The Invisibles

I

Every man fears something, whether they want to admit it or not, and I must admit that I myself am still afraid of windows 10 years after what happened to the Surfadelics. I’ll recount what happened that night in the most detail possible, just to see if anyone could possibly relate or share a similar experience to what me and my friends had gone through.

II

I was playing in the garage band with my friends, we’ll call them Deakin, the backup-drummer, Toby, the guitarist, Jay, the drummer, and myself, the bassist and pianist. We called ourselves the “Surfadelics”, since we incorporated a lot of surf and funk music into our jams, as well as because we only knew how to play one song cohesively as a “band”, Wipeout. Deakin received a message from his girlfriend about her seeing some kind of strange thing outside of her window and that she was not only scared but “terrified” of it.

“Huh,” said Jay. “Did she say anything else?”

“A picture?” inquired Toby.

Deakin didn’t respond verbally to these questions but only shook his head since he was in deep concentration texting back his girl. We began fiddling around with our instruments, whether it be tuning the guitars a half-step down or adjusting the hi-hat for a better choke, while Deakin was typing up a storm with his girlfriend. It was about 10 seconds later that we were getting ready to begin rehearsing one of our first composed songs, Overture, when JA suddenly produced the most unnerving noise I’ve ever heard come out of the poor boy.

Deakin wasn’t the type of guy to start a fuss over anything. He was the quietest of the group and the most… laid-back? He never picked a fight or started an argument with anyone and always took things as they were. I remember one time me and him were watching some horror stories on his computer; I was surreptitiously trying to close the tab where the videos were playing, while Deakin remained in his chair, unmoving, completely unphased by whatever nonsense was on the screen.

But now, knowing that Deakin was harder to move than a boulder, we knew that whatever he saw on that phone was something truly disturbing, and that we should all proceed carefully upon viewing the photo he was the first—second, poor girl—to witness. Me and Tobias put our guitars down while Jay got up from his drummer’s stool to go see what Deakin saw.

I’ll never forget what I saw on that phone. The window was right behind the bed, with a white wooden border and blinds all the way up—we live in Florida, where we take advantage of the cold weather every chance we get. Her room was maximalist, with posters covering every inch of every wall along with some drawings of her and Deakin that she made. She was a talented artist.

From what was shown in the picture besides from her innocent and welcoming room was a picture taken from the edge of her bed of the most hideous and inhumane face I’ve ever seen. It presented itself in the middle of the window, its neck so long it was the only thing visible from the window besides the putrid physiognomy of that thing that I still don’t know what in the hell to call. The whites of its eyes completely surrounded the iris and pupil, like a stone in a sea of snow, and its eyelids were bowed like the sharp edges of a wooden frame. The nose looked like it was broken in, pummeled with a hammer of some sort, probably from whoever it saw last, covered in dried crimson blood. Its mouth was the most hideous, it produced a grimace with two uneven lips, the teeth jagged and perfectly white. Its face shape was extremely awkward, almost appearing as a perfect oval with non-existent ears and with a little bit of facial hair all over. The hair on its head was the only normal thing about it, a black combover from a man who was trying to hide his baldness. Those eyes were the most disturbing part about its face. It was like they were staring at every single one of us simultaneously, and I couldn’t even imagine how the girl felt seeing that only a couple feet away from her with the cool breeze flowing in as the thing stood, floated, whatever the hell it did, was the last thing she’d ever lay her eyes on.

We all stared at it for about three seconds before Deakin dropped his phone on the hard concrete floor, creating a crack in the screen. All of us were frozen in place, our brains trying to process what the hell we just saw and our hearts trying to find their way out of our chests. Tobias took a step back and nearly fell over on some cardboard boxes, while Jay produced a single tear from his eyeball. I was the first to say something.

“What the fuck was that?”

“I… I…” Deakin attempted to say something, but he could only utter out that one letter.

“How… what?” Finally left Tobias.

Jay had the most to say. “What the fuck, man? Is she okay? Someone pick up that fucking phone!”

But nobody did, nobody wanted to. As sweet as she was, and as compatible as her and Deakin were, we didn’t want to see that again. We didn’t ever want to lay eyes on its eyes not one more time. We didn’t want to risk it. It was about two minutes of everyone trying to get a hold of themselves, Tobias with guitar in hand staring at the floor, Jay at the very far corner, trying to stay as far away from the window we had in the garage as possible, and Deakin, still in his chair, staring at the same window, making sure another wasn’t looking for us. I was on the keyboard stool looking at the keys, trying to think of everything but what we just saw, trying to get that image out of my mind. But it never did. None of us could’ve ever forgot.

We had the next day off, and it was a while before we all jammed, so we decided to sleepover at Deakin’s that night and take advantage of the free time we had before going back to our academics. The night we planned full of fun, laughter, and music, was abruptly put to a halt by that picture. After another minute of Jay and Deakin both staring at the window, Deakin finally started to cry.

We didn’t know what to do after that. We all stared at Deakin like he had some kind of horrendous cyst on his face, we were all confused and terrified. Nobody tried to console him because we all collectively knew that whatever happened to her was the furthest thing from harmless. Still, even after his burst of emotion, we all avoided the phone like it was the plague. It kept buzzing. And buzzing, and buzzing, and nobody, especially not Deakin, went anywhere near the damn thing.

