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Tässä lehdessä opintojaksoon osallistuneiden lukiolaisten tekemiä kauhutarinoita. Tarinat ovat tehty opintojaksolla –
PVO03 englannin kielen kirjoittaminen.
Tarinat ja kuvat ovat lukiolaisten itse tekemiä. Lukuelämyksiä kaikille sekä isot kiitokset opintojaksolaisille panostuksesta!
The monster was never the real danger
The village Albuquerque sat beside a forest no one entered after dark. They said a monster lived there. It was huge, silent and deadly. Livestock had been disappearing. Trees were broken around. No one ever dared to question it.
One night Jesse Pinkman went in. He found the monster quickly. The creature stood between the trees, massive but unmoving. Its eyes reflected his light but not with rage, but something closer to fear. It didn’t attack. It stepped back. Then Jesse Pinkman heard voices behind him.
“Target located.”
Red dots covered the creature’s body. Jesse Pinkman turned around. Walter White emerged from the dark. He was calm and precise as always. “Don’t shoot!” Jesse Pinkman yelled but Walter White ignored him. The shot echoed in the night. The creature died instantly. There was immediate silence. Jesse Pinkman stared at the monster confused. “What was that, bItCh?”
Walter White the armed man shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
Then he disappeared as quickly as he came. Jesse Pinkman looked back at the forest, then at the thing everyone had feared for years. It had never left the woods. It had never hunted people. It had only been hiding. And suddenly the rules about never entering the forest made sense.
The monster was never the real danger.
On November 11, 2011, Zara wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of her parents arguing downstairs. The fighting has been going on for months, sometimes worse, sometimes quieter, but never truly stopping. The main reason for their arguments is her father’s drug use. The drugs make him unstable and violent. However, he has never been violent toward his wife, Zara’s mother or at least that is what Zara has always wanted to believe.
Suddenly, the arguing stops. Zara feels a brief sense of relief until she hears her mother scream in pain.
Fear creeps over her, but she quietly sneaks downstairs to see what is happening. She finds her father passed out on the living room floor and her mother sitting at the kitchen table, sobbing. Her mother’s eyes are swollen and dark purple, and there are marks around her neck from being strangled.
When her mother notices her, she rushes to hug her. “What happened to you?” Zara asks.
Her mother says nothing, only holds her tighter. “This can’t go on like this anymore,” Zara whispers.
Her mother nods slowly. “I know,” she says in a broken voice and takes Zara back upstairs to bed.
November 12, 2011 Zara’s mother has decided to file for divorce.
Early in the morning, Sienna wakes Zara. “We’re leaving now,” she says.
She hasn’t slept at all. Instead, she spent the entire night packing their belongings into moving boxes.
As Zara walks past the living room toward the front door, she sees her father for the last time, still lying unconscious on the floor in the exact same spot as before.
“Where are we going?” Zara asks.
“We need to find a place where we can feel safe,” Sienna replies. “Because this isn’t one.”
Sienna had spent the night searching for apartments and found one they could afford. She was the only one in the family who worked. Zara’s father had been fired from every job he ever had because of his drug problem, so they had no other choice.
The apartment was small, a cramped three-room flat.
It felt cold and neglected. Dust and cobwebs covered the corners and surfaces. Some furniture had been left behind: a round brown dining table with chairs, a TV stand, and a couch that smelled musty.
There was a small bathroom with a toilet, sink, and mirror. In the kitchen there was a human-sized ventilation duct that gave off a foul smell. The bedroom was small and Zara would have to share it with her mother. That annoyed her because she used to have a large room of her own, but she did not complain since she knew her mother had more important things to worry about.
As they stepped inside, Sienna said, “Now we can finally start over.” She looked relieved. Years of abuse had completely worn her down.
The movers carried in heavy boxes while Zara and Sienna put things in place. After a long day of moving, they went to the store to buy food and then went to bed. It was a dark and stormy night. Rain poured heavily and the wind howled outside, echoing faintly through the ventilation duct. Zara had trouble falling asleep, maybe because of the storm or the unfamiliar surroundings. Sienna, exhausted from lack of sleep, was already fast asleep.
Zara heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen, a faint clattering. She was too tired to go check and convinced herself it was just tree branches hitting the walls of the building. Eventually she fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning was hectic. Zara was in a rush to catch the bus to school. She used to live only a fiveminute walk away, but now the trip took forty-five minutes by bus.
She looked for her backpack, which she had left ready by the front door the night before. It was gone.
She assumed her mother had moved it, but Sienna had already left for work. With no time to search further, Zara left for school without it.
Zara returned home in the evening, where her mother was already waiting. “Where did you put my backpack? I couldn’t find it this morning,” Zara asked tiredly.
Sienna looked confused. “I didn’t touch it.”
They searched the entire apartment, but it was nowhere to be found.
“How can something just disappear from a place this small?” Zara wondered.
Later that evening, Sienna went to brush her teeth, but her toothbrush was missing.
“But I used it last night before bed… how can it already be gone?” she sighed in frustration.
January 12, 2012 Things and even food had been disappearing for months. Food had started vanishing from the refrigerator as well.
Both Zara and Sienna were exhausted and frustrated. Sienna saved part of her salary and bought the cheapest surveillance camera she could find. She installed it in the living room, where it could see both the kitchen and the bathroom.
