Well, I wouldn’t exactly call us friends. Tanner was a dick to me throughout my high school years, along with pretty much all of our fellow classmates. Always picking on me when I was at my lowest, or bullying some poor substitute teacher so badly they never showed up to our school again. Still, when I heard the news that his mansion in the rich side of our town had burned down, leaving him so horrifically scarred they couldn’t even show the damage on the news, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him.
I first heard of the fire from a friend, who sounded a bit too excited when he told me what had happened. Even worse, another past classmate of ours, who works as a nurse in the same hospital he was treated at, told me nobody had even come to visit. Not even his father. Back in high school, every time we finished our last class and waited for our parents to pick us up, nobody came for him. That always forced him to walk a couple miles home by himself, his house being a couple miles away from our middle-of-nowhere school. After a bit of gossiping with more old friends, I found out his mother died in labor, leaving him with a father who never seemed to take the stark look of his face in every photograph took of him. At the time of the fire, Tanner’s father was off in Italy for whatever things rich men travel for, leaving him completely alone in his possible last few days of life.
I was never the type to hold a grudge, always forgiving people I probably shouldn’t and helping out those who weren’t the greatest to me. This is exactly why, two days after the fire, I decided to visit Tanner in the hospital. When I arrived, the accountant was surprised to hear I wanted to visit him, even warning me how badly the damage really is. I shrugged it off, of course. Injuries and gore never really bothered me anyways. Maybe that’s why I’m such a big horror fan. After a lonely elevator ride and a walk down the strikingly white hallway, I finally arrived at Room 34. Tanner’s room. Peering inside, I noticed how dark the room was, the only light source being the semi-open shades of the window. As I stepped inside, I finally realized just how damn cold it was in the room, cold enough to place plenty of goosebumps on my arms. And after I pulled the curtain next to the bed, I saw him.
Now, remember how I said I was okay with gore? This was way worse than I had imagined. Tanner’s eyes and ears were completely missing, replaced with scarred and tattered holes where they would normally be. Taking a closer look, I noticed most of his facial features were completely burned off, along with his hands and feet missing all toes and fingers. Multiple tubes, needles, and bags were connected to his shirtless chest and ruined arms.
“Did he even try to escaping the fucking building?,” I thought to myself as I looked over his injuries again. The worst part though, was the raspy, painful breathing coming inside his scarred throat, like even his lungs were also burned to shreds. As Tanner laid almost motionless, I realized that he had not even noticed me come yet, or stand directly next to his bed. Taking a deep breath, I finally found the will to speak. “Tanner? It’s Cory. From Paleto High, remember? We were, uh, good buddies.” Nothing. Not even a turn of his head to face me as I spoke.
After waiting a minute, I said his name again, then again, and then again. Each time I spoke his name, my voice grew increasingly more annoyed. “Does he not even recognize me, even after everything he made me go through?” I thought again as my face morphed into a frown. “God, why even bother coming here? I never liked you. I’m not even sure if I really feel bad for you. Your family isn’t even rich for a good reason! You people owned how many slaves again? And you still have the audacity to make life hard on others? You’re pathetic, Tanner. You even still live on that fucking plantation. I’m sorry man, but I’m glad it burned down.”
Finally done with my rather scathing rant, I took a seat on the chair next to Tanner’s bed. Looking back over at him, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself when I put two and two together, and processed that the scarred man didn’t even have the ability to hear anything, much less see. I practically ranted to a dead man. Stepping off the chair, I reached my hand over to the nub on the end of Tanner’s burned arm, as a way of finally saying goodbye. As much as I hated him, I attempted to give him a sign that someone bothered visiting. But as soon as my palm wrapped around the hard skin, Tanner jumped in his seat, ripping a needle out of one of his arms and turning to face me. I’ll admit, I screamed like a little girl when this happened, part of me not even believing he could have felt my touch with all the nerve damage. With the heart monitor suddenly beeping at an alarming pace, Tanner began ruthlessly coughing, like he was about to attempt speech. Still frozen in fear, I watched him slowly regain his composure, before leaning that ruined face where he guessed my head would be.
