Haunted October #7

She kept drinking. 

The lights faded down 

Somehow lost in the smoke 

And the music 

Terrible karaoke 

Someone attempting Sheryl Crow 

“There’s a favourite mistake.” I said nodding to the girl on the little stage.

“At least she’s trying.” Sam laughed.  “I’ve never seen you with a mic in your hand.” 

“You never will. That’s my power.” 

We made our way to the back.  Knocked on the office door.  It opened. Men in suits moved to block the door. “Holden Caulfield” I said. 

“There’s a password?” Sam asked as we walked in. 

“No one told ME a password. Why didn’t I know the password?” 

The smoke wasn’t so bad in here.

We sat at the table. There was a card game going on. Someone offered a drink. Sam started for a yes. 

“We’re fine.” I said. Taking the drink and stirring it. I handed it to the head of the table.

 “What’s the case, How did he die?”

The younger one in the middle kept cutting cards. He always handed out a card for a case. He wasn’t a big talker. Each agent knew his assigned neighborhood. And each card had a meaning. Like a fortune. 

” Middle age is a Dead Sea filled with quiet waters. That is no place for passion. His wife knew she could never match an erotic affair.  How could she?” 

“You’re saying his wife had him killed?”

He lit a cigarette. Rubbing his forehead. “No. I’m saying. The dead seeds bring a dead harvest.” 

“You have to think ahead. Short term vs long term. What did this do for the long haul. What were you thinking?” I said. 

Sam poured another drink. I sat down and turned a card over. Looking him in the eyes. There was sweat on his face. He was nervous. 

“Eric was – impulsive. Yes, but this is just bad business. He handled your cards well.” 

He stopped shuffling… 

“You’re not here for a job …”

“You are the job.” 

“Shit.”

“Exactly” 

His eyes panicked. Before he could move he fell face down on his own cards. Cold. 

No one moved. Sam and I slowly got up. 

I looked around the room. Setting the drink straw on the table. 

“We don’t have to make a mess, but remember who watches your assets. Your family could be broke in two hours.” 

We made our way out. Back through the crowd. The music a low hum. 

“Holden Caulfield?” Sam asked. 

” an annoying dick.”  I said .

She kept drinking and lit another cigarette. 

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It’s coming …

  
It’s almost here. Just in case you thought I forgot about it…I’ve been working on it all year. 

I’m talking about Haunted October.  All month long I post short horror stories and poems. I like summer just as much as the next person. But I am passionate about October. 

I also want to add. 

I have updated my About Me page. 

I know I write dark things humorously sometimes. But I want you to know, I care deeply about Mental and Emotional health. 

If you are ever here and you laugh from something you’ve read. I count this a success. I want to write things so you can relax and escape. The real world doesn’t always have to apply. You can do anything with fiction. You can make your own rules. Your own endings. Batman doesn’t have to face Superman. What if he faces Wolverine instead? 

If you’re ever on here and you’re struggling with anxiety,depression,thoughts of self harm or helplessness, It’s ok. There’s a link in my About Me page. and it’s always  There . 

Also…as you know, I write about my good friend Simon. If you want to look into adopting shelter pets. There’s always a Link for that too in my About Me page. 

Thank you all for your support and for sticking with me for these few years. 

You. Are. Awesome. And beautiful people. 

Take care. 

I’ll be seeing you. 

Sincerely, 

-Ethan. 

Moonlight 

  
Grandmother always closed the curtains when the moon was full. “The moon is awake.” She’d say with nervous hands. “It will talk to you all night.”  I would laugh as a child and ask her if it were true. And she would get serious with a stern face, “yes.it will even sing if you listen real careful. The moon has power over the waters of the earth and the minds of man. When it’s full…men change …and if you let its light enter your home? It will have the power to manipulate you.” 

She believed this…so much so that while I was staying there one night Carol, our sister, got her period more heavily than usual. So of course it was the moon. 

“Don’t look at it through the mirror,Francis.” She’d say. “It can possess you. The mirror is the gateway to your soul.” 

Of course it was all nonsense. But it all became much worse with her after granddad died. And later shortly after. She died in her sleep. 

Which brought us here. 

Back home. To grandmas.For her funeral. 

I woke up in the middle of the night. To a faint sound coming from the mirror… 

The moonlight shining in through the window…

I walked over looking into it…

There was me..leaning in touching the mirror and the bed off to the side. The rocking chair behind me…the window…and the moon.

A black crow landed in the tree outside. 

And that’s when I saw it. 

The rocker started rocking in the mirror. But not in the room. And it remained empty. 

In the morning. I told Carol. She just shook her head… 

“Francis, you’re an idiot.”

This happened three nights in a row. Finally I stayed in bed. And listened for the rocker…

But I couldn’t hear it…only a tap tap tapping from the inside of the mirror. 

And someone walking upstairs… 

I grabbed the flashlight and ran to the attic…

It was cold 

But not like winter…

A different cold.

That’s when I saw it…

a human Skeleton chained 

To the bed by the window

Teeth bare 

With vampire fangs 
We were always told grandfather died by drowning…

Grandmother said he was shaving and the moon passed over the mirror.