A few days later, they sat on the musty couch and watched the footage. At first, nothing unusual happened. Then the ventilation duct grate slowly began to open. From the darkness, something crawled out. A thin, lifeless-looking, filthy human figure emerged into their apartment. Zara started screaming. “We’re leaving. Now!” Sienna stared at the screen.Then she said quietly, “Now I understand… We were never alone”.
One rainy night man was walking back to home. He started to hear voices behind him but there was no one even to he checked so hard again and again. The man was at the darkest alley of the city but there was no know anywhere but he still is hearing things. The things he was hearing were footsteps behind him. The man began to ran towards his house. Footsteps began to move faster and fasters towars him. Man found his way to his house. He opened his door and relaxed for a bit, but after few minutes the footsteps came back. He sprinted to his bedroom and jumped from the door to his bed. He crawled under his blanket and started hearing the footsteps again. They began to get closer and closer. He was hearing them praying second after second it would find him. He was almost starting to relax, but then something mysterious grabbed his blanket and then he woke up. Its was only a drean.
I soon fell asleep and slept very well, as always. Until, at like three AM I heard a sudden and really odd sound, that woke me up. At first, I thought that maybe it was my dog doing something weird, but when I went to see him, he was peacefully sleeping on his bed, which was strange since he always wakes up to even the smallest sounds. I heard the noise again, this time even louder and scarier. I started to feel very anxious and frightened. I heard the noise coming from the room next to me. The room was my old room, where I lived as a kid until it became too small for me, so I moved rooms to a bigger one and since that, the room has been a guest room.
The sound I heard was very loud, but when I looked at my dog, he just continued sleeping, like there weren’t any sounds and I was just imagining it. I wanted to see the room where the noise came from, but I was too afraid to go there. I didn’t really have any other options but to take a deep breath and just come over my fear and go have a look in the room. I opened the door, and I was immediately greeted with a warm and vivid sight. The room looked exactly same as 10 years ago, when I was little kid. It had pink walls and little furniture and a lot of toys. The vision of the room was so bright it lit to whole hallway behind me. I instantly closed the door and tried to process what I just saw. The room wasn’t supposed to look like that because we had renovated it a couple of years ago.
I opened the door again, but this time it looked like it was supposed to, which was really weird and scary. I called my parents, but they didn’t answer. I opened and closed the door a couple of times again, but every time it was the same new look that it was supposed to be. I went to sleep.
When I woke up, my parents were back at home, and everything seemed normal. My parents asked why I called them at the middle of the night, but I was too scared to tell the truth, so I just said that it was on an accident. Now every time I go into that room, I’ll always remember that, but that has never happened again.
Someone knows everything about you, but you have never met them
It was a normal, quiet day when I got a strange, unsettling message on my phone. You look exhausted. Everything started when I realized, with a cold, sinking feeling, that it was true.
I had barely slept the night before, yet no one at school had notice d my heavy eyes or slow movements.
A sharp, creeping unease spread through me. It felt unnatural, as if someone invisible had slipped silently into my private thoughts.
Suddenly, more messages appeared, one after another, each more disturbing than the last. They described small, precise details abou t my day what I had eaten, the exact song playing in my headphones, even the thoughts drifting through my mind during class. Then something unexpected happened: a photo arrived.
My breath caught. It was me, standing alone in my dim, shadowy room, staring out the window. The angle was wron g too close, too real. My chest tightened with panic. I had been completely alone… or so I thought.
I searched the house with trembling hands, every step slow and ca utious, every creak echoing loudly in the thick, suffocating silence. The air felt cold, almost watchful. My heart pounded violently, and my fingers shook as another message lit up the screen. I am closer than you think. Terror gripped me.
I locked every door and window, but the fragile barriers felt usel ess. In the end, I turned off my phone, desperate to escape the invisible presence, but sleep never came. Looking back, the most horrifying part was not the watching it was the knowing. Whoever it was didn’t just see me. They understood me, completely… even the parts I had never dared to share.
You are sure someone has been in your room, but nothing is missing
Everything started when I arrived home after a long day and started asking myself a very important question: Have you ever felt sudden dread, but in a way where you can’t put your finger on what’s causing it?
Because I’ve felt that for the first time in a while, but this time, it was within my room. Something’s off. I know someone’s been in here without my permission. It’s primarily intuition, but either I’m going crazy, or I’m becoming forgetful. Someone’s gone through my stuff, but I don’t think anything’s missing. My issue right now, is that I live alone. Either someone broke in, or my landlord visited while I was away for some reason. I’m thinking about asking him if he did, but I wouldn’t want to seem like a crazy person, especially to the person who rents me my home. What would be the best way to confirm my suspicion? Leave traps? What if they never go into my room again, and the traps will have been for nothing?
It’s been a few hours ever since the dread first hit. I can’t tell if I’m getting accustomed to it, or if I’m just trying to cope about it. I’m going to ask my landlord if it was him, and if he really didn’t visit, I believe, that I’m in danger.
I felt my heart drop after I heard what he said. It wasn’t him. He said it so genuinely, he wouldn’t lie about it. He heard how distressed I was on the phone.
In the end, I’ve started locking everything in my house, and I’ve ordered a security camera as well. Before I feel safe, I’ll have to check through my entire house to make sure the intruder is no longer here. I haven’t found anyway of entry, so maybe I had forgotten to lock the door?
I heard noise. I don’t have any pets and I live alone; nothing should be moving. nothing should be moving.
You know that new days keep coming every time repeatedly. Once I had an experiment that changed my life forever. The moment hit me like a cool wind in a desert. I just was so terrified at that point. Okay, let’s get back time when everything starts.
