Screeching Birthday!

I roll over, in my bed, giving my body a good stretch. The cover glides roughly over my skin as I move my body back and forth.

"Ring, ring, ring.. ring, ring, ring," went my phone.

I stretch my hand across the bed grabbing my phone from the night stand. Without looking I Answer the phone by gliding my finger across the screen . "Hello," I say waiting for a voice. "Wake up sleepy head. It's Julie. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!," she screams. "Thanks," I say lazily gazing across the room. "I got Samantha, Charlie, and Alayna on the other line. I will connect them now," she says. My phone buzzes twice giving my face a small shutter. A video call. Really? I hover the phone over my face squinting my eyes through the brightness. Quickly answering the phone I begin with a wave and a fake smile. "Happy Birthday," the other three girls scream all at once. Those are my other three home girls Samantha, Charlie, and Alayna. We have been friends sense forever. "Thank you everybody," I say looking away at my door. "Hey sleepyhead, we will all be over in about 15 minutes," Julie says over the other girls. The all scream in excitement as the phone call drops with three beeps. I toss my phone to the side staring hard at the ceiling. "Emily come down stairs", Mom screams from the kitchen. "I have something special for you". "What?," I say aloud trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "Come down and find out," she screams back. Forcing myself to the edge of the bed I sit straight up. I grab my shoes from under the bed and slide each one along my feet. "Here we go."

I make my way to the door and head down the stairs. "Yeah mom," I say almost down.

"I found this really cool camera on the way home from the store. I thought you might like it," she says. She was holding two big paper bags filled with miscellaneous items. "Where is it?", I ask making my way to the last step. "Come help me with the these and I will give it to you," she says. I was sceptic on the idea of liking something my mom brought home for me but I wanted to give it a shot. I grab one of the bags from her hands and begin pulling things out. First, from the bag, was two boxes of cake flour. Next came icing mix and a cake pan. "You remembered," I say giving off a soft smile. "I birthed you sweetie," she says smiling back. I look back in the bag and see a old camera with a pushed out lens; bulky in size with a slit at the bottom where the photos came out.

I pull the camera out the bag slowly and give it a good look. "Where did you say you got this camera from?," I ask staring it down. "I found it on the way walking home," she replies. "Do you not like it." "I actually love it crazy enough," I reply back. Continuing to grab the remaining groceries from her bag my mom places them on the counter. "Hey, sweetheart," she asks. "If you can, watch the front door for me please. I ordered a few pizza's and the guy will be here in a minutes". "No problem," I reply slowly. Something felt off about the camera but I could not quite put my finger on it. Humm. "Hey mom, lets take a picture".

I hold the camera up and point it back at the both of us. "No Emily, that is not such a good idea...," she says being interrupted. "Snap". "Perfect," I says waiting for the picture to come out. As the picture slowly comes out the silence in the room became heavy. I remove the picture from the camera and begin fanning it back and forth. After about four seconds the finally picture became clear. Holding it up I see my beautiful smile taking up half of the photo but my mom was blurred from the waist up. The corner of the photo where her face was is blacked out also. "Hey mom, something must be wrong with this camera..," I say turning around. Mom stood there still as could be with a line of blood dripping from her nose. "Mom are you okay." I say trying to get her attention. The darting stare in her eyes grow dull with each second that passes. "Mom, mom," I scream. She immediately looks down at me with a wide eye stare. "Go..get..me..tissue," she says distraught. "Okay," I nod fast. Leaving the kitchen I place the camera down on the counter beside me. "Ding dong. Ding dong," went the doorbell. "Owe crap, the pizza delivery guy," I say switching direction. "Mom, I will be right back," I say running through the living room. Making it to the front door I twisting the knob and swing it open fast. To my surprise it was not the pizza guy but my best friends. They were holding gifts bundled in each hand. "Hey!!!," they all scream simultaneously. My first reaction was to close the door but I kept a straight face. "Hey," I say with as less sarcasm as possible. "Come on in". They each walk in behind me one by one trying not to drop their gifts. "Where can we put these," Samantha asks. "In the kitchen on top of the table," I reply. Before the girls could take one step ahead of me I immediately run back to the kitchen. "Mom," I scream running around the corner. When I make it there the room was completely empty. "Mom?," I say in confusion. She was gone but the little puddle of blood was still spreading on the floor. "What is wrong?," Julie asks coming around the corner. She drops her presents and let out a loud scream. "AAHHHH! IS THAT BLOOD!" she says. "Yeah, my mom had a nose bleed right before I came to the door. Everything should be fine," I say calming her.

I quickly gather up the gifts off the floor and change the subject. "Okay ladies, we can take the gifts to that table over there."