“Dad? It’s you, isn’t it?” Every word that came of out Tanner’s mouth sounded like it took an insane amount of effort to let out, his voice sounding even raspier than his already horrible breathing. Before I could process he could even still speak, his lips opened again. “I’m so glad you came. I was so scared. It came at me while I was about to go to sleep!” Tanner’s grotesque voice now sounded like he was on the verge of tears. “But I got away, Dad. I had to burn our beautiful home down to escape but I got away!” If Tanner still had tear ducts, I’m positive he would have began bawling right now, judging by the tone of his voice. Even if at that moment I had a way of telling him I wasn’t his father, I probably wouldn’t have. Too intrigued to stop listening, I leaned my own head forward for a better listen.
“It hurt so bad. It still does. They got me right on my chest. Go ahead, look!” After stumbling out another panicked sentence, Tanner waited on me to make the next move. Swallowing the spit that had been collecting in my mouth, I reached my free arm over, slowly lifting up Tanner’s shirt to see just what he was talking about. To any of you who are still thinking you could remain calm if you were in my shoes, I guarantee what I saw would shake any person to their core. With my hands trembling against the fabric of his hospital gown, my eyes were met with several, several bite marks on my old bully’s chest. Bites so deep they looked like they stopped only at bone, all over his already torn front. I would’ve just chalked it up to a wild dog if my eye didn’t catch the most horrific part of his wounds.
Right where Tanner’s heart would be, was three words, carven into his flesh with a knife or whatever the hell was used to do that. Written in sloppy handwriting, was the words “CHILD OF SIN.” At the time, I had not a single idea of what these injuries could mean, instead reading those words over and over as the heart monitor sped up once more. I was brought out of my focus when Tanner began to speak up again, his voice much worse than it was before from the strain of his vocal chords. “I may have escaped, Dad, but they’ll be back. We can’t stop or even outrun them. No one in our family has been able to! They’ll get us just like they got Mom!” Everything Tanner said was like a punch to the gut, my hand on his discolored skin shaking and sweating. Letting go of his gown to cover those awful wounds, Tanner finally laid back down, his lungs making a grainy sound as he began to calm his breathing.
Hearing footsteps outside the hallway, I slowly removed my soggy palm from Tanner, turning around just in time to see a nurse walk into the room with a plate of food and water. When our eyes met, we both recognized each other’s faces. It was my friend, Courtney, who works at the hospital. The same one who told me about Tanner’s circumstances while he was treated. A warm, friendly smile appears on her face as she walks up to me, holding Tanner’s meal in her hands. “Cory! I didn’t see you come in! So nice of you to visit old Scarface over there.” That was mean. “Let me tell you, I would’ve never done it. Remember that time he dropped a whole bowl of fruit punch on my new hair at prom? Such an asshole.” My skin was still ice cold as she spoke, which she didn’t seem to notice as she looked over at Tanner, putting the tray down and crossing her arms. “Oh great, he ripped another needle out. It was hard enough when we first tried to settle this rich boy on his bed. I have never seen another person so angry that they were being tucked in.”
Courtney loved to talk, which is probably why she still hadn’t noticed the lack of responses, along with my traumatized face. When she places the needle back in place, Tanner attempts to shift his arm away, asking where his father had gone in a shaky, withered voice. “Always blabbing on about his father, too. That guy is an even bigger asshole from what I-.” Courtney cut herself off, something that is very uncharacteristic about her, as her face goes as pale as mine. Her now widened eyes were now fixed on the blinds of the window, the hands holding the tray beginning to shake and spill some water. Slowly turning my head, I could literally feel my heart drop in my chest. Behind the separate slits of the window blinds, were three pairs of white, glowing eyes, like when you take a picture of a cat and they look like they’re shooting lasers. I was unable to even catch my breath when I remembered this room was on the second floor of the hospital. While still not the tallest section, there was an easy 20 or 30 feet between the window and the outside floor.
