My family has a certain knack for oddness, a little more than the average person.
That’s what I gathered anyway, for a while, no one ever talked about it.
My Mother would pretend to not hear me, and my Father, who scoffs at the paranormal, would tell me off
The rest of my family…At least my Mother’s side, lived at the opposite ends of the country, they didn’t call, they just disappeared after the one day they’d visit a year.
I was never allowed to speak to my Mother’s family, spare ‘please’, and ‘thank you’, at the dinner table.
I’d rush to the door when they came, but my Mother would hurry me away just as quickly.
One year, I had my chance however.
My great grandmother, the oldest person I had ever seen, had requested a tour of our garden.
My mother did the usual, but my great grandmother insisted, I think she liked me, even though I wasn’t allowed to speak.
I led great grandmother through our corn fields and tomato patches. She hummed at the door, and insisted I’d be quiet.
She told me about our families ‘pitch.’
Everyone has a certain pitch she said, but ours had a certain sound…A certain something that the earth liked, what evil liked. A magnetism.
She closed her eyes, and raised her hand.
The corn in the field rose into the air, and flew into her hand.
She smiled at me, and told me to never ever do it myself.
My mother yelled, and ran to the field, pulling me into her arms.
Great grandmother wasn’t allowed to see me after that, not that it mattered…
She was soon found in pieces.
Mother blamed herself after that I think, but her fear only became worse.
I was only allowed to go to and from school. I was forbidden to talk to anyone that my Mother didn’t know. Strangers were dangerous. Even the internet was monitored.
I never attempted to repeat what Great Grandmother did, somehow I sensed that what she had done had led to her death somehow.
No matter how much I ignored it, I could still feel the burning in my hands, a tingling…Especially when I was in danger. Magnets stuck to me, every instrument I played was in perfect tune. My mother would wear gloves, she refused to even hum. She only ever talked to my father.
Recently, yesterday…There was an earthquake.
It caused almost no damage, it was in the middle of nowhere.
I don’t think the news even reported it, why would they care? Searching online showed no articles.
There was a large crater left in our yard, one that went down miles. I was the one who discovered it, after all, it opened underneath me.
I should’ve fallen in, I know I should have. But I felt that pull, the earth pulled me back like a magnet, I even hit my head.
I immediately told my mother, who, by the look on her face, wished I had fallen in.
She told my father that they’d have to leave our house immediately, but he didn’t hear any of it.
My mother then asked me to come with her alone, which surprised me.
She smiled at father, saying something about checking on the neighbors, and pulled me into the car.
We didn’t even leave the driveway before she handed me a book.
It had a name I didn’t recognize, but the surname was my mother’s maiden name.
It was old, it had that smell, I asked Mother about it, but she told me to just read.
There were a few pages of what great grandmother had told me so long ago, until I found something new.
It described the evil.
Things, if they could be described that way. Soulless beings that have existed as long as sound.
They carry a long bone they beat on a drum, hoping to hear the echo of someone’s pitch passed through blood.
They eat only for joy, taking the appearance of any being that has a “sound.”
I felt my stomach drop while reading, a horrible empty feeling filling my chest.
It seemed unreal. But it was the same reality that kept me from falling into that crater.
I hugged my arms around my legs, and buried my face into my knees.
The car moaned and buckled under the rubble from the earthquake, and it was only when mother broke the car that we stopped.
The path forward was covered in debris, one that we would have to climb over by foot.
We sat there for awhile, when one of our neighbors approached the car.
He knocked on our window, the sound making the car shake, but mother refused to even look at him.
He smiled at my Mother. Being one of the few people I was allowed to talk to, I knew he was someone trustworthy. Mother just turned the car around however, and we went back home.
Many of our neighbors were outside, looking at the wreckage on their tractors…Checking their cows.
Mother practically bolted into the house, I barely had any time to not get locked out myself.
She click! Locked the door, and left the room to check on my father and lock the windows.
I leaned against the door, not feeling very happy.
At least my Mother hadn’t thrown me in a ditch, she loved me more than I thought.
I shook my head, and sat down in one of armchairs. The room was dark, the sunset staining everything a pale yellow.
I took a chocolate from the fireplace, it was stale, but I wanted to chew something.
I heard something fall in the kitchen, and the sound of scraping footsteps, a horrible sound, out of tune.
A woman…One of our neighbors, walked down the hall in her nightgown and curlers.
Seeing someone in our house was frightening, Mother would be so upset.
The woman walked into the wall, and disappeared.
I slunk out of my chair, suddenly wondering if it would’ve been better to stay in the car.
She had looked the same way a few days ago, coming to ask my mother if she had some eggs.
My mother almost never let anyone into the house, but this woman was the busy body sort…Forcing herself in and pestering me about my sunburn while she searched our pantry.
I wondered if my mind was spraying tricks on me, and wrapped the mantelpiece blanket around myself like a cape.
