My mom was on her routine night shift at the hospital and I knew I wouldn’t see her til the next morning, probably in a deep sleep on her bed, likely still in her uniform. I always made her breakfast before I would leave for school in the morning so she could wake up to a nice meal. I use the word “nice” loosely, it’s the best I could do considering I’m sixteen and failed my home economics class last year. But my mom never minded the toast, scrambled eggs, and turkey bacon platter left on her nightstand.
We had said our goodbyes around 10:15 and I got myself comfortable on the couch with my dog to watch some TV. I turned the lights off over us to set the scene and make it feel more immersive. I had got through one Dateline episode when I decided that I could enjoy the experience a little more if I grabbed my bong. So, I went upstairs and down the long, narrow hallway that led to my wing of the house. I was the only occupied room on this side of the house, the other rooms were my dad’s old office and the guest room. Though that room hasn’t had a guest in it for years. Ever since my dad’s passing, my mom and I haven’t even wanted to host other people here. Instead, it hosts the overload of clutter I find at the end of every school year: clothes that I no longer want and plan on selling or donating, paintings I worked months on but never hang up, and other miscellaneous items that aren’t used but can’t seem to be let go of either.
I opened my bedroom door and grabbed the piece off my nightstand. It was almost a sculpture rather than a cheesy bong you might imagine when thinking of a stoner. It was about sixteen inches tall and made completely out of this blue, hand blown glass that resembled the color the ocean looks after a series of rough waves. The glass swirled in an upward motion towards the mouth piece that made it look like it was water, frozen in time. My favorite feature of this prized possession is its ability to glow in the dark. After letting it sit in the sun for a bit, flecks in the glass would glow a bright green at night.
I walked back down the hallway with it, then back down the stairs until I was sitting down on the couch next to my dog, Pepe. He was sound asleep as I started to grind up the green, sticky plant matter. Which was genuinely what the name was, “Plant matter”, it was this new strain I had just bought from my regular plug from the next town over. He had told me he just recently got a limited supply of this stuff and asked me if I could be one of his test subjects to see if he should buy more. Without hesitation, I agreed. Discounted weed to just give my feedback? I’d be a fool not to take that offer, so I did.
Holding it in my hand I saw a multitude of colors that reflected off its crystals. It’s common to see colors like purple and orange but this stuff had shades of red, blue, and pink.
“Odd”, I thought.
But I was taken over by more intrigue than suspicion so I continued to put some in the bowl and pack it down with my lighter. After the first inhale, I got the taste of ordinary weed but soon followed by a slight trace of citrus. It was pleasant. I was paying extra attention to the experience so I could give a good, detailed report back to the plug like he had asked.
About fifteen minutes went by, Dateline was still playing and this specific episode seemed to be extra interesting to me in my new hazy state. The cushions beneath me started to almost mold to my body, I felt as though I was sinking yet weighed as light as a feather at the same time. My eyes started to get dry, and trying to keep them open became a task more so than a natural ability at this point.
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As I slowly started to move my eyes behind my lids, I realized that I had fallen asleep. It must have been for quite a while because I felt so sluggish, like it used all the strength within me just to be able to fully open my eyes. The lights above the living room were still off, like I had left them, but the all others on the downstairs floor were too. Something I had not done. It was now pitch black everywhere except for the surrounding area where the light emitting from the TV could reach, which was not very far.
The second thing I noticed was what sent a cold chill running through my body and caused my heart to stop momentarily.
I was paralyzed.
I was physically unable to move any part of my body other than my eyes, tips of fingers, and toes. I was only able to produce slight twitches but it took so much strength out of me to do so.
So there I was, almost completely paralyzed, unable to move or scream for help while the TV continued the program like I was still an attentive, consenting viewer. Pepe was still soundly asleep beside me, blissfully unaware of the living hell I was experiencing just inches away from his sleeping little head.
I tried reaching for him. Maybe he would wake up and sense my distress and…
“…and then what?” I thought to myself. “What the hell could happen next that would possibly help me in this situation?”
The answer was nothing.
I felt as though Keith Morrison was now mocking me and the couch cushion below that once felt made for me, was now stiff and cold. As if every fiber in the fabric was rejecting contact to my body.
I reasonably started to panic.
Not because the realization of my situation was settling in, but because I heard a creak from upstairs..
I knew this house like the back of my hand. It’s the only house I have ever lived in so I knew that each floorboard had its own distinct creak and this one, this one I recognized as the top of the stairs. Someone was in my home and they were standing at the top of the staircase that led down directly to the room I was in.
Each crack that followed the last made my eyes water. The fear I felt distorted each sound to resemble what I might imagine a rib being snapped in half would make. Hearing the footsteps slowly descend the stairs made my stomach turn and my body want to writhe in pain from the inside out.
Staring at the one visible stair from my position on the couch made me want to retreat backwards and find security in the couch. I did not want to see the intruder, the person who would be able to have their way with me in such a vulnerable state. But I could not rip my eyes from the stair, I knew danger was coming but I just couldn’t look away. If someone was going to do whatever evil they intended, I was going to see it approaching whether or not I truly wanted to.
