The following accounts were found in the back of an old rusted 1992 Toyota pickup truck. Inside the truck was an old yellow notepad. This is what it contained.
The winter had taken a toll on business. Like it always does. Landscaping is pretty much dead in the winter here in Arizona.
A wave of loneliness washed over my home.
I stare outside my window, and all I see is the oak tree’s branches dancing along with the wind, rocking back and forth.
On the dinner table sits a cold cup of coffee. Folgers. Black. I like the cheap stuff. Plus, during this time of year, I get to practice on my frugality skills.
I got an email notification from Google my business on my iPhone.
The quote request said the following from Charles Raskin:
I need a quote ASAP, we are out of town for the holidays, and the neighbors informed us of a broken pipe that is leaking into their backyard. We forgot to turn off the sprinkler system before we left. Please respond quickly.
- Charles
The quote lead contained the following information:
Name: Charles Raskin
Email: C_Raskin1930@hotmail.com
And the phone number
I jumped on it immediately, I texted Charles, I preferred texting since I was always awkward on the phone, plus everyone prefers texting now.
I texted the following:
Hey Charles! Oscar here from 88th St Lawncare I got your quote via google. Following up to see if we can visit the property and identify the issue with the broken pipe.
Charles responded:
Oscar!! thanks for the speedy response, here is my address: 8882 Song Sparrow Way in Sedona.
I replied:
OK, I will be there around 2:00 PM. I am assuming there’s no dogs in the backyard?
Charles replied:
Thank you very much!!!! The code to the backyard gate is 1217#. Please leave the backyard locked.
I started to load up the old, work truck with my tools. Shovels, rakes, and pickaxes haven’t been touched, since the end of the season back in fall. A little bit of rust covered them, but not enough for anyone to notice .. but me.
It felt good doing something with my day. At this time of year, my days usually consists of watching old westerns and tinkering with old lawn mowers in my garage. Mowers I find free on craigslist or on the side of the road.
It felt good firing up my work truck, Johnny Cash playing on the radio, and the mood felt right. It felt like a workday. The best kind of days.
The woodsy air from the trees always made me feel like I was in tuned with mother nature. I was able to think clearly. I loved the outdoors this is why I choose this line of work.
I arrived at the property around 1:45 PM. Overgrown rose bushes and tall grass filled with weeds started back at me. The urge to want to just clean it all up and leave it looking tidy gnawed at me.
Focus, Oscar, I told myself. I made my way to the backyard, punched the code on the keypad of the gate and voila the key popped out on the back part of the keypad. It was one of those fancy new gate locks, I had seen them before at some of properties I serviced in gated communities.
I took my pack of Newport’s out of the main front pocket of my Carhartt Bibs and took a drag from my last cigarette. Irrigation work and cigarettes were a good combination kind of like coffee and donuts.
A typical breakfast of mine consisted of a cup of coffee and a cigarette. Gas station coffee hits different in the morning a blue-collar worker.
The backyard was your typical suburban backyard. All the properties in this suburb were the same cookie cutter models. The lawn was a medium sized overgrown lawn with some dead bushes, and an orange tree full of oranges.
The tree, dappled shade and warmth – with oranges ready to be munched.
I opened to valves to identify the leak of the pipes. I turn the valves clockwise. *hiss*..
Bam! I saw the fucking leak; it wasn’t a pipe it was a riser from one of the sprinklers that busted.
I took a picture of the broken riser, and texted Charles.
Hey Charles, looks like we got a broken riser. I can replace it with a new one. It’ll be $85 with materials. Once the job is done you can Venmo or Zelle.
Great! Get it done said Charles
I started digging and that’s when it all started. This fucking carousel of confusion. The moment I knew that my life as I knew it had changed. Like an awakening. A FUCKING AWAEKING.
It all started when the shovel opened the earth, and I started working.
What was supposed to be a 20-minute job turned into complete chaos.
As I was digging towards the riser. I noticed something else in the dirt. Then I knew something was off. You see a year ago I had lost my keys. My keys consisted of the following items: a keychain of a small rubix cube, a cheap multitool from China, and a mini flashlight.
It felt like Daija vu.
I put the keys in my pocket, and I sat there for about 10 minutes just wondering how the fuck my keys could end up there. Was my mind playing tricks on me.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I started digging. Something kept telling to dig.
The next thing I found was an old game boy color I lost when I was kid. How did I know it was mine? Well you see, the back case where the batteries go had an old faded Super Mario sticker I placed there when I was a little kid. I remember getting that sticker for my cousins’ birthday.
This felt wrong, I felt weird. I felt unnatural; however, a weird part of me wanted to keep on digging. What I found next screwed me up in so many ways. I felt like my mind was breaking. Kind of like a static TV with no reception. You smack the TV a few times, and you get signal.
But my case was different.
I dug a little bit more, and I found the cadaver of my dog that went missing when I was 14. The cadaver of my dog looked fresh. Cisco was a good dog. A pit mix with something else. Cisco found us. One day he shows up to the front door and puts his paw out. We have no idea where he came from, we asked neighbors, called shelters, the whole 9 yards. Nobody knew anything about him. So we kept him.
He went missing one day after the stormy season from broken fence picket that led to the street from my backyard. My knees hit the ground and I cried. I realized Cisco was the only true friend I ever had. We were bonded together, and he always protected me from bullies, and creeps.
