What's that.. Lurking?

Content Warning: Mediocre swearing, Suicide.

"What the hell was that?" My friend screeched. "What happened?" I questioned. "I don't know, I just saw something standing behind that damn tree!" I turned around to the direction he was facing and I went in closer for a better look. I was walking through some diminutive twigs and kept giving myself a jump scare each time. As I

leisurely made my way towards the instructable 'figure' my friend had spotted, I managed to make out some details about it. "That isn't a figure, It's just a stupid Lamp!" I shouted. "Shit, sorry for the scare" my friend mumbled. I brushed it off as some sleep deprivation since It was pretty late at night. "Just go home Darnit. You almost killed me with that scare" I screamed. "Yeah, you're right. I'm gonna go home and get some rest." And so he left. My other friend and I were left. We weren't really on the best terms so I waved him goodbye and left for my house.

I arrived home rather late. It was around 2:50 am and I was not tired at all, so I did what any illogical teenager would do, and sat on my phone for about half an hour before dozing off to sleep.

I abruptly woke up to the sound of tapping on my window. "That's weird," I thought. I got up fatigued. I opened my window curtains and peeked out. No one was there... Or at least I thought. From the corner of my eye, I saw something race across the backyard. "I'm just hallucinating" I blew. I turned around to go back to bed, but all of a sudden... I heard the same... "Tap. Tap. Tap." It was perfectly timed. I looked back outside my window again but It wasn't coming from there. I rapidly turned around again, and I almost fainted. In the reflection of my mirror, I saw something peeking from behind my shoulder. I turned around in hope that I was caught in a dream. No one was behind me. I rushed to the bed and dozed off rather quickly.

When I woke up the next morning, I was drowning in my own sweat. It was probably a dream. I went downstairs and it was approximately 9am. My mom cooked me some pancakes and gave me some... Disturbing news. "Someone was looking for you a couple hours ago," she said. "Who?" I mumbled with food in my mouth. "I don't know. I told them you were asleep," she said. "Uh, thanks?". I felt kind of weirded out but I just ignored it for the rest of the day. My friends wanted to hang out at 12 so till the time I just sat on my phone. I was watching some YouTube, and while having some thoughts about that storage dream last night, my friend had suddenly messaged me. "You free? It's urgent" It read. What happened to him? "Yeah I'm free, What's up?" I typed sub-consciously. "I need to talk to you. Right now." He typed aggressively. "Sure? Where do I need to come?" "Don't go outside your house. I'm coming," he said. "Okay..?" I thought confused.

He arrived about 20 minutes later. "Look. I'm getting straight to the question. Did you have a weird vision about someone behind you in a reflection last night?" How did he know I went through that, I thought... "Well yeah... How did you-" I got cut off. "There's an unknown entity that's been going around our neighborhood." He said panting. "What are you on about. You're probably exhausted, Let me get you some wat-" I got cut off again. "THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE OR YOU'LL BE IN PERIL FOR GOD's SAKE" He shouted. "Okay jeez, calm your shit. I won't do anything reckless, I vow." "I hope not" he murmured while walking out of my house.

I was still confounded by what he was talking about but I listened to him regardless.

It was almost time for me to leave to meet my friends but I said I couldn't come since I was ill. They apprehended and left me isolated. I stayed at home, bored. Dawn arrived quickly so I thought I could just sleep it through. It took a while, but eventually, I managed to fall asleep.

It was around 3am when I woke up to someone.. or something, tampering with things inside my bathroom. I gradually tiptoed towards my bathroom making sure to make absolutely no noise. When I was a few steps away, I ran towards the door and slammed it open. Nothing was there? "Interesting.." I thought. I thought my mind was playing games on me so I turned towards the mirror to take a glimpse at my tired face. I splashed some water on my face and looked up. "Hello." something whispered in my ear. "WHO'S THERE?" I shouted. My parents woke up and ran into my room. "What happened?" they said, exhausted. "I- d-don't know" I stuttered. "Sorry for shouting" I apologized. They said that it was fine but I shouldn't do it again and went back to bed. I rushed towards my bed and hoped that it was all just me being stupid and hearing random things thinking it was something distinctive. I shut my eyes and fell asleep.

The next day I woke up to a rather, unconventional day. I was overly confused about everything. It's like I wasn't even... Me anymore. I tried calling up my friend that had informed me about all of this, but he wouldn't pick up my calls. What was he up to? I considered.

 I was really contemplating whether he was joking or not, So I went outside in search of him. I went over to his house but... his parents said he hasn't been back since last night. "What?" I thought to myself. I called his number for the last time. I was seriously starting to get worried. He picked up this time. "Where the hell are you and why weren't you picking up my calls?" I shrieked furiously. "I'm sorry... I should've been there. Please remember me" He whimpered. "What's wrong? Where are you?" I said. "Look behind you." He cut the call. I turned around and saw him standing, On top of a building? I called his number again out of fear, but he wouldn't pick up. I ran as fast as I possibly could to stop him.

