IT RESIDES(final)
By Taiga McCargar
Moving into a new house felt nice at first, especially since it was in the middle of a dense pine forest, but of course, that came with its own set of difficulties and chores that I wouldn’t have to deal with when I lived in the city. And also came with the unexpected.
Day one was easy, just getting everything moved in and unpacked. And getting to know my neighbor who is definitely an oddball, maybe crazy at best, although he was a nice old man probably in his late 60s or early 70s so he knew a lot about the, at least I presumed he has lived here most of his life. He helped move some stuff in and after all his help I even invited him in for a done coffee or tea, which he accepted.
Things started off well with friendly chat and stories of good memories with things started to get a little more serious and downright odd.
“You know you should be careful around these parts,” he said
“Why is that?”
“Well, you see… something around here lurks, watching waiting in the shadows for its chance.”
“Chance to what?” I asked
“Well you may figure that out or may not”
I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression and he seemed to read my mind
“Well… you see… the last people who moved here, let’s just say, they died from it”
“From what”
“A creature, one that does not come from our realm but still yet found its way here and haunts this forest, so be careful when it gets dark and don’t go outside until morning.”
I nodded and smiled at him, with a copious amount of doubt in my mind.
“Well, I must be going.”
I watched as he put on his coat and boots and headed to the door.
He opened the door and before leaving said
“And remember, curiosity killed the cat.”
I gave him a short smile and waved him off before shutting and locking the door behind me, and stared out the window as he pulled out of the driveway and drove off.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm -Bzz Bzz Bzz- and I got out of bed to shut it off, and that's when I noticed just how cold it was inside, -did I shut the windows, I remember shutting them- So I looked at my window and noticed that it was wide open. I walked up to it and took a quick glance at the forest outside, it was still dark, so I couldn't see much but when I shut the window and turned around I saw something from my peripherals. It looked tall and lanky and seemed to have long thin limbs with sharp long fingers. I chalked it up to my crazy imagination from hearing too many scary stories, as I was a psychological horror buff and still somehow am even after what happened. That morning I had to do some chores, collect firewood, put away a few more things, toss out the trash and recycling, and finally just explore the area a bit.
After my chores were finished, I walked around for a bit, just taking in the scenery, to be quite honest, I did miss the scenery back in the UK, but I much preferred the pine forest and snow here in the us. I Honestly didn't see much for a while, just trees snow, and a few frozen-over ponds, but something caught my eye, A cabin, it looked run down and old and looked to have some graffiti on the rotting away walls, and something in my mind was telling me to leave, but my other side was telling me to check it out. So of course, being an idiot, I did.
The door creaked and the smell of rotting wood and old books filled my nose. I coughed and covered my mouth and nose with my scarf. I looked around And noticed that everything was strewn about on the floor, and the windows were smashed with ripped curtains on each side of them. Each time I stepped the floorboards creaked. -SMASH- A sound from upstairs interrupted my curiosity, and I booked it out, almost tripping out the door. I ran and only glanced back once, and I saw something. And in fact that something was the thing I saw earlier in the morning. Once I reached my house I glanced back again before unlocking my door and entering my house. I slammed the door behind me and made sure it was fully locked.
“What the f+%k was that thing.” I thought.
After calming down I heard a knock on the door, and I jumped out of my skin, I grabbed my handgun and slowly walked to the door before looking in the peephole, my neighbor. I set the gun back down and I let him in.
“You saw it, didn’t you,” he asked frantically
“Saw what.”
“Don't bullshit me, kid.”
“No I'm not, but I don't know what it is.”
“Well… sorry for my language,” he said
“No, it's fine… I get it.”
“What is it?” I asked
“Well… even I'm not so sure what it is, but I know it kills, and it killed the previous owners as well, and I'm not sure what it wants.”
“Why haven't you died.”
“It's best we leave some questions unanswered.”
I gave him a nervous look but nodded anyway.
“I'm sure you wanna know how to survive this thing huh?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it's simple,”
“One, don't go outside alone, at any time during the day or night, Two, under no circumstances ever listen to it, it may lure you in with a scream, a baby crying, or someone you know well, three, it can mimic anyone, you never know. Who is real or not, hell even I could be it and you wouldn't know.”
“Well, that's reassuring,” I said
“Yeah well, It's the hard truth, I must be going on my way now… Oh yeah, keep every window and door shut, even the cellar door.”
I thanked him and waved him goodbye.
