associate (I will refer to him as ‘BB’ to describe the events) to arrange a place to stay until I manage to get a house in the state, and With his permission that he can get me a room in his house, that was when I decided to pack the things I need to take from my family’s house before I leave to a new state. I had high hopes on the way back home because this would be meeting my family, mom, and dad in 7 years (I decided to not meet them occasionally because of multiple reasons, The last time I actually did meet them for a short period was nearly 4 years ago.)
As soon as I got out of the camp, I used some of the money I had gotten from military work to immediately rent a small sedan and drove to the town. While that was happening, I immediately contacted my mother, only to hear nothing other than the beeping of the phone. Indicating that the number was no longer used. At first, I thought this was not a big deal and thought they were all out doing something or their phones were just turned off.
That thought wavered when I entered my neighborhood and my hunch told me that there was something seriously wrong happening in the town.
As soon as I entered, the first 5 houses on the left and right row were all for sale, one place had a car inside that looked like it had not been used for a year as if the owner just left when he or she moved out. 3 of the houses on Sale were cheaper than most of the house prices in America. One particularly cheaper as if the homeowner was begging the house to be sold.
That was not just the houses that were on sale when I drove deeper into the neighborhood, At first, I thought this was a joke. But out of all 39 houses in the street where I live, 30 of them were on sale, Meaning that right now only 9 families are living in this neighborhood. The houses without people had cars parked on them that definitely did not belong to a real estate agent or any of the officials. It was definitely a car that the original owner of the house have used before their disappearance.
Curious to find out about the neighborhood’s events, I parked my car somewhere far from my house and started walking towards my house as I looked around. Then I reached the address which had my mailbox and immediately knew that something seriously wrong was happening in this town.
My House is located in a middle of a pathway leading to another house, I know that the other house is owned by an Our Family Friend, Mrs. Washington. What greeted me was her house… burned down to the ground… The rooftops were charcoal black from the fire, every single curtain painted with black marks of fire, and her car was standing in front of the garage, which was enough evidence to tell me that Mrs. Washington… Did Not Make it out alive.
Dreaded by the fact that Mrs. Washington no longer exists in this world (I did not know her close but she was a nice lady who made cookies for me every birthday when I was young), I went to my house and saw nobody inside. At first, I had been expecting Mom and Dad to be Out in the malls shopping or they both went to work (Both of them work at a Pharmacy) but when I checked the time, I knew that was not the case, as it read 4:20P.M, which is usually the time when They should be at home.
Speaking about Time, when I went inside my house, I checked the clock to see it stopped moving. In fact, The clock was now filled with cobwebs and so did other parts of the house, it felt as if my parents have abandoned the house for a long time. And that was when I started to get worried, How do I contact them since there were no phone numbers left?
I checked the house up and down to see if there was anything that Mom or Dad have left as a clue to Their whereabouts, I eventually stumbled upon a Sticky note that was in the middle of the table with a Phone number and an Address… I won’t go into details with the exact address, but they were not even in Maryland, Their new address was Pennsylvania, meaning they have moved houses to somewhere far.
This confused me since, It wasn’t common for any of them to move houses, or outright move houses outside the state of Maryland, over the past 20 years, our family was all living all across Maryland, and the fact that they moved states made me feel uneasy.
Anyways, I did manage to contact my dad, and When I asked about the things that have happened in the town, He explained a timeline of events that have been occurring over the last 2 years, which were something that nobody would ever imagine happening in the 21st century.
A serial killer.
The First confirmed the victim was a guy who lived at the top of the neighborhood. In a twist of events, he moved into the house 3 days before his murder. The Real Estate Agent, who came to the house to discuss multiple contracts with the victim, was the one to report the body. Two stab wounds on his chest.
However, this one murder was enough to put the cops on alert, The Fire in Washington House occurred 1 week before the man’s murder, and the fact that the fire was hot to the point where the only thing they discovered after the fire were the bones of the residents, The Police were suspecting foul play, as they couldn’t find anything that can naturally have the fire in a high temperature in the scene.