The tapping grew louder on the mirror…

I walked downstairs 

The rocker started banging on the wall.. I leaned forward looking into the mirror And saw grandmother. 

Dressed in white…sitting in the rocker – grandfather beside her…and that’s when I saw it….I had no reflection. 

Annie

 (Photo origin unknown)

 More than anything,I remember our long talks. Sometimes Annie would be upset. And I would wake up in the middle of the night from her weeping in the hallway. She would always apologise and try to feel better. She was 24…I remember it was always her birthday on dec 24th and I would try to have her a card. She always forgot it though . But I would always have a card or a pink hair band waiting for me on my birthday. 
My parents always told me Annie was simply an imaginary friend and explained that she would eventually leave…probably after I got a girlfriend. Or just a little older. Eventually our discussions would fade to simply birthdays …but I always kept her cards in a cigar box..

On my 19th birthday I came home from college with my girlfriend Amy. I woke up around midnight. Hearing my name in the hallway. It was cold. I got up and walked quietly to the door. It was dark and all the lights were out. I assumed it was due  to the ice storm. 

Annie was standing in front of the open window,her nightgown moving with the air. Snow was all around her. She just looked at me. But differently this time. And I saw it. For the first time in the 9 years we had been talking. I saw the scars on her wrists and her throat. She looked at me. And then walked into Amy’s bedroom..

I followed her but the door was locked. 

Amy said she woke up. But couldn’t move,like in a sleep paralysis. Only there was this woman above her. Choking her. And trying to talk. But bleeding from the neck and wrists.

When I finally got the door open Amy was just sitting there staring.

I never told her about Annie. . .

Hallways

The slow sound of dripping
Woke,Ali
Finally,she got up to check
The bathroom
She lived alone
In this house
She froze at the door
Her hand at the handle
water splashed
She could hear it
A chill moving through
The door
Opening slowly
The lights off
The water splashed again
She reached out for the light switch
Feeling the wall
The air was ice
The shower curtain was closed
Walking to the tub
She pulled the shower curtain back slowly
There was a thick
Air
As she saw the tub was empty
But suddenly the water changed
to blood
Her throat closed she couldn’t scream
Trying to back out
Slowly
Closing the door
Turning she saw
two kids
just standing
in the hall
Staring past Her
Hearing a chain rattle
And the familiar sound of water
She turned around
There hanging
Was a woman still wet
Dripping
Then she saw her face
Like a reflection
Or photograph
It was herself
She was seeing herself

Little girls laughing

based on actual events
Sometimes
It follows you home

IMG_4916-0.PNG
Image origin (unknown)

When I was little I used to see
This little girl
She looked just like my sister
In a blue dress
She would stand outside in the field
Just staring at the house
I asked my mother about her
But she just laughed
Until one day
Everyone was gone
home alone
I was doing laundry
When i heard
A little girl
Laughing
I looked outside the window
And saw a girl dancing
And then run around the house
A blue dress flashing by
The door
I felt a nervous chill
Run through the house
I looked around
It was laying on the couch empty
My sisters dress

A few years
Later
All of us girls got together
For drinks
When Jessica pulled out a Ouija board
She said she had found it
Marian was nervous
But we all thought nothing of it
It was just drinks and fun
Right?
Marian had just had her fourth
Miscarriage
So when it spelled out her child’s name
We stopped
Looking at each-other
Jessica’s phone started ringing
It was Marian
I asked her
“What are you doing?”
She looked at me scared
Putting it on speaker phone
We listened
Breathing
A child crying in the background
We ran out of the house
To the car where Marian left her phone
It was dead….

I haven’t had another experience
In a while
Until I was writing
The other night
Home alone
My keyboard started
Writing it’s own
Sentences

I froze
Feeling chilled
I got up and turned off my light
laying down I turned over
To the face of the dead little girl
From my childhood.

Things Falling Apart (Karen part 3)

things falling apartIMG_4874-1.JPG
Origin: Antoine Cordet – acrylic and marker on canvas

I’m walking a hallway
It’s polished tiles
Echoing
The air sanitized
Burning my nose
I’m looking for a number…

I don’t think anyone really remembers
The exact moment they went mad
They just wake up
Inside a nightmare
And they can’t make it stop
I think
time has a way
Of subtly changing things
On us and then suddenly
Everything is different

I wish I could tell you it was
Messy
But it wasn’t
It was only heartbreaking
And terrifying
mom
staring
Blankly
Acting hysterical
If you walked in
Like you were pulling her out of a deep sleep
That she didn’t realize
Was sleep at all

the house
At night grew worse
With the feeling that something
Was staring at you from across the room
shadows of figures
On the staircase
And in the hallway
The messages in her phone
Whenever she tried to leave
But the worst
The worst
Was
The sound of women screaming
Every night
At 3am

Moms new lover
We soon discovered
Died in 1992
After murdering his wife
And sister in law
And then hanging himself from the staircase

So here I am
I’m walking a hallway
looking for a number
242
I open the door
Mom is sitting at a window
Watching the ocean
Drawing her name
With her fingers
On the glass

end