Leaving the main kitchen area and we walk over to the table in the corner. Once we placed the gifts down together there was nothing left but a dead silence that shortly followed. "...Alayna, how was the ride over here," I ask her. She looks at me, turns to the blood then looks back to me. "The ride was great. Samantha's mom drove us in her new 2021 Ford Fusion," she says excited. "Yeah, it is really great," Samantha replies. "Hey, sorry for interrupting but who's old school camera is that on the counter?," Alayna asks. "It is mine. My mom brought it home for me today. You like it?," I reply back. "It looks very vintage. If you ever want to get rid of it I call it," she says interested. I walk over to the camera and pick it up from the counter. "Hey, lets go up to my room and check it out," I say waving the girls along.

We all head up the stairs making it to my room. "Owe my god Emily, did you change something up in here?," Alayna asks. "Not really. I just cleaned my room yesterday," I say trying not to give her the stink eye. "Owe," they all say before laughing together. "Yeah, I guess I do need to keep it more clean in here," I say laughing with them. "Hey, lets take a picture together," Julie replies through the laughter. "Okay, group together everybody," I say holding up the camera. We all smile hard and scream cheese as I click the flash button. The film slowly makes its way out of the camera stopping near the very end of the slit. I pull the picture out and instantly begin fanning it back and forth. "I think this one is a keeper," I say turning around. The picture was nice but it was the same as before. My friends are blurred from the waste up with black smudges over their face. I look up and see that they were making the same face as my mom was making earlier. Shortly after a stream of blood begins pouring from each of their noses as they stand there. "Are you all okay," I say waving my hands in their face. "Ding dong. Ding dong," went the front doorbell. "Crap," I say looking back and forth. "I will be right back". I quickly storm out of the room and head to the stairway. Before I could make it down I could see a puddle of dragged blood leading into our house from the open front door. "Mom," I scream. "Mom".

I make my way to the bottom of the stairs slowly inching towards the front door. Once I make it to the door I could only see blood but no body. "What is going on," I say looking around. "SCREECH..," went a loud sound behind me. The sound resembled someone running their finger nails across a chalk board. "SCREECH..," went the loud sound again. I wanted to stay but something in me wanted to run even more. I grip the camera hard and make my way back up the stairs. The screeching grew closer as I make my way to the top. Once I make it up I quickly run back into my room trying not to be seen. Closing the door gently behind me I try to be as silent as possible. I slowly turn away from the door to see my friends were nowhere to be found. "Hey, where did all of you go," I whisper looking around. They were gone but their puddles of blood was still fresh on the floor. "SCREECH. SCHREECH," went a loud sound at my doorway. The noise was followed by a loud grunt and nudges at the door handle. "Please. Please. No," I say staring at the door. The door flies open and it was my mom standing there. Her eyes were gouged out. The blood raggedly dripping from her eyes and mouth reaching down to her fingertips. "SCHEECH," she went again. I turn to my closet and take off running. My mom followed closely behind me almost gripping me by my shirt. I get inside quickly slamming the door behind me. I drop the camera hitting the back of it hard against ground. "Crap," I say dropping to my knees. I run my fingers across the closet floor as my mom continues to bang on the door. "SCREECH. SCREECH," she screams again. I tap the side of the camera as I search the left corner floor. "Got it," I say. As I grip my hands around it fully the back felt alittle broken. I held the camera near the bottom of the doorway to catch the incoming light but my moms legs made the process hard. The light reveals that the back was broken and hanging out was a little piece of paper. I pull the little sheet out and hold it down near the light. It read, "Shi No Duraki" in bold and under it it says, "Demon Hide-and- Seek. Take a picture and hide. Do not get caught. Or else." I slowly drop the note and pick up the camera. I turn the camera towards me and take one final photo. The flash glows the entire closet for a split second before going dark again. I had a bad feeling in the back of my head that could not be ignored any longer. I take in a deep gulp and point the camera toward the photo. The flash goes off for a split second revealing my worst night mare. The picture showed me in the middle with all four of my friends bloody, gouged, faces lined up behind me. "Ahhhhhh!!!," I scream as they pull me further into the darkness.

The room grew silent as Emily's scream died to a close.

The closet door slowly creeks open revealing Emily's body lying in a pool of its own blood. The blood oozing from her eye sockets down to the holes in her cheeks. The camera was set up neatly beside her body without a drop of blood on it. The broken back was fixed like time had reset itself. Not ever a scratch. My mothers corpse picks up the camera and walks it over to the window. She cocks her hand back and throws the camera through the window. Even with the shattering of glass she was able to making it land near the side walk.

"What the..," went a strange man walking by. The ground was covered in glass hovering over a strange vintage object. "Owe, cool. A camera", he says picking it up. "I can't wait to show this to my wife. She loves vintage camera's".

"The End" -Or- Until next time

SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH!!