Dad said that there was a 3rd death in the street, an entire family of doctors living at the very bottom of the street. Hearing that news was enough for them to get out of town and never return, He said that they immediately took their cars and roamed around motels for a while before getting a house in Pennsylvania.
An Overreaction, but I Understand. Because I told them that multiple houses are on sale at a cheap price, and Dad said that ‘houses at the cheap price’ represent a house where a death has occurred.
So as soon as I returned from Military work, I was dealing with a town where a serial killer roams among us, who presumably burned Washington’s house, killed innocents such as children and basically wiped out the entire neighborhood by killing and causing others to be driven out, including my mom and dad.
After the phone call, I thought for a while if I should follow Mom and Dad’s footsteps and get the hell outta here before the serial killer comes and gets me killed. I might be a soldier, but I was a vulnerable target considering my stupidity. I could trust anyone and anyone could be stabbing me in the back in this scenario.
And that was what I decided to do. I was going to stay here for a day or two. Start a Garage Sale and sell as many things as I can before taking the remaining stuff into the car I rented and driving to my new job, Kissing Washington DC Goodbye.
So that was what I did. My idiotic Impulse told me to ‘hey, start a garage sale before you leave this state!’ and with my mom’s permission and a discussion with her about what is supposed to be sold, I prepared for one. I immediately cleaned the garage and started looking for things that I can sell before moving out of this state. A bunch of old board games, movies, and clothes that did not fit were on the floor. I checked my room to grab a Military kit and a civil war module, a cooking module, and a bunch of old cookbooks. And all the other stuff was going on the floor.
Then, I Made a post on the community website saying that I am holding a garage sale, but my job was far from done. I had to clean the house, Scrub the floor, Mow the garden, Remove the cobwebs, and fix the broken lights.
Afterward, I approached My Dad’s study and found multiple newspapers lying all over. Once I realized that it was all newspapers regarding the murders and potential suspects, I had an interest in it and took to the kitchen to read it as I eat dinner.
When I came back home, it was 2:00 P.M., and once I finished my duties as a house owner, It was 6:00 P.M., And I had no energy to cook at that moment.
I Ordered Chinese noodles for my house, and once I had Noodles on the table, I started reading the newspapers regarding the murder victims. It was pretty distressing, to say the least. The Newspaper did tell me about the people that were murdered, and how they were killed. Some of them died outside the streets with a simple weapon, and some of them died with more cruelty in their deaths. While it was not common for me to say this, once I saw the victim’s ages don’t go over double digits make up almost half of the victim list, and the killings on them were described more brutally, It didn’t take me long enough to realize that this killer in this town was an irredeemable monster.
The Sheer Hatred that suddenly erupted inside caused me to crush the newspaper and throw it on the floor, Just reading about his crimes made me puke. I was right now living in a street, where one of the residents was murdering other residents, enjoying every single moment, bringing despair and fear to the survivors, wondering if they were next. Which might be the exact thing that Motivated Mom and Dad to get out of the state.
You Fucking Hurt Kids in America, I congratulate you, unnamed killer. You have successfully turned the entire Nation into your enemy, I don’t know who you are, but Do this world a favor and kill yourself.
30 Deaths, 17 of them children, starting with Neighbors of mine. The fact that I was heading to a school to feed children good stuff and I had personal connections with Mrs. Washington, Made me harbor hatred that seemed to come out of hell.
I wondered what would Mrs. Washington do if she was alive, probably come home to greet me with her children, Jack and Harold (Whose names were also on the list of victims, unfortunately), and probably since I am an old man, feast ourselves with Beer and Alcohol (Yeah, she was an alcoholic who would drink a lot, it was actually a miracle that she didn’t go outright apeshit being drunk and didn’t beat her kids)
During My Time in the Military, I met this guy who used to work as a Policemen, and the thing that he told me stood out to me as one of the saddest things I’ve heard in my life: That he genuinely wishes murder mysteries to be just in movies and games because there is nothing more depressing than hearing the news that your loved ones are dead.
