I’ve always been the type who firmly believes, “early is on time, and on time is late.” So, I was just as surprised as my wife Maria, when she called me and asked why I didn’t make it with her to pick up my son Stefan from his first day of school. When those words came out of her mouth, I stood there absolutely mindblown. How could I have forgotten about something as important as that? My son meant the world to me, and I did not even remember he was in school that day. Not that my day was particularly eventful or important, it just didn’t even register in my mind. I must have been sidetracked by something on the TV or some music, who knows, but she was right, it is unacceptable to not be there.
I knew there would be hell to pay when she got home, and there should be. My son adores me, and this was a huge milestone in his life. I can only imagine the disappointment he felt when he got out of school and he didn’t see me there. I tried to think of the right apology to give them because no excuse would justify this. I ran through the scenarios in my head of how to grovel and ask for forgiveness, but nothing I seemed to think of made me feel as though it would do any justice.
I started to make one of his favorite treats while they walked home from school, a boxed triple chocolate brownie mix from the grocery store. My wife is the master baker in the house, but when it came to just adding some water, throwing in an egg, premade mix, and a whisk into a bowl, I think I can hold my own. I don’t remember if I bought that box of cake mix or my wife, but I knew it was imported because I could not understand what language the instructions were in.
I threw everything in and produced some gooey concoction based solely on every other pre-made mix I’ve done, and went to the oven to turn it on. It’s strange, I don’t remember what temperature a cook should cook at, but I assumed it was 500 degrees Fahrenheit because that would make it bake faster. As soon as I threw the bowl of chocolate gunk into the oven, I raced to my son’s playroom and began grabbing some toy cars, a few dog action figure toys, and some Legos and trying to make some sort of arrangement that looked like I had made this huge special surprise for him.
It must have taken me a long time because as I was putting together the Legos and meticulously placing the action figures in different areas to resemble ramparts on the castle, I started hearing the smoke alarm go off. I went into the kitchen and the entire room was full of thick black smoke. Just the smell alone told me something was on fire, but covering my mouth with my shirt, I ran to the oven to check on the cake. Not only burning to a crisp, but a massive flame was also coming from it as well. I cut the oven off as fast as I could, grabbed an empty cooking pan from the pantry, and covered the flame snuffing it out after a few seconds. I had just poured gasoline onto an already lit flame it felt like. I knew whatever consequences awaited me, have just been multiplied ten-fold.
They have to be close now, I started thinking, trembling and starting to sweat profusely out of nervousness and anxiety. Then, as if a sign from God had appeared before me in that thick smoke that was lingering the words “RUN” very clearly visualized in the room. It was almost paranormal, but I could make out the words in the now greying smoke cloud that was lingering in the room. It only lasted a few seconds before, what I assume is just a draft in the house seemed to dissipate the words and the smoke returned to just a lingering nuisance. I wasn’t going to run of course, I knew I would hear from my wife and I’d have to give my all to make sure my son knew it wasn’t on purpose, but I wasn’t so scared I would run besides where would I go?
There’s noise now walking down the breezeway. It’s already dark outside, so even though I can’t see them, I know it’s them. So I stand at the door, waiting to greet them with a smile and start my night as the world’s worst dad, when I started to hear it…
It was like a dog growling, but then changing to a high-pitched shrill like a bird screeching. It wasn’t natural, and it sounded like it was coming down the same breezeway my wife and my son were walking. Instinctively I opened the door to rush them inside, in case a wild animal or something from the nearby wooded area was out scrounging for trash and saw them. Our flood light in front of the house had died recently and I hadn’t had a chance to change the bulb, but I saw their shadow silhouettes walking up the pathway. I heard that same guttural growl, flowing into a high-pitched scream again from somewhere behind them I think. I was no longer worried about being apologetic, I was worried about them being attacked by some wild animal. I shouted “Maria do you not hear that?! Get my son and get inside now!”
It’s as though she was so angry she was going to approach me at her own pace. The growling was getting closer, and as I watched my wife and daughter more intently, I noticed my wife had a slight limp, as though she had hurt her ankle. Still more shadows than features, I could make out that her foot was slightly turned inward towards her knees, and my son’s right arm seemed to be contorted outward, but it was almost twitching in a way that it popped from inward towards her body, to outward behind her back. A few more steps confirmed my suspicions…the stomach-turning sound of a joint popping in and out of the socket. And it was at that moment as their silhouettes were no more than 20 feet from the door I realized, that god-awful sound was coming from them.
Something is wrong.
I took a step back, not knowing if I should take off through the back door, lock myself in a room, or just run at them and confront them before they made it to me. I’m not the best at split-second decisions, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Time is up. The light from the house illuminated what could only be described as a nightmare that would freeze someone’s face in total fear before a heart attack, much like that movie The Ring I had watched when I was a bit younger.
Two distorted faces, both walking in an unnatural, sickly manner, as if the larger being had been walking on a broken foot and the smaller one dislocated its arms. Where facial features should be was just a pale grey and tan distortion of skin that was constantly shifting, like the TV would when channels would sign off for the night back in the older days. There were no eyes, no nose, no mouth, but somehow I could tell it was intently focused on me as one of them snapped its food with each step toward me, and the smaller one was popping its shoulder in and out rapidly, in one swift motion as it rocked from side to side in an almost wobble. This can’t be real.