I had a normal dinner with my family. Nothing experimental I was expecting to happen. I was eating at the table. Suddenly I experied something weird. I think I was at this moment before, and all these things happened before, but something was different now. My family members are acting dirrefently. My mother always drinks his coffee in the morning. This morning, she threw the coffee maker out of the window. I asked kindly,” What’s wrong, mom”? My mom is long and has red hair and almost black eyes because she hasn’t slept in a day’s says, “coffee is poisoned, I am sure”!
I don’t know what’s my mother is talking about, however I was scared, because I think my mother isn’t okay. So, I pick up the coffee maker outside where my mom throws it. It seems weird because the coffee pot looks different. I tasted it, because I don’t believe my mother’s things. It tasted so strange. I feel very bad right after I tasted it. My mouth swelled up and my eyes changed color right after I tasted the coffee.
Then comes an idea. I said, “This same thing happened before”. That was shocking moment. The same thing happened, but back then the coffee tasted normal. “Yea, now I remember, it was last week when by siblings played outside and take the coffee pot with them, I don’t know why.
Now important is that I need to get help or this coffee is going to kill me. I can’t take this anymore. Slowly I dropped down and my legs gave out. I lay down in the backyard and slowly became aware that I was going to die. Then my mother comes to me. She laughs, and tells me with a strong voice, “I poisoned coffee hahah”. I was shocked and I hardly be aware anymore.
This day had to be the same as usual, but this changes this time. My morning coffee poisoned? That’s crazy, but I think we will never know why and how the coffee was poisoned, I don’t know anything, and all suddenly I passed away.
I was walking in the forest and looking at the star sky. It was quiet. Suddenly I heard steps. I looked back and saw the hand that grabbed me.
Four days before. Me and my best friend Jessie were at school. Jessie braids my long brown hair. I was thirsty so I went into the bathroom to drink water. When I walked into bathroom I felt cold wind. I looked at myself in the mirror and suddenly I noticed that someone was staring at me from the hallway. I didn’t know who or what it was. I was just black figure. I left the bathroom and just forgot that.
Clock 13:45. I was walking home. It was cold and the leaves had fallen from the tree. I went home through the forest. Like always because it is shorter distance. In the middle of the forest, I was looking back. Far away I saw the same black figure. I felt cold shiver. It went through my body. It was horrible feeling. I started to run as fast as I could.
When I came home my mom was there. “Hi. Are you sick?” mom asked. “No. Why you ask that?” I asked back. “You are so pale” mom said. Immediately I went to mirror. My face was so pale. Whole evening I thought about who it was. Then it slowly faded into the darkness. And somehow, I knew this wasn’t over.
Next day. I was going to café with Jessie. We had planned to study there. I was there before Jessie. I ordered myself an iced coffee. I kept staring at the door of the café, waiting for Jessie. People came and went, laughing, talking, living their normal lives. I tried to focus on my notes, but something felt… wrong. Like I wasn’t alone.
Then I saw it again. Across the street, through the window. The same black figure. My heart started pounding and I felt cold. I blinked, hoping it would disappear. But it is not. “Hey, sorry I was late” Jessie’s voice snapped me back. She sat down and smiled. Her look quickly changed. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I think something’s following me”
“What do you mean?”
I looked back to window, and it was gone. Jessie tried to laugh it off, but I could see she was nervous too. “Maybe it’s just someone messing with you.”
I didn’t believe that, but I really wanted to.
But later that evening, I walked home again through the same forest. It was there. Closer this time. Not far behind. Not hiding anymore. I could hear the steps. It was breathing heavily.
Slow. Calm. Like it knew I couldn’t escape. I stopped. My heart was pounding as I turned around. The figure stood only a few steps away, darker than the night. It didn’t move fast. I thought it was going to grab me. Fear hit me harder than before. The figure spoke for the first time, voice was quiet and strange. “Run.” I didn’t wait. I turned and ran. This time, the figure ran with me. It is running behind me. I didn’t dare look back.
When I finally reached the edge of the forest, everything went silent. I collapsed, trying to catch my breath. When I looked up, the figure was standing a few meters away. It didn’t look as dark anymore. The figure looked at my eyes and nodded.
I am far away from home. I don’t know where I am. There is so dark and cold. The terrain is wet and there is a lot of grass. Where have I come. Until a big old house is visible behind the trees. It is in poor condition and at the same time scary. I arrive at the house and open the big door. The door creaks a lot as it opens. I step into the house and there, silence screams. I take a couple of steps forward until the door slams shut behind me, and there is no one there.
I feel sick. Who the hell lives there. I am so scared. I tried to open the door again, but I failed. This feels so wrong. I take a couple of steps forward into the house. Then something moved next to me on my right side. I don’t know what it is. I started moving towards the direction where something was moving. I go to another room and approach the object. The object moves slightly and it is a mouse. But a mouse can’t slam the door. Then who was it.
I continue my journey and find a large chest, which is in the same room where the mouse is. I open the chest and find a human body inside. I scream when I see it. I start to get scared and begin questioning where I am. I start running back to the door and try to open it, but it is still locked. Despair strikes. How do I get out of here.
Now pull yourself together, you must keep searching. I leave the door back into traffic. I go to the left of the house when looking at the door. There was nothing else found there expect more coffins, which contained more human bodies. I returned to the door very anxiously. I continue straight ahead, where there are stairs and a corridor that leads deeper into the house. Which should I go to first, up or straight ahead. I continue straight and at the end of the hallway opens a large hall, which has a living room and kitchen together. It is completely quiet there, and the breath of the wind blows and hits my face directly. But I don’t believe it was the wind, we are indoors, how can it be windy here.
