THE BEGINNING

WORD OF WARNING:

I have yet to write, talk, or even THINK about these things without "stirring the pot". Sometimes its followed by a few movements out the corner of my eye. Sometimes, things literally move. And then there are times... well we wont go there yet. Please understand, this is my warning to YOU. The reader. Read At Your Own Risk. This goes for all my writings. May God keep you. XOXO

Even as a child I knew there was something wrong, different, about me. Maybe it was being born dead. Is that what opened a door to these things? Is that how it found me? Maybe it was my family and the experiences they had. Could it have been following all along? Or maybe it was that place. I may never really know the answer. That I can live with. But I have to admit, this moment, this event, it scarred me. It marked me and began a spiral, an obsession no one saw coming. This is the night that lit a flame still burning within me to this very day... This is the Beginning.

That chilly Autumn night was like any other. We played until the sun went down and the frogs, crickets and owls began to sing. My family lived down a orange clay road, up on a hill over looking a crossroad. Our home on one corner, swampy wooded land on the three others. Our "home" was an old mobile home. A "trailer". It wasn't uncommon for the area. Down in Bonifay Florida just below the Alabama border, (L.A. some called it; Lower Alabama) we were just a country town most people drove through on their way to Panama City Beach. Most people don't venture beyond the gas and fast food stops off the interstate. We lived quite a ways from town. Our family was made up of Mom, Dad, myself around 8 years old, my little sisters Sandy 5, and Boo 3.

We were poor as hell. Mom went to college at night to become a nurse, and worked all day as a CNA doing home health care. Dad? He cut fire wood, sold fish, did odd jobs. Whatever he could. Our parents had just bought that property and trailer not long before all this, with the help of our grandma. It was a start. The place was nothing more than a shelter. It was a two bed one bathroom dwelling. The kitchen on the far right hand end which had two little steps down to the open living room. A small hallway to the left hand wall led down to the opposite end. The first room was a small doorway to the right. Our room. My sisters and I had a bunk bed along the right side. Straight ahead a tiny window that couldn't be opened. To the left was our closet. Elevated about two feet off the ground. There must had been a covering for the space under the closet at one time. But now it was no where to be found. Instead, you could see through a hole behind the toilet into the bathroom which we used as a night light. In the floor of that space under the closet, was another hole. You could see the ground through there. The spare space in our bedroom was just big enough to sit, three little girls, in a row, to play with our toys. No more, no less. There was no door on our bedroom. I just assumed there never had been.

Continuing down the hall the next room on the right, obviously was the bathroom. Crammed with a washer, and toilet to the right; bath straight ahead in a puke green. His and her sinks to the left, topped by a wall size mirror that fed into a towel cabinet that held Dad's porn mags.

Stepping out of the bathroom you came face to face with the only usable door to the outside. It was technically the "backdoor" but it was the only one that had steps to the ground. You did not even have to take a step to be face to face ALSO with our parents room. All three doorways cuddled together in that space. I always found it claustrophobic. Even though our parents "door" was actually nothing more than a blue felt like blanket that made my skin itch. There was no room for anything in that room after they but that queen size hand-me-down bed in it. Barely enough space to walk.

Why did I bore you with the lay out of white trash housing? You are about to see...

That night my little sister Sandy had her best friend sleep over. Sadie. This was unheard of. A sleep over. But our Dad had become super close with her father. Sandy and Sadie were both in the same kindergarten class which helped. We were ecstatic that our parents let someone sleep over. Especially this girl. We thought she was RICH. She had a brick house with normal sized rooms and two bathrooms. It was beautiful. I know our mother was ashamed to have people over. But we were kids and this was what we had dreamed of!

We had such a hard time falling asleep. We all slept on the bottom bunk. I was on the outer edge. Head just below the window. Sadie was between Sandy and I. Then Boo, who eventually crawled to our feet. We made shadow puppets on the wall with the light that flowed from the bathroom. We made up stories and giggled till Momma came to let us know we were being too loud and not to piss off Daddy. At some point I recall Sadie cried and wanted to go home. We didn't want that. So I told her a story. I had been told by my Momma that her name, Sadie, meant "princess". So I made up a story about a beautiful princess that had to go on a journey or something. Eventually she and I passed out. The other two girls had been long snoozing.

