Want To Hear Something Scary?

〖Chapter 18 | A Lonely Man On A Lonely Street〗

Today is the first day of my new job as a teacher at the high school I once graduated from. Other than the fact at how damn early I had to get up, I was 100% ecstatic and ambitious towards what may happen on my first day back there...

5:30 AM came all too quickly. I was in and out of the shower, dressed and. Ready, coffee in hand by 5:55
I hastily locked up my apartment and made my way to my car. I fumbled around a little in the darkness while trying to get into my car, but I eventually got it.

I started to drive down my street. I had to take it slow due to ice. Lots of ice. A black figure began to appear in my field of vision. It was the shape of a man, in all black, walking slowly down the road.
This struck as odd to me. 6 AM and someone is walking? In this weather? It had to be at least -2 degrees outside! And this guy is walking!

Everything moved in slow motion as I thought about what he might be doing here... Why would he be walking.. Where would he be walking to.. Then my mind began to be enveloped by my fear senses and I began thinking about things that were completely irrational. 'Perhaps he's some type of serial killer.' I thought.'Maybe he might pull out a .45 and blow my head off as I drive past him!' My mind continued diving deeper into these paranoid delusions as I drew closer to the mystery man. His form becoming clearer as I inched closer with my headlights. I could make out more of his form now.

He was wearing a black work coat, it appeared to be dirty. And covered in snow. He was wearing black pants and combat boots. The laces were not tied. A hood from presumably another jacket beneath the work coat hid his head from view. With a description like that, there were two possibilities in my mind. Homeless, or Crazy.

Eventually realizing how insane I was being over a man walking, I snapped myself back to reality and shook off my dreadful thinking. "Listen to yourself. You're being ridiculous." I scolded myself. I couldn't 100% shake my uneasiness. However, I wasn't going to let a simple oddity like this drive me to insanity. I brushed off whatever trance I was in, and continued driving towards him.

...but then, however, something happened that I never saw coming...

The man stopped walking.. He stood there in my headlights. And as soon as I noticed he had stopped, I slammed on my breaks and halted as well. My heart began to race and my stomach did loops for reasons I didn't understand. But I do now..

He started to turn towards me. He was going to look at me. As he slowly turned to me my heart pumped faster. Then, to my horror, I finally saw the face of this man.. If you could even call it a man... His eyes were shrouded in a blackness that was darker than the night around us. His white pupils glowed in the center of those pits as he stared into my very being. His nose wasn't there. In its place, was crude sewing together of the flesh around it, pulling his skin tightly across his bony face. His lips were non-existent, revealing every single one of his jagged, chipped, decaying teeth. His gums were rotted and frostbitten. And he was as pale as the snow around him.

We made eye contact, and as we did my heart grew to a pace I didn't think possible. I was certain I was going to die here. But survival instincts kicked in, and I put the pedal to the floor. I drove straight at the thing. But when I got within feet of him, he vanished completely. Sending me in a head-on collision with a telephone pole. I was sent through the windshield and into the snow below. As soon as I hit the ground my body began going numb. Asides a pain in my chest, and shooting pain down my left arm...
I was going to die there.. My vision began to fade, and as it did I looked up... To find him towering over me.. Staring down at me.. Then, everything went black.

I woke up in a hospital bed the next morning. Apparently, the neighbors were awakened by the crash and found me just in time. When the police asked me what had happened I gave them a description of the man. Of course, they thought it was some sort of hallucination.

So here I am. Sitting in this room. I'll be here for another week or so. I'm typing this on a laptop the hospital was so kind to allow me to use while I'm here. But I won't be here much longer. My friend came to visit me today. The friend I met that night. The friend who tried to show me the true world. He's here now. He's sitting next to me. Telling me everything is going to be ok. He's my master now. I belong to him. He's watching me. He was always watching me. From the day I was born until the day I die.

..and he's watching you, right now...