Now, this entire murder stuff is genuinely gut-wrenching, and insane and honestly pisses me off, but I couldn’t stay pissed off since I had to do something. Garage Sale.
The rest of the evening, I forgot the newspaper stuff and placed the things I was going to put on the garage sale on display with prices going from 3 dollars to the most valuable one being 50 dollars (A Vase), and after that, the fateful day was going to come Tomorrow.
I headed to my room with my bed (which I planned to take by using the service they use to deliver furniture to new houses) and immediately blacked out. When I woke up, it was early morning.
I checked the community post and it didn’t get as much interest from anyone. The People who were interested in the community post were not because of the garage sale, but rather interested in the fact that the place where the Garage sale was happening was… y’know.
As soon as I realized that I had a garage sale, the stupid instinct inside me disappeared, and I realized what I was forgetting, something that is important in the garage sale: Seed money.
I immediately took off with a coat and ran to the nearest bank, and as I was walking there, looked at the basket of newspapers where the dairy had placed to show the latest issues of the community. The words that were headlined were: WASHINGTON MURDERS, 3 YEARS LATER.
Oh great, I have forgotten that the reason why My mom and dad ran away from the state was because of a serial killer. I took a newspaper from the basket and started reading about the murders.
And This Newspaper blew my mind. The thing that was written in the newspaper genuinely freaked me out, and I could understand the reason why people were running away from our neighborhood in fear that they were next. It appeared that the newspaper my Dad had in his study was a year old, and this latest issue gave me a new story I did not see in the house, something far worse about the killer.
The Killer had a Nickname, ‘The Washington Reaper’, and is now considered not just one of the worst serial killers in the state, but easily one of the worst serial killers in the entire nation. The number of victims was not 30, but 55. And that is just the confirmed victims. The Real Kicker of this murderer is that, this killer of 55… Had many suspects, but police data suggested that the killer is at least 15 years old minimum.
The Police were stating that the killer of 55 could be an fucking teenager, so what did that mean? I immediately regretted my decision to start a garage sale. But hey, It was a promise I made and it is an unspoken rule that veterans who serve the country must follow every promise, no matter how bad the consequences are. But that newspaper made me go alert.
After I got my seed money, I set up my shop and greeted the survivors of the serial killings in the garage. Most of the people who came here were new faces I have not seen. One of the older men who came to visit my shop looked at the remains of the Washington house and SIghed.
“Man, I used to teach one of the kids, Jack, how to play the guitar.” He said. Probably reminiscing about the past. I used to play the guitar when I was young, so The Old man’s words immediately sparked my interest. I told the old man that I wanted to talk to him and he and I shared some words while the garage was open.
The guitar part was a Lie, I was a Pianist, but the reason why I wanted to talk to him was that I had fond memories with Jack Washington, Mrs. Langdon’s Eldest Son. 10 years ago, I had knowledge of how to play the piano, and being on good terms with Jack, He would sometimes come over and listen to me playing the piano.
Throughout my military service, I had gotten letters from Mrs. Langdon, a letter of gratitude as she believes that I have motivated Jack into learning Guitar, which makes me think again right now… The fire in Langdon House happened a day after I got the letter.
I didn’t tell the old man that part, but it seemed like he knew That a series of misfortune events had turned a nostalgic story into a twisted tale. He was looking at me like he knew what was happening, and was looking stunned.
After a brief moment of silence, the old man took a small hat and paid me the price before walking away from the garage. The next person to come to the garage was a little girl and a Mommy, who gave me a bad impression from the fact that she had alcohol in her left hand and looked extremely drunk. I don’t know the thing, but If I had to guarantee that the serial killer looked insanely bad, then that woman was the prime suspect.
She would suddenly look sober, and glare at the garage, before walking away. I was confused, and she might have confused the next customer as well. But the thing about the next customer was that he was also giving me a weird impression since he was wearing nothing but an undershirt and underpants, looked like An Hippie, and also had a serial killer look to me.