A knock came from the door that leads to the garage, and all of us screamed collectively, producing the worst most dissonant noise heard that night. It was Deakin’s dad, we all called him Ricky, and he wanted to know “what in the hell was going on” in this room. We were all speechless. Nobody wanted to tell him what had happened, everybody felt guilty for even witnessing the picture.

“Pick up the phone,” said Jay.

All our eyes darted towards Jay, like he just said the most heinous combination of words possible at that moment. He could feel us all looking at him, our blank, empty eyes staring holes into his equally lifeless pair. None of us wanted Ricky to be as petrified as we, but Jay already sealed Ricky’s fate, and as soon as he said those words Ricky headed straight for the phone, bent over, and picked it up. I heard Tobias whisper a subtle “no” when he picked it up, like Rick was preparing us for a second viewing.

“’12 unread messages from Maddie’? What, did she break up with you or something?” was the first thing he said. “Unlock this phone right now, or else I’m calling off this whole ordeal,” threatened Rick.

“OK,” uttered Deakin, as he mechanically unlocked the phone as soon as the phone unlocked, he scrolled up with his finger to approximately to where the image was and immediately handed the device back to his dad.

Ricky was playful but stern, like Deakin, always relaxed and calm. This shook him as much as it did Deakin, and when Rick saw it, we all saw it too. Again.

“Deakin…” he said, as speechless as we were.

He handed the phone back to him, Deakin turning it off as soon as the phone was handed to him. None of us were ready to read those texts, and neither of us were ready to talk again for another couple minutes. Ricky left, without a word, and went back inside the house to where he and Sheena, Deakin’s mom’s, bedroom was.

“Get out,” said Deakin quickly. “Everyone out, now… please,” he said desperately.

We all wanted nothing more than that. All of us left the garage, Tobias first, Jay second, and me last. Before I closed the door, I saw Deakin slowly go for the phone, unlock it, and begin to read his girlfriend’s final messages. I felt guilty for staring, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. There was nothing I wanted more and nothing I wanted less than to see what she had told him.

“Archy, what the hell are you doing? Close the damn door!” whispered Jay.

“Hold on,” I said.

“Arch, let him be,” said Tobias. “Please… let’s go,” he nudged to Jay.

I caught samples of what she said last. Those messages tore my heart out of my body, I couldn’t imagine the pain Deakin was going through. All I could catch was a bunch of hurried and misspelled sentences mostly “I love you,” “Please help,” and “I’m scared.”

But there was nothing Deakin could do. Deakin sat there and cried, squeezing the phone as hard as he could while typing to her how sorry he was and how much he loved her. He was visibly shaking, his foot tapping quickly on the floor from the adrenaline, and the tears dropping on his keyboard messing up his typing. I could hear him sobbing. It was the most heart-wrenching thing I’ve ever heard, even to this day.

Maddie didn’t even get to see her boyfriend tell her one last “I love you” before she perished. All her texts were unseen. Nobody was able to save her, nobody could console her, the last thing she ever saw wasn’t her parents, her boyfriend, her friends or even anybody, the last she saw was that wicked being and the last thing she felt was fear. This crushed Deakin the most.

Tobias and Jay already left me as I stared at Deakin and his phone. I couldn’t take my eyes away from him. Deakin looked at me, snot running down his face along with his sorrowful tears, his eyes officially dead. I stared at his phone as he stared at me, completely taken over by his text messages to her instead of hers to him. Some were long, some were short, all were desperate, and all went unanswered.

I told him the first thing that came to my mind.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Please… leave.”

I finally closed the door.

III

I began heading for the bedroom, where I figured Jay and Tobias were, but went towards the kitchen to fetch a glass of water. I was pretty aimless then, just trying to find a place to lay down and collect my mind, but we’d already been practicing for half an hour before the incident without much food or water in our systems. Besides, even if anyone left a water bottle or snack in the garage, nobody wanted to disturb Deakin.

I found Tobias in the kitchen, pitcher in hand, already pouring a glass of water. I asked him for the pitcher, and he handed it to me without looking, his eyes occupied with the big kitchen window that was above the sink and dishwasher. The kitchen had a nice view of the backyard, where Deakin’s pool was located and his neighbor’s fence. It was dark outside, the backyard lights contrasting with the deep blue night and the moss-green pool. Tobias played lookout, making sure nothing appeared there while he wasn’t looking.

“What’s up with you?” I asked him, trying to strike up a normal conversation in the absence of anything but. He didn’t reply immediately, still looking at the window en garde. After a couple seconds his eyes darted to me, then to his water, then back to me.

“Dunno. You?” He replied.

“Just thinking. Do you… think that picture was real? What if it was some kind of joke to scare Deakin?”

“Couldn’t be. It was too realistically unrealistic. I could feel those eyes staring right at me, there’s no way.”

“But think, man,” I said. “You know the movie The Thing, don’t you? It coulda’ been some heavy prosthetics, you know?”

“I really just don’t want to think about it anymore,” he concluded staring back into the fresh, filtered water. He hadn’t taken a sip yet.

“All right, sorry,” said I, mimicking his swirling of the water and staring into the window. It was then that I remembered Jay’s existence and asked Toby where he was.

“Couch,” he said sternly.

I hadn’t even seen Jay on the couch the whole time we were in the kitchen. Like most houses, the living room is right next to the kitchen, and wherever you are in the kitchen you had a pretty good view of the couch, recliner, television, and back patio door. Jay was motionless, his eyes were deep into the unpowered television screen, pondering on what we were talking about. He had his hands clasped, his feet planted to the floor, completely motionless. Deakin’s dog, Suki, was lying on the recliner, asleep, curled up into a shrimp position.