Dropping the tray completely, Courtney screamed in terror, food and water falling all over Tanner. Almost like they had noticed us, one of the creatures suddenly smashed the window open, glass shards tearing its inhumanly long arm and dripping dark green sludge from its wounds. But the cut or would be pain didn’t stop it, instead pulling in another arm, then both legs. The figure looked like a freakishly tall man, its skin a crusty black color, blacker than night itself. Its pupils were pure white, which almost distracted me from its lack of a nose and ears. The other two creatures, one a more feminine figure and the other much more childlike, just peered their heads in. They all had several scars and lacerations around their body, like they were brutally beaten with fists, knives, and whips. Taking a step forward and crunching shattered glass under its wide and long feet, the creature approached, causing Courtney to fall to her knees in pure horror, tears running down her cheeks. Shifting its gaze from us, the beast stared only at Tanner, who was struggling and shifting in confusion from being lathered in food and water. No matter how hard I tried, my legs wouldn’t move as I stood directly next to the hospital bed as the figure closed the distance.
“Dad! Dad! What’s going on! Where are you! I need you!” It wasn’t a matter of time after Tanner began screaming that his voice completely gave out, his throat at its absolute limit. Ignoring Courtney and I completely, the beast leaned down, breathing hot and probably foul breath directly onto Tanner’s featureless face. Opening its mouth and letting its tongue fall out, the monster placed an uncomfortably long and wet lick on his burned face, like Tanner was a human-envelope. Pulling his gown down, the creature placed a long-fingered hand on the patient’s chest, before using its unnaturally long and sharp nails to cut into his skin. Going up and down, side by side, and drawing a great deal of blood, the monster carved another sentence into Tanner’s chest. After an uncomfortably long time of Tanner’s silent screams and the monster’s scribbling, it finally seemed to finish, pulling its blood soaked finger away. If I wasn’t already petrified enough, the creature moved its head to face me, pointing to his newly written sentence and glaring a wide smile at me, his scarily sharp teeth stained with blood. Figuring it wanted me to read what it had wrote, I nervously moved my head as sweat poured off my body to read what the demon had carved.
Tanner’s chest now had four new words cut into it. “SINNERS BLEED THE SWEETEST.” A deep, hysterical giggle is heard from the creature’s mouth as I read, it’s grin growing so wide I thought it’s flesh would tear. After the creature realized I was finished reading that hellish sentence, it let it’s jaw hang open, revealing two sets of razor-sharp teeth, before biting into Tanner’s neck. A rapid beeping was heard from the monitor as everything that was connecting the patient to the bed was ripped right off. The two creatures still at the window broke down in horrific laughter, watching with equally horrific smiles as Tanner is torn off the bed and dragged across the floor. When the creature reached the window, his head slowly turned back to face me, looking Courtney and I up and down as it held a bleeding and squirming Tanner in its mouth. But instead of ripping into our flesh as well, the beast flashed me another grin, before jumping out the window, along with his two god ugly companions.
It took a lot from me not to throw up after they left, Courtney now fetal on the floor beside me. The room was completely silent. Blood, spilled food, and broken glass riddled the once clean floor. The pair of us remained as still as ever, not daring to move until a barrage of nurses and doctors rushed into the room to see what all the noise was. The police were quickly called, interviewing Courtney and I when they brought us to the police station, before writing us out as suspects. They never found Tanner. Not even a single trace. His father was called, and last I heard, he’s refused to fly back to the country. No one knew why he wouldn’t go to his son’s funeral. Everyone called him a monster. But I knew why. I know that coward is just buying some more time for himself. His sins will catch up to him, because they always do. If you’re reading this, and you don’t believe your past horrors will return, you’re wrong. They always will. And they bite.