It all started about a week ago. It was a normal night with my family. My Mom, who was your run of the mill, loving, caring, housewife. My father who was your stereotypical businessman who was gone most of the day, and my 2 older brothers. We all sat on the couch eating TV dinners while watching some family sitcom. I turned my head to the front door when I heard it begin to jiggle.
“Did you guys hear that?” I asked the rest of my family.
They were too busy talking and laughing to hear me. I decided to just ignore it. I turned back to the Tv and continued to eat my mediocre TV dinner. I stared at the brown meat loaf and craved something freshly cooked. My mom cooked fresh meals every other day of the week, but she liked to have Saturdays off from making dinner. I understood, but damn was I getting tired of these microwave meals.
Three loud and rough knocks came from our front door. This time my family had heard it as well. They stopped laughing and talking. “I’ll get it.” My mother announced in an annoyed tone and then proceeded to stand up while letting out a sigh. I was a naturally paranoid person and became anxious whenever anyone knocked on our door. This time my anxiety was worse than usual. I could sense something was off.
“Check through the peephole first!” I yelled in a whisper.
My mom sighed.
“You really have to stop being so paranoid!” she said just before she placed her hand on the handle and began to open it. I sat up more to see who was in front of the door. No one was there. My mom poked her head out of the door and turned her head side to side, examining the area to see if whoever knocked was still around. She came back inside and shrugged at us while closing the door behind her. She sat back down and continued eating her Dinner. I groaned and pushed what was left of my dinner away from me.
“What’s wrong with your food?” My mom asked me after noticing that i pushed it away.
“Oh sorry, I’m just really full.” I replied to her.
“How are you full? You’ve barely-” My mom was cut off by 3 knocks. But they weren’t coming from our front door this time. They came from the back door. My stomach dropped. Knocking on the back door meant that someone was in our backyard. I looked around me to make sure that all of my family members were with us. I hoped that it was just one of my brothers who went out there without me noticing. My stomach dropped lower as i confirmed the presence of all my family members. My Dad grew a concerned look on his face
“Go up to your rooms, i’ll go check it out!” My dad demanded us in a whisper just after rising from the couch and starting towards the back door.
Being the cautious person I was, I pulled my cellular device out of my pocket and punched in 911, leaving it ready to dial at any moment. I proceeded to swiftly and quietly run up the stairs. I reached the top step and stood there trying to hear what was going on downstairs. I heard my father walk to the back door and then open it.
“WHO ARE YOU??!” I heard my father yell. My paranoia was through the roof, I brought my phone into view and made sure my finger was hovering just above the button to place a call to the police. Suddenly, I heard a quick stabbing noise accompanied by a groaning sound coming from my father, at first i thought that my father had been stabbed, but i quickly learned that my father had stabbed whoever was out there after his next question:
“WHAT are you?!!” My father yelled. I then began to hear a cold, low, and menacing hum fill my ears. I began to feel light headed, I tried my best to not faint, but the next thing i knew i hit the floor and everything faded to black. I awoke an unknown amount of time later with a raging headache. I sat up and groaned from the pain. I still felt out of it, but i quickly stood up and started down the stairs. I was hit with a wave of confusion when i saw the scene in front of me. The back door was wide open, and it was now well in the afternoon of the next day. In front of the door was a knife covered with cotton. There was no sign of my father. What the hell..?
I walked closer to the scene and heard something shuffling outside. I silently gasped and took a few quick steps back. Surprisingly, my father began to walk into view and then through the back door. He shut it behind him.
“Dad..?” I said confusedly. I examined him. Something seemed… off. I couldn’t quite place what, though.
“Hey!” My dad replied, seeming happy and carefree. I thought his mood was bizarre considering the current situation.
“Who was out there?” I asked him.
“Oh, I checked everywhere. No one was out there. Probably just some pranksters!” He replied and then chuckled.
“Why the hell were you out there for almost an entire day?!” I asked genuinely concerned.
