Mr Bubbles

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window” ... I don’t know if I should tell this story but I feel like I have to. There is an old wife's tale that my great grandmother would tell me and my siblings. If you ever come across a begging child or one asking you to play, always show kindness because you never know who they are or what they might be.

There was a police case filed recently with a local in a small town and in that report the local said “I went to the cabin to look because I noticed there was a candle in the window and to my knowledge, nobody was supposed to be there. I knocked and there was no answer so I walked in. I saw a teenage girl playing in the dark. Drawing on the floor and smiling, calling out to someone called Mr Bubbles. She noticed me and screamed “LEAVE US! GO AWAY... PLEASE!” I turned and ran. Although I left with some trepidation, I went to check on her the morning after but she was dead and the strange thing about it was that she had no eyes”.

Those were the words of the only witness in that case. So, let me tell you about Mr Bubbles. This is a sad story but it is way creepier than what the name implies.

So, for starters, nobody knows his actual name. His real name seems to be lost but for the sake of the story we’ll call him Mr Bubbles. Mr Bubbles was a young man with a dream, a dream to make people smile. He didn’t have much to his name. He had no family, no friends, some go on to say that he didn’t even have a home to go back to like us.

His only two possession was a van. A shiny van that he would travel in and his bubble kit. Obviously, the bubble kit was for him to perform. You know when you would have a kid's party or visit a kid's party there might be a bubble maker or performer. Actually, you know when you are sightseeing and you see those performers outside entertaining the public? That was what he did.

Back then, he would travel in his van and perform at different events for people. He did it so much that he got a little popular with the locals and neighbouring towns. Henceforth, the town gifted him his name Mr Bubbles. He acknowledged the new name given to him and he was known as that ever since.

Time passed as it does and things in the world started to change. In other words, society advanced. Over time, entertainment had changed and people wanted different things. i.e. skype, zoom, facetime, etc. Social media was being used more effectively and better items to occupy people like consoles were created and finding easier ways to grab our attention. People became desensitised to the simplier things in life.

It was all working and the world was progressing quicky, but Mr Bubbles failed to keep up. Years passed and the amount of people that visited him lessened year after year. He would travel to his regular spots and more people would ignore him. They would simply walk past him and the worst bit was that they knew who he was and they tried not to engage with him.

It didn’t take long for the world to make him invisible. They left him behind in an older time. He just wanted to make people happy so he felt broken that nobody was there for him when he needed help. It made him sink into depression and as he sank, it morphed into anger. The man who once smiled forgot how to.

He didn’t see the point in playing with “ungrateful” people anymore, so he drove himself to the woods in his now old, rusted vehicle. He was found the next day by police, his van parked by a cabin and he was found dead inside.

The only thing that was leaked to the public was a little poem he wrote confessing what he felt. It wrote:

Hello Strangers,

I want you to find these words,

So you get to know how I feel,

I want you to hear them carefully,

Before I do go for real,

I knew quite a lot of people,

Some people when they were young,

I used to do bubbles for you all,

Those times were fun

You have chosen to forget me,

When I was the best part of your day,

You all have become ungrateful,

I just wanted you to play,

Don’t pretend to miss me,

You ended me as well,

What I truly wish for,

Is for you to see hell

Those were his words that he wrote before he did what he did to himself. I would be lying if I said we didn’t help him go. If you ever see a van not far from where you are, whether that’s down the road or outside your house, it just might be him. Be careful, it may mean that someone has summoned him and sent him to you.

Think about it... Why do you think baby’s wake up in the middle of the night? it's like that moment when you think you see something in the corner of your eye? He might already be playing peekaboo with you. Better yet, why do you think you have the urge to turn the light on when its dark? When you are alone in the dark, why does it feel like you're being watched?

He takes refuge in the shadows. He is the reason your floor creeks at night and one night he will come to you. Could be anytime at night. There's no point cuddling next to your parents or whoever you're living with... that doesn’t matter.

If ever you see a lit candle at your window, it’s a sign that he wants you to play with him so try to be happy and you mustn't stop until the candle dies out. There is no fixed time for the candle to burn. Could be a few minutes, could be the whole night but you must play with him without using technology and calling his name occasionally.

If you do everything right and the candle dies out, you should see random bubbles appear out of nowhere no-matter where you are. As a reward from him for playing. If you mess up in any way by mentioning somebody else's name, using technology, stopping before the candle light goes, playing in lit areas, being distracted or simply not playing, you will never see those bubbles. It is said that if you fail, he will visit you that very same night.

He is known to be 7 feet tall. He will have a long-ripped coat that brushes the floor, black and white wing-tipped shoes, his skin will look as if he was dipped in sewage, a very gaunt face, he will smile in the dark with his elongated discoloured teeth and all you would see is the flickering of the candle flame in the sockets of where his eyes once were. Also, he had no hair.

He will come for you and he will be one of the last things you see. The reason why it will be “one of the last” is because not only... does he takes take your eyes. You will be blind but there's more to it. He sends your eyes to hell for you to spectate until you die.

I don’t know what that’s like but you can only imagine how scary that must be. If you are someone that doesn't believe in religion, I'm sure even you would cry out to God. Seeing suffering in hell and maybe even seeing you know who... In that case that was mentioned at the beginning, nobody knows what she saw exactly but it couldn’t have been anything short of ungodly and stopped her from wanting to live. At that moment, I'm sure she remembered why he chose her. Earlier that week, she was on her way to the shop and she was stopped by a little girl who was begging for something but because she was too busy on her mobile phone, she shrugged the child off and pushed them out the way.

So, heed this warning, It's not hard to be nice. It only takes a minute to engage with someone because if you don't... this could happen to you.