How often do you look at your reflection? For most people that answer is multiple times a day and is just part of their day to day routine. But what If I told you that you need to stop doing that, Whatever you do, don’t look. Especially if it’s one you found at a pawn shop. Sadly it’s too late for me but, maybe I can help all of you.
I had a pretty good life. I had good friends, I did well in school, and I had tons of free time. In that free time I did things like playing video games, drawing, or writing, and most of this included scary stories. I’ve been really into horror for a long time, since my dad and I would watch horror movies when I was little. Most of these stories didn’t scare me and since I was a writer I wanted to craft my own story. In order to get inspiration I kept an eye out for creepy places and things out of the ordinary.
Now something not out of the ordinary is me. I look like a typical teen, I always wore a hoodie and some internet pop culture T-shirt. I’m not someone who stands out in a crowd, especially since I tend to keep to myself most of the time. Even when I talk people tend to overlook me, I’m just a quiet person.
Well in March of this year it had been raining almost non stop. This really got me thinking about the story I wanted to write. So after about a week of rain my spring break started, and I wanted to take some time off. The first day of spring break was really rainy. I decided it would be a good time to just stay home, but I felt really energetic so I grabbed an umbrella and went for a walk.
I liked to walk in the city when it rained because it was less muddy than a park or something and there weren’t many people walking around since many hated the rain. My walking eventually led me to pass an antique store. This is new. I’ve never seen this before, and I’ve lived here for 10 years. I opened the old looking glass door that led to a small store. It was filled wall to wall with this cool stuff. There was barely enough room to walk around, that’s how much stuff was here. I made my way to the counter in the back of the store, being careful not to accidentally break something valuable.
I peered over the glass counter to see if anyone was here. Then a man who looked to be in his 20’s, jumped out from behind a stack of old leather books stacked up around 6 feet from the ground. He was wearing clothes that looked straight out of the 1920’s.
“Hello Hello, and welcome to the finest shop this side of the country. What brings you in today? Looking for something in particular or just curiosity. No, don’t tell me I can see it in your eyes. I know exactly why you’re here. ”
“ You do?”
“ Yes, it’s very obvious. Now let me see here…”
As he said this he went rummaging around the piles of random gadgets and trinkets.
“No, No, Not here, Nope, Ah here it is.”
He said this while leaning over a big box filled with seemingly random things. He stood back up and turned back to the counter, revealing a small paper box.
“What’s that?”
“Why don’t you see for yourself”
I approached the counter and examined the box.
“Go ahead, open it”
I lifted up the delicate lid to reveal a small silver watch. I went to open it, and it looked almost perfect on the inside except for the hinge being a little stiff. Then I set it back in the box.
“Woah, how much for this?” I said as I pointed to the watch.
“Not a cent. Take it, it’s yours. But beware, by taking this you are…”
“Ok sure”
“My, my, someone’s anxious today. Well then be my guest”
I picked up the watch and turned to leave before he changed his mind and as I did I heard his voice once more.
“I would be careful if I were you. Those who go looking for trouble tend to find it.”
I turned to ask him what he meant by that, but he had disappeared. I opened my umbrella and stepped out into the street. I guess that’s enough of an adventure for one day, so I headed home. I opened the back door to my house and stepped inside. Nobody was home so I decided to fully examine the watch since it’s probably the only silence I’ll get all day.
I sat at the table with the watch and a needle to try and free the hinge. I had the watch in one hand and the needle in the other and I scraped at the hinge, but my hand slipped and I accidentally cut myself. I went to go clean off the blood, hoping I didn’t get any on the watch. I grabbed a paper towel and cleaned up my hand, then I turned to the watch and of course I got some blood on it. I went to wipe it off. I went to throw out the paper towel and sat back down, but there was more blood. Where was it coming from?
Then I saw it, a small seam on the inside. I don’t mean the side with the watch either. This part should have just been a single piece of metal, but maybe not. I took the needle and poked around to loosen it up and behind a thin layer of metal there was a small silver mirror.
Around the mirror were the words, “ You are your own worst enemy, don’t believe me?”
Now this was strange, but I love strange. I went on and cleaned up the watch, finding only a few small buttons which I decided to check out later. But those words, what could they be implying? I figured I’d have time to figure it out later. I decided to go up to my room since I didn’t want anyone seeing this watch.
I set it on my dresser and sat on my bed on the opposite side of the room to read a little bit. I must’ve fallen asleep while reading because the next thing I knew it was around sunrise.
It was still raining outside, but a slight hint of orange was visible through the almost jet black clouds that had plagued the skies for days. I didn’t want to waste the day and since I was already awake anyways I might as well do something.