“I just wanted to make sure no one was out there! Now come on, let’s continue with dinner!”
Something was very wrong with this situation. I had a feeling my father wouldn’t give me any answers if I continued to press the matter.
“I’m good. I’m going to go up to my room.”
I quickly walked towards the stairs and started up them. I heard my father mumble something to me but I ignored him. I needed to find the rest of my family. I walked into my first brother’s room and saw him lying on the floor asleep.
“Hey! Wake up!” I yelled at him. I watched his eyes slowly open. He got up and began to rub his head. I presumed he did so because of a headache.
“Ah.. Dude…” he replied in a tone that indicated he was not feeling well.
“What the hell happened?” he added.
“I honestly don’t know. I just remember passing out and i just woke up.. Dad is fine but he’s acting really weird.” I explained to him.
“Are you guys okay?!” I heard my mother say from behind me. I turned my head and looked at her. She seemed confused and disorientated.
“Yeah, but dad is acting really weird.” I replied.
“Did something happen to him out there?” My mother asked.
“I’m not sure. You should go talk to him.” I replied.
She walked past me and started down the stairs.
“I’m gonna go check on James.” My brother stated while standing up, he was referring to our other sibling. He got up and walked past me and started in the direction of James’ room. At that point I wasn’t sure what to do. I Slowly walked into my room and plopped down on my bed. Something isn’t right. I thought to myself while staring at my ceiling fan spinning rapidly.
“AUGHHHHHHHH” I heard my mother yell the most fearful, petrifying scream i had ever heard. Shortly after that, the Cold, low, and menacing hum returned. I started to panic when I felt the lightheadedness come over me once again. I needed to fight this off. I couldn’t pass out, not again, and especially not after what I had just heard. I slapped myself. STAY AWAKE STAY AWAKE STAY AWAKE. Was all that repeated in my mind. My efforts failed as everything faded to black yet again.
I awoke on my bed with the same headache from earlier and got a strong sense of Deja Vu. I immediately opened my bedroom door and began to walk down the stairs into the living room. I saw my mother and father crouched in the corner, unmoving. The scene was extremely disturbing and unsettling to me. They were acting inhuman.
“Guys?” I asked in complete fear. My parents instantly stood up and turned to face me. I examined their faces as much as I could from where I was. Their faces were uncanny.
“Let’s finish dinner!” They said in complete sync. My stomach dropped from that. I turned to examine the half-finished TV dinner that was now rotting and had flies swarming around it. How many days was i out? I asked myself. My stomach suddenly growled in intense starvation, answering my question. I had been out for a few days at the least. At this point there was no denying the fact that something was horrifically wrong with this situation. I was completely lost, I didn’t know what to do, or if there was anything I could do. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see my brothers walking down the stairs, they looked just as unwell as i felt. I turned back to my parents and noticed they had started to laugh maniacally. Their faces were full of pure excitement.
I started to feel detached from reality as if i were in a nightmare. An incredibly realistic and cruel nightmare. I stood in numb fear just watching them continue to laugh. All i wanted was to wake up from what i hoped was a nightmare. I was hit with the disappointing truth that this was reality when one of my brothers started tapping my shoulder frantically. I turned and saw his face filled with pure concern and fear. Sure, we fought often, but it genuinely hurt me to see him in such pain. I couldn’t take this anymore. I had to do something. I became frustrated trying to think of something to do. Out of mindless panic, I rushed down the rest of the stairs and bolted past them into the kitchen. I grabbed the largest kitchen knife we owned and charged at my father with it, stabbing him right in the stomach.
I was completely shocked when I pulled the knife out and didn’t see any blood. I looked at the wound and noticed he was full of Cotton. I dropped the knife and ran up the stairs to where my brothers were standing. That plan had obviously achieved nothing, so I had to think of something else. Nothing illegal had technically happened yet, so I couldn’t call the police. Or could I? A sliver of hope entered me when i realized this could count as a medical emergency. I was severely starved and experiencing strange very long blackouts.