No longer comfortable, I went to kitchen, to see that woman’s husband standing there.
He was wearing a bathrobe, his beard half shaved.
The man looked at me, and smiled.
Step, step, step.
I backed away from him, somehow his eyes looked different, almost empty.
He reached out his hands, and I pulled off my cape.
I threw it at him, and the cape hovered in the air for a moment. His arms fell off first, then his ears…Then he disappeared.
I ran up the stairs, to my forbidden parents room, and tried to unlock it.
Like usual, it was locked. My mother had always left a spare underneath one of the stairs, but I wouldn’t be able to go down them.
The postman was smiling at me in the darkness, taking extra care to go up the stairs one by one.
I bit my lip, feeling that shock run through me, driven by fear.
I was already being chased, I might as well try.
I felt a shiver travel through my arms to my fingers, a pulling feeling.
I willed the key into my hand, and it flew towards me.
The postman charged the second I tried it, running up the steps into the door behind me, and disappearing.
I unlocked my parents door, and glanced inside.
The room was immaculate, not a scrape, but my parents weren’t there.
I tucked the key in my pocket, and checked my room, no one was there either.
I pulled down the attic string, and climbed up the ladder. It was dusty as usual, a place I wanted to explore, but couldn’t.
I relaxed a little, only to nearly scream.
Five workers, the ones that had built our attic so long ago stood above me.
I fell down onto the ground, straining my wrist, and shut the attic door.
My parents had to be downstairs, I rushed back down, and tiptoed into the dining room.
My father’s relatives were sitting at the table…All dressed in coats from the one time Mother had allowed them to visit, which never happened again.
I backed away from the room, but they lifted their hands.
I couldn’t even speak, it felt like my voice was choked up. My lips struggling to move.
I felt my hand tingle, and willed the table towards me.
It cut them in half, and they disappeared.
I had finally reached the final room of the house, turning the door with cheer.
I would finally see my parents, maybe mother would give me answers, father would finally understand what I was saying.
The door turned easily, and I stepped inside.
My father was standing in the door frame, sullen as ever, and on the floor was mother.
She looked happy, with a bright smile that crinkled her eyes.
She smiled like that at father a lot, whenever he came home, kissed her on the forehead, cheeks, and lips.
There was barely any of her left.
I backed away and slammed the door, but father stuck his hands beneath the door.
It only made sense, his sound was the strongest in our house.
He pulled open the door with that same empty look, his arms held out like he was going to hug me.
I ran, ran to the door.
Several faces were crowding our window, even more crowding the door.
It seemed everyone who had ever spoken to me at our door was there.
I shook my head, grabbing the keys that hung at the door, and went to the bathroom.
In the small space was my uncle, a cigarette in his hand by the window.
I pulled the shower curtain onto him, which made him disappear, and pulled myself to the window.
Mother hadn’t locked it yet, and luckily, no one was close by outside.
I kicked out the lining and fell out, scraping my face.
My mother’s car was parked on the side of the house, our dead next door neighbor admiring it.
I willed the car towards me, but it only moved a few inches.
My hands hurt, I felt a wave of exhaustion.
I don’t think I was meant to move something so big, it was too much.
The being charged towards me, and I almost wanted to give up.
I jumped, half fell out of the way, kicking a garbage can towards them.
They disappeared, and I trudged into Mother’s car.
There were no beings inside, Mother had refused to let anyone into her car besides me. Father wasn’t even allowed, as much as she loved him.
Tears filled my eyes, I locked all the doors, and hit the gas.
The road was littered with people staring at me with empty eyes, they smiled at me, and at the wreckage.
I was trapped, not that they could get in.
I’d starve before I became their meal, I decided that in the beginning.
I pulled up my hand, and willed the rocks to fall towards the earth.
Something crackled inside my head painfully, my hands were so hot they were burning, but I continued to pull.
Hot tears stung my eyes, only for a familiar face to smile at me on the roadside.
My great grandmother, she was humming.
She moved the same way she had those years ago, in the same spot she stood.
Our neighbors piled on top of her, but the road cleared.
I drove forward, my hands stinging as they touched the wheel.
My hand was covered in red wounds, blood pooling into my palms.
I could care less however, I had to drive some place I had no sound in.
I drove for hours, the people standing on the side of the road dwindling as I went further.
Who knew I had spoken to so many in my life? I don’t want to see what the school would look like.
I have barely any information on these things, I don’t know if that’s even enough. Searching online hasn’t gotten any answers, neither anything about our pitch. Someone had to survive to write the notebook, but I don’t know who did write it.
I’m terrified to leave my car, I haven’t eaten since yesterday, and my hands are swollen. I hope what I wrote was thorough enough, I couldn’t go into much detail about Mother and Great Grandmother, which I’m sorry about. It’s just too painful for me right now.
I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die like them.