I looked at the larger being and saw it had my wife Maria’s wedding ring. My heart immediately sank to my stomach, she was my whole world, we were best friends, we had a fairy tale romance, and we were going to have a child and start a family together. Whatever this was had taken all of that from me I thought in that instant, not knowing if she was alive or dead. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t scream. I could only sit down and backpedal with my hands and legs to the corner where I entered the fetal position. I closed my eyes and just kept repeating “This isn’t real”…” This isn’t real” This isn’t real”…I tried to control my breathing but all I could hear was the low growl transitioning into a high-pitched scream.
They were in the full light of our living room now. The larger creature was wearing women’s clothing, face distorted shifting from that sickly pale grey to an unnatural dark tan, If I dared to stare more intently I could almost have been hypnotized. It was almost disgusting to see that it was wearing what appeared to be a wedding ring on its finger as if this demonic entity somehow was mocking the sanctity of marriage. One arm stretched forward, the other seemed to be holding the little being back, it was slowly walking towards me, fingers twitching and pulsing as like a typewriter pin being pushed nonstop.
The smaller entity was wearing a child’s clothes. Its shoulder blades seem to break with every twitch. Its face was the same as the larger creature, but it was something recognizable…it was a child’s face..a little boy’s, but it was swirling in circles almost like a whirlpool of water going down the drain, but the facial features. Even in my deep fear and panic, I could see tears in the entity’s eyes. I didn’t understand what kind of sick torment I was being made to suffer, but the small entity also had one hand gripping the leg of the larger entity and the other outstretched towards me…fingers twitching unnaturally, just like the large being.
I was defenseless, any moment these things were going to do whatever their will was with me. No one would even realize I was gone. I have no parents, no wife, no kids, nothing. If these creatures kill me or whatever it is they want, I would be nothing more than a mystery with no further purpose in life than to entertain people watching the ID channel. Just then the larger creature stopped, its head started to rapidly twist and turn at an inhuman speed, and its sickly grey and tan shifting static face seemed to change. What was just a static shifting was now a large eye, almost as if it were a mythical cyclops, and a large gaping mouth with no teeth, just pitch-black lips, and a blood-red interior. It was not smiling….it was not angry…it stood there with its large eye open… its mouth was…. its mouth was open in a circle as if it were going to scream something as loud as it could. A high-pitched noise shattered my eardrums as a sound I can only compare to the emergency broadcast noise on TV and radios filled my ears causing me to clutch them in pain. The small child’s facial silhouette began to spin faster and faster, and what I once thought were tears were now thick red blood droplets flinging from its face with each rotation it made.
The two entities, the bigger and the childlike stepped away from me and stared out the door. Both of them had a twitching, pulsing finger pointing at me. Just then at the same time, both the large and small entity turned at me abruptly and both had one large eye staring unblinkingly at me, pitch black lips, and that deep blood-red interior began to deafen me with that blood-curdling, hair-raising, sound that from earlier than puts every human on the edge of their seat when they hear it. It may have been the emergency sound because this was an emergency.
As if they’d called the bats of hell themselves to come and take me, four monstrous large figures began to run into the front door. There was no form. There was no face. There was nothing, only a thick oil-like black substance in the form of a walking being all rushing toward me. Fight or flight mode had kicked in, the panic was now full-blown, and fear was now at an almost heart-attack-inducing level. All I could do is scream and swing my arms, which felt like rocks and were barely moving. It was pointless, the creatures were far superior to my average height and build and they moved with almost unflinching determination and speed.
The four featureless creatures, bodies made of almost a thick oil consistency slammed on top of me, pinning my arms and legs. They had no mouth yet I could hear a gurgling sound, as if someone was rinsing their mouth with a thick syrup. And I felt a sharp, painful sting on my right arm. I looked over and saw that one of these sick monstrosities stabbed me with its long, now blood-dripped black fingers.
I suddenly began to feel woozy. The room was spinning. There was quiet. I could still see those creatures above me in my almost drunken state….but just as I closed my eyes and entered what I thought would be my final rest…I saw the figure wearing the women’s clothes…the large eye and pitch black lips and blood red mouth now replaced with distorted female facial features that were shifting slowly, like ocean waves on a calm day. I could not make out who this was, but it brought me an odd sense of comfort and fear at the same time. Her face leaned towards mine, and beside her, I saw the small entity again… its face was now the same calming distortion…that of a little boy, one I felt I knew, but I could not make out through the swaying of features.
As my eyes closed and drifted off to sleep, I heard some exchange of guttural, deep, unintelligible noises coming from those creatures holding me down. And as if completely out of nowhere, I heard someone speak. I clearly understood the words, although the context made no sense.
“Maria! I’m his wife. He has Stage 7 Dementia! He shouldn’t be out of bed! What took you so long?! I called 911 ten minutes ago when I saw him at the window!
An unnatural wave of calm filled my body, as deep sleep approached and although I could not make a sound, I felt my lips mutter as I said in my mind “I don’t have a wife? Who was the boy?”