When I was a kid I had a series of strange events happening that I think about from time to time. It was the last day of my Easter holidays and I was getting ready to head to bed. I stepped on a rusty nail earlier that day while trying to help my dad with his car. We took care of it and had a doc taking a look at it, but it was starting to itch that night.
As I sat on my bed, looking at my foot I hear a stud. Thinking nothing of it I continue. Exactly 3 seconds after I heard another stud and 3 second later another one. It sounded like some was going up the stairs very slowly, but no light was on and I could see down the stairs from my room; there was no one.
I was sitting on the side of my bed just silent and a little scared as the studs continue in an almost perfect rhythm. I counted about 25 studs. The exact amount of steps needed to climb up the stairs.
From the other room I heard my mom yelling “Connie, it’s bedtime!” I snapped back and went to my mom to sleep with her; as I’m still scared.
Of course it was no problem for her, so I snuck into bed and tried my hardest to sleep. But I still felt like there was someone or something.
I heard a faint voice, so quiet that it was difficult to understand but I could hear two words very clearly. “Connie” and “dead”. The voice faintly sounds like… my uncle. All of a sudden, I start hallucinating, seeing everything I loved as a child corrupting in the dark corners of the room. My dad with a very creepy grin standing taller than usual in the frame of the door. But wasn’t he watching his show in the living room? Worms crawling on the ceiling. Superheros I loved as a child starting laughing at me in the corner of the room. The walls painted in a very dark green with splatters of a dark red colour. It all ended with a final stud coming from the door and a crash from the window.
Everything turned to normal again. It happened all within a minute but it felt like a year. My mom was still sleeping like a log. I woke her up and asked her if she heard anything. She looked at me very confused and worried, saying nothing for a couple seconds. Then she just said: “No. Just go to sleep.” And continued sleeping. I covered myself with my blanket still scared and panicking and tried sleeping as my mom said. After half an hour or maybe a full hour - I couldn’t keep track of the time - I eventually slept in thinking of my uncle.
My uncle has always been nice to me. He always said he liked me and he wanted to see me again. He would give me some spare cash and said I should get some ice cream with my girlfriend. He was nice but not flawless. He also was a gambling addict and quite rough with his kids and wife. Once beating his kid out of the house for an entire week. He and his brother, my dad, weren’t always on best terms either and they once had a brawl about some borrowed cash.
Life continued normally for a year until my next Easter holidays. Again on the last day of my Easter break I had another occurrence. As I was showering I could hear another stud and 3 seconds after another stud. Having forgotten, or rather pushed aside, the memory of the year prior, I didn’t think much of it and finished showering. As I got out of shower though I could hear the voice again, still not understandable but a bit clearer. “Connie. Dying. You… be… dead. Connie.” That was all I could hear. The lights went off for a couple seconds and as they turned back on again I could see my towel swinging in a perpetual motion. I watched it in shock for a whole minute until it stopped abruptly. I dressed up as quickly as I could and ran to my bed covering myself with my blanket once again, trying to just fall asleep.
Life once again continued for a year until the next Easter break. But this last day was different. It was peaceful. I went out of the shower, dressed myself, finished my routine. But as I was about to get under my blanket my parents called me to shocking news. My uncle died of a heart attack. How? He was perfectly healthy. Well alright he was a heavy smoker. But his body was in good shape and he was never severely ill before. My parents said they’ll deal with it and I should just try to head to sleep as they went to my uncles place to talk with his family. I went to bed only thinking of what happened the past two years before. I covered myself fully with my blanket again out of sadness and fear. I only heard another stud and a faint voice once again.
“You… next.”