We were all locked in place like statues for a little while, not talking or moving, trying to recollect what had just previously happened. I don’t even think Tobias drank any of his water, he just stared down the window the same way a predator stares at its prey.

The back patio door that led into the patio and backyard was a glass door, which you could see only the pool and side of the house, limiting the view to just those things instead of the neighbor’s backyard and night sky. Jay and I sat as far away from it as possible, fearing another encounter with the being, we both eyeballed it the same way Tobias was eyeballing his window.

“Do you think she would do that?” Jay finally chimed up.

I was waiting for someone to say something, so I finally took this opportunity to explain what I thought.

“I… don’t think she would, but something like that is so unbelievable that we-we must put it being fake into consideration. It’s like I was telling Toby; The Thing was released some 40 years ago and its practical effects looked just like what this thing looked like. I just think… maybe it’s some cruel kid trying to scare some people? I don’t…” I ended it there, sighing at the very end. I was hoping that my two friends would hear me out and maybe put in some input but I’m not very sure if they were listening; their eyes were locked in the same position as they were a couple minutes ago.

I got up to get my glass of water back from the island. After acquiring it I proceeded to take a big sip, and putting it back down again, I took some fruit snacks from the counter and ate a packet. We didn’t know what to do now, nobody wanted to be alone. Suki was still asleep. Everybody’s mind was racing with ideas, worries, fears, and confusion, apparently nobody seemed to hear Deakin trying to call his girlfriend. It must’ve been at least ten times, every time he called, he’d ask her to please pick up. We waited for Deakin to come out of the garage.

IV

Deakin didn’t come out for a while, yet none of us wanted to check up on him. We all had our own private thoughts running through our heads regarding what had happened, as well as things like how we were going to tell our parents and other non-witness friends what happened to Maddie and Jacob.

“Baloney,” I thought, “That’s what they’re going to say, it’s ‘baloney,’ false, untrue, they’ll think we’re making it up… pesky teenagers we are,” I mumbled to myself. Toby had finally taken his eyes from the window and took his first sip of water ever since he poured the glass. Jay got up and met with us in the kitchen, not saying anything, and proceeded to sit at the dining table staring at a single toothpick lying on the table. Everybody lightened up. Everybody had their guard down. Everybody had finally achieved a bit of inner peace, but nobody saw the new face in the window. Poor Toby can’t keep his eyes on the glass for the rest of his life, right?

V

Me and Jay sat at the dining table, staring at the toothpick and cracking a few jokes while we were at it. Tobias was standing in the same spot, except looking at us now, engaged in the conversation as much as we were. Us geeks at the time were discussing something about video games.

“I personally think Valve is the best video game company,” said Jay. I agreed with him, but I quickly stated that Rockstar Games had a better output. Portal 2 hadn’t come out at the time, so my statement was false, but at the time I was hooked onto GTA and refused to play anything other than that. Tobias put in his two cents stating that he, jokingly, said that solitaire and blackjack were better than anything we just mentioned. I gave him a stale look of disgust, wondering how anybody could’ve have uttered such a phrase.

This joke came at a cost, though, since I had the pleasure of turning in Tobias’ direction, I was the first to see it. This thing was similar the one mentioned in Maddie’s picture, except now there was women’s hair on top of its head. The smile was wider. Its eyes were larger. Its nose more mangled and shattered. I’s skin was discolored. This was officially the new worst thing we ever saw.

My The Thing theory had been put to an end and all our thoughts regarding any type of falsity regarding that picture were shattered and immediately blended into our fear of what was right in front of us. Instead of only its neck being visible, its torso was now visible as well. It was as grotesque as its face. The torso had two arms attached to it, and I say attached because they looked attached. The entire torso looked like it had thrown off a building and was sloppily reconstructed to be used as a puppet for whatever beast was trying to hide in the human clothing.

I remember its finger moving towards the glass. I remember that twisted arm jittering as it was moving closer to the screen. I remember the tap, tap, tap…

None of us were prepared for this, none of us got Jacob as warning, hell, we weren’t even thinking of Jacob at the time. Me, Jay, and Tobias were all staring right at it, as it was staring right at us. It then proceeded to speak. I wanted nothing less than to see the most hideous creature I’ve ever had, the agony of seeing produce words. Thankfully it didn’t produce a single word, but instead let out a deep, breathy groan, like that of a death rattle.

That groan echoes in my ears every night I go to sleep.

It was at this moment Tobias, I still don’t know how he was able to do it, closed the blinds on the window, the doors and ran into the hallway, faced completely away from the thing and me and Jay entirely. Jay and I darted our eyes all over, the doors, windows, hallways, making sure that the thing was out of our sights entirely. Toby spoke, too.

“Archy! Jay! Get over here, now!” he yelled. “Get away from that damn kitchen!” He yelled again, signaling us to the garage where we could fend ourselves off against that thing outside, and even recruit Jacob for the job, if he had any strength left in him. We slowly backed up away from the window, stumbled over a chair or two, and finally met Tobias at the wooden door of the garage.

“Jacob!” Jay said, pounding on the door. “We’re coming in! One of those things is on your porch!”

“We’re coming, Jacob!” said I, trying to assure him that we were all still there.

