Written by AgentVamp
Part 2 in the Terror Lane Series
If there is something grammatically wrong, feel free to point it out to me in the comments and I will fix it. Trying to become an author.
Constructive criticism is appreciated. Enjoy!
The Heated Interview[]
"Get away from me! I shouted in a panicked frenzy as I ran from the evil that came chasing behind me. I couldn't figure out what to do at this point as a shot of adrenaline was constantly pumping through my body..."
"Hold up a second! You have to start from the very beginning so we can gather how this event even happened!" Detective Lucas was getting impatient at Paul and slammed his fist down and scrunched up the paper. He gave Paul a tense stare for not getting to the point but Sergeant Ben could understand why such an ordeal would take so long to recall.
Interrogated for the mysterious case of Terror Lane.
I mean after all he went through a similar ordeal when he was young.
Paul took a deep breath and looked at the detective with fear in his eyes and swallowed with a lump in his throat and wrote down on several pages of paper on the desk his entire ordeal. This time it was written accurately and in detail. He pressed the pencil down and wrote it like he was writing an award winning novel. With a purpose and with the Truth, or at least that's what Detective Lucas hoped. This was what was described on the several notes of paper presented in front of Detective Lucas. Why didn't he say it himself? Unfortunately the whole ordeal traumatized him and he hasn't spoken at all since. Only his family and friends will speak for him. The best you could get out of him was a nod and a shake of the head. The detective put on his prescribed glasses for his far sightedness and read the note.
The story of Paul[]
How it came to be was the most twisted ordeal I have ever come across. I read those, you know, horror stories on the internet and they were nothing compared to this. I moved in Apartment 13 a couple of weeks ago. I was told it was on sale cheap for very personal reasons but they never explained to me what the reason actually was. It sounded like they had to get out of the apartment and needed a change of scenery. It never scared me really as I said I have seen and heard a lot of creepy shit in my life and have been desensitized to most of it. Key part of the sentence there "most of it". I was accustomed to a very hot and enclosed home but my most recent house I moved into was very different. Very large, very open and a lot of storage space. This was very hard for me to get used to as I grew up in very humid places all my life but I was excited for change. My house felt mostly empty when I was in one part of my house and I swear I could have Christmas Parties here.
I decided to push myself into going out and getting to know the area so I would know what I was in for. I had just walked out my door when one of my new neighbors named Amanda came running out the door with what looked like boxes of household items stashed in a very messy, rushed way. She looked at me with great surprise and noticed my belongings inside where I resided. She took one quick look at the apartment behind me then she glanced at me and fear struck her face. She took off and ran down the stairs and into her car. I could hear it screeching down the road in a blaze of burning rubber and smoke from a mile away but I didn't think anything of it, I figured she was just in a hurry to go to her family since it was the Holiday Season. I glanced back to my apartment and saw nothing out of the ordinary so I watched a couple of late night movies and went to bed soon after.
The next day, curiosity was eating at me to see if Amanda was ok. I only got to chat to her for 5 minutes but I felt like I knew her for a life time. I ate some scrambled eggs and tip-toed to the hallway door out of respect for my neighbors. I was a bit on edge in that way because I didn't want some sort of biker thug or anything like that to break down my door and choke me for being too loud. I mean it hasn't happened in my life so far but hey, I'm overly careful. Ranting aside, I looked across the hall and approached her doorway. I knocked a couple of times only to notice that the door wasn't shut. It tilted open slightly and I took a peek inside.
"Uh, H-Hello?" I said in a quiet and shaken voice hoping not to be too loud for anyone else. "What happened last night? Why the big rush?" I spoke into the wind but no response blew back my way. I figured she was asleep and looked around the house for it. Very intrusive of me I know but I wanted to know if she was alright. She was my neighbor after all. I'd have to get to know her better sometime. I glanced at a torn piece of paper on her kitchen bench. It read "Apartment 13" on the back of it. I was very confused at why it had my apartment number on it, so my curiosity got the better of me and my instincts told me to read it.
Addressed to Paul Johnson across the hall[]
To Paul.
I hope you find this letter before... whatever is going on finds you. If you read this, move out. I beg of you. My friends across the hall where you lived ran out in fright. They were horrified what happened in there. I don't know what is going on but I heard a bunch of screaming from your apartment. It happened when they moved out and continued to happen while you moved in. I know it can't be you doing it but it prevents my sleep, scares my friends away and I cannot get any work done so I am moving out. You seem like a nice guy Paul. Please be safe, no matter what you decide to do. I have one piece of advice before I go...
"Blocking prevents a lot of actions but not every action can be prevented."
I will try and keep in touch.
