Greens And Reds

Do you believe in the supernatural world? UFOs? Bigfoot? The monsters under your bed?

The scary night time stories you’ve probably heard growing up or told at sleepovers or camps trying to spook your pals. Do you believe in them? Do they hold onto your thoughts during the day and your dreams at night? Do you wake up in a cold sweat? Do you dare face the fear THEY bring?

See, once upon a time, I too, lived in ignorance. Away from the idea or thought of the demons that roam along freely, ignorant of their existence and ignorant of their power. Until it all changed. Until trajedy struck.

Unlike the stories of childlike innocence and happiness, this story did not start off on a good note. Infact, it was the exact opposite. I was going through a very hard time in my life. Almost, to the point of the end.
You see, as a man in your mid-40s, losing your job and then your wife and kids is as close to the end as you can get.

It was at this point of my life when I found comfort and solace in loneliness. But along with comfort it brought pain. It was in that solitary confinement that I put myself in when I realized what a house of three kids sounded like. The chaos, the screams, the fights, the giggles. All that I once had, that I lost all at once. In one single night.

Brooding over my loss at an empty house led me to do things my wife would’ve been heartbroken to see, the scattered furniture, broken bottles and glasses, the white scattered on her expensive carpet, she would’ve been absolutely mortified to see the house she once kept so pure to later become no less than a teenage frat house.
Guess it was good she was never around to watch my slow decline. I was not the same man she had fallen in love with. I had become someone else.

It was also during this time of ignorance that I was made aware of life other than our own.

On one such night of gut wrenching loneliness and pain I was interrupted by three sharp knocks on my door. As was customary, I ignored it, choosing to brood over my own sadness than deal with whoever was on the other side of the door.

The knocks came once more. As expected. See, for an average person it takes at least three tries to realize when they’re being ignored.
Once again, three more sharp knocks sounded on the door. And then there was silence.

Back to my loneliness I was.

I don’t remember much after that, for the intoxicants had taken over me. How or when I dozed off is a mystery to me still. But I remember waking up to sharp knocks on my door. Again. The same three sharp knocks.

I’m not sure why, but something made me get up and check the time. 2:58 am. The neon light on the clock showed.

This was messed up. Who could show up at my door at this hour? It could most definitely not be good news. No one shows up to your doorsteps at this hour carrying good intentions.

Now see, had my wife been alive, I would’ve jumped up and rushed to the door, ready to fight anyone that would’ve been at the door. Ready to protect my family that meant everything to me.
But she wasn’t alive, neither were my kids. My beautiful family was now just a memory. I couldn’t save them. I couldn’t save her. My everything. And now I had nothing.
With these thoughts I sat there, not moving. It didn’t matter anymore, who came or went, the sharp knocks at odd hours, they didn’t matter anymore. Nothing did.

As I sat there waiting to see what would happen next, a scratching on the window behind me brought my senses on high alert.

As I turned around, three pairs of glowing eyes stared back at me. Green. Bright green. And then it happened again. The scratching, as two claws scratched the glass window, leaving long claw marks, a sound so uncomfortable it made my soul itch.

I rushed up and leaped out the back door and ran up to the window where the green eyes were just moments ago, now there was nothing, only large prints under the window. Prints that looked almost human, but weren’t.

I walked around the yard, the place where my kids once used to play and we had tea parties and family get-togethers.

Everday I tried not to think of them, of the life I once had, the joy that once I called home. I did not have it anymore. It was gone, forever.

“No point thinking of the ‘that had been’, munchin” that’s what she used to say. She was my munchin’ , I almost smiled at the memory of the nickname we gave to each other as teenage sweethearts.

As I walked around the house crossing the mini-garden she had kept so well, which now in her absence looked no less than a mini-forest — chaotic and a mess — just like my life had become, I felt myself falling, face first into the mini-forest.

I tried to wake up, push myself up. Wake up. Wake up! Get up! I screamed, but no noise came out of my throat.

“Help! Help!”
I screamed. But all that came out was gurgled noises.

I pushed at the ground with both my hands, using all my might. My left arm gave in while my right arm rolled me over to my left side and onto my back.

As I lay there looking at the sky exhausted from the struggle with myself, I heard something. The same loud knocks! Sharp. And then the same scratching. So loud it pierced my ears, I felt blood flowing through my eardrums.

I tried calling out for help once more, only to fail again.

I was losing consciousness, and then I heard buzzing. A high pitched buzzing.

As I was drifting in and out of consciousness a bright light filled my eyes. So bright it was blinding. And then the same green eyes stared at me, all three of them, and then they slowly turned red. Evil.

The high pitched scratching was back, and the sharp knocks, the bright light filled my eyes. My head was pounding, blood flowing from my nose too now.

I felt myself getting lightweight. Like the burden of loss leaving me.
And then I heard her. Her voice. The same scream I heard just before she died. Her voice. It filled my bleeding ears. Again and again. She was screaming. I heard her pain. She was dead, all because of me. I killed her.

When I woke up the bright light filled my vision, only less harsh now.
I tried to sit up, but my body refused to work. I tried to move my head, but failed once more.

As my eyes adjusted to the brightness I tired to look around with the limited movement I had and realized I was tied up. Bound. My hand, legs, head, all of me was restricted. I tried calling out for help. Again, not a single syllable escaped my tongue. What was happening to me? As panic set in, I saw the same red eyes again. And this time with them I saw the body that carried the monster. Tall, burly, unlike anything human, yet with a similarity I couldn’t place.

I tried to speak again.

What are you? What do you want from me?
I wanted to ask it. But once again, only silence left my lips.

As I lay there helpless, a stream of tears flowing through my eyes, my wonderful life flashing through my memory. All the good and bad. My life. The one that was about to end soon.

Just then I heard the monster speak, as it placed a claw on my cheek, my tears falling on its large nails. It lifted it’s claw and that’s when I realized, it wasn’t tears that fell down my eyes, but blood.

“Why did you kill us… Munchin’?”




~ How will this tale end? We don’t know! How about you tell us?! ~