Not a sound came out of that room, at least not a sound we heard. Us three came into the room. The lights were off, I turned them back on, and the only thing that the light didn’t produce was Jacob. There was an unnatural cool breeze in the air, and we then noticed that the window had been open, and that Jacob had vanished into the night, just like Maddie, just like the other unfortunate souls that had to witness those things that night, or maybe even all throughout history, or even to this day.

There was a collective silence between the three of us. We didn’t even look at each other. We all just stared at the open window. Wondering where Deakin went. Wondering what kind of hell we were in. What kind of God made these creatures. What could we have possibly done? There was no saving Jacob, just like there was no saving Maddie, but maybe we could save ourselves.

Jay had collapsed on the floor and started seizing. Tobias and I didn’t know what to do. He hit his head on the shoe rack behind him, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his entire body started twitching violently.

“Shit… get the shoes,” said Tobias as he was holding Jay’s head. I quickly went to pick up both legs and waited for what was instructed next. Tobias told me we were going to Ricky’s room and that we were going to tell him everything that happened as well as call the police. I said okay, and we steadily carried the body to Ricky’s room.

I informed Ricky of what had happened to his boy and to us in the Kitchen; I didn’t have to explain Jay, Sheena had already called an ambulance for him. The parents were mortified after I finished telling my story, and both of them had shoved me and Tobias out of the way to go and search for their boy. “What have you kids done?” I remember Ricky asking me. Tobias and I, as ashamed as I am now, stayed in the bedroom, locked the door, closed the blinds on each and every window, and laid on the bed, awaiting the return of Ricky and Sheena.

VI

“Don’t open for anyone except for the cops, alright?” I established. Toby agreed.

We both got Jay onto the bed. He was passed out and unconscious. I made a stack of pillows against the bedframe for Jay to lay on, for, one: not to coke on whatever fluids were in his body; and two: so he wasn’t food for if anything had decided to march into the house and go hunting.

We both waited for Jacob’s parents, and for Jacob too, we hoped, but before they came there was a knock at the door. At the same time, we saw some faint red and blue lights flashing outside, so we proceeded slowly out the door, checking the hallways to see if anything had gotten into the house (God forbid), and made our way to the front door. We played rock paper scissors for those who had to check the peephole and talk to the officer at the door. I lost. I went for the peephole, opened it up, and looked outside to see what awaited me.

It was not a cop but was instead the same face that we saw in the kitchen. I jumped away from the door and hit the mirror that was in the entrance to the house, shattering it. I let out a loud and painful scream, Tobias backed up with a terrified expression on his face. His lips quivered and his head was visibly shaking.

“My god…” Tobias said, and I thought.

We both ran back to the room where Jay was and were thankful to see him still there propped up against the pillow tower I had made him. Tobias and I laid on opposite sides of him, recounting the night in our minds. We didn’t speak for a while; it was only until Jay started moving his arm slightly that we began to speak again.

“Jay, are you okay?” said Tobias.

“You were knocked out, man,” I said, “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah… yeah, yeah, yeah… I’m all right.”

“Thank god.”

“I had a dream though… very strange.”

“What? What was it about?”

“I saw Jacob. He was… staring at me… in a void room. He was the only thing there… big window behind him… told me that I could’ve saved him. I told him we couldn’t… we were weak and scared. He called me a coward, all of us cowards… I… I don’t…” he began to tear up.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay…” Toby proceeded to look at me while he was patting and caressing Jay’s shoulder. We were both confused, both feeling the same emotions as Jay except not actually showing or telling them. Tobias went to use the bathroom while I laid next to Jay on the bed, with my back flat and my feet dangling off the bed while Jay stayed in his upright position. I had my hands clasped like he did earlier, and was staring at the white ceiling hoping an exit would spawn in. I wanted to fill the air with noise.

“Didya see anything else?” I said.

“No, no…” he replied quickly. I could tell he was lying, but I didn’t want to pry it out of him.

He eventually came around and confessed to a bit more of what he saw. It was probably about a minute of staring for each of us before he eventually chimed up and just started speaking, letting it all out in a steady stream of consciousness.

“Well, yes. Something else was there. Someone else… I think. I remember talking to Toby and… I talked to one of those things at the windows. Poor Jacob… ha, ha, ha… Toby said somethin’ funny to me, like what Jacob said but it made me a bit more… upset. Tob’ said ‘Don’t you feel ashamed of what you’ve done?… you’ve abandoned your friend and now he’s probably dead… what the hell… kind of friend are you?’” Jay started to laugh a bit here. I didn’t laugh. I was staring daggers right at him the whole time, believing in superstition just this once, trying to get everything I could out of this anecdote. “‘Toby… aren’t you forgetting—something?” He carried on, “‘you’re in this too… you’re his friend too… as powerless as us… ha, ha, you hypocrite!” Anger came from his voice this time. I didn’t tell him to lower his tone or calm down like I usually would, but let the emotions flow out naturally:

“What the fuck was I supposed to do!? Huh!?” He got up from the pillows, staring at the black TV in front of the bed, turned off, producing only a faint reflection of us. “Did you… did you really expect me to go in there and… take on a fuckin’ demon? No… no, Toby, you self centered piece of shit—no, no… Ha, ha, ha! What did you do! Take your eyes off the window and what appears… another one—or the same one? Ahh… who knows.”