“Follow me!” I told my brother as I started to run up the stairs, I took one last look behind me. My parents continued to laugh maniacally. I couldn’t stand seeing the people I once loved and trusted like this. I groaned and turned my head back to face the stairs. I reached the top and turned swiftly to my room, I grabbed my cellular device and punched in 911. While doing that, my 2 brothers entered my room and then closed and locked the door behind me. With shaking hands, I pressed the dial button. I loved the few moments where the phone rang, life was on pause at that moment. I wished it would have stayed that way for just a little while longer. The operator picked up the phone.
“911, what’s your emergency?” The operator asked, and then began to laugh maniacally. It was my father who picked up from the other end. Two questions went through my mind. What? And How?. I felt my stomach drop and I instantly hung up the phone. I began to breathe heavily. I was completely trapped. Even calling the police was clearly no help. I heard my parents’ laughs grow closer as they walked up the stairs.
“BARRICADE THE DOOR!” I yelled to my brothers. I watched them instantly run towards different objects. James picked up a wooden chair and my other brother started moving my dresser towards the door. I knew I should have been helping them, but I was too panicked to even do so. I stood there, my mind racing with confusion and fear. I longed for everything to go back to normal. My brothers had finished barricading the door and looked at me for approval.
“T-that’s good..” I said shakily.
The laughs were now right in front of my bedroom door. I felt slightly confident that the barricade could keep them out, but I was proved to be wrong when my parents kicked open the door with ease and sent the chair and dresser flying to the other side of my room, causing a huge hole in the wall. My siblings and I all became to scream in complete terror and fear. I noticed my parents eyes were now a dark red, Their smiles had turned incredibly more wide. Blood began to stream down their eyes and blood started to spew from their gaping mouths as they continued to laugh. Where is that blood coming from? There was no blood when I stabbed my father earlier.
They were slowly growing closer. I Turned to face my window and an idea crept into my mind. I could jump out of the window and have a few broken bones as the worst case scenario, and I knew the adrenaline would be able to let me run for some time after the initial impact. I ran to my window and opened it. I took one last look behind me and saw a horrifying scene. My fathers mouth was wide open and slowly growing closer to my brother’s head while he just stood there in what looked like uncontrollable paralysis. I looked past him and saw my mother doing the exact same thing to my younger brother. It hurt to have to choose between sacrificing my life for a slim chance to save them, or jumping out the window, knowing I had a better chance of surviving that way. I felt terrible, but I knew I had to leave them there.
“I’M SO SORRY!” I yelled to my brothers with tears in my eyes just before I turned back to face the window. I looked out and saw that the sun had just finished setting. It was about a 15 foot drop onto thick unmowed grass. I quickly turned back around and saw that my mother and fathers mouths were almost to my brothers. This is probably how these.. Things.. Turn their victims into one of them. I realized. I grabbed my 3 thick blankets on my bed and rushed back to the window. I threw the blankets onto the grass. This will give me a better chance of not gaining any serious injuries. I sat on the window sill and let my legs go as far down without falling off as i could
. I took one shaky, deep breath and then pushed myself off. I groaned as I felt the painful shock travel through me and jar my whole body painfully. I took a moment to balance myself, but realized I was okay for the most part. I ran across the street to my neighbors house and began to pound on their door. My neighbor answered the door. He was a retired grandfather who enjoyed gardening. I didnt know him very well. We said “hi” to each other sometimes but never more than that. We didn’t even know eachothers names. He looked concerned as he came into view.
“Is everything alright?” He asked me.
“My family…”
I needed to come up with a lie. I couldn’t say what truly happened because I was aware of the high possibility that he would not believe me.
“My family was murdered.” I finished.
He grew even more concerned, but didnt say anything.
“Please, call the police!”
He still didn’t say anything, but he entered the house and I saw him grab his cellular device and dial a number. I took a few steps outside and could hear him talking to the police, but I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying. A few minutes later he walked back out.
