The drive was long but finally, I reached the short dirt driveway that cut through the woods to the house I left a little under four months ago. Before I could even step out of my car, my parents had sprinted from the house and were both attempting to engulf me in a warm hug. Once I finally stepped out of the car, I gladly returned the gesture to my mom as my dad began to search for my bags.
“You brought something home with you right bud?” my dad said in his familiar, deep but comforting, tone as he crouched down to gaze into my car.
“Yeah, a couple of things,” I responded, “I threw it all in the trunk,” I said as I reached for the button to pop it open for him.
“I’ve got this,” he said as he lifted the trunk open revealing the few items I brought home,” you just start telling your mom everything, with all her questions it’s best that you get a head start,” he said with a chuckle.
“Thanks, Dad,” I replied with a laugh. Then, me and my mom walked inside.
“Can I get you anything to drink,” my mom asked brightly, “I went to the store yesterday. I even picked up that ginger ale you like,” she said with excitement.
“You already know my answer,” I replied, “I haven’t had Briggs in way too long.”
“One ginger ale coming right up,” she said as she shuffled out of the room
Briggs is a local ginger ale here in my hometown. I don’t remember the first time I even drank it but I have lived off of it for as long as I can remember. My dad likes to say that when I was born, they had to give me Briggs to keep me from crying 24/7. Since I went off to college, I haven’t had any and I think I was going through withdrawal. I’m going to have to bring some back when I leave.
My mom rushed back into the kitchen with a cold bottle of Briggs and forced it into my hand with a smile on her face. The taste of Briggs is the definition of home for me. Just one sip and I felt like a child again. This sparked a question in me. I knew that on the way in, something was off about our street.
“Hey ma, what is up with the Thornes’ house? It looks… dead.”
“Oh, yeah they moved out a couple of months back,” she replied, “I’m honestly surprised it took them that long.”
The Thornes are a family that has been in my life about as long as Briggs has. I used to play with their son, Ethan before he ran away, at least that’s what his parents said happened. We weren’t best friends by any means, but we were the only kids on the street so we naturally found ourselves in each other’s company pretty often. We even rode the same bus back in middle school. I for some reason always remember that he wore a dog tag around his neck with his name on it. I think his grandpa gave it to him before he passed.
My mom, not very captivated by the topic of the Thornes, quickly started asking me about college.
“So, how was your first college semester?” She asked with excitement flowing through her voice.
“Stressful,” I said with a sigh, “Especially because I just finished up midterms.”
“Oh, how do you think you did, “my mom asked hesitantly.
“Fine honestly,” I replied before taking a sip of Briggs, “I’m just happy they are in the past.”
For about 30 minutes, me and my mom chatted about college until my dad came down from upstairs.
“Your room is all set bud,” my dad said proudly.
“Thank you for doing that,” I replied.
“It’s no trouble,” he said back, “Has your mom grilled you enough yet?”
“Basically feels like I’m back in class already,” I said sarcastically
My mom sighed and shook her head with a smirk.
“I’m sorry I missed you,” she shot back
“All jokes Helen,” my dad reassured, “but let’s let him get settled in and we can talk some more over dinner.”
My mom reluctantly agreed and let me go upstairs to my room.
It had only been four months but the room I had stayed in for the last 18 years felt new as I opened the door. This didn’t last long though as my memories came flooding back as I crashed onto my bed. I was hoping that I might get to see a white Christmas this year but the more days that passed, the less likely that seemed. I don’t want to say what college I’m attending but let’s just say I wasn’t gonna get a white Christmas there. My home is in a small town in Maryland and trying to figure out the weather is like a roulette table if there were 20 different options that were all equally as likely. Because of this, snow wasn’t very common but when it was, it was not around Christmas.
Despite the fact that snow was unlikely the next few weeks, I peered out the window in my room into the deep woods that surrounded my house. That’s when something caught my eye. There was a red puffy coat that was hanging from a tree branch. As soon as I saw it, there was a strong feeling of familiarity inside me. I couldn’t put my finger on it though so I just continued letting my eyes wander in between the tall trees. With nothing else grabbing my attention, I closed the blinds and lay down for a bit.
My mom yelled up to me that we were going to be leaving for dinner soon and to my surprise, hours had passed since I put my head on the pillow. At the restaurant, we continued to talk about college, but I couldn’t keep my mind from the red coat in the woods.
When we returned home, there was a small amount of light left outside so I told my parents that I was going to go for a walk through the woods. No matter what I was doing, I couldn’t stop thinking of that puffy red coat. I thought that maybe if I went and got it, I could find the owner and possibly return it to get some closure.
When I reached the coat, it became very clear to me that this was a child’s jacket. I proceeded to grab it off the branch and start heading back because light was fading quickly. I’ll examine it better inside anyway. When I got back, I quickly rushed up to my room and laid the jacket on my bed. I also flicked on the TV to a local news station for some background noise. I looked in the pockets of the coat and found nothing and then went for the tag to try and identify the owner. I flipped the tag to see the name and all I could do was stare.
