This all started on my 10th birthday. I was helping with the arrangements for my Hawaiian themed party. Both of my parents seemed anxious to finish setting up. As they placed the flower patterned plastic tablecloth on the picnic table, they started murmuring in a hushed tone, as if they were trying to stop somebody from hearing.
I strolled up to them, trying to hear what they were talking about. I thought they might have been discussing a surprise present and I wanted to know every detail. However, all I heard was
“What if Josh shows up?” from my mom.
“Who’s Josh?” I questioned, making my dad jolt up in shock.
My dad explained that my “Uncle Josh” wanted to come to my birthday party. He also stated some rules I had to follow is he did happen to show up.
The only thing my 10 year old brain heard was “More presents!”
Around an hour later, guests started arriving. Some friends, some family, and some of my mom’s friends. A face painter showed up and all of my friends got little flowers done. We played for about half an hour when my parents pulled out a cake and a bunch of cupcakes with ocean designs on them.
My mom placed the candles in the cake and right before she lit them, a tall man with pale skin seemed to materialize on the next picnic table over. He wore a beige coat that hung near his ankles and a black fedora with a white ribbon. I estimated that he was around 7 feet tall, and skinny.
“Uncle Josh!” my dad exclaimed, brimming with anxiety and false enthusiasm.
I glanced at his skin, which closely resembled that of dying flesh. While he looked humanoid, with sleek black hair peeking out from the front of his fedora. I could sense something was wrong. His fingers were too long. His shoulders too narrow, his neck too skinny.
“Hello, Rosie.” Uncle Josh said with a deep voice.
I ran through all of the rules in my head. don’t look at his eyes. do not speak unless spoken to. stand 5 feet away. do not touch him.
“Well, aren’t you going to say hello to your Uncle Josh?” he said cocking his head to the side.
“Hello Uncle Josh” I mumbled while looking at my feet.
I wasn’t sure why bit his presence filled me with anxiety. My friends told my mom some lame excuses so they could take their children away from this… thing. Suddenly, my mom screamed. It was so shrill and terrifying that I nearly passed out just from the sound. My eyes jolted at the source of the noise and my heart dropped. Uncle Josh had my mother by her neck, suspended 3 feet in the air.
I heard a sickening crunch, and my mother fell to the floor. Her neck had been snapped because she had stepped too close to Uncle Josh. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t touch him, speak, or even look at the man who had just murdered my mother. I ran to my dad and shut my eyes. I can’t remember how long it was before I opened them.
My dad had called 911 and the paramedics rushed to the scene, but by then, it was far too late. My mother was dead and the thing who did it got to be free. After hours of interrogation, the cops deemed the murder a cold case since no DNA was left on my mother and we couldn’t offer a description of him.
Every year after that, I never had any parties, and I never saw Uncle Josh again. On my seventeenth birthday, I heard a knock at the door. I opened it, and all I saw was a black fedora with a white ribbon.