It was almost like he was talking to an invisible Toby that I wasn’t able to see. Both of us were staring at the TV now, I was trying to get a glimpse into what was going on in his head. The anger, frustration, confusion… we were just plunged into this and there was no imminent escape, exit, or even break. We didn’t know what was outside now, inside, or what could even be right above or below us, but it clearly didn’t matter to Jay. It felt like this was what he wanted to say earlier but couldn’t, what he wanted to say directly to all of us but of course didn’t, like a drunk person slipping out how they actually feel about a subject only when under the influence. He carried on:

“Even you, Archy… I’m no goddamn hero, ha, but neither are you two! You and Toby… both equally useless against those things… you couldn’t save Jacob, couldn’t even… save yourselves if you wanted to…” He concluded his rant there.

I didn’t know why he suddenly gained such a cynical and apathetic air, I always knew him as a joyful and uplifting kind of guy, but the outside demons had their time, and it was time for the inner demons to come out.

“Jay, listen to yourself, man. Do you even know what you’re saying? We tried to protect… ourselves. Don’t be upset because we lost him, there’s still some hope.”

“You say… ‘ourselves.’ I know what you wanted to say… Deakin, huh? Ha, there’s no going back.” He ended grimly.

“Well what have you done except make a scene on the floor?” Tobias suddenly snapped. We hadn’t even noticed his exit out of the bathroom, he was carrying some bottle of pills which I assume were sleep medication. “All you’ve done is stare at the damn walls and seize on the floor like a retard. You’re as good as us. Not at all!” He ended vengefully, like he was waiting to say that the whole time after the seizure.

Everybody became standoffish, like that scene from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, except it was more like The Ugly three times over. All of us still looked like disheveled messes, Jay’s hair was frizzed all over and he was still twitching a little bit. Tobias’ eyes were bloodshot, his lips were chapped and you could see tear stains down his cheeks like those you see on a dog.

Toby started bawling. Jay just looked at him furiously, his mouth twitching with violent things to say and his heart full of hatred, he wanted to let out one final message before the night was over.

“What kind of leader are you?” Jay finally said.

“Huh?” Tobias replied immediately, cocking his head to the bed where me and Jay were located.

“What kind of leader are you, huh? You go around parading like you’re some big—grand hot shot, giving us unnecessary input all the damn time… telling us how to live our damn lives, how to play our own music for God’s sake! Do you ever shut the fuck up?” This I did not expect. “It only took,” Jay started up again, “It had to take monsters, real monsters for you to be quiet. You… totalitarian, nobody wants to speak up because you just keep talking! On top of that, you’re not even a good musician… I’ve seen how you treated Deakin, always trying to control him, like a puppet, always by your side like a henchman… but no, you’re too damn pure.”

Throughout this speech I caught a couple things that I even wanted to say, but of course I didn’t want to say them for the same reason Jay didn’t: so there wouldn’t be more problems on top of the pile. I gave Toby a glance of surprise, saying with my eyes “is he lying?” He looked back at me like he was ready to gouge my eyes out. I looked away and stared at Jay again, who was smiling ear to ear and giggling.

VII

We both stared at Jay during his mania, and we both had conflicting opinions on what to do with him. I wanted to get him hydrated while Tobias was thinking of what combination of words he was going to inflict upon Jay. I tried to end his violent thoughts before they started to manifest.

“Get him some water,” I said, “he clearly needs it.”

“You get the damn water.” Replied Toby sharply.

“No. How about you do something around here for once instead of bitching and complaining about everything? Get him some water, and then we can settle this.”

“Ugh… can you just… come with?” He said to me, I said I would just because we didn’t know how safe it was outside and, despite the growing tension, we didn’t want to lose anybody else.

So we went back out into the hallway, watching our every step and making sure the house was clear before we made it into the kitchen. We stepped around the recliner and couch, and were about to enter the beginning of the kitchen when we saw Suki staring into the garage hallway.

She was scared. She was barely moving, not blinking, echoing Tobias at the window.. She was shaking a little bit, looked at us, licked her nose and proceeded to stare at something in the hallway. Me and Tobias looked at each other desensitized, we were prepared now to take on some strange being or at least to perish to it. There was still fear in our hearts but we weren’t as fearful as the last two times. We slowly made our way to the hallway, Suki stepped out of the way, and what beheld us was something neither of us were prepared for.

There was no grotesque monster or skin-wearing beast, but instead it was simply a man, a human man, staring right at the dog while holding a water bottle in his right hand.

We were confused, but not as scared as we were when we saw the humanoid things, and Tobias actually had the courage to speak to him. It was a simple question:

“Who are you?”

The unknown man took his eyes off the dog and finally latched his gaze onto Tobias’, taking a few steps forward to put his water on a nearby table and to get within conversing range of us. The guy wasn’t a bad looking man, he looked maybe like he was in his 30s, a bit tan, with a nice slim body and an impressive head of deep black hair. He had a pleasant and inviting physiognomy, his face was young and inviting, clean and hairless, almost a bit too perfect, humans always have a sort of defect in their build, but this man was flawless. His attire was fitting for his look, an expensive looking suit accompanied his priceless face while his trousers matched satisfyingly with his red and beige suit. His black dress shoes were recently shined and his crimson handkerchief was poking out of his dress pocket. This person was too inviting.

“Pleasure to meet you two gentlemen!” The man said with a big toothy grin, taking out his gloved hand to shake our sweaty ones. “I’m simply here to give you an offer.”