However, he was actually saner than the woman. He just looked around the shop and picked up small Shoes and a baby shoe before paying me and leaving without any problem. Still, I did not let my guard down. Let’s say I felt a bit of ‘insanity’ inside him, whether it is due to the murders or him hiding something inside, I don’t know.
After the man left, A teenage boy at the age of 17 came to my shop without anyone noticing. He was looking at the shoes on display, looked at me with hands behind his back like he was my senior, then gave me a look that said ‘just looking’, before walking out. This time I did not feel anything weird about the situation. It was actually far more normal than the man and the drunkard.
Then, he looked at the Remains of the Washington Family’s House, and then when he walked away. When He was gone, I realized that with another creepy coincidence, The Teen was wearing the same clothes I have seen in the video of Jack playing the guitar.
While it was common for the survivors of the serial killings to tell the story of the fallen to the new folks of the neighborhood, it just felt weird to see a lot of remnants of the deceased, the letter was one thing, and then the teen wore the clothes that Jack Wore in the video before his murder.
Curious, I checked the newspaper to see if Jack Washington was actually outside the house when the crime occurred, and while I had high hopes, That Hope shattered when Mrs. Washington’s name came after Jack Washington, telling me that Jack Was no longer with us.
After a few hours, I decided to take a short break and headed to a small Pizzeria that I used to go to when I was in High school to buy Pizza. I had fond memories of the people working there, but the person I missed the most was Leone, a friend of mine who said he was working at the pizzeria by the time when I started my service in the military.
When I went there, I discovered that the Pizzeria’s name was changed to something else and that usually meant that the owner of the building had changed. Leone was also not a person who was with us anymore.
Unlike the other victim’s families and friends, who managed to cope in time, or left the state in despair. When Leone heard that his friend was fallen at the hands of the monster, He had ended up succumbing to despair, and a few days later hung himself in the middle of the park.
What makes this death far worse is that the serial killer knew that Leone had killed himself.
A few days after the Suicide of My friend, the police got the first-ever letter from the killer. There was no evidence or DNA Found on the letter so the thing itself was useless. However, the thing that made me alarmed about the letter was what was written on it.
The Killer stated that he was enjoying all of these killings he is doing, has no intention to stop, and even told the police themselves to off themselves if they want to stop the killings, adding the phrase: “Like that stupid Leone Dude”
Hearing that prompted me to just leave the pizzeria, I grabbed a small sandwich from the grocery and went back to my garage.
When I went to the garage, That was when I discovered something lying on the ground, An Red VHS Tape.
I believed that The VHS Tape was something that had my memories in it. When I was a little kid, My Dad used to take me to a lot of places across America, and film both me and my mom enjoying life as we knew it and making Home Videos. If my memories were right, Before My dad became older and had to find a different Job (I heard that he got a job at a library), He used to work in a small warehouse that makes VHS Tapes when Customers ask for them to be made. So it wouldn’t be weird for him to sometimes download the files he has gotten from the video recorder to his computer before doing some mechanical mambo jumbo to create a VHS Tape of our life.
I smiled and took the red VHS Tape and put it in my bag. I was going to take this VHS Tape home and tell Dad that I want to keep it so I can at least see some memories while I was far from them.
When the Afternoon came, I packed my garage for the last time and contacted BB about meeting him at his house in two days. Since I had no car, I was going to take a train to the state of Kansas, so All I could actually take to my new life, for now, was the things I put in my two bags.
So, I contacted Dad with my intention to donate the remaining furniture that I can’t take to Kansas, and when he permitted, I got in contact with the real estate agent to get rid of the furniture in my house when I am gone.
Discovering that My train was going to leave at midnight, I spent the rest of the day sleeping, at 11:30P.M., I opened my eyes and that was really the time to say goodbye to Washington D.C. I took my three-wheeled bags and walked to the train station, I got myself the ticket, which said I needed to take transfers in both Pittsburgh and St Louis.
Once my body was on the train it was the end of my chapter in Washington. A new one was going to begin in Kansas.
