Are You Afraid?

My heart was racing so fast, I thought it would have jumped out of my chest and run off, just as I would have liked to do at that moment. But I was cornered and face to face with possible DEATH.

You must be wondering how I got here. Well, let me take you back to the beginning.

I have never believed in monsters or ghosts or demons and I was never very superstitious so, naturally, when the townspeople warned me about the evil spirits in the house, I didn't believe them.

I was moving into the new house thinking nothing of the people's warnings. I was a grown man and not many things scared me, least of all spirits, or so I thought. I was starting to unpack my things when I heard a strange noise, almost like a child crying.

Thinking it was just one of the neighbors kids, I continued to unpack and set everything up. After an hour and a half of unpacking and moving, I was finished. It was eight o'clock at night, I was tired so I went to bed.

About three hours later, I heard the same cry from earlier and it sounded as if it was coming from my basement. I live alone and don't have much stuff, so I had no reason to go down there before. As I made my way down the steps, the crying stopped.

Since I hadn't been in the basement before, I didn't know where to look. There was a single light bulb in each room of the basement and they were all burnt out. As I got down all the steps the crying started again, but it was different, more like screeching.

I walked into the first room and it stopped again. I found a lamp and matches, which was odd because they were both new, I obviously hadn't put them there, and no one else had lived in the house in over 50 years. I grabbed the matches and lit the lamp. I then continued walking.

There was a figure crouching in the corner of the room. I walked towards it. It looked like a person. "Hello," I said. It turned around. This was not a person. In fact, I'm not sure what it was. It had pale grayish skin and no eyes, like something from my nightmares.

I ran upstairs and called the police, but when they arrived it was nowhere to be seen. This was the first time in a long time I was afraid.

You see, when I was younger, I was always taught to face my fears. I was never scared of anything growing up. I decided to go after the thing in my basement, to face my fear.

I went down with a brass candlestick holder as a weapon. I went into the room it was last in, lit the lamp that I found, and went to the same corner. It wasn't there. My ears started ringing, and the room was starting to spin. I turned around, and there it was.

Now that it wasn't crouching, I saw how tall it was. It must have been around 8 feet tall, pale grayish skin, and large holes in its face where its eyes should have been. This was no human, it was some sort of monster. The odd thing was, even though it was making that sound, its mouth wasn't moving.

Which brings us back to before, where my heart was racing and I was breathing so heavily I thought I was shaking the house. I wanted to scream for help, but no one would have heard me. Then I realized, the candle stick holder! It was still in my hands.

I took it and whacked the creature on the head. It fell and I ran faster than I have in my life up the stairs and locked the door. I grabbed my suitcase and threw in my clothes, grabbed three boxes, threw in some of my belongings, put it in my car and left. I've never been back to that house.

The creature could still be there, but it's no longer my problem. That was over 40 years ago and no one has ever believed me. I'm telling you this story in hopes that you believe me and to tell you that everyone has a fear. No matter how brave you think you are, I guarantee you're afraid of something. You just haven't found it yet.

The End