Tobias and I looked at each other, now we were officially dumbfounded; neither of us knew what could’ve happened next except for the man himself, but we mentally braced ourselves to whatever he was about to spew next.

“Tell,” murmured Tobias with a questioning look.

“We-e-ell,” the man started, picking up his bottle of water. He took a swig, wiped his mouth with the handkerchief and put the bottle back down. He fixed his tie and started again: “I’m here to give you a… choice of some sort—but don’t worry! You won’t have to think too much about it.”

Tobias and I knew that this man had to have known something about the things in the windows. “It couldn’t have been some insane coincidence,” we both thought, “he has to know something about Deakin.”

“Do you know Deakin?” I said. “What happened to him?”

“Deakin?” The man replied with a slight grin on his face. “Deakin, Deakin, De… Ah! Yes, yes, indeed, I do know about this ‘Deakin.’” He chuckled lightly. He knew something we didn’t but wasn’t trying to hide it. He wanted us to know that he knew what we didn’t, and was only waiting for us to ask. As hot-headed as Tobias might be, how impulsive we both could be, we were both clear-headed enough then that we knew it was treacherous to ask any further question regarding Deakin. Alas, Tobias asked:

“Well, what happened to him?”

The man let out some air from his nose and put his arm against the wall, crossing his right leg behind the other, getting into a comfortable standing position.

“‘What happened to him?’ Oh, that is a good—very good question!” The man replied vaguely. He was reeling us in to whatever absurd thing he was about to say next, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say we were intrigued. “You see,” he carried on, “Deakin had an encounter with one of our little friends—I’m sure you’ve met at least one!—and, in a nutshell,” he grinned and giggled lightly, covering his mouth with his glove, staring out into the kitchen window behind me and Tobias. “In a nutshell,” he carried on, “we can say that Deakin and his little family have been… reunited!’ Ha, ha, ha!” He said “reunited” like it was the punchline of some joke, and apparently it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. He literally slapped his knee and banged his fist on the wall once or twice before letting in a deep breath and regaining his composure.

Me and Tobias were horrified once more, but instead of being afraid of unsettling faces and disfigured human limbs, we feared the most normal thing in the house.

We didn’t know what to say. We both knew that there was no hope left for Deakin, none left for Maddie, none left for the parents, and certainly none left for us. The thought of Jay was still in the back of our minds, and, almost like he read our minds, he began to speak about Jay and his current situation.

“Ah, but what about your buddy, Mr. James? He’s in that room back there trying to stand up, poor thing had a little accident, huh? Ha, ha!” Everything was a joke to this man. Every time he spoke I thought less and less of him as a man and more of a beast, worse than the faces we saw in the night.

“What do… you know about Jay?” Tobias said, obviously moved by the man’s enigmatic personality.

“What do I know about Jay? Now, now, friend, you are asking the wrong question. It should be what do I not know about any of you boys! I can recount any moment in your life that you regret, anything you wish you never did, and anything that you wish you could’ve done. I know your secrets and I know your truest characteristics. I know more about you than you do about you, but one thing I don’t know is if you’re going to take me up on this offer or if you won’t!” He concluded this haunting speech with a mentioning of the offer once again. Tobias and I were petrified at this man’s omniscience. We were both convinced of the power he welded psychologically, yet we feared what we might be able to do physically.

“I… But…” I murmured under my breath, staring all across the room and backing up, hitting the island. Without my knowing I suddenly bolted to the master bedroom where Jay was to see if he was still there, and to my surprise he actually was, but his figure was now pale and ghastly, his eyes staring straight to heaven like the life was sucked out of him. The police lights were still flashing blue and red, but I knew that the cops, if any of them remained, couldn’t save us from whatever this demon thing could’ve been.

As soon as I was about to turn back to go to the kitchen I almost ran right into the chest of the demon man, and when I walked backwards to back away from the man I bumped into Toby, who promptly shoved me out of the way.

“What do you want?” Toby and I said. “What do you want from us!?” Toby said a bit louder. We were both standing in front of him, his presence a stark contrast from the dull brown room, the red in his suit especially.

“Have any of you boys had a job? Oh! What am I thinking… you, Toby, worked in fast-food for a year… and you, Arch… retail, was it? That’s enough experience for me!” He laughed again. It’s like he’d never stop with the laughter. “What about ol’ Jay over there? Looks like he’s got a lot on his mind!” Jay looked possessed. His mind was either racing or he was completely dead, I was too shocked to contemplate either or.

“Now, enough questions, let’s discuss business.” Said the demon. “I’m giving you an offer to work for me, a small price to pay for protection from… the evils that surround you.” He took on an ominous air, like he was preparing to tell a scary story by a campfire. “You’ve seen what’s happened to Jacob and Jay… you wouldn’t want that to happen to you two now, am I right or am I right? Ha!” That laugh. “Now, now, this is all I ask from you two: to sign this paper. Simple, yes?” He asked us this question, convinced that we’d be convinced.

“I’m not doing that,” I said firmly. “I’m not giving up my dignity to someone—thing like… you.”

Tobias was thinking.