And oh man, did I mention that the train had some of the comfiest seats in the world? As soon as I sat down on the chair, I decided that it was comfy enough to take a doze off, I closed my eyes In hopes of waking up in an hour or two, the thing I woke up to was a Train conductor shining a flashlight at my face, saying they have arrived in Pittsburgh.
It was 6 o’clock in the morning when I woke up, and the next train was going to be in 4 hours. I took this as an opportunity to eat breakfast and wander around the station until the train to St. Louis, the longest train of the journey, arrived.
During the journey, I sat down next to an old man, who started the journey in Pittsburgh, his destination was also Kansas, as he was heading there to see his grandchildren. The Two of us talked to each other and made some relationships. I told them my story and the old man’s face suddenly looked at me with pity. I don’t know if I should be angry about it, But I had no bad feelings toward the old sir. Our friendship on the train was strong to the point where the two of us would combine the things we bought on the way to Kansas to eat, And because of the combined meals, the old man and I ate enough on the train. After Dinner, we would talk until midnight. The old man closed his eyes with the words that he was sleepy, and I followed him to sleep.
The Old Man Woke Me Up in the middle of the dawn, at that moment, the train to Kansas was nearing its destination and knowing that BB woke up at dawn, I contacted him to meet me at the Station. A few minutes later, I arrived at the Station, took my bag, and waved the old man goodbye as I headed out to See BB.
BB was waiting for me outside with his blue Sedan. If I could describe BB, despite being one of the only associates I had in the country, At first I had different thoughts about working with him before. I remember him before I met him in school as an extremely psychotic person, who would prone to extremely violent outbursts. And making me feel more insecure was his appearance, two years ago he had hair, but now he’s bald, and his beard looks like a meat-worshipping primitive.
BB told me to get in the car and I told him the story about the murders. While I was expecting him to know, it was still an unexpected discovery for me to find out that he knew there was a serial murderer in New York over the time when I was in the military. Then I told him about the Garage Sale, and that was when the VHS Came back to my memory.
I contacted dad and I told him that I had a red VHS tape that he didn’t take when he ran away and that I would send it by courier from Kansas. My dad asked me if I said that right, that if I found a Red VHS Tape. And when I did, He said something that was completely out of the blue.
He says that even though his memories might be janky because of age, one thing he can assure is that he NEVER Made a Red VHS Tape to store his memories. He was genuinely wondering what was going on.
Something wasn’t right. If my dad meant the truth, that meant that this Red VHS Tape was something I have, not anyone in our family-owned. Then I was starting to feel the absolute creeps in my back.
I asked BB If he had a VHS Tape player and when we arrived at the house, he took me to his living room and put the red tape into the player. When he turned on the TV, There was a gray menu screen with multiple videos on display. I was at that moment thinking for the worst. One of the video’s thumbnails… was the fire in Mrs. Washington’s house.
With shaking hands, I pressed play. The thing that greeted me from the video was a scream. The Scream of Mrs. Washington, the video would then show Mrs. Washington banging on a window, trying to get out, and the video ended.
Both BB And I looked at each other, BB looked at me with caution, and when the videotape returned to the menu screen and showed the date of the thing being filmed, He knew that it was not who filmed the video. The Date when this snuff film was on video was during my time in the military.
I breathed heavily and continued scrolling through the thumbnails of each video, some of the videos had blood on the walls, and some of the video thumbnails showed a corpse lying on the concrete.
I pressed one of the videos of gore, and It was something I couldn’t believe at first. A teenage girl was tied to a chair facing the roof. Then approaching her was the Teenager, wearing Jack’s clothes, like the one I saw on the Garage Sale.
After the teenager repeatedly stabbed the victim to their death, the boy approached the Camera and as he was fumbling for a way to find the ‘stop record’ button, I saw the face of the killer. Accidentally showing parts of the crime scene, a burnt house.
Like a hunter who caught food, Jack was smiling with happiness.
The last frame was the shape of his smiling mouth.
The smiling lips of pure evil were looking at me.