“Do you wanna explain the whole story? What exactly happened?” The man asked.
“We were eating dinner, and then someone broke in and killed them. I just jumped out of my bedroom window to escape.”
“And that’s all you know?” The man questioned.
I let out a sigh. I debated telling him the truth, but I knew there wasn’t any point. He would probably just think that it was a sick prank.
“Yes, that’s all I know..” I replied.
“I just spoke to the police, they’re on their way now. Please come inside.” The man explained in a gentle and caring voice. I had no reason to not trust this man, he always seemed sweet and genuine to me just based on the simple hellos we shared. The man walked inside and I followed behind him. He led me to the living room and gestured to me to sit on the couch. I took a seat and attempted to relax, but I failed to do so.
“Would you like something to drink? Water? Some Pop? Some Tea?” The man offered, clearly trying to be as comforting as possible considering the situation.
My severe thirst instantly kicked in at his offer. Water suddenly sounded like the greatest thing in the world.
“Water, please!” I replied quickly. The man nodded and made his way over to the kitchen. I started to hear police sirens. That was quick. The sirens grew louder and louder until eventually they made their way in front of the house and then grew silent. I heard doors open and close and then knocks on the door. The man set the water down on the table in front of me and answered the door. He greeted the officers and then gestured them inside. They sat down and i explained that my parents had been murdered. They seemed concerned but told me that they would check out the scene right away. All but one of the officers left.
“I’m gonna have you stay in the car with me. Alright?” the police officer stated.
“Ok.” I replied. I stood up and followed behind him as he walked out of the front door. As I stepped out I saw the scene in front of me. It felt surreal. Multiple police cars were in the street, their lights glowing into the cold night. I shivered and my teeth started to chatter as I continued to follow the officer to the car. We arrived in the car and I took a breath of relief as I felt the warmth of the vehicle. “So, how’s school going-” the police officer started to ask, but was cut off by a voice on his radio that yelled: ``DRIVE!!!”. It was followed by the familiar laughter from my parents, and then a terrifying scream. The police officer grabbed his radio quickly.
“What just happened? Over.” the officer spoke into his radio.
“I repeat, What just happened? Over.” The officer repeated with twice as much concern in his voice than the previous time. He muttered some swear words under his breath and then began to slam the gas pedal. He quickly drove out of the neighborhood and into the streets. I was positive that I knew what happened to the officer on the other side of the radio. I felt guilty for causing the police to come here. I technically was at fault for the loss of a human life. I began to cry and watched the lights from the city out the window become blurred from my teary eyes.
“I’m… I’m so sorry kiddo..” The police officer said to me, clearly trying to comfort me after he noticed my crying.
I didn’t reply, I just started to cry harder.
“I’m bringing you to the police station, we will get everything sorted out there.” He continued. After minutes of driving, we finally arrived at our destination. I numbly stepped out of the vehicle and followed him inside of the station. I took a seat and unintentionally fell asleep. I was awoken to 3 officers standing over me.
“Hey, we need to ask you some questions. Follow us.” I obliged and started behind them. I entered a questioning room and took a seat on the cold metal chair. I just explained my half-true story once again. They explained to me that my aunt would be arriving soon to bring me back to her house to live there for the time being. My aunt was my only remaining adult relative and she lived hours away. I had seen her a few times at family reunions but I barely knew her. It was better than going into foster care, though. I walked out of the room and sat back down where I was earlier.
I Sat there for hours in my own thoughts, it was horrible. Eventually, My aunt arrived and seemed extremely apologetic. The drive to her home was mostly silent with only a few of her attempts to create light hearted small talk which I ignored. I was too traumatized and numb to engage in such conversation. It’s now been one week and I still have little answers. The day after the incident the police contacted my aunt stating the police officers on the scene and my family had gone completely missing, but they haven’t contacted us since that. I have made myself as at home as I could here and am trying my best to cope with the situation…