“Listen.” Said the demon, “Listen well: what have you got in your life? Your parents are seperated, your grades are flunking, your friends are either dead or preparing to betray you, and you don’t want to escape from your misery? You are a fool for all I care. You couldn’t save your friend—oh, did I say couldn’t? You didn’t! You’re a sad excuse for a friend, and that’s an overstatement. You have nothing. You are nothing. There is no reason why you shouldn’t sign and every reason why you should. Don’t you want to be something? Don’t you have any aspirations in your life? Or do you want to stay miserable and traumatized for the rest of your pathetic life? I know what I’d choose.” He concluded the painful statement.

I was hurt by those words and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t. I turned to see Tobias’ reaction, and was granted by the opposite of what I was expecting: on his face was a stern, serious look, his body language was stiff, and his eyes locked with the demon. Tobias robotically held out his hand, asking for the pen. He signed his name, shook hands with the demon. He said one last thing to me:

“You know what you’ve done. You know what to do.”

I wasn’t more torn between two decisions in my life. I tried stalling.

“But-but what about Jay? What choice does he get?”

“Jay? He’s gone! He gets no choice, he’s already serving me. He’s been serving me. I met him when he banged his head and seized on the floor. I was in his subconscious. I was telling him what to say! I’ve been controlling him without you even knowing it! I saw an opportunity and I took it, I saw a corpse and I made him into a vessel, and that’s more than you’ll ever amount to be. Sign the paper.”

I cried. I cried hard, I really did. I saw Jay on the bed, propped up like a sack of potatoes staring lifeless into that TV. If only I knew I was talking to a corpse that whole time I probably would’ve signed that paper, but something inside me told me to hold on just a bit longer. Keep that little purity that you have in your heart, I told myself, let it grow. Do not succumb.

“I… will not.” I said, now laying on the bed staring deep into the man’s eyes, a deep black just like his eyes, missing the pupils entirely.

Tobias was registering what the devil said earlier about possessing Jay, and finally realized that he was being played and coerced like an idiot.

“You made him say those things… he didn’t actually mean any of it? You… What have I done to you!? He said, sobbing, falling to his knees with his face in his hands soaking up all the tears like a fallen angel. The demon stepped once backwards in order to not get any tears on his shoes.

“What… have I done…” he kept saying to himself, not believing that he just signed his morality away because of some petty comments, signing his life away to someone that he never met before just for the sake of petty revenge.

“You’re a fool. A real fool, you know that.” Said the demon to the crying boy.

“Please… please… I don’t want to, no, please no…” he kept mumbling to himself, tears in between all the syllables, like a baby without its mother.

“You, Archy-boy,” he said to me. “Remember what you’ve done. Remember my face and remember my presence. This won’t be the last time you see me! Ha, ha, ha!” He laughed one final time. I was forever grateful to never hear it again after that night.

I didn’t say anything, I looked again at Jay like something would’ve happened to him, but he just kept staring; or at least his corpse was still in the same position.

Tobias was still on the floor, on his knees, now staring up at the demon, preparing for whatever would happen next. Frankly I didn’t care anymore, death or life would suffice, I just wanted the night to be over.

The last thing I remember is the devil snapping his fingers, and I saw Tobias and Jay turn into those hideous creatures from the window. I saw those same horrendous faces, those same twisted limbs, those same terrible eyes. They slowly mutated, painfully slow. I stood and stared in horror at both of them.

I began walking to the door, not taking my eyes off of Tobias while he was screaming, groaning, moaning, making every sound possible while he was slowly being turned into a mockery of what he once was. Jay was mutating, too, instead he wasn’t making any noise. His lifeless eyes and wide-open mouth just went along with his eternal torture, forever submissive to the horrors that came over him.

I walked slowly out the room, looking one last time at my friends, my band, the ones closest to me. I looked one last time at Tobias, who said one last thing to me:

“Please.”

I responded to him in a whisper, guilt completely overtaking me:

“I’m sorry.”

And I walked away.

VIII

I walked slowly through Deakin’s house, devoid of all life, myself included, and looked around one more time at the house that once held joy, pleasure, and a loving family. Suki was the only thing left alive in that house. She was scared of me but I petted her one last time before walking out the house. I wanted whatever was outside to take me to the afterlife, if there was one. I didn’t believe in that stuff anymore. “I did meet the devil, however,” I thought. “Maybe there’s a God I just haven’t met.”

I was about to turn the knob to the front door when a hand grasped my shoulder and someone whispered in my ear. It was that godforsaken demon playing another dirty trick. I wasn’t scared anymore, I just wanted my home.

He whispered a latin phrase to me, one I had to research when I went back home. He originally said:

“Vade in donum tuam et porta consequatur actibus tuis.”

Which roughly translated to:

“Go home and suffer the consequences of your actions.”

I did indeed walk home. And I did indeed suffer the consequences.

VII

I live on a countryside ranch now with a wife and daughter. I try my best to enjoy the small things in life: the crisp blue waves shining in the summer light, the cold weather that blesses us with leafless trees and that sentimental winter smell, the time I get with my daughter while she’s still young; all the small things in life I don’t only appreciate, but value. The beauty and serenity of our home is unbeatable, and I’m always making sure that they can get the most out of our home and our environment, whether it be arts and crafts, painting, drawing, or sight-seeing; whatever they’d like to try or do, I always accompany them and make the most of whatever activity we’re taking part in. Seeing them happy, enjoying life, free of pain and free of sorrow, unable to see what I see or experience the grief that I always face in my sleep, that is the reason why I wake up every morning; why I never jumped off that cliff.