Cisco once saved me from getting kidnapped.
As Cisco and I walked from the park one evening. A white ice cream truck pulls up next to us.
An older Hispanic in his 60’s grinned towards us. He carried himself with his busted-up smile and senile energy. An old diamondbacks baseball cap covered his face, he wore a grey hoodie with holes in it that read MOJAVE DESSERT, black faded jeans and old white nike sneakers that had turned yellow over time. Air force 1’s I believe.
Out of nowhere his friend jumps me from behind and tries to put me into the man. I couldn’t remember how his friend looked all I remember was he was short and stocky. Built like a tree trunk. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. His dirty oily hands covered my mouth.
I was almost in the van and taken to god knows where; however, Cisco came to the rescue. Cisco goes straight for the guy’s leg, and his jaw locks in on the guy. Cisco is not letting go. Cisco is shaking this creep’s leg ferociously and violently back and forth.
After what felt like a few minutes the dude finally breaks through.
The kidnappers manage to get away. And speed off after the entire neighborhood came out.
It was common in this area. Human trafficking was real, and it was unforgiving. Any kid in the area was target. Many kids went missing. Never found. Families mourning for years never getting closure.
My stomach twisted, my head spinning. My breathing was getting shallow. I felt like I was going to puke. I’M I GOING CRAZY?! I said to myself.
I dug from the next few hours with tears rolling down my cheek. I found more and more missing toys, collectibles, and random things I lost throughout my life.
The time was now 4:30 PM. It started to get dark.
I grabbed a bucket and put all my old shit in it. I held his dead body for a while and thanked him for everything. I buried Cisco in my backyard and held a little memorial for him. I texted Charles telling him the problem was fixed.
Charles replied: Thanks Oscar I just Venmo’d you I gave you a little extra for coming in such short notice. Please lock the gate. Thanks!
I texted Charles back.
Hey Charles, your lawn is overgrown. I suggest that we mow the lawn, trim the bushes, clean up the leaves and clean everything up.
In reality I didn’t want to do the job. I wanted to come back to the yard and see what else was here.
I was getting obsessed with the yard. All I wanted to do was go back and dig. Perhaps id find other things that I had lost in the past. I don’t know.
It was a strange phenomenon.
Charles replied: Thanks Oscar, we will pass for the moment. I am looking forward to doing it myself when I get back next week. Thanks.
Okie doke. I responded.
I didn’t care I showed up the next day and I started digging.
I dug about 5 feet deep, and I couldn’t find anything.
I dug a little more, and what I heard messed me up.
Oscaaar!! Help!! Oscar Help!! It hurts!! I didn’t see the truck!
It was my aunts voice.. she had a tragic accident that killed her on the spot.
Here’s the story of my aunt’s tragic death her car slid on snow causing her to go under semi-truck. She died on impact. Her life was lost withing seconds. The truck driver was fucked up after that he blamed himself even though it wasn’t his fault. I had told him I had no ill feelings towards him; however, that did not stop him from taking his own life. What fucked him was seeing everything firsthand. He saw the whole mess. It was a blood bath. It was dark and tragic accident.
My aunt raised me like a son. My mother was a crackhead and never gave a shit about me. Aunt Krista was all I had. Her ashes of what remained of her sit on a mantle top of my fireplace.
So, when I heard her voice. I kept digging. A light shuns from under the dirt.
The more I dug the clearer I heard Aunt Krista’s voice. It was started to become clearer to me.
It wasn’t a voice anymore, but more like cries and horrific deadly ear piercing screams. So bad that my ears started to bleed.
I dialed one of my workers Manuel.
Manuel! Come here I need help with this job! Manuel I think I am going crazy.
Orale, I’ll be right there carnal. Manuel said.
I thought I was going crazy. I need somebody else to see this. Manuel had worked for years for me. He was more like family to me.
Manuel arrived 30 minutes later and found me crying in the corner of the backyard near the fence line.
Que paso? Manuel said.
Look over there in that hole, and tell me you don’t hear the voices. All the voices they are driving me crazy!! I said.
As Manuel walked over and looked down to the hole I dug. He went into a trance. He got the shovel and started digging saying “Papa! Papa! My sweet padre! I’m here Papa!”.
Manuel started digging aggressively. A maniac look took over his face. Manuel’s eye grew darker as the light in the hole grew lighter.
Manuel stop! Manuel snap out of it!
I looked down to the hole, and I knew that we had undiscovered something dark.
A portal to another world? Or perhaps a portal to a dark and twisted word? The world of the dead? Hell? The upside down? The fuck I know!
I ran to my corner in the fence line and started crying. This is when I started writing everything that happened. I wrote everything down on an old yellow notepad.
However, I don’t know what will happen next.
Manuel is gone. POOF he disappeared into the portal. I know I’m next.
The light keeps calling my name, and the euphoric feeling I have when I look into the light makes me like I am having a rebirth. Like a cleanse. Deep down I know it’s dark and evil, but my short term pleasure is taking over.
So, this is my advice to you. Don’t ever visit the property located at 8882 Song Sparrow, and for crying out loud don’t ever dig in the backyard. Somethings are not meant to be uncovered. Hold your pets and loved ones close to you, and don’t come looking for me.