I live on a street where all the homes are tall, terraced houses with three floors. In between each of the buildings lies a narrow and dark alley which leads up to the back doors of the houses. It is in the alley next to my house where I keep my trash in a wheelie bin.
It was Wednesday night, which meant that the next day was the rubbish collection day. I had almost completely forgotten to put the bins out. So at around 11pm I took the rubbish bag out of the kitchen and put it in the outside bin where I dragged it to the bottom of the path to be collected the next day. It was just like any other night.
When I set foot in the alleyway it smelt damp and mouldy. This wasn’t necessarily unusual as it had been raining pretty much nonstop for the last week or so. What was unusual however, was that far down in the other end of the alleyway was what seemed to be a faint light, glowing in the night.
It didn’t seem to be too far away and so in my curious state, I walked through the alleyway to find out what it was. Now, I say it didn’t seem far away because in reality I had been walking for nearly 5 minutes. I had long passed my back door and continued to follow this light through this impossibly long alleyway. This is when it dawned on me, I had never come this far down before. I was aware that this alleyway would lead on to the side of the house behind mine, but how long was the length of these two houses? Surely I should have came out of the other end by now? I suddenly felt incredibly claustrophobic and became hyper aware of how restricted I was inside this alleyway. The walls seemingly getting closer to each other, the space I had to move getting tighter and tighter. Then, I emerged.
I was in the middle of a field. A large open area with nothing but grass for as far as I could see. This shouldn’t have been possible, there should have been a street behind my house. How could I be in this large open field with no roads? Suddenly I remembered why I had walked so far and drew my attention back to the source of this light. I had hardly noticed it when I emerged in the open, more dumbfounded by my surroundings. The light was closer to me than before, merely feet away. It was an old CRT TV, the kind you’d see in the 80s that was an off-white colour with dials on the side. The light I had followed was the static on the TV. White noise in my ears and perplexed by what I was seeing. I slowly walked around the TV. This shouldn’t have been working. I mean here I was, out in the open and this TV was on. No wires to a plug in the ground, not even a building in sight where it could have been plugged in. It just sat there and I stared into it’s hypnotic display. In between the static waves a picture slowly creeped in and out. It was a news anchor sitting in what looked like an old-fashioned news studio. He had a sort of bowl cut and wore what I assumed was a light grey suit. It was difficult to tell as it was in black-and-white. He opened his mouth and pointed directly at me. “Congratulations! You have been chosen” he said cheerfully. Thwoop. The TV screen went black.
Once the TV had screen had turned off, I stood there suddenly swallowed up by the darkness of the night. I turned around and couldn’t see the alleyway from which I had emerged. Truthfully, I couldn’t see anything. I fumbled in my pocket for my phone to use as a torch so I could make my way back, but I didn’t need to. Suddenly an orange glow gently burned from all directions in the distance. The lights grew brighter and brighter until I was eventually surrounded. It was the light of burning torches closing on me. They were being carried by hooded, cloaked figures. Their robes were navy blue, or dark grey. Maybe even a dark green. It was difficult to tell. In the black night. I couldn’t see their faces, their long hoods covering them up. What I could see however, was the symbol on the torso of their robes. A sort of, crucifix which curled over at the top into a sickle-like shape. The symbol seemed to be a shoddy dark red colour. Like it had been done with blood. They chanted variations of the same sentence I had heard on the TV. You have been chosen. They were not chanting in time with each other but rather over each other randomly and sporadically. They were low, high, cheerful and serious all at the same time. They were the voices of children, men and women. There were at least 20 of them.
I snapped myself out of my trance and looked for the alleyway from which I’d originally emerged. As the cloaked figures circled around me from all directions, I caught a glimpse of it. I shoulder-barged through two of the people in the way and ran as fast as I could. It felt like I had been running for hours, I looked behind me a few times and saw that they were following me. They were not running though, and eventually I lost sight of them. I emerged back in my street and fumbled in my pockets for my keys. I opened my door and slammed it shut, locking the door behind me.
I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Or for the next few nights for that matter. Fortunately though, as quickly as it had happened it had all came to an end. The next few weeks came and go. Nothing weird. Nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, I eventually all but forgot about the events of that night. It seemed like it was all just a dream, I had been putting my bins out when it was still light outside, out of some sort of sunconscious fear. But otherwise, things had been normal. One day I even walked down the alley again while it was still light and I emerged on the road the opposite side. There was no field. No TV. It really did seem like it had all been in my imagination. I felt so relieved.
Then just a few days ago, it happened. It was 5pm. It was a cold, grey day but it was light out. I was driving back from work, the roads were busy. People walked down the streets and waited in bus stops as the traffic built up and cars slowly crawled down the bustling high street. Standard rush hour traffic. While I pulled up to a red light, a car in the lane right next to me there was a man who banged on his window gently and motioned for me to roll my window down. I rolled my window down and said “Hey man, what’s up?”. He beamed and smiled from ear to ear. He had a short haircut, longer on the top and wore a black suit with a white shirt and red tie. He looked like he could have worked in any office in the world, he just looked generic. “It’s really you! “ he said excitedly. “The chosen one!”. My heart sank. My stomach fell into my asshole. I noticed a brooch on his tie. The same symbol. The brooch was the same symbol I had seen painted on the torso of those cloaks that night. I went as pale as a ghost and the man just continued to smile, and he started laughing. He sounded like a maniac. I’m not sure how much time had passed but the car behind me beeped his horn. The lights had turned green, I’m not sure when. I think I had been zoning out. The person in the car behind me swore at me and told me to hurry and start moving. My car screeched as I started up. I drove home as fast as I could. The man that was on the left of me that wore the symbol did not follow me home. To be honest, when I snapped out of the trance I was in at the traffic lights he had already disappeared.
Since then, there have been more events like this. The cashier in the supermarket. Sticky notes on my desk at work. A teenager even chased my car once on his skateboard and yelled out my name. I haven’t left the house in 24 hours now. It doesn’t matter though. I’m not safe. A closed fist bangs on my door. It has been banging for the last 30 minutes, but it has not once attempted to break in. I just ignore it. A voice tells that it’s me, it’s really me. And to please let them in. His voice does not sound menacing, he even sounds ecstatic to have found me. Like I’m a long lost brother that has come back into his life. I ignore it, turning my music up. My phone suddenly starts ringing out. I decline the call. It rings again. A different number this time. There’s more people outside my house now. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never been so scared in my life..