It’s 3am, I’m tired and all I want to do is sleep but my 4 year old son ,Michael, had other plans for me. The only way to keep him out is by locking my door and barricading it. I’ve tried locking his door from the outside but he somehow still manages to get out. I just have to ignore him, he’ll stop eventually. It’s usually when he realizes that I’m not falling for him and his tricks. Michael always starts off with the soft subtle tapping on the old wooden door, then knocking which progressively gets louder and faster. The knocking turns into banging, growling and cursing, after a while that stops and it becomes sobbing and crying. That’s the part that kills me because it sounds so much like Michael did, my heart breaks every time he says “mommy please let me in; why don’t you love me mommy?” Part of me wants to let him in and just hold him in my arms again, I don’t want to think about that not being my son out there.
Even though I know my son is in his small grave in the cemetery across the street. The thing outside my door is something much worse than a cranky kid. This is a manifestation of my own mind helping me cope with burying my only child then my husband shortly leaving me after that. I knew I shouldn’t have played with the ouija board.I was just so lost and I wanted to make sure my baby was in a safer place. Instead I got IT, IT portrayed itself as the former memory of my son, spitting image oh him if I didn’t know better myself. IT told me he could bring my child back, he told me I could be a happy loving mother and wife again. Pretend like this never happened and carry on, stupidly I agreed desperate to see and hold my child again.
When “Michael” first appeared it always felt like an innocent feeling but also felt like playing a game of hide and seek with him. Only getting glances at the small boy who wore his favorite dinosaur shirt matching pants and yellow rain boots to match, in those brief moments is when you could see the quick flash of short brown hair dashing around a corner with the sweet sound of his giggle. You could only get to look at him for a split second until he ran or turned a corner. Until one day I saw IT, his lengthy limbs, gnawed up body with chunks of oozy black skin with exposed ribs and insides, fingertips sharp as needed covered in deep crimson blood, teeth look as sharp as razors just looking at it makes me feel like I got cut. IT was only pretending to be Michael, he was using my emotions to make himself stronger, and I let him for all this time.
I tried getting rid of it and pushing “Michael” out of my mind trying to tell myself he wasn’t coming back ever again. But that only made him more angry and violent but I’ve run out of options and I have no answers and no way to get rid of this thing. By morning it is normally gone and I can go about doing my normal routine but more and more I’ve heard noises in Michaels room, toys being moved, giggling and whispering but I don’t dare go in there. I know that whatever is on the other side of the door wants to kill me. So I plan on leaving tonight, I don’t know where I will go or how far but all I know is I need to get out of here away from that evil, grotesque thing. The hardest part is leaving all of Michael’s things behind, I can’t take anything in fear of whatever it is, is connected to anything of Michaels.
I’m packing so fast I’m not even folding anything, it’s getting dark and I’m running out of time before I need to barricade myself in for the night. As I pack the last bit of clothes my sweaty palms and trembling fingers are stumbling over the zipper. The second I get it closed I race out of my room, down the hall and out the door towards my car. I take one last look at my old house and my old life and say goodbye to it as it stares at me with those dark lifeless eyes from the window of Michael’s room. I get in the car without wasting any more time slamming the car in reverse I hit the gas down the driveway and onto the street. Without letting the car come to a complete stop I flip the gearshift into drive and press my foot on the gas. I don’t know where I’m going but it’s as far away as possible.
This big wave of relief comes rushing over me and for the first time in over a month I finally feel relaxed and at peace with myself and Michael. But that’s when I heard it from the back seat “mommy where are we going?” and with every word the sweet little innocent voice of a child becomes a deep rumbling echo in my ears. I look in the rearview mirror and see it, not Michael, it is dark black with now piercing red eyes, it’s mouth has a wide smile on it from eye to eye with teeth like a shark covered in blood, it’s fingers were so long followed by blood soaked razor blades as fingernails. My stomach feels like a thousand knots and only getting tighter by the second. Anger comes flooding in and I know what I must do. Michael I love you I’ll see you soon my darling I say out loud as I look the picture of my sweet boy, who’s smiling back at me.
I stomp on the gas and the car speedometer approaching 120mph I jerked the wheel as hard as I can to the right. Causing me to go off the road my heart is racing as I speed towards the trees knowing it will be a head-on collision. Then everything went black. My ears are ringing loudly and my head feels like it has been split open, “mommy?” I heard that thing say half sounding like my sweet boy and the other half sounding like something demonic. I could feel it get closer to me while I was trying to keep my composure. “Do you think you can get rid of us that easily mommy? We will always be with you.” It said while reaching out its long fingernails and stroking my hair. I scream in panic as the sharp razor blade fingernails scrape again my scalp. “Shhhhhhhh mommy, we will take care of you”
In a last strength effort to break away from evil monster, I find a piece of broken glass and shove it right into one of its dark black eyes. It screeches out in pain as it tries to remove the glass from its eye with one hand while trying to scratch me with the other hand. I managed to get myself out of the car window and run back up to the road. The farther away I get from that thing the quieter the screeches become, trying not to think about how much pain I’m in I make myself press on seeing the road only a few feet ahead. I crawl up the small hill onto the nice paved road and force myself to stand up. I start making my way towards town when I hear the faint sound of a car engine headed my way. I spin around as fast as I could to see a car in the distance speeding towards me, I throw both of my hands up; everything hurts the pain brings tears into my eyes as I try and blink them away screaming. “I’M HERE, HELP ME… PLEASE HELP!!!”
As the car gets closer they slow down and stop just a few feet in front of me. The lights were blinding I put my arm up over my eyes to try and see but it’s so bright. I hear the creak of the truck door opening and two heavy boots slap the pavement “Are you alright miss?” An older man said. “Please sir I was in an accident I need help… please take me to the hospital..” The man approach grabbing onto my arm to keep me steady upwards. “ Oh my god let’s get you in the truck, the hospital is only a few minutes down the way.” He rough calloused hands had a firm grip around me making me feel safe and secure. He helps me into the truck and closes the door. I release a giant breath of air I didn’t realize I was holding, relaxing ever so slightly as he hops in and start to drive away.
The breeze on my face feels wonderful and I can’t help but think my worries are over. “Miss?” The man said “ you look pretty worn out why don’t you rest your eyes and I’ll wake you when we get to the hospital.” He said “thank you…thank you so much for stopping….you…saved… my life.” I managed to get out as my eyes felt heavy and began to close. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed but when I opened my eyes I was laying in a hospital bed hooked up to different machines and tubes. I don’t know if I managed to kill that thing or only hurt it, I don’t know if it will come after me. There’s no telling how much time I have until it finds me. But when it does this time I’ll be ready I’m not afraid anymore. As I finish tying this out I started hearing scratching at my door and a familiar voice calling me. “Mommy.. I know you’re in there.. let me in…”I’m ready. Game on.