Interviewee: Marcie Smith
Age: 31
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 189 lbs
Date of Interview: 7/27/2022
Interviewer: Jackson Jordan
Transcript:
Person found dead in their home. It is impossible to identify them at this time, as they were viciously mauled to death. It was reported that there was screaming between 3:27 and 3:28pm, as well as a brown figure running away from the scene at 3:31pm. It was reported that it had the proportions of an alligator, but was very clearly not one as it ran like a cat. If you have any idea as to what this creature is, where it came from, or how to stop it, call (285)-555-8491.
I listened to the TV in a mix of emotions between fear and annoyance. That was the 5th time this month we had been told about someone getting mauled. I was starting to think it was just a prank put on by some of my friends to get everyone scared. It wouldn’t be the first time they did something like this. A year before this, they put on a series of pranks where they locked people in their houses for an hour, and the whole town went wild thinking it was a ghost or something. I can’t say I’m guilt free from helping, but I definitely wasn’t helping with this. This seems a bit far, even from them.
It was summer 2007. I was in 11th grade at the time, and I was looking forward to getting out of school. I wasn’t planning on going to college at the time since I was planning on going into woodworking. I always preferred working with my hands, I felt so much closer to nature.
I called up my friends on my brand new iPhone 1. It had come out just a week before, and I had saved up just enough money for it by doing jobs for my neighborhood over the month of June. I was so excited to get it after hearing it announced in… get back on topic? Yeah, sorry, anyway, as I was saying, I called my friends up. I only vaguely remember that call, but I remember asking them if they wanted to come over and watch “28 Weeks Later” that night. They said they could, and we planned to meet up at my place around 5:00pm. It had come out almost 2 months before, and we had yet to watch it. We were all super hyped for it, as we were all horror obsessed teenagers.
I asked my dad to order us a pizza at around 4:45 so that it would be here around 5:00. I lived alone with him after my mother left when I was 9. I haven’t heard from her since then, although I don’t really miss her. She was always really distant, so when she left I didn’t really feel much of anything. Anyway, my friends got to my place around 5, and the pizza arrived shortly after. We all loved the movie, and as soon as it had started, it was over. It was now around 7:00, and we were all dying for more. As I said, we were horror OBSESSED at the time. I had the DVD for “Scream”, and we all ended up watching that. It was actually creepy at the time, and while funny, it did send shivers down my spine.
I guess I should introduce my friends now, right? Okay, our friend group consists of four people, including myself. There’s Evadine, a short tempered “popular” girl, Cleo, who was and still is a huge nerd, Roy, our resident people pleaser, and me. Evadine was sort of a goth, but she would kill anyone that would say that.
After finishing up the movie, they all started to leave. Well, most of them. Cleo asked to stay the night due to an argument with her parents, which I agreed to. Roy was about to head out, then asked if he could go to my bathroom before he left. He always did this, waiting until the last second to go to the bathroom, although I think it saved his life that night. That meant that Evadine left first. I wish I could go back. I wish I could tell her not to go. Maybe they would be alive right now if I did. But I didn’t. And they left. That was the last time I saw them, without them just being a pile of gore. They were a good friend; they might have had a rough exterior, but they were really sweet once you got to know them.
“I’ll see all you dumbasses soon.” That was what they said to us as they left. I can’t go back now, but I wish I could just tell her to be cautious that night. It doesn’t matter now. Roy left around 5 minutes after them, and me and Cleo fell asleep on my bed later that night. We woke up to a loud announcement on TV.
TEEN FOUND DEAD ON 82nd STREET, less destroyed than the other murders, but are still unidentifiable. It seems they were walking home when they were attacked by what locals are now calling, “Ladonis.“ If you have any information on when this occurred, please contact us at (285)-555-8491.
I didn’t originally think anything of it, but something in the back of my mind told me they were dead. That they were the one I saw ripped to shreds on the screen before me. I called them, trying to lie to myself that it wasn’t them. No answer. I started to get more anxious. I grabbed my bike and rode over to their house. I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. Their mom answered the door.
“Hello, and who might you be?” she asked.
“I am Marcie, one of Evadine’s friends. Are they home?” I responded
“No, although they did mention they were going over to your house. I thought they ended up staying the night at your house. They didn’t come home last night.”
My stomach dropped. I knew what happened. I didn’t know how to break it to her. I was in shock.
“Mrs. Morison, they left my house at 9:00pm last night. Are you sure they didn’t come back?” I said with a creak in my voice.
“Yes I’m sure.”
“You saw the news this morning, correct?”
“You’re not saying that my Evadine is…” she replied with an undertone of dread.
“I’m afraid I am. I am so sorry.”
She burst into tears. I didn’t blame her, because I did too. She hugged me, and we both cried for what seemed like hours. After a while, we went to the police and gave them everything we knew. It was hard on our group. I went home and told Cleo, and we together called Roy and let him know. The news reported the information we gave them, and told everyone to stay in their houses unless absolutely necessary to head outside. This was the 6th murder in our town. It wouldn’t be the last.
Days went by. Cleo ended up staying with me for the rest of the week, as when she tried to go home, she got into another fight with her parents. I called with Roy every other day, and we all talked like we were together in person. It felt almost normal after a while.
