The Whisper in the Dark

TW: GORE

“I forbid you to go outside. Do you hear me? Mikael. I said, do you hear me?” I rolled my eyes. “Yes. I hear you. I don’t understand why I can’t go outside!” My mom grabbed my face in her hands. “Because there is something out there, and it will take you the very first chance it gets! Do. Not. Go. Outside.”

“What is even out there? What could possibly be out there that is so bad?”

“I don’t even know what it’s called, but please, son, trust me.”

“Whatever.”

She nodded her head and let me go. After leaving my room, I heard her grab her car keys off the kitchen counter. It occurred to me that maybe she was just making this stuff up to keep me from sneaking out to see my friends. I shook my head. Crazy mom. I heard the front door open and close swiftly, then the patter of my mom’s feet running on the pavement of our driveway, and then I heard the car door open and close so fast I wasn’t sure if she had even actually gotten into the car. But then moments later, I heard the engine start and heard the car pull quickly out of the driveway.

How I wish that I had listened to my mom.

After a few minutes, when I knew she was gone, I got my jacket off the back of my gaming chair, and pulled it on. Then I went to the front door, using my phone as a flashlight, and began walking the 60 feet to the garage, where my bike was. About 40 feet away from the garage, I heard my name being called from the treeline just behind my backyard. I don’t even really have a backyard. It’s about 30 feet of grass and then trees. It sounded like one of my friends.

“Dylan, is that you?” I called. “Yeah, dude it’s me. Come here!”

I jogged my bike over into the trees, and looked around. I saw him about five feet to my right, standing there, holding his bike. “Come on dude, we gotta go meet Checker. He’s waiting for us in town on Brunsford Road.” I nodded. 

“What’s he got planned for tonight?”

“He got us all a chick each, and he found a spot we can go and not be bothered. He’s got a Ouija board he wants us to have fun with tonight. All we gotta do is go meet him and then follow him to where we gotta go.” I nodded. “Alright. Let’s go then.” A few moments later, we had each just gotten onto our bike and then we heard a branch snap. “What was that?” Dylan asked. “Probably just a deer,” I said, unconcerned.  A few miles down the road, we arrived at Brunsford, and we saw all the guys there. Checker, Dodge, Hands, Runner, Watcher, and now Lies (Dylan) and I (Snitch) had arrived. Each one of us except for Watcher and Runner were paired up with a chick. I recognized them all from our school.

We all stood, waiting for directions from Checker, who was the leader of our group. We all have code names so that we can talk about each other without anyone knowing who we are actually talking about. Mine was Snitch, because I had the lovely job of beating up snitches who ratted on our group. I guess you could say we were some kind of high school gang. We all had our role to play, and we even had a song for our group. Pumped Up Kicks. 

“Okay guys, everyone just follow me, and we can go have fun with this board that I got here in my pack,” Checker said, pointing his finger at the direction of his back, where a backpack was slung over his shoulders. We all got on our bikes and murmured agreement to his plan. Even the girls had brought their own bikes. “Hold on, before we go, anyone got any nic?” I asked, wanting to hit some before we got there. “I do,” one of the girls said, pulling a vape out of her bra. I took it and looked at it for a moment, wondering how on earth she got it to stay in there, but then I realized I didn’t care. I hit it enough times to feel buzzed, passing it around to a couple other people before hitting it one last time and then giving it back to the girl it belonged to. “Thanks,” I said, winking at her. She giggled, shoving the vape back down her shirt.

I nodded, showing that I was ready to go, and we all took off, following every turn that Checker made, to a deserted alleyway halfway across town. When we got there, Checker took the Ouija board out of his pack and set it on an old piece of cardboard on the ground. The girl who shared her vape with me and I sidled off to the back part of the alleyway, where it was darker and the other kids were out of the way. I pushed the girl against the wall and we began making out. “Hey, Snitch! Hailey! Stop making out and get your asses over here! We’re about to start!” The girl named Hailey and I sighed in unison and wandered back over by the others.

Suddenly though, a scream pierced the night and we all watched in horror as Hailey, who had been walking behind me, was dragged into the darkness by a black-hooded figure. It was just light enough though, to see that whatever had just grabbed her forcefully tore her head off of her shoulders, and we saw it take a large bite out of the bleeding flesh hanging from her neck. Most of us screamed, and of course, Runner lived up to his name, and ran so fast out of there, completely forgetting his bike, that he was no more than a tiny figure in the dark distance in just a matter of seconds. Everyone else tried to hop on their bikes and ride out of there as fast as possible, but the figure was inhumanly fast, and grabbed and ripped three of them before they could start pedaling. 

The girls were all screaming, unless they had their head ripped off too by whatever the hell that thing was. I hopped on my bike and began pedaling as fast as I could. As I pedaled, everyone’s screams became quieter, the farther away that I got. I was in my driveway when the thing caught up to me. I was too panicked to notice that my mom’s car was back. I screamed as the thing knocked me off my bike and pinned me to the ground. I screamed for help, not knowing if anyone would hear or not. “GET OFF OF MY SON!” I heard my mother’s scream, and then the extremely loud blast of a shotgun. The thing that had pinned me flew back as the impact of the blast of the shotgun hit it.

My mom dropped the gun and pulled me into her arms, sobbing. I had no tears in my eyes. I was only in shock. “I told you not to leave the house… oh my baby… oh you're okay you’re okay… oh I'm so glad I got out here in time… that thing was about to-...” We went inside, her still sobbing out words of gratitude.

Ever since then, I have not left the house if my mom asked me not to. I was too scared to think about what would happen if I did one day. I would not leave the house on my own unless it was to go to school, or unless my mom specifically asked me to. I was too afraid. Still am.