Creepy Pastas and other creepy stories

Shadow

Shadow

This is a recording I found while looking for my friend, Gary. He's been reported missing for 9 days, but I haven't heard from him for 12, and I decided to take a stroll into the woods where we used to hang out in his tree house that he and his father built. I thought he was dead so I just thought it would be nice to relive some old memories.

I found with him, amongst his horrifically mutilated body a dead flashlight, empty candy bars and different bags of food, not enough for a week, and a torn blanket from his bedroom at the house. But amongst all the blood and torn skin I found this, a tape recorder.

Now, if I haven't of thrown up as soon as I saw him, I probably wouldn't of found it. I threw up on his feet and it brought my head down enough to just see the dull silver coating shining slightly on the floor a foot or so from his lifeless hand. I quickly grabbed it and climbed down the tree. I sat with my back against the tree and opened it up. There was in fact a tape inside. I closed it again and rewound it back to the beginning before curiously pressing play. This is what I heard:

"I...I keep having this.... dream...I have the same dream every night; A dark shadow standing in front of me. He has no legs; I can only see his upper half. It's like he's just a floating, black cloud but so much scarier." He makes sounds as if he is crying or sobbing and continues into his next words.

"Its eyes...oh god, its eyes! They stare into my very soul. The very essence of who I am! I can't lure my gaze away from them. It's...it's as if I am locked into those piercing, black pits. He takes...he takes his hand, his CLAWS! HE HAS FUCKING CLAWS! And he fucking CUTS ME!"

He breaks into a coughing fit from yelling then cries for a bit longer before continuing.

"Each dream is different. He either cuts across my face, my stomach, my arm, my leg. Each time, every fucking time, I wake up with three scratch marks into my skin. They burn. They burn as if someone was holding a flame against my skin. I'm used to it by now, however.... " A long silence. The only sounds you hear are of the soft whistle of the wind. You can't even hear him breathe anymore.

"I don't know if anyone will find me, but I am in a tree house I made a couple miles into the woods when I was a kid. I didn't bring anything except for some water, matches, flashlight, a blanket, a few items of food, and this stupid recorder. I ran out here to try to escape from him. I thought that dreaded house was the cause of all this. Both of my parents died in that house. No one ever knew how. No one even knew until they found me 3 days later in the closet that I hid in after I found them lying dead in their bed."

He starts to laugh, starting at a small chuckle before laughing extremely loud. He calms down only slightly so he can speak some more.

"Do-do you have any idea what if feels like to go to sleep with everything perfect, everything just as it is every day; then the next day you wake up to your own mother and father mutilated?" He has stopped his laughing. His tone turns a more cheery but cheeky.

"I still see them sometimes too; in my dreams. Sometimes, if the shadow is feeling generous enough, he will show me my parents; as perfect and healthy as they used to be. Then, instead of scratching me, he would scratch them. And as he did it, I knew that if he had a mouth he would be smiling from ear to ear. He would turn around and slowly cut down their bodies with his horrible, shadowy claws. He would mutilate them just as I saw that night I woke up to them dead."

He laughs again, but not as loudly as before. He laughs for about fifteen seconds before calming down and changing his voice serious.

"He would make them beg for their lives. Beg for me to save them. Tell them that I could save them, but I chose not to. That I didn't love them enough and I ENJOYED their pain, their suffering, watching them face that horrible monster. At first they begged me to help them. Then they cried. Tears turned to anger. And anger turned to fear. My mother screamed the loudest when he cut down her stomach and a half-grown baby falls out, the umbilical cord snapping just before it lands head first onto the black ground."

At this point you can hear him shaking. He coughs and it sounds as though he sits up quickly and looks around. He sighs and sniffles.

"I'm going to sleep. I'm tired. I want to see my parents again. I hope my shadow is generous today..." You can hear the click of the tape as he presses the pause button. Not a second later it starts into his next recording. He screams loudly. He screams as if someone was performing heart surgery without an anesthetic.

"HELP! OH GOD, PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! HEEEEELP AAAHHHHHH!"

You hear thumps as if he is banging his head off the wall and floor as he screams. You hear one more, loud thump before complete silence. It's as if time just froze. I can feel a chill go up my spine and through my body as the silence continues. I thought the recording has stopped until I hear very soft crying start. You hear the recorder scrapping across the wooden floor as if it fell far from Gary and he was pulling it to him.

"Josh." My whole body froze. My blood seemed to go cold and my hair stood on end. His voice was weak and cold, but very calm.

"You can't escape him. He's always with you. He said he was done with me and he wanted someone new to play with. He showed me in my dreams what he would do to you..." He coughs between some of his words. His coughs sound moist, as if there was blood in his mouth.

"He told me to tell you that you two will have so much fun together. He told me that I was just a sadistic pleasure. He said he loves the feel of warm flesh as it tears under his touch. He also said that he loves games. My game was watching my parents die over and over. He never told me your game though, but he said it was very special." His coughing had stopped and has been replaced with a heavy breathing in his cool words.

"He wants to surprise you though, Josh. He won't be with you for a while, he said. Go home. Live your life Josh, as it won't be long. Learn of pleasure, because when he finds you, you'll only know pain. Go home, Josh. Check on your parents." That was the end of the tape. I ran.

It's been 5 years sense the murder of my parents. They looked just like Gary. Every night for 2 years I was afraid. I cried to sleep and kept all my lights on. Some nights I refused to go to sleep and passed out wherever I was 3 days later.

After, I became sad. I finally welcomed this "Shadow." And when he didn't come, I forgot him. I didn't forget him for long though. A few days ago I found another of my friends, Megan, murdered just the same as Gary and my parents. I swear I saw a glimpse of him standing over her, his shadowy black eyes perked up slightly in a wicked smile and I just couldn't turn away...