we thought he was there to keep us safe and do his job we’ve never been more wrong in our lives.
growing up, me (maria), lilah and erin all lived in a small, friendly (or so we thought) town in the middle of the uk called stone. our weekends would always, since we were younger, consist of going to the local shop and getting whatever we needed for the weekend. none of us would ever admit this, but we always go to that exact shop to see our favourite security guard who we’ll call benny. he was a very well known man in the town, always known to have a smile on his face and a pep in his step. he was a tall, well built man, in his late fifties and looked quite good for his age.
one day, following our usual weekend routine, we entered the shop and to our surprise the familiar man we knew and loved was no longer there. he was replaced. the man stood in his place, was a slender looking, bald man with overly dark eyes that just didn’t sit right with us. his name tag reading “peter”. as we were all quite sociable people, we went over to the unfamiliar face and asked where benny had gone just thinking maybe he was ill or something had come up. his response was dry and cold, “he’s gone.” we all paused and shared a look with eachother. what does that mean? it didn’t seem right for benny to just leave without an explanation considering we spoke to him weekly and he loved his job and wasn’t old enough to retire, at least not just yet. we asked the security guard what he meant by this and he just stared at us blankly with those dark eyes as if we weren’t even there. we continued with our day as usual not really overthinking it much. as we left the shop, we felt his cool gaze following us.
the following weekend, we went to the shop as usual hoping to see benny back in his usual place. but our hope came crashing down to see peter stood in bennys spot. by this time, we’d heard people talking about benny. word had got around that he’d just disappeared or maybe something worse had happened. we assumed this just to be gossip so we questioned peter further. we went over to him, his cold eyes never leaving sight of us. “have you heard anything about benny, we’ve heard he’s disappeared?” erin asked. as soon as these words left erins mouth, the colour drained out of his face like he’d seen a ghost. lilah asked him “what’s wrong?” he insisted, “nothing nothing, i’m just worried about him.” however, his tone didn’t sound sincere. we didn’t want to pry to much, so we left it at that and went back to my house. this happened on saturday.
the next day, we went back to the shop because we were starving. we weren’t going to question peter again following his reaction last time. this shop visit was purely just for food.
as we walked through the aisles, lilah said she saw peter lurking round the corner staring at right at us. to begin with, me and erin thought she was just bullshitting and trying to scare us as we already found this man’s appearance quite off-putting. then i noticed it to his long skinny fingers clinging on the end of the aisle his head poking round the corner. those menacing eyes never leaving us. i looked over at erin. she had already seen it peeking too. as soon as he noticed we all caught sight of him, his head slowly retreated back round the corner. after this had happened, we all decided it was best to leave and to make do with the little food at home. as we hurried out of the shop, we turned around to see him back in his usual spot. we continued home feeling wary of our surroundings.
when we got back to my house we made do with the small pizza in the freezer and turned on the tv to take our minds off our strange encounter with peter. flicking through the channels, bennys face flashed up on the screen. it was the news. we had to listen to what was being said. the reporter was stood in a field surrounded by yellow caution tape. immediately we all had a bad feeling as if we knew what was about to be said. “a mangled body was recently discovered by locals on the outskirts of stone in the river trent. authorities have come to investigate the scene to see if there is any traces of a potential murderer or murder weapon. there are suspicions that it could be the well know security guard benny rogers following his recent disappearance. the coroners are yet to identify and we are hoping to find out within the next few days. our thoughts are with the families that this could be affecting.”
it was monday now and a new update on the recent murder had come out. they had finally identified the unknown victim. the same news reporter from the previous update was on the tv. “tragically, the coroner has identified that the body found was benny rogers. police are now working to find out who was responsible for the death and murder of the much loved and cared for benny. we’ve tried reaching out to family to support them as much as possible but right now what’s best for them is time to mourn this horrible fate that has fallen upon them.”
after hearing this heartbreaking news, we all decided to go back to where it all started. the shop. we entered the shop as we usually did. but something or someone was missing, it was peter. he was gone. we wanted to know where he had gone or why he’d left, even though we all knew why deep down. the worker stated that he had hurriedly decided to resign with no explanation as to why. we thought that was odd as he only just got the job. but we all had a sense of relief as we all found him pretty disturbing.
as he wasn’t there for us to confront him, we all decided to go back erin’s as it was after school and that was what we usually did.
when we got to erin’s we thought everything would be over and that would be the end of that. alls we wanted to from now was to forget about peter and mourn over our beloved benny. but suddenly, we felt that same feeling like the other day in the shop. like we were being watched by someone or something. we tried to ignore it but the feeling stuck. we looked out of the window to see if we were just being paranoid. but there he was. peter. stood behind the tall tree that stoop opposite the house, those long fingers curving around the tree. his head just peering around the side. those menacing eyes. but this time they were different. they were darker much darker. as if something more sinister was lurking behind them. we were terrified and went into the bathroom and locked the door behind us. we all tried to call our parents. messages aren’t sending either. the signal in the town is gone.
we heard the front door open. erin’s parents aren’t supposed to be home from work now (they work away for multiple days at a time) we know it’s him. we hear his heavy breathing almost sounds like he’s laughing.
as i write this, we are still locked in the bathroom. we’re scared and don’t know what to do but i needed to share this story with everyone before it’s too late.
im hoping i can come back as soon as possible to give an update on this whole fucked up situation.
if anyone’s local security guard goes missing around the uk and a new one with the same description as peter takes their place, do not interact with him. he’s dangerous. we don’t know what he’s capable of right now.