When I got closer to him, he yelled; "It's coming for you. You didn't listen" Right when I could ask what he was talking about... He ended his life. Then and there. I cried almost all day after that. The news spread like wildfire and no one knew what he meant by "It's coming for you." I was kind of confused about the weird statement but I knew for sure he was talking to me and about that entity bullshit. I didn't want to believe that some "Demon" was tracking me around. There was no way.

I wanted to take a more resounding dive into what all of this was about so I headed off to see my friend's dad. He could certainly answer my inquiries since he was the one who 'Uncovered' this entity.

When I was certain that I was going to go and confront his dad, I felt overly uncertain about whether he was lying or not. He could make up anything by himself. Right?

I headed over to their place at approximately 6pm and the first thing I noticed was that in front of their house was a small shrine, specially made for their son, My best friend. A burst of guilt tripped my heart but I couldn't stop there, and so I kept going. I went onto their doorstep and Knocked on their door. The first thing I got in return was his mother, weeping away. "Good to see you." She whimpered. "I'd like to talk to Mr. Drag" I stated. "Sure. Come inside, I'll call him..." she muttered. I walked in and it felt so... weird. Everything seemed off. Everything looked all so, displaced. There was a picture of my best friend and his mother, but his eyes were carved out. I wanted to get out of there quickly but didn't want to leave with no answers. "What do you want?" His dad said. "I-I'm here to talk about something roaming around this neighborhood that specifically wants- me," I said. "Get out of here. It isn't safe for us to be talking to you. Especially about this 'thing' you're referring to." He stated angrily. "I'm not leaving with no answers. Please." I answered. "Fine. Meet me at the church tomorrow. 1pm, Sharp." He said. "Yes. Yes, I'll be there. Thank you." I thanked. "You're welcome. Now get out of here. Run back home." He said. And so I did.

When I got home, the first thing I heard was my mom calling for me. She said that she had some bad news. I asked her what she was talking about and she said that I needed to have a seat. "What's wrong? What happened?" I asked confused. "It's your dad." She said. "We're getting a divorce." She said- Whining. "What the hell? Why?" I asked infuriated. "He got addicted to pain pills." She said. "I know you must be going through a lot right now, from your best friend to this. And I'm exceedingly sorry, but this is for the most reasonable outcome for your future." She said peacefully. "Why would he-" I got interrupted with a knock on the door. "I'll go get it" Mom said. She got up and went to go check who it was. "Do I know you?" She said. "Is your daughter home? I need to talk to her." The perplexing guy said. "Uhh, No sorry. She's currently out with her friends. I can deliver the message to her if you'd like..." Mum said. "No thank you. I'd like to speak to her in person." He mumbled. I peeked in to get a more intimate look but a hoodie was concealing his face. "Okay, Have a nice day!" Mum said as he wandered away. "Who the hell was that?" I asked. "I don't know. He was the same guy from yesterday. The one I told you about?" "He's the guy looking for me?" I asked. She shook her shoulders expressing she didn't know.

I went to my room. "Why does all of this happen to me? First my best friend. Now my dad. Whos next, Me?" I wept. I didn't have time to let my emotions control me. It was almost dawn so I got ready for bed. The past 3 days have been a living nightmare at night, so I was always so persistent in sleeping, but I didn't have anything adequate enough to rejuvenate my energy.

I woke up to the sound of something clicking. I checked my phone and it was 2:59am. "Why do all these creepy things happen at such a similar time?" I thought. I looked overhead my bed and I found a pen... On the floor? Who kept that there? I was confused but those thoughts of the previous night hit me. Was it- that.? I wanted to scream but nothing came out of my mouth. It was almost like something was forcefully covering my mouth on purpose so I couldn’t make any noise. “What the hell?” I gaged. It was so hard to move. I felt like I was stuck in place with some unusual force on top of me. I struggled for a while, and I couldn’t find a way to get out of this situation. Suddenly, I was set free. I shut open my eyes and I could see my mom tugging my shoulder trying to wake me up. “What happened to you? You started screaming out of nowhere and I saw you were struggling to move.” She said. “I’m not sure... There’s been some stuff going on for the past few days.” I said. I explained everything that has happened to me and she said a single line. “We’re moving out.” She said. I was shocked. “W-what?” I stuttered. “I’ve been experiencing, Weird things as well. I understand your situation.” She said. “Thank you, mum,” I said. “Don’t thank me, I was getting sick of this place anyway.” She chuckled.

We soon moved out a couple hours later and I lived the best life there. I made new friends and I didn’t have any ‘entity’ to worry about. I gave it my last shot but nothing seemed to work out. I was done with that place for good and didn’t feel like returning any time soon.