I continue questioning. There was nothing remarkable in the kitchen and living room. There is a little bit of blood here. I go back down the hallway to the door and continue searching for the stairs. There is some blood on them and they are old. I walk up the stairs and they creak loudly. Until I hear a thud from above and I get scared by it. I go towards the sound and in front of me is a door that is slightly ajar. I open the door, which creaks, and I see the most terrifying thing in my life. I suddenly ran down the stairs to the door and tried to open it over again. Until I manage to get it open with a bit of force. I go outside the door and close it behind me. I blocked the door with a chair that I found on the terrace next to the door. I run from the terrace down the stairs onto the lawn, until I stop. I am completely out of breath and horrified. I don’t know how I would explain what I saw. There was a person combining a vampire and a wolf who was eating a small child, whose eyes were still open and looking straight at me. I am completely traumatized. How do I get over this? At least I am safe now, I am fine. Until I feel a touch on my shoulder. Something feels wrong. oh no..
It was an ordinary day when I was walking home from school on a quiet afternoon. The sky was gray and the air felt cold on my face. I was tired and just thought about getting home quickly. The street was empty and a little frighteningly quiet. Everything started when I looked at myself in the shop window. At first, everything looked normal, but then my reflection smiled strangely, even though I was not smiling.
Suddenly I felt a frightening feeling in my stomach. Everything around me started to change slowly. The houses became dark and broken, and the street looked even emptier and scarier. The air felt colder and strange to breathe. Then something strange happened: my reflection came out of the window and looked me straight in the eyes. It walked slowly towards me. I felt scared and lonely, and my heart was pounding hard.
Finally, I ran home quickly, but everything still looked strange and wrong. Afterwards, I thought that two worlds had gotten mixed up. I no longer knew which was the real world. Since then, I have not dared to look in the mirror because I am afraid of seeing it again.
THEME, BOOK THAT TELLS YOUR FUTURE
CHAPTER ONE – DUSTY BOOK
Jessie is an sweet nerdy girl. She loved to spent time in the library to read a books made her so happy that he could jump for joy and this day wasn’t any ordinary. Jessie was browsing the books eyeing them and reading every title carefully some older that could be seen how used the books are and some newer. the library is silent not creepy silent but nice calming one and the sun is setting so the sun is hitting the shelfs so beautifully. once she had chosen a book and read its back cover to know what the book is about. That didn’t spark her interest so she tried to put it back but it accidentally dropped and she groaned a little in annoyance then bended down to pick it up but then she saw a book, a very dusty book under the shelf. She put the fallen book into it’s place and took the book into her hold and blew the dust of with her big breath and dust managed to slide in her nose and it tingled so it made her sneeze.
Jessie look at the books cover, the front and the back but its blank and most likely not new because how dusty it was and the books covers are made from leather, a pretty brown leather. That book sparked her interest but she didn’t know what to expect so she opened the book and was met with plank pages. Jessie is confused and she kept flipping through the pages, first one by one then flipping them fast and it made just a little pit of wind touch her cheeks and bangs.
Her curiosity is like cats always wanting to know what something is. She went to sit on a table and placed the book open on a table and was about to text her bestfriend from child hood Mabel about it but then the book began writing it shelf and she was so shocked and scared that she almost fell trying to get off her chair to back away from the book and the books title changed to big bold letter JESSIE.
Jessie was spooked about the book but still curious so she wanted to borrow the book and went to self-check out but since the books covers were fully blank there wasn’t even the library’s bar code that is used for borrowing books and she didn’t want to steal, she didn’t have the heart to. So she went to find an employee to ask about it and they said they have never seen this book in this library that it might be someone’s book they forgot and Jessie knew that’s not the case since it has been there for so long.
Jessie had slid the book in her bag and left the library feeling a little quilty like she stole it but it is not the library’s book so that made her feel a little better. Once she made home she took the book from the bag she had hid it and opened the first page and there was still her own name in big bold letters.
She waited and waited and once again waited and it felt like an eternity had passed in an hour until the book starts to write itself again and she almost ran to the book to see what Is it going to say and it wrote “she shall stomp her toe onto a furniture” and she was confused and tilted her head. She heard her mother call for dinner from down stairs and she answered to her mother “coming” and took a one last glance at the book over her shoulder before she went on and on the way she stomped her toe on a furniture and she cursed before she realized the books words came to true.
It has been weeks since Jessie took that mysterious book from the library and it has been somewhat fun for her since the predicts has been small nothing big. Jessie did eventually tell her friend Mabel about it, even though it wasn’t anything new they told each other everything but Mabel was just as curious as her.
One day Jessie was doing her school work and the book open as always on het table so she could see if the book tells her future again, and it did today and it said “Jessie shall become the most famous lady in the school” and she was almost jumping for joy for that information. Next day Jessie was going to school regularly but indeed excited to be known in her school since usually nerds aren’t the popular type of persons. Once she made through the schools gates and front doors few people greeted her and that was progress since only Mabel would greet her. Now on, everyday Jessie went to school she began to be more and more famous and hanging out with the popular pretty girls that always side eyed her and glanced at her with disgust however now they are really kind in a way she started to forget her original bestfriend Mabel.
Jessie was living in this new era of her totally forgetting Mabel and maybe even started to judge her for being a nerd like she was however the popularity changed her in many ways. she started doing make, using the new trendy even fast fashion clothes like the others and letting go of her old morals and dreams.