I woke to the sensation of fingernails, dragging across my scalp pulling my hair back from my face. At first, I thought, Mom. She has long beautiful nails. She must be checking on us. So I didn't open my eyes. When it just did not stop, I opened my eyes. I was facing the wall and Sadie. Mom's hand still scraping my hair back, I started to turn onto my back. As I looked up at the hand as it reached across in the same pattern as before, my heart caught in my throat.

In the dull light, which seemed a bit dimmer now, a hand, that was not my mother's, reached over my face, and dragged its nails across my scalp. This time dragging hair across my eyes and nose. This hand was no human hand. No. Those nails were sharper than anything I had seen to that point in life. they seem to be, not nails, but sharp FINGER tips. Fingers that didn't connect to a hand, but somehow, an arm. And that arm, was just as strange. That arm was so thin. Like it was a small child's but far too long to belong to one. These fingers kept making the same motion across my face.

Oh how I wanted to scream! I tried. With everything I TRIED! But the fear froze the sound in my chest. I was not sure I even could breathe any longer. So I turn my head, just slightly. Just enough. There, crouching on the floor beside me, a silhouette. Blacker than the darkest part of this world, was a hooded figure. The arm even darker than its cloak as it peeked out to repeat its motion. The gaping darkness where a face should be seemed to glare at me from no where. Even as a child, I knew, this was evil.

I stared in disbelief. Wanting my Mom. Begging for Mommy. But only internally. No one was coming. No one could hear me. I am too afraid to move. The light from the bathroom was being blocked out. Just a light outline around this entity was visible making it even more terrifying. The darkness of it seemed to swallow up all light. It just couldn't be real. A tear fell from my eye. As it hit the pillow, the creature's arm freezes over my face. It's head shifts just slightly. Barely enough to notice. Yet, the silent terror was so thick, you could FEEL the movement. It leaned in. With the arm still frozen over my face, I felt the breath coming from the pit of nothingness, as the words poured from the void.

I couldn't make out a single word. It was repeating something. Over and again, the same sounds. The words made me sick. Made my stomach ache deep inside. I realized at once I was breathing, when I had thought I was holding my breath. My breaths were quick and shallow. I felt sour churning in my chest. Like vomit was swelling from deep in my gut. The words from this thing flooding my mind. I wanted my Momma so bad but I couldn't think those words any longer. Such a strange language. So many voices. VOICES. Not voice. Not male and female. Something else. Rolling off this emptiness into my soul. Time stood still.

In the distance I heard something. My little heart, already pounding, felt as if it were about to explode. More noise from beyond my room distracted me from that hypnotic speech. For a moment I broke free in my mind, "Mommy, please help, I don't want to die!", I could only think the words.

Suddenly everything stopped. The figure no longer pouring words from nowhere, slowly, still close and facing me, pulled its arm back into the cloak of darkness. I begin to scream again and again for my Mom in my mind. Then I said the only thing I had left to say..."God please!" Even though it wasn't spoken, I knew it was powerful. I knew it did... something... but what? I believed completely in God. Just as I did Easter Bunnies and Santa. So in my mind, I called Him. "God Please, Please God, HELP GOD!"

The entity leaned closer, I pissed myself. No longer calling God. No longer calling Mom. No longer thinking. I knew it could hear me. It whispers, " It's all going to be okay." In my head one last time I scream "Mommy!"

At that moment, my mother is standing in the doorway. The most beautiful sight my eyes could behold! The figure jerks its hooded "head" toward my mother in the doorway, looks back at me, and fades into the dark wall.

My mother runs to me. Holds me. Calls for my dad. Everything else is a blur.

The next day she is talking on the phone with my grandmother. She tells the story from her point of view. Only, one thing I realize was wrong with her testimony now that I am an adult...

Mom says that the reason she got up and came to the door, is because she could hear me screaming for her. And finally I screamed so loud I woke her up. There is just one problem with that; if I had screamed that long, the other three girls would have awoken. For certain. They were fast asleep when she came and gathered me in her arms.

As for that Shadow figure; I've been given many ideas of what it could be. I've found most of them to not be true. Momma saw it that night. She doesn't like to talk about it, but she saw it. I thought it was done with me. However, I would go on to encounter that thing at least 3 more times. My children has had their own experiences with such. My spouse as well PRIOR to meeting me.

I became thoroughly obsessed with locating this creature or at the least, others whom have encountered it. I think I have come across a few but I am still on my journey. It opened some kind of door. Since that moment there have been experiences and interactions with things I just cant explain. I hope to share those with you here. Just remember, read at your own risk...

(all stories by G.L.C. : copyright 2010-2022 in Wisconsin or Florida)