“ETHAN”
The name on the tag was “ETHAN” in all capital letters. I stood over the jacket confused for a second. “It certainly wasn’t Ethan Thornes’ jacket,” I thought to myself, “he went missing when we were ten.”
In an attempt to fuel the thinking my brain was trying to accomplish, I decided to rush downstairs to grab a bag of chips from on top of the fridge. When I reached up for the chips, I straightened my gaze in front of me. Right as my hand touched the bag, I saw something that brought me back to my childhood years.
“Kritchly Street 2014 Christmas”
It was a picture of all the people who lived on my street back when I was 9. I saw some of the faces of the older couples who passed away years ago and it brought me back. Then, as if there was a light coming through the photo, my eyes locked onto a boy, Ethan. This was less than a year before he went missing. But truthfully, he wasn’t exactly what caught my eye. My attention was cast on the bright red puffy coat he was wearing.
My heart sank as I sprinted up the steps to my room, leaving behind the chips and Christmas photo. When I shut the door behind me, I stopped to catch my breath only to hear something on the TV that made me halt any subconscious action that I was doing.
“James Thorne.”
My eyes shot up to the TV on the wall just in time to see the start of the rolling caption at the bottom of the screen.
“James and Ella Thorne found dead tonight in [Redacted] County apartment.”
I stood there in shock. This family was close to mine, now they were dead.
Once I regained control of my body, I grabbed a hold of the door handle to go let my parents know the awful news but then I saw something pop up on the screen so I halted my action and listened.
“Police have not yet released details about the state of the victims, but have provided a couple of pictures of items that have been found in the apartment.”
A slide show of items occupies the screen. Bloody clothes, moving boxes, a smashed family photo, and a sticky note on a table that was clearly written in haste. For a second I looked away as I thought I had enough info to go tell my parents but then I quickly turned back realizing what was on the note.
“THE RED COAT”
“THE RED COAT”
“THE RED COAT”
“THE RED COAT”
I start to connect the dots in my head when my screen goes black. I rush to the remote to try to flip back to the channel but nothing is working.
It is pitch black.
No, it isn’t completely black, it’s more like a dark room. I see a small faint green light that reminds me of the light on my mom’s diffuser on her bedside table. I think for a second and then remember that my TV has a brightness feature. I used to use it to make the screen brighter when watching scary movies as a kid. As I fiddle with the remote, I hear what sounds like the front door creak downstairs.
It’s probably just my dad going to grab a bottle of water to drink before bed. I finally get the brightness up and when I see it I freeze.
On the TV I see my mom and my dad, sleeping in their bed. I had forgotten that before I left to retrieve the Jacket, they said they were turning in early. Then I hear another sound that I know down to the pitch, my parent’s door. I look up at the TV only to see it open just like I heard. There haven’t been more than three people living in this house since my last sister moved out 2 years ago.
Who is in my parent’s room now?
I stand there in shock. Knowing I should go help and warn them but also in fear of my own life. Then Something steps into the room.
It is the height of a child, but I can’t make out much more than that on the grainy black-and-white feed that I’m watching. My hands grow sweaty and I can feel my heart rate fly up. I snap back for a quick second and begin to search for my mom’s contact in my phone and hit the call button. I can see it light up on the TV and begin to vibrate across her bedside table.
But it grabs the attention of the thing in the room. The child-shaped figure reaches for it before answering the phone. I sit other end of the line, staring at the TV as quietly as possible when…
That… thing… stared. back.
I can finally see the horror that is in my parent’s room. It has no eyes, but wide open sockets where eyes used to live. Its mouth is not only split from ear to ear but also down the middle from the bottom of its nose to its chin. A dark liquid ran down the clothes it wore which seemed to already be covered in dirt.
Then the feed went dark
I stood in fear for a second, waiting for what would come next. Then I heard two large thuds, one shortly after another. Like someone had dropped big bags of sand on the ground. Following this, I heard the creak of my parent’s door once again.
And then the footsteps.
smack, smack, smack, smack
The sound of barefoot on the kitchen tile floor echoed through the house.
I flew across my room, ducked down, and crawled under my bed.
Silence.
Silence for what felt like an eternity.
Then, pat, pat, pat, pat.
This time it came from the carpeted stairs that snaked directly to my room. My heart beating so fast it didn’t feel like there was even space in between each beat. My eyes were fixed on the crack under the door when the light coming through was obstructed.
The door handle turned and the door crept open. I saw small dirty feet slowly step into the room and stop right in front of the bed and in front of the red coat. Then something fell to the ground. It was silver and seemed to be attached to a chain. It was a dog tag that said… “Ethan.”
Holding back tears to avoid being noticed, I continue to stare at the thing that is somehow Ethan when it walks to the corner of my room and sits down in an old rocking chair.
I’m writing this part now. It hasn’t left that corner. The slight creak of the rocking chair is a constant reminder of the abomination that lurks in my room. I think it knows where I am. I think it’s toying with me. If you look outside and see the red coat, I’m sorry. Please send help.
UPDATE: About one hour has gone by and I just got a text, I will get back on what it says.
Text Message from Mom❤️: It’s time to wake up, you have school soon.
It is 10:09 PM. I’m home for my Christmas break. It knows.
It knows.