One day Jessie was walking down the school corridor that wasn’t very clean some crushed papers here and there and dirty footprints. The girls are gossiping on anything and anyone they had a little to tell until Mabel and Jessie bumped into each other and the other girls gasp in a way that is “how dare you” and Jessie yells out “watch where you are looking at dork! and don’t you dare come near me ever again!” Mabel was indeed in shock to that and disappointed how her bestfriend has turned out. Mabel backed away just few steps from Jessie and look up at her with the disappointment and sadness visible in her expression and she asked “what happened to you jessie… I don’t know who you even are anymore..” *she whispered that out but just enough to Jessie to hear. Realization had hit Jessie from that sentence and she watched Mabel to walk away… watching her life long friend slip away from her life and she asked herself… what if I didn’t take that book form the library… was this really worth it?
My life has been as ordinary as it could possibly be. I was giving it all to studies, hobbies and usual everyday activities, including hanging out with friends of course. It was one of those days, when you get a gut feeling that something weird totally will be seen. We had planned to throw a party at mine, although one of my friends was late. I told this guy to hurry up, everyone was waiting for only him. At evening I got a phone notification, turns out that a catastrophic tragedy happened to my great friend Kyle. While he was driving his motorcycle, someone couldn’t think of using common sense and keeping a safe distance. The motorcycle had left it to be almost unrecognizable, Kyle had been struggling, fighting for his life on an operation table, however he couldn’t make it out.
After a long time, to be exact 5 years. Everything changed, one night I was trying to fall asleep like usual. It all started with an innocent message from a friend I haven’t heard in ages of. The screen lit up and phone’s notification saying, “You have 1 new unread message from Kyle”. “At this time?”, I asked myself halfasleep. The message contained just a couple words, they were: “Hey! What’s up?” I responded with: “Yo I’m fine, wbu?” But then I understood and shivers ran down my spine. My forehead started to get a cold sweat. “This must be someone’s stupid joke, I refuse to believe it. No, no, no…”, ran through my mind. I left staring at the screen in shock for good 5 minutes. “But he’s been dead for 7 years, Kyle man I miss you” Next day I woke up, I noticed another message on my phone. Immediately opened it to see what it was, thankfully it is just a software update alert. While I was cooking my breakfast the phone vibrated. “It’s all your fault, I will never forgive you no matter what. You won’t be able to pretend like nothing happened. This disgusting feeling inside of you will haunt you till the last days of your life.” What? What does he mean by that? And how is this even happening, I whispered it while looking at my phone screen. For the next months I couldn’t sleep. Strange things started happening, I could feel like I was being watched through my window in the bedroom. It only happened during the night –never while sun was still shining bright. Sometimes I heard something or someone knocking on my wall repeatedly but gently.
I surfed the internet hoping to find any information about this occurrence. Couple hours passed, finally I stumbled upon an old reddit post, anonymous guy saying he had similar situation. He read from an old book about rituals and possessions. “There is a way to stop this, all you have to do is find the dead person’s phone and destroy it.”
Well, that’s something, I breathe out in relief.
Getting the phone was difficult and complicated. First, I had to find out where his parents were living and pray that they didn’t throw away the phone. Fortunately, my parents still had been in touch with them. Couple hours in a car and I was already standing at their front door. They welcomed me with tea and cookies.
For what do you need our son’s mobile phone, can I ask? Kyle’s mom asked frightened.
Oh… Umm… We were gathering with friends and remembered there were old group photos of us with him. I hopelessly improvised.
I couldn’t believe that it would work, however they handed me the phone.
I drove all the way back home and brought a hammer. I kept swinging the hammer continuously until there was nothing left of it. I took the phone from my pocket and checked the “Messages” app, there was no messages from Kyle, they just disappeared without a tray. Never ever have I noticed anything outstanding from normal life after.
It was just the beginning of a normal day. Or that is what Lily thought. Lily is a seventeen-year-old girl that goes to high school in a city named Richmond that is in the state of Virginia. Lily has light brown hair and green eyes, she is kind and friendly. Her best friends are June and Molly, and they have known each other for many years. June is a short blonde girl that is a little shy, but when you get to know her, she is fun to be around. Molly has long dark brown hair, tanned skin and brown eyes and she is social person and friends with everybody.
It’s early in the morning and Lily is waiting for the bus to come. It’ April so school year is almost over, but Lily has heard a rumor that a new girl is coming to the school. Lily sees the yellow bus approaching and waves for it to stop. When she gets to the bus she goes to sit on the back with June and Molly. “Do you see that girl sitting there” Molly says to Lily. “Yes, what about her?” Lily asks. “That’s the new girl everyone has been talking about, apparently her name is Alice, and she is from Tennessee” June answers to Lily. Lily looks in the direction of the new girl, she has long black and shiny hair and she looks really pretty. Alice is sitting alone so Lily asks June and Molly if they should go talk to her in school and see if she wants to be friends with them.
When Lily, June and Molly arrive to school, they go straight to class. They have decided to go to talk to Alice at lunch break, and when they see her sitting alone in the school’s cafeteria, they go to sit with her. They all introduce themselves to each other, and Alice seems really nice and genuine person.
Weeks go by and the girls and Alice have become good friends. At first, everything feels normal and good. Alice starts sitting with them every day on the bus and in classes and even hanging out with them after school. It feels like she has always been part of their group. But then suddenly small things start to change. June has become quieter than usual and Molly gets annoyed over everything Lily does and sometimes conversations stop when Lily walks in. At first, she thinks it’s just stress from school or misunderstandings.
