Twisted Arcadia

Ah. There I was. Standing in front of my new house. I had finally found a new house to replace my cramped apartment. That place was terrible! The apartment was a little bigger than my room at my parent's house, and I had the worst roommates. They were so messy, only had pizza that was sometimes charged to MY CARD, the list goes on. They would also hold these parties every night, and they always let people into my room, leaving it trashed and ransacked. Actually, the whole apartment would be a mess. In fact, when I was out one night working a double shift, I came back to find a couple on my bed, eating the food I was going to have for dinner (It was ramen, but even so I was still angry), watching Netflix on my computer! I lost it that night and the parties stopped. They did have one every now and then, but they made sure to never let anyone into my room, and they clean up after the party. But they probably did it out of fear I might burst again. My landlord also did nothing about it. After graduating from college, I realized I didn’t have to live in the apartment anymore, so I packed my stuff and found a new home. 

When I came to settle everything about the house, the guy selling me the house seemed ecstatic. But not your average ‘Yay! I sold a house today!’. He seemed to be trembling when he was talking with me. And when I bent down to tie my shoe, I saw him clenching his fists and his knuckles seemed to be pale as a sheet. When I asked who had previously lived here, he almost choked. “Guh-no no no… N-Nobody has lived here before…” He croaked. His voice cracked and sounded high pitched. I noted that he kept glancing towards the house next to mine. After the award meeting, I officially moved into my home. After loading all of the boxes into the house, I figured before I unpack anything I should say hi to my new neighbors. I exited the house and walked down the sidewalk to their home. When I arrived on their driveway, I heard some noise. I peeked around the house to see a shadow dragging something behind the house. I tried to look closer, but it was too dark. The shadow seemed to have something clenched over what I thought was the face of the thing it was dragging. It seemed awfully strange, but I didn’t think too much about it. Seeing the shadow made me wonder why the guy who was sold me the house kept looking over here. I put it away in my mind and rung the doorbell. 

Ding Dong! It chimed. I suddenly heard a thud and footsteps come closer to the door. A woman opened the door. “Oh, Gary! You’ve finally come! Do you have what we asked for-” The woman said without looking up at me. When she did, she looked surprised. “Huh? Who are you?” She asked. “I’m Jason. I just moved into the house next door. I was just coming by to say hi to my new neighbors.” I said. The woman suddenly went pale for a second, before managing to control herself. “Well, hello! I’m Mary. Sorry for being a bit rude with the ‘Huh?’. Heh.” She chucked. “No problem. If I saw a complete stranger at my door, I would probably react the same way.” I responded. We talked for a bit and I told her about my old apartment. “Oh, that’s terrible! I can’t imagine living like that.” Mary sympathized. Soon, the subject came to something that threw Mary off. “Hey, I saw some shadow in your backyard,” I said, Suddenly, Mary put on a weird, almost forced smile. “Oh, my, living in that apartment must be terrible.” She repeated, though this time she shook her head sideways as if to say ‘No’. I also felt a chill creep up my spine. Mary tried to pull me back, but I broke out of her grip and looked behind the house. I saw the shadow from earlier. It inched closer. Mary tried to grab me, but it was too late. The shadow lunged at me, and I shouted. GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

“Gah!” I shouted. I quickly sat up to find myself in a bed. I got up and realized I was in my new house. I looked at the time; it was 3:00 A.M. I felt pain circling around my chest. I touched it and felt some warm liquid. I looked at my chest to see dripping crimson. “Blood…” I muttered. I felt insanely sluggish and sore. I stumbled to the closet to see if I had any bandages and painkillers. After covering the wound in my chest, I went through the closet to look for painkillers. I had none. I panicked because I was really sore. I decided to look up where the nearest pharmacy was. It was a few blocks away. I didn’t feel good enough to drive, so I walked. I imagine that it would be an amazing sight to see; a zombie-like man stumbling through an average suburban neighborhood at 3 in the morning, dripping blood from his chest. When I arrived at the pharmacy one of the cashiers screamed. “Woah! Holy….” She trailed off as she fainted. The other cashier came out of the breakroom looking mildly surprised. He glanced at me and asked if I needed any painkillers. “Yes. Please.” I said. “I figured. You know, we’ve seen worse people come here. This is just the girl’s first day.” He told me. “Eesh. That’s rough.’ I said. He reached behind the counter and grabbed a bottle. That’s when I realized I hadn’t even brought my wallet. I cursed under my breath as I told him I didn’t have anything to pay with. “Don’t worry; it’s on the house. I think you may need them more than this store needs 5 bucks.” He responded. “Thanks!” I said gratefully. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna lift my friend over here onto the cot we have in the breakroom.” He said.

I arrived back home and swallowed a pill, putting the rest of the bottle in my closet. I then went to bed and waited until the next night to investigate what really happened. 

See, I knew that everything hadn’t been just a dream. You can’t get heavy wounds in your sleep. I knew that the shadow that had attacked me was what had caused me to get the wounds. What I didn’t get was wow I wasn’t instantly killed by the attack. It confused me because something like that would end me instantly. Once the next night rolled around, I snuck out and crouched in front of Mary’s house. There was light on, and I was pretty sure I saw figures inside, so I opened the window slightly and hid under it. They couldn’t see me, but I could hear them. I heard footsteps walk into the room, as well as something scurry into the room. I figured Mary was the footsteps and the small footsteps were the...alien being that had almost killed me. Mary shut the blinds and turned off the lights before she talked. “Why would you do that? He wasn’t hostile yet!” Mary hissed. “Be quiet, pawn. You shalt question what I do.” The alien said. It had a raspy, deep voice. Something you would wish you never heard after hearing it. It sent chills down my throat. “Yes! I do! As long as I am caring for you and providing protection for you, I have a say in things too!” Mary argued. “Shut up! My kind does not need anything from you.” The alien said, clearly agitated. “Well, you didn’t have to kill him! Do you know how much energy it takes out of me to resurrect the dead? I couldn’t move for a day!” Mary said. Resurrect? The gears clicked in my head. I had died. But I had been brought back from the dead…. By Mary?! Suddenly, the alien grunted. “Be quiet, pawn. I sense a presence.” Both of them went silent. “I can’t let them find out about our powers and the plan.” The alien said. Mary seemed to start backing away in a panic. Curiosity got the better of me, and I looked up, and what I saw… 

Mary was backing away towards the door in with a terrified look on her face. The alien was approaching her, and it’s tail suddenly sprouted a spear-like edge. “No-no-no! You don't have to do this-” Her sentence came to an abrupt end when the alien speared her in the chest. “Holy-!” I clenched my hands to my mouth. The alien dropped her and she started bleeding. Even more terrifying, Mary started disintegrating into dust. Soon all that remained of her was just blood, dust, and her clothes. The alien’s head then did a 180 and turned to face me. I was so terrified I started sprinting back to my house as fast as I could. In hopes to reassure me, I told myself it was just a dream. “Just a dream, Just a dream, Just a-” “GLARGH” “DREAM!” I ran into my house and shut the door, barricading it with my kitchen cabinet and my bookshelf. It was enough to keep the alien at bay. After a little bit of hear various bangs and trying to keep the “Just a dream” mindset (even though deep down I knew it wasn’t), the alien realized he would be caught and fled. I’m still haunted by this memory to this day, and I still see hints that it’s watching me, like various claw marks, footprints, and stains across my house. Please. Watch out.