My daughter and I were sitting on the cliffside, enjoying the view. I was reading her some of Aesop’s fables and she was listening attentively, enjoying the morals of the stories and their simplicity. It was a colder November day, and the breeze was priceless. My daughter was asking about one fable about a fox and a goat. “What’s this one about?” She asked me, and I told her that it was about how you should ‘look before your leap’ and to not make decisions without being aware of the outcome. “Ah,” she said, “thank you!”

“Of course, love,” I replied, and proceeded to give her a kiss on the forehead.

“What’s that, daddy?” She said, I was confused at first since I didn’t have my glasses on, but after putting them back on my face and and looking to where she was pointing her finger at, I saw a floating figure in the distance, with a familiar, fresh young face.

“Get inside, honey,” I hurriedly said to my daughter.

“Why? What is that, daddy?” She said again, I couldn’t ever tell her who that was.

“Please, just go inside sweetie, please,” I begged her. I yelled for my wife.

“Liza! Please, take Lily, just take her, please,” I begged her too, doing everything I could to get my remaining family away from that thing in the sky.

My wife, though alarmed, eventually took Lily under her wing and closed the big barn doors, shutting me out of their pure seclusion. I was face-to-face with the demon again. For the second time, hopefully the last time, I was prepared to discuss business with the devil.

“What do you want?” I asked him desperately. “Please, anything but them,” I nodded to the door behind me.

“Please, please!” He said mocking me. “Ha, I don’t want your family, I want to talk with you. Come, come,” he said, signaling to the chairs on the cliffside, “I only want to talk, to see your perspective on things.”

“Alright,” I said, and proceeded to sit on the white lawn chair right next to the demon. We shared a table where he put down a pack of cigarettes. There was one missing from the pack that was already in his mouth. He pulled out a lighter from his pocket and proceeded to light the ciggie while offering me one in the process.

“I quit a while ago,” I told him.

“Ah! Good man.” He told me.

“So, why are you here?” I asked him, hands clasped, staring into the salty sea.

“I only want to get your… perspective on things.” He started. “You obviously remember the offer that I presented to you wa-a-y back when, I assume?”

“How could I ever forget.”

“Well, cheer up, old sap! I’ve come to tell you that it’s still on the table, that you can still change your path while it’s available.”

“What, ha, ha, you’re gonna give me eternal life?” I jokingly said, cementing my decision.

“Precisely!” He said, almost jumping out of the seat. “The paper is still right here,” he said, pulling out a clean and crispy piece of paper, unfolded and undamaged, just like the first time he handed it to me. “You know the rules, old boy, yes?” He asked me. A stupid question in my opinion.

“Yep, still do.”

“Well, what’ll it be, son? Go back to your boring, tedious life in this dead country… or come with me to the land of eternal life, immortality, and all available earthly pleasures.” He said, voice and tone same as the day I met him. He hadn’t aged a second, only his suit had changed.

The suit matched with the earth and cliffside that held him to the ground; A nice dark gray suit with the same mirror-shined shoes and a nice lighter gray tie. His collar was more relaxed and he sat cross legged carefully taking puffs out of his cigarette, enjoying the cool breeze that I imagine was in stark contrast with the hell he always lived in.

“What happened to Toby and Jay?” I ignored his vain statement about pleasures and went straight to the meat of the conversation.

“Them? Oh, boy, they serve me now.” He started. “But don’t worry, oh, don’t worry, they’ve regained their human forms, now they just do little deeds for me. I assign to little gigs like these, meetings with the damned, collecting more recruits for the underworld… you know the deal. They’re real hard workers, honestly!” He concluded, rubbing in my face how he’s been using my old friends as mops for dirty work, vessels for peasant tasks.

“I can understand why you took Toby,” I told him, honestly, “but why Jay? Jay never did anything wrong, why’d you take him too?”

“Oh, poor Jay, he just died at the wrong place and the wrong time. You see,” he took a long puff of his cigarette and coughed rather loudly, “I can bend the rules a little, because who’s gonna stop me? Ha, ha, ha!” That hideous laugh once again haunted my ears.

“Cheer up, old sport,” he told me, “you have the option to join them if you like, just sign the paper and we can all be a happy little family again!” He signed for the pen and paper. I still stared off into the cloudless sky, the smell of cigarette smoke interrupted the smell of the amazing winter scent.

“Look, sir, thing, whatever you are,” I said, “I appreciate your offer, but I’d rather not be reminded of that day. I want to keep my ‘tedious’ life and my family. I’ve overcome a lot, I’ve seen it all, I’ve seen friends perish in front of me because of you, I’ve seen you. You will not coerce me into throwing all that away. Bring your paper someplace not here and stay away from me and my family.” I aggressively ended this statement.

“Ho, ho! You’ve always impressed me, Archy-boy,” he said enthusiastically, like he was waiting for me to say those words. “Most men like you succumb easily, but you, you, sir, are a challenge indeed!” He took another puff, coughed another cough. “I like your purity, old saint, you can keep your little girl and your old lady, and I’ll be on my way, Mr. Family Man!” He said, jokingly putting up his hands like he was being interrogated by the cops. He stepped back until it looked like he was about to fall off the cliff, but when he took a couple more steps back, he began standing on the thin air, readjusting his suit and flicking the cigarette into the vast, clear ocean.

Waving my hand at him, telling him one last time to fuck off, he blessed me with one last sentence:

“Be careful what you say, man! This might not be the last time you see, and it might be the last time you see me alone.”