But one day, everything falls apart. They are in the school’s hallway and June refuses to even look at Lilys direction. Molly is saying that they don’t want to be friends with her anymore. Lily tries to explain, but nothing she says matters. Someone has spread fake messages, screenshots and rumors about Lily and all of it makes her look like a liar to her friends.
June and Molly claim that Lily has been talking badly about them behind their backs, but Lily knows that is not true. Why would she talk badly about her best friends. It’s the last day of school and Lily is sitting alone on the bus. She still does not know who spread the fake rumors about her, but the last few weeks have been like a horror movie for her. She lost both of her best friends and Alice has been giving her weird looks in the hallways, like she knows something.
Lily looks back and sees the girls. Alice is sitting between June and Molly, in the same spot Lily used to sit every day. Lily looks at Alice and she looks up. Alice gives Lily the weirdest smile she has ever seen and that is when Lily realizes that it was Alice who spread the rumors about her.
Lily realizes that it was never an accident and she did it on purpose. Alice didn’t come here to find new friends. She came to take someone’s place. But it was too late when Lily realized that she had trusted the wrong person.
It was a dark and rainy day, I was just chilling in my room when I was alone at home. My parents were in two day vacation with their friends and my sisters were somewhere else.
Midnight was coming closer and it started becoming dark at outside. I was watching the horror movie from Netflix and then suddenly there started lightning even then when weather forecast was showing that there will only be little bit of raining. I started hearing footsteps from my room while I was at living room, I get up and decide to go check the room. The second when I opened the door I saw something that I never had seen. There was white ghost who was singing and dancing at floor. I froze up and just stared him in the eyes and then all went black…..
I woke up and it was left and everything was back to normal. To this day I don’t have any idea what that thing was and why it was in my room.
It is a beautiful evening with the sunshine shining over the houses in the neighborhood, some of the birds wore sinning their mating and the others wore sinning to their pairs. You notice a black stray cat laying on top of a garbage bin when you were walking home from work until suddenly you feel water droplets falling on your hair and shoulders like it was going to start raining thus you look up but there is a clear sky above you and not a single cloud is site. You think it is strange when you feel like it’s raining but it isn’t. You stop wondering about it because you don’t have time to waste when you still need to finish your presentation, so you look forward and see someone riding a red motorcycle fast and neither you nor the teen have time to react, and you get hit by the motorcycle. You start flying through the street and then you start rolling over in the street until you felt you back hitting and breaking when it hits a street lamp, you look forwards and you notice your eyesight getting worse by the second, you wonder why you aren’t in excruciating pain but you don’t care because you can’t feel half of your and the rest of your body is immovable. You slowly start to close your eyes until you see nothing, your mind shuts down, suddenly you hear your alarm clock ringing.
You open your eyes and see the same wooden ceiling you have seen every morning for the past four years, you look to your right and see your room, therefore you wonder if it was a dream. You get up from bed and start walking to the bathroom to clean yourself and at the same time you look into the mirror, but everything seems to be normal, so you think nothing of it and make breakfast in your shared kitchen and living room. A bit later you walk to work like every day and when you walk past the place of your accident, but it seems normal like nothing has happened, when you arrive at work and just barely sit down on your desk your boss comes and yells at you for being late to the important meeting. At the same time, you remember that you haven’t completed your presentation, but you don’t have time and you go to the meeting room. You see a room full of older people in suits, you feel a rush of anxiety go through your body, but you push thought it and start presenting your presentation until you opened your slide that wasn’t done you notice there is something but it was sort of pixelated and unreadable, but the business men didn’t seam to seem to react so you just start explaining what would have been on the slide. After the presentation you leave the meeting room and go back to your desk to do some accounting but after a while until you notice the old men in suits coming out of the meeting room and your boss comes out of the room a bit later.
You notice your boss walking towards you but then the light started to flicker, and it seemed that your boss was teleporting toward you but suddenly he disappeared and the light came back to normal. You look around the office and notice that everybody has disappeared, you feel a cold sweat sliding through your forehead until the light went dark and the only light was from the fire exit sign that had turned red. You look around your reddish dim office until you notice portal that is dark blue with some moving green columns. Then a hand is coming out of the portal, you take a step back as the hand gets close. You start to run away from the hand until you hit a corner, you look back and see the hand slowly coming towards you and right before it touches you but suddenly you hear your boss’s voice. You open your eyes and see your boss, “take your stuff and leave, I don’t want to see you here tomorrow!" your boss is yells at you and walks away. You sit on your seat wondering what just happened for a solid 10 min and after that you start to back your stuff from the office. A bit later you walk home with a box full of your stuff from the office, you wonder what the reason was you got fired, was it because of the weird slide presentation or something else.