I put on a hoodie and grabbed the watch. I stepped outside and went towards town, eventually bringing me to the local game store. I went there to check up on some up and coming indie horror games. When I got there I looked around for a while and when I checked my watch it said it had been almost an hour and a half. I took one last look at the shelves to make sure I’d seen everything when I saw they had a brand new release version plush of my favorite video game character. I decided to splurge and buy one. Then happy me grinning ear to ear lost in my own little world opened the door and stepped onto the sidewalk.
BAM! As I did so I must’ve run into someone,
“Hey, sorry I guess I wasn’t paying attent-”
They rushed past me into the store before I could apologize and as they did I saw they had the same hoodie I did, they must’ve had good taste. I wanted to compliment them and apologize so I went back inside to find them, and they were gone. It was very strange since it was a very small store and you could see the entire thing from the door. I was really confused but I mean stuff like that happens sometime, maybe they didn’t go into the store or they went into the back room.
I walked home just as the rain started to get really bad. I went up to go play some games in my room, since the atmosphere was perfect. I dropped off my new plushie on my bed and went to get some snacks from the kitchen. I had a cup of my favorite instant noodles in the cupboard. I started making it and while I was standing there I glanced into the glass of the window in front of me. There was a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. I guess I wasn’t home alone. I thought I was since my mom would be at work.
“Hey, is anyone there?”
No answer
I walked over to where I saw the movement and as I did I heard a loud noise from upstairs. I guess that caught me off guard because it caused me to fall over into the wall, luckily I didn’t put too big of a dent in it. I picked myself up and went to the stairs leading to my room. I quietly made my way upstairs, careful not to step on the loose floorboards on the last step. When I got to the top is when I noticed something was wrong. My door was closed, I never close my door if I’m home alone. I cautiously pushed open the door and when I did someone was standing there by my closet.
“Hey”, I called out.
Startled, they let out a scream.
Wait, that scream is familiar, it sounds like… My sister?
“Umm what are you doing here Lib?” I asked her.
“Well I came to grab uhhh stuff. I needed to borrow a hoodie, I don’t have any.”
I handed her one then shooed her out of my room as we went back down to the kitchen. I convinced her to go do something out of the house, I don’t remember what. She walked out the door, waved goodbye and I closed the door behind her before grabbing my noodles and heading upstairs to play some video games. I must’ve lost track of time since before I knew it hours had passed. When I finally noticed it was so late I cleaned up my food mess and put my watch back on the dresser so I could do some laundry. After putting my clothes in the washer I picked up the watch and sat down on my bed.
“I guess I should check what those buttons do.”
I clicked the watch open and clicked the first button, but nothing happened. I moved to the next button, and again nothing happened, but then I moved to the third and final button. I tried to click it but it seemed to be stuck. I put all my weight onto the small ruby colored button, but it wouldn’t click. Frustrated, I dropped the watch on the floor and went to bed.
When I woke up it was still raining, but it wasn’t as bad as all the days before. I stood up only to slip on something and fall flat on my face. I turned on my light only to see I’d left my watch on the floor. I picked it up and turned it over in my hand seeing a small slit on the side where the button was. I looked down to see a small knife, the button being part of the handle. I picked it up and slid the knife back into the watch and it turns out the button is actually meant to be turned clockwise. Happy with my findings I decided to get dressed and go for a walk.
I went to the book store down the road. This place was huge, it was two stories tall and even had a cafe in it. I was interested in the video game and manga sections, which are both on the second floor. To get to the second floor there are two escalators, one going up and the other going down. That was the only way to get there. The entire middle of the second floor was gone so you could see right down to the first floor, like you’re on a really tall balcony.
The video game section was a bust, but they had some good stuff in the manga section. Like the new volume of my favorite series, which believe it or not wasn’t horror themed, but it was pretty bizarre. So I grabbed the book and headed down the escalator.
I Checked my watch for the time and as I did I noticed Someone got on the up escalator and we passed by each other around the middle. I glanced over at them to see it was the same person from yesterday. She had her hood up, but it didn’t do much to hide her dark brown hair.
I started running down the escalator, then went back up to apologize for the other day. I must’ve looked for about 10 minutes, but no sign of her. I mean the place was a literal maze.
I stopped by the cafe to start reading my new book while drinking some iced tea. I shouldn’t have stayed since The weather got worse than it had been every day, which was strange since the rain was so light this morning.
I checked the watch time again and saw something odd. I knew I had to have been there for at least half an hour but the watch read the exact same time as when I got here, 11 AM. I figured it must’ve stopped working, it was probably all the rain. I mean I had been taking it with me and it had been raining. I looked up to ask the woman at the counter for the time, but she was turned around and probably wouldn’t hear me. I noticed someone else in the cafe sitting a few tables away, sitting with their back turned to me. I set my faulty watch down on my book and walked up to them.
“ Excuse me, but do you know what time it is?”
I got no answer and went to ask them again, walking in front of them this time.