Seconds felt like minutes. My heart raced so fast that each beat felt moments apart. I was dripping in sweat even though my body couldn’t move. The sound from the TV gradually faded away and was replaced with a long, piercing ringing in its place.
The creaks that belonged to the stairs near me echoed as the unidentified subject’s weight pressed down on them. Through the dim lighting, I made out what seemed to be a shadowed hand gripping the side of the wall that obstructed my view of the stairs and the person on them.
What broke the moment of silence was the faint, muffled scream coming from the back of my throat. It was the only amount of sound I could muster up in my frozen state. I was a deer in headlights, the perfect victim for any predator. It was hard to say whether I was still paralyzed or if it was the sheer terror I felt in that moment that was responsible for my immobilization.
The hand methodically lifted its fingers and slowly tapped each one of them back down creating a sickening drumming sound. Once, then twice, then three times the lone hand strummed before the rest of the body became slightly illuminated when it moved to the last and final stair.
As its entire form was revealed, my wide eyes trailed up to at about eight feet in the air.
It was gigantic.
Its arms were as long as its height and the creature’s face had a mouth that stretched from side to side. It wore a gut-wrenching expression that could only be described as a smile due to the fact that it had no teeth. Just a huge mouth stretched agape with bleeding gums that dripped down to my wood floors, to me it was an indication that this was not a figment of imagination but a real, dangerous threat and I needed to step into action immediately.
The thing let me soak in its disgusting appearance fully so that its next performance was all the more terrifying. It produced a series of guttural, horrid sounds that could only be described as its laugh. It witnessed me using every ounce of energy I had in my body to just cry out or move, finding amusement in my distress. All I could do was cry silently, my eyes streamed with tears while I stared unblinking at the creature that slowly approached me like a lion would their wounded prey.
It was just feet away now. Its long arms dangled behind its moving legs, dragging along the floor still drumming its fingers to that nightmarish beat.
The creature moved at a slow pace, taking advantage of my paralysis. It knew that dragging out this hellish scene would make the kill all the more satisfying for its demented desire.
At this short distance, I was able to see its face fully illuminated now and it was awful.
Still smiling with its red gums, its small eyes were as wide as its anatomy allowed and their gaze never left mine. It had a nose but it was just two holes that looked like they were hand poked by whoever created this God awful being. It was almost as if it were human, but the devil seemed to have poisoned this one.
It was now close enough to smell my fear and see the glint of hope for survival fading in my eyes. I had to do something, anything that would make me feel like I at least tried to fight for my life.
That’s when I saw it in the corner of my eye. This faint green glow just inches away from my frozen hand: my bong.
Amongst all the chaos I forgot about it, but something within me screamed at me try to move again. So I did, I focused all of my energy toward moving my hand to grabbing my newly chosen weapon and by luck only created by a miracle: it worked. I was able to grab it and within moments I had swung the thick glass over the creature’s head… again and again and again.
Its blood wasn’t red like the color dripping from its toothless smile, instead it was dark black. The tar-like goo was everywhere. I felt it hit my face, go into my mouth. I saw it cover the couch, floors, and walls.
The scene was brutal. The once terrifying creature was now smashed and bent in a multitude of ways, now left somewhere between the state of solid and liquid. Its face was no longer distinguishable from the other battered parts of its body and I smiled. I smiled now that that thing no longer had his.
I stood over its body with a mix of shock, adrenaline, and morbid joy that I had almost laughed if it were not for my intense panting. I could not stop breathing. Gasping for air as a rush of blood flowed to my brain.
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I awoke to the comforting feeling of bed sheets and a pillow under my head.
The relief that this was all a dream showered over my body as I slowly opened my eyes and went to stretch my limbs.
But I couldn’t.
My arms were prevented from moving further than at my hips. The sound of metal hitting against itself brought my attention to the handcuffs around my wrists that were connected to the bed’s rails. Then, the slow and continuous beeping that was once hidden in the background got drawn forward as I began to scan my surroundings.
I was in a hospital room, still covered in that sticky, metallic smelling substance. Though it was not a deep black like I previously witnessed, but crimson red.
The unfamiliar voice of a man brought me to the present and out of the fog.
“Miss,” the officer started in a low and careful tone, “do you remember anything from last night?”
The question made my face turn in an almost offended expression after a second of recollection. Of course I did. I don’t think I will ever be able to scratch that disgusting smile out of my memory. The immense fear I felt can still be there if I just closed my eyes.
“Y- yes,” it was the first time I heard my own voice in hours, “there was this…thing.”
The officer gave an unamused look to his colleague as he let out a deep breath and laid a stack of images on my lap.
My mother laid violently killed on our living room floor. If it weren’t for her nursing uniform I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was even human due to the unnatural state of anatomy she was left in.
Before I was able to even process what the officers were insinuating- I screamed.
I screamed so loud that I felt my dry vocal cords rubbing against each other and let out a flood of tears that assisted the sobs of confusion, sadness, and anger.
Out of my harsh cries, I recognized a hauntingly familiar sound: I looked up to see the officer drumming his fingers on his notepad and watched as his mouth started to stretch into that distinct, disgusting, and unforgettable toothless smile.