You are walking through the neighborhood and the sunlight shines over a house strait to your eyes blinding you, so you put your had to cover the sun to be able to see and you notice the sky has disappeared, not just gone black or clear but is just doesn’t exist anymore and that’s something your brain can’t comprehend. But the wondering was cut short because you notice the same portal from the office appeared again in front of you but this time you don’t wait and wonder but instead you immediately drop the box with all your stuff to the ground and start running away from it. You look back to see what is happening with the portal and you see the hand coming towards you again faster than before but it’s not going too fast so in relief, you look forwards to seeing a portal right in front of you but it’s too late and you run through the portal. You are in a dark blue area with moving green columns, in a space where there’s not an up or down, left or right and no forward or backward. You try to run but you are stationary, it feel like being in the vacuum of space but there’s gravity even through there’s no down and you can move around in the place you are right now. You feel something touching your right leg, so you take a look and notice a hand holding to it. Suddenly another hand grabs your left arm, then a hand grabs your left shoulder, another hand is grabbing your thigh. You notice cubes leaving your body that are flying and they slowly get smaller until they disappear. Even though your right leg is split into two it doesn’t hurt and you can still move fell your toes like normal. You start to feal weak as more of your body leaves you. Your head starts to spin and notice that the moving green columns are ones and zeroes changing but right after that you lose conscious and disappear.
I found the door by accident. It was behind a bookshelf that had never moved in the ten years I’d lived there. One evening, while vacuuming, I nudged it just enough to see a bit of something that looked like a door frame. I swear curiosity will be the death of me.
The shelf slid easier than it should have. Behind it was a narrow door painted the same color as the wall, no handle, just a fading of the place where the door handle should be. I pressed it, and it creaked open into darkness that felt… used. Not abandoned. Waiting.
The air inside was warm. Unsettlingly warm. There were no lights, but I could see just enough. A small room, barely taller than me, with walls covered in scratches. Deep ones. Layered over each other like someone had tried to count days and then lost track. In the center stood a chair. Facing the wall.
I stepped in. The door shut behind me. That’s when I noticed the sound. Soft breathing, not mine. And then, carved into the wall in front of the chair, words I hadn’t seen yet: YOU ARE NEXT!
It was my parents’ 30th anniversary and they wanted to spend the weekend without me. They flew to Bali and were planning to stay there the whole weekend under the palms and drinking icecold Martini. I’m a 15-year-old teen and when the house was all empty, of course I decided to host a pajama party with my friends. Bakin, gossiping, and polishing our nails were done by midnight. During the time it was autumn, so it was freezing cold outside and the wind hummed through the cracks in the windows. Halloween season was already over, but the spooky vibe was still on the air. We were bored and decided to play renowned mirror game, where you switch the lights off, go to the dark room by yourself and say “bloody Mary” 3-100 times while looking straight to your reflection. The light from the candles was the only light allowed in the mostly dark room. I went first. My whole body was shaking while I crawled into the dark bathroom. My voice was shaking and I whispered. I could barely see my reflection in the mirror while my eyes started watering. All the seconds felt like hours, but nothing happened. I left the room and Anna, Rebecca and Mila did go after me, but nothing happened to them either. We were relieved, but kind of disappointed when we did not saw, heard or felt anything.
We blew the candles off and went to bed to deeptalk. The pajama party ended quickly because ww got tired. We went back to sleep and when the warm sunlight peeked thought the window I woke up. First thing in the morning I crawled in the bathroom and was shocked when I saw the candle still there. It was still on, even though I remembered I surely blow it off last night. I was leaving the room when I saw something in the mirror. My own face but looking pale and tired.
My reflection moved always couple seconds late and I saw bruises all over my neck and chest. I ran back to girls and asked about the bruises that looked severe. They did not even look at me. They act like I was not there. I was invisible. I screamed and cried so hard until I heard my own voice from bathroom. I ran to the bathroom for answers and saw my own bruised body on the mirror and it whispered with smiley voice “that’s why you should never play with powers you don’t understand”. I was then trapped in the mirror.
.
Everything started when I forgot my sister’s name.
It didn’t scare me at first. I just checked my phone contacts and moved on. But later that day, i forgot my entire family's names. I laughed and thought that i was just tired. It felt strange. When I got home, there was a note on my table.
‘’You already forgot once today.’’ It looked like my handwriting but i could not remember writing it.
The next morning, I found more notes.
‘’It keeps getting worse day by day’’
‘’Do not stop reading these notes.’’
I tried to ignore them, but new ones kept appearing. I felt like i was going crazy. That night, I wrote a message to myself before going to sleep
‘’If you wake up and don’t remember this, something is wrong.’’ I woke up the next morning and i don’t remember writing it.
Everything started when the Carter family moved away from San Francisco to town named Silverbrook. Silverbrook is a small town by a river where everyone knows each other. Carter's family includes older brother Ethan and younger sister Evelyn, as well as their parents Andrew and Mary. Evelyn and Ethan started school right away and they made a lot of friends. In addition, just a few months ago, a slightly older man named Gregory Thorne moved to the town. He bought a shabby and creepy-looking house at the end of a long street. At first everyone was wary of him, but over time he turned out to be a sweet and nice guy.
Just a few days after Carter family had moved to the town, something terrible happened. Officers Ryan Cole and Rachel Hayes announced in the local newspaper reported a missing child. Everyone was shocked. However, the police told the residents to leave it alone and live in peace until the police solved the disappearances. At first, the disappearances were rare. One child here, another there. Everyone thought they were just coincidences. Maybe someone had just gone to visit relatives without telling anyone, or it was a misunderstanding.
But when the third and fourth children disappeared, fear began to spread in Silverbrook. Ethan and Evelyn quickly realized that something was wrong. Their friends began whispering in the hallways at school, parents forbade children from walking alone, and the streets emptied unusually early in the evenings. Evelyn was especially worried because one of the missing was her close friend, Lily. One night, the siblings decided to investigate the matter themselves.