“Hello, do you have the-”
Is all I got out before Noticing something. It looked like a normal human in every aspect except for its eyes. It didn’t have eyes, just skin where they should be. I was in shock. I stumbled backwards right into the counter where I looked up and saw the lady at the counter had turned around to look at me.
I stumbled to my feet, using a table for balance. I grabbed my watch and book before booking it out of there. I made it to the double doors and flung them open. I ran and I didn’t look back. I ducked into a patch of trees to catch my breath. I was leaning on a tree and that’s when I saw the rain wasn’t falling down, but up. The rain was rising from the ground. My hand slipped on the wet bark of the tree and I fell forward right on my face, also dropping my book and watch. When the watch hit the ground it flung open.
9:30 AM, The time read 9:30 AM. It used to read 11 AM, but seems to have gone backwards. I pick up the watch and dry it with my sleeve. There was mud on the mirror so I wiped it off rereading the inscribed message one more time.
“You are your own worst enemy, Don’t believe me? See for yourself”
Wait, those last words weren’t there before, they were brand new. See for yourself, what does that mean? I looked into the mirror and saw her staring back at me. The lady from earlier was there instead of my reflection. She was like the others with no eyes, but something told me she was different.
“Well look, another one of you. It sure has been a while since He sent me anyone. Now…” She said in a sweet voice. “Run”
I did just that. I ran as fast as I could through the muddy terrain eventually leading back to the concrete of the city. I ran and ducked into an alley to my left, rain getting even worse to the point that now I can’t see even a foot in front of me. I leaned up against the wall hoping she wasn’t following me.
“H-Home, I need to get home “, I made up my mind.
I ducked my head out of the alley and put one hand against the wall to guide me since I couldn’t see much. I took one step then another down that street. Eventually making it to my block when the rain stopped, and I don’t mean the rain was gone, it was suspended in mid air like fog. It felt different that it was when I first showed up in this world and I couldn’t place it until I saw people. Normal people who looked to be stopped in time.
I saw a flash of movement and hid behind a tree only to see one of those creatures without eyes. It slowly and fluidly made its way towards one of the people who seemed to be a small child. When it got there it knelt down and took something out of its pocket. It gently put its hand up to the child’s face. It next brought its fist up in the air, giving me a glimpse of what it was holding. In its hand was a big silver needle with some sort of thread hanging from it.
The creature then proceeds to jam the needle into the child’s eye before sewing it shut, then doing the same with the other eye. I watched in horror as this thing mutilated this little child’s face. I tried to stay quiet and just slowly walk backwards towards my house. If I could make it there I’d be fine, or at least I thought.
I was lost in thought when I tripped on something. I shook my head and looked to see what I’d tripped over. It was a person, someone who had their eyes and mouth sewn shut, this gave me a closer look at the thread. It was silver and when I reached out to touch it was white hot. I heard a high pitched screech and my gaze shot up. I had totally forgotten about the threat that was right in front of me. I crawled backwards slowly when my back hit something.
“Found you”
A hand grabbed my shoulder and that sickeningly sweet voice whispered in my ear. I tried to get up when she spun me around to face her.
“Well you sure are fast hun, but I think it’s time for this game to come to an end.”
She went to reach into her pocket for what I could only assume was that needle. I didn’t want to end up like that kid I saw earlier. I needed to figure out a way to get out of her grasp. My eyes darted around when I remembered the watch. I grabbed the watch from my pocket and turned the button, the knife dropping into my hand. Her hand went to grab my face but before she could I grabbed the knife and slashed at her hand. She released her hold on my shoulder and I stumbled backwards, still holding the knife in my hand.
“Why you little”
She snarled at me revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. She stepped towards me, seeming to get taller with each step. I didn’t wait around long enough to see what happened next, I sprinted towards my house. I put my key in the door but it wouldn’t open. I heard a scream as the sky turned red and the rain still suspended mid air turned jet black like the clouds. I knew I didn’t have much time left so I stepped back and ran at the door, slamming my shoulder into it when it finally opened.
I ran inside and shut the door. I ran up to my room and locked the door. I took one last look out the window just to see something more horrifying than anything I’ve seen. It had long spindly legs and arms. They curled and bent in seemingly every direction. But what was worse were dozens upon dozens of the mutilated humans in the street. They turned to face me, their bloodied faces turned towards the crimson sky as they started to chant.
“Alpha has shown us the way. We were like you, not wanting to stay. But then we learned. It is best here now you too will be burned.”
They said it over and over, getting louder each time as the thread on their faces started to glow and melted their faces, mutilating them even further. The smoke from the burning flesh was stinging my eyes at that point. Then I heard a voice at my door. My mind races as I remember what the man at the antique store told me.
“Those who go looking for trouble tend to find it”