After I watched him leave, I frantically locked every door and window in my house, even the cellar. By the time I had calmed myself down, It was nighttime, so I made myself some tea and I listened to some scary stories while working on some grown-up bullshit. And honestly, it was nice. But time quickly passed by, and before I knew it, it was eleven o'clock. So I put my gun on my nightstand and went to bed.
-Knock Knock Knock- I slowly opened my eyes.
“What the f+&k is that, I said in a groggily voice. I opened my eyes and saw just pitch black but when My eyes adjusted I saw it. At my window was the thing.
“WHAT THE F+&K.” I turned away to grab my gun, but by the time I turned around, it was gone.
“F%$K!”
I put my gun down and climbed back in my bed before passing out after the shock wore off.
-Bzz Bzz Bzz- I slammed my alarm.
“F*&k off,” I said, but I instantly felt bad about telling my alarm to f^&k off, then I had to tell myself that it had no feelings, so I put it off and got up out of my bed. Before I started my day, I went to the bathroom and took a warm shower, to get my mind off of last night's events, everything was going smoothly until I heard a glass shatter. I quickly shut the water off and wrapped a towel around my body, and ran downstairs, and I kid you not, there was just a squirrel running around. I chased it out of the house. And put on some clothes, before cleaning up the mess. I wasn't mad, no, I was just utterly baffled at how a squirrel, A literal squirrel got into my house, Every door, window, and crevice, was locked off. So nothing could get in. I just decided that It could have gotten in while I held the door open for my neighbor yesterday or just when entering or exiting my house any day.
Most of the day was as any usual day, well after the little mishap in the morning, until nightfall, I was getting ready for bed when I heard a knock on my bedroom window, and I turned my head. What I saw was almost human-like, but looked extremely uncanny, its eyes were wide with tiny black pupils, its mouth seemed too wide, and its proportions were all, it’s hair was dark thin, and stringy and the monster was freakishly skinny and looked to be mentally in pain, with an expression of fear, sadness and the wanting to kill, I cocked my gun and pointed, but the look in its eyes told me not to do it. And before I knew it, it had slipped into the dark forest. I wasn't sure if I should feel bad for it or if it was baiting me into trusting it, I decided it was the latter, but I swear it is controlling my emotions, next time, I’ll kill it even if I regret it.
-Bzz Bzz Bzz-
I woke up and my alarm scared me. I slammed it and I broke it
“Shit,” I thought
“Now I need a new alarm.”
I got out of bed, got ready for the day, and made myself some coffee -Knock knock- I ran to the door and looked through the peephole, at my neighbor. I let him in and offered him some coffee, but something looked off, I couldn’t tell if it was his eyes or just looks, but I ignored it.
“What do you want,” I asked
“I just wanted to check in with, you. Make sure the thing isn't buggin’ you too much.”
“Oh, it has, I saw it last night, it was staring right through my window right at me… but it looked, sad, lost, afraid.”
“That’s what it wants kid, it wants to get your trust, and once it does, it will kill you.”
“You know what…” My words trailed off
“What kid.”
“Never mind.”
After that, we just chatted a little bit about what my life was like in the UK and what brought me here and we got to know each other better.. After he left, I was left contemplating what do to, Should I kill it set a trap for it, leave? I’ll kill it. Next time I see its ugly face, I’ll kill it
I waited all day for something, just some indication that it was still there. And something did happen. At the living scratching, I grabbed my gun and slammed open the blinds, a DEER. I audibly grunted and screamed
I sat back down and kept waiting, each minute felt like an hour, -tap tap tap- I looked at the window it was the thing, I pointed my gun and looked at its eyes, its sad sad eyes. I snapped out of it and fired my gun, It screamed and looked at me with anger before breaking open the window and stumbling in, I shot again and again before I ran out of bullets,
I reloaded my gun and it was gone, -scuttle…. Scuttle- I looked above me and shot again, it screamed once more and fell to the floor, I grabbed a knife from the kitchen stabbed it in the heart, emptied the rest of the rounds in my gun into its head, and through the whole time, its innocent, sad eyes stared at me. Covered in blood and sweat, and with adrenaline still rushing in me, I dragged it into the cellar. And locked the door, I went back into my house. And noticed something, a letter, I recognized it, it was from my husband, I ran back to the cellar, unlocked the door and slowly stepped in, And lying on the floor was my husband brutally murdered, and the monster was gone. Had I killed my husband, was that monster my husband, no… no… NO…
I slid down against the cold walls of the cellar, gun in hand, and put it to my head.
The end