They began to gather information about when the children had disappeared, where they had last been seen and whether there was anything in common between the incidents. One thing began to repeat itself when several of the children had last been seen near a house at the end of a long street. It was the house where Gregory Thorne lived. Evelyn didn't want to doubt Mr. Throne because he had always been so nice. The most likeable and warm-hearted person anyone has ever met. However, Ethan reminded that any resident could be behind the disappearances and should also be investigated. .
Over the next few days, they began to observe the house. Mr. Throne seemed completely normal. He watered the flowers, greeted passersby, and even helped a neighbor carry groceries. There was nothing to suggest that he was dangerous. But then, one evening, Ethan noticed something strange. Behind the house at the edge of the woods was a door. An old, rusty door that led underground. They returned the next night with flashlights. Hearts pounding, they opened the door and descended the dark stairs. Down below was a large basement. It was filled with old furniture, boxes and something else. They heard sounds. Silent sobbing.
Evelyn's hands began to shake. "Did you hear that?" she said. They followed the sound and found a locked door. Ethan broke in and before them was a sight they would never forget. Several missing children were scared but thankfully alive. "We're coming to help you." Evelyn said quickly. They freed the children and led them out of the basement. Just as they were about to leave, a voice came from behind them.
.
“You shouldn’t have come here.” Mr. Throne said and stood at the top of the stairs.
His expression was no longer warm or friendly. It was cold. “You were so curious,” he said calmly. “I was trying to be careful. I was trying not to attract attention.”
Ethan stepped in front of Evelyn. “Why did you do this?”
Mr. Throne smiled weakly. “Because no one ever suspects someone who is kind.”
The situation was tense but Ethan was already prepared. He had sent a message to the police before they went into the basement. A moment later, sirens broke the silence. Mr. Throne tried to escape, but the police arrived on time. The children were saved, and the man was arrested.
In the weeks that followed, Silverbrook began to recover. People were shocked, not just by what had happened, but by how easily they had trusted someone.
One evening, Evelyn and Ethan sat by the river. They watched the water flow. Silverbrook didn’t feel the same anymore. But at least now the truth had come out.
It was a normal day, I felt lonely and decided to join some new dating app. I scrolled through the people, and I saw a few of my male friends on there too. I swiped them left obviously. I didn’t want them to know I was on the app too. I thought it was embarrassing, because I scolded them for being there...
I almost got tired from swiping all day until a couple of days later I found this guy that I really clicked with. His name was Amir (28) and he was from Egypt and had just moved to England. We decided to meet up next weekend at a bar near the city center. I know it was far from my house however I genuinely wanted to meet him.
The weekend came I was so nervous, but he appeared to truly be interested in me. I felt at ease with him. The date went as expected and he got me a cab to go back home, since all the buses that went close to my house had already gone. I told him my address, and it took only 6minutes for the cab to arrive. I kissed him on the cheek and got in my ride.
At home I was taking off my makeup and going to a warm shower. I heard the floorboards creaking, I was startled and I turned the shower off so I could hear more clearly. The sound had stopped; I went back to washing my hair. Finally, I was done and went to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up to a freezing feeling, so I went downstairs to see what Is going on. First thing I discovered was that my front door was wide open. I searched the whole house, but I didn’t have time to investigate the attic since I had to go to work. Looking back, it was a huge mistake, I should have at least looked up there. But I ran out to my car and left for work. In addition, I saw a weird black van on my neighbor’s curb. I didn’t think much of it and left.
At work everything was fine until I clocked out. I saw a figure running in the parking lot. I thought it was one of my co-workers. I got to my car, but it won’t start running. I call a repair man, so I’d get home after a long day of working. I think it took less than 15 minutes for the repair man to arrive. I waved at him and he came out of his car. It was Amir. We talked for a bit and then he started to look inside to hood of my car. I got a bad feeling when I realized that Amir never told me what he does for a living. I went back in the car. He asked me to come out and see what’s wrong so I could fix it myself the next time. I kindly declined and stated that it was cold. He got agitated that I wouldn’t get out of the car, but he accepted it. Suddenly I saw another black van arrive at the scene. It was another repair man.
When Amir saw the car, he quickly shut the hood of my car and ran back into his van and vanished off the scene. The other repair man showed me his business card I read his name Paolo Gavino and only then I dared to step out of my vehicle. We wondered what was going on with Amir and why he fled so quickly.
The car was still not working so Paolo took a look, and he got the car back running. On top of that he told me to come out and see what’s going on under the hood. I got out and was horrified to see that a blade. It had a rusty handle but the sharp part of it was new looking and polished. I was so frightened that I started crying. Paolo said that we should call the police, and we did. They arrived 20 minutes later, questioned me and Paolo. The police followed me home so that I wouldn’t bump into Amir.
I got home and I went to thank the officers, but they told me to act normally and not to be afraid. I instantly remembered what happened this morning. I connected the dots and replied to the officer “is it Amir?”. Their faces were agreeing with me. I nodded and went inside to my house like normal. I sat down at my kitchen table and chills were sent down my spine as soon as I heard Amir talking in the living room. I screamed and he ran towards me with another blade that looked exactly like the one inside my hood. We struggled for a second. He almost got me.
The officers ran inside and pinned Amir onto the ground. He yelled obscenities at me and told me this would not be the end. Amir was taken into custody and later placed into an institute for the mentally ill.
I was relived that the repair man came when he did and thankful for the officers that noticed movement inside the house. Without their help I would have been dead for a long time. Now I’m here telling you this story, so you won’t have to experience the same trauma as I had back when I was a young adult.