I was the first to break curfew. My dad developed a fever, and we were fresh out of medicine. I was told to go get some ibuprofen from our local drugstore, so I hopped on my bike and rode as fast as I could there. While biking over there, I saw a piece of paper on the ground. It was strange, a small slip of paper, maybe a fifth of the size of a normal sheet. It was yellowed,and looked to be torn in the bottom left corner. After everything that had happened, I didn’t even want to bother with it. I ran over it with my bike, and continued my journey. I saw it again and again on my way there, seemingly teleporting in front of me every 10 seconds. I ended up just dismissing it as me doing stir crazy from being inside for so long. I got all the groceries that we needed, and biked home. I had to have seen it at least 20 times on the way home. When I got home, I told Dad about it. Of course he didn’t believe me fully, but he did say it was suspicious. He told me that from now on, he would go get things, just to be safe.
Weeks went by. The mandate was lifted, and school started back up. Every so often, maybe once a week or so, you’d hear about someone “spotting” the creature. It was always a different shape, animal, color, you name it. I kept seeing the sheet. It was always turned over, seemingly taunting me to pick it up, pick it up and see what was written on the other side. I talked to Cleo about it, but she just told me that I was being paranoid.
I couldn’t ignore it forever. In March of 2008, I snapped. I remember it clearly. I remember seeing the slip on my way back from school. That same yellow stained sheet. I saw red. I was overwhelmed by emotion. “WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?” I said to it. I probably looked really stupid, yelling at a piece of paper. Well, I would have, if anyone was there. Even though I could swear I was walking with Cleo and Roy, casually talking and having a good time, they were gone. Just silence. Quiet. Nothing made a sound, not birds, not passing cars, nothing. Everything was just empty. All signs of life, gone.
I picked it up. I can still remember it to this day. The rules. The chill that went down my spine as I read it. Is it really necessary for the interview? Fine. It said,
“**Rules for picking me up.
It was 2:30pm at the time. It was still light out. I had a chance. Everything was still gone, but I knew I had time to plan. I stuffed the sheet into my pocket and ran. I knew I had time, but I needed to get ready. On my way back, I tried to come up with ways to pass it on. The rules said there was a way, although undiscovered.
“Marcie, hey, I fell into the bush! Can you help me get up?”
I froze. It was Roy’s voice. It sounded just like him, but it wasn’t. Something felt off about it. Maybe it was the tone, maybe the hidden growl underneath the voice. Either way, I didn’t fall for it. I knew it was Ladonis. It knew that I had picked it up. When I got home, I gathered everything I thought I would need.
“Marcie? You’re home early. Will you come give your dad a hug?”
It came from the bathroom, but there was no light coming from underneath the door. To stall time I said, “Yeah of course! Let me grab something first and then I’ll be right there.”
I ended up being able to grab a big kitchen knife, a meter stick, and some tape. Even if we owned a gun, bullets didn’t work against it according to the sheet, so I didn’t waste my time looking for one. I ran out of the building once I had everything, just as I heard Ladonis crash through the bathroom door. It had got tired of waiting. I ran, as I tried to attach the knife to the meter stick with the tape. Tried and failed. I ended up dropping the knife, slitting my foot in the process. I had to keep running. I left the knife behind, but it had caused enough damage to slow me down significantly.
I felt the blood sloshing around in my shoe, a wet squelch after every step, the stinging pain that the blade had caused. I could barely run. I needed to act now. If I wanted to survive, now was the time to make a play at passing it on. The sun was already setting, time was moving faster. It had to have been just over 30 minutes. There was no way the sun was setting. But it was.
Ladonis was gaining on me. I could barely keep up a jog’s paceI thought, “What could it be? It says it is possible to pass it on… how? There’s nothing close. Please, to whatever is chasing me… let me go. Ladonis, spare me. Let this curse be passed on.” I thought that would work. It didn’t. But what it did do, is it stopped the creature. It froze, like it was waiting for something. It was like a pause in time. The calm before the storm. He spoke to me, in a surprisingly high pitched voice, that sounded like an amalgamation of voices. Voices it stole from its victims. I swear I could make out Evande’s voice, but just barely.
“You wish to pass on. To whom may be my prey? You, or another?”
“What? You mean I can live?”
“If you choose another that will join me. Forfeit another life, and you may be free. But be warned, you may only sacrifice someone you care about. Make your choice.”
My mind raced, “Could I really sacrifice someone I care about? Would I really be so selfish to give up another life for my mistake? Could I really?”
As you can see, I am here now, performing this interview with you. I will not admit who I gave over, as I am too ashamed of my own actions. I gave another’s life for my actions, my mistake. If I could go back, I would just let myself die. Save him. I wouldn’t let the creature take him away. He did everything for me, gave me a life, gave me a chance even after mom had left. It doesn’t matter now. He’s gone, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I live with guilt every day. I don’t deserve to be here. I don’t deserve my life.
After highschool, I lost touch with Roy. We tried to make time to hang out, but it never worked out once he went to college cross country. I am now happily married to Cleo. Her and I have an adopted son, and we love him to bits. There is no moral to this story. While it may seem like there is a happy ending, I don’t see it that way. He’s gone, and it’s all my fault. I killed him. It should have been me.
End of Transcript
17. ADDED: To pass on the curse you must…