From your neighbour,
Amanda.
Suspicions of the note[]
"Screams?" I whispered to myself with confusion. I'd heard nothing the last 2 weeks and I slept like a baby. I am a very light sleeper as well so if any screams were to be had, I surely would've heard them by now. The walls were really thin. Either that or I had very good hearing.
I turned around, walked out and kept the note folded in my pocket. I was wondering why she mentioned that extra part of blocking. I had no clue what that even meant.
It was very quiet when I got back inside my own apartment. It was very eerie to me. It felt like being calm before a big storm. Something didn't feel right, but I wanted to be brave. It was my first house out of the way of my parents. I wanted to not only do them proud but prove to them that I can be independant and do well by myself.
I went about my day, rearranging furniture in my house as there was a lot of space in the apartment itself as it is. After about 10 hours moving furniture, eating dinner and making calls to redirect services here and not at my parents anymore, I was exhausted. I crashed on to my couch where I took a nap on my couch. At exactly midnight, a distant scream was heard. I woke up in a fright and looked out the window upon the city streets below. Nothing out of the ordinary from what I could see. I could only hope it wouldn't be common around here. I took a deep breath then slowly dragged myself to bed and finally got some sleep.
A couple more weeks went by until about 3 days ago, nothing of interest really happened worth noting until then and things were getting noticeably quieter. I had forgotten about the scream and was interested in getting my PS3 set back up from the pile of boxes that I hadn't unpacked yet. I dug through them, untangled the wires and set it all up. I'd hoped to take my skills in Street Fighter X Tekken and bring them back to life. Maybe even enter a tournament someday. I was relieved that I finally got things going. I'd worked hard for a while and needed a bit of a break. I played alot of matches until 11:30PM when I realized I had a lot to do tomorrow so I turned the game off and went to bed.
I woke up to another loud shout and a slam of what sounded like something hitting the floor. That piped me up real quick. I took a baseball bat that my brother gave me and I crept toward the lounge room light switch. I flicked them on and shouted "HEY!" with the bat the ready. Everything was as I left it. Clean as crystal... well as clean as I could get anyway. I was so certain that it came from my lounge room and it sounded kind of like an angry gamer would sound after going through trial and error. It kept going on and on for a few days and I started losing sleep. I was frustrated that I was hearing these weird noises. Maybe my hearing had finally gone bad? I didn't know that and it sounded like a possibility at the time. Any excuse to get it off my mind. I turned the light off and went back to try and sleep.
I was very tired the next morning and got no sleep. I had a very slow day and got very moody throughout the day considering the circumstances but still, I pressed on. I felt like I did more work than yesterday when I came home to move furniture. I needed to relax and being addicted to Street Fighter x Tekken just pushed me even further to distract myself and keep gaming so all my problems would go away, even for a little moment. I played through to 11:30PM again, which was weird because I'm not very good at setting routine, especially when it comes to time and when I am distracted. It looked like a coincidence at the time but it was the same as last night. I fell asleep soon after. I again woke to an unsettling and yet louder, longer scream than before. I bolted to the lounge room without my bat this time, not thinking as clearly and more so thinking of stopping whatever it was that woke me up. I quickly switched on the light and again, everything was fine as I'd left it before.
I was stressing myself out with the thoughts rolling around in my head. Was I going insane? Am I hearing things? Am I going senile?
I was so angry and confused. I shouted in anger "What do you want from me?" while looking up at the roof shaking my fists . All I heard in response was distant barking from dogs in the houses across the street from the complex. I wandered back to bed but with my eyes open, thinking how I could fix my bad sleeping habit that I had developed. I slowly trailed off my thoughts and slowly fell asleep.
This morning, at 10AM, I woke up and considered seeing a doctor about my health or even a psychiatrist. I saw several doctors all within my general area and they all said the same thing. To get used to living in a new area and to not stress myself out so quickly. I was just relieved to hear that I wasn't going crazy.
Since of the horrible sleep from the night before, I had thought initially about eating take out but quickly fell asleep again on the couch. I started dreaming. I dreamed that I woke up with a mysterious dark shroud before me with loud shouting emanating from it. I could not understand what it was saying and before I knew it, it started chasing after me. I ran and ran and ran until my legs felt like jelly and I stumbled over. The darkness then caught up to me and surrounded me. I woke up in fright and took a deep breath. I decided to go get a glass of water. I went to my freezer where ice blocks were but no cooling was being produced. I looked at the fridge's light and it stopped working. I was angry and tired enough already and I didn't feel like dealing with it so I went to turn on the kitchen light on to get my bearings, but it also did not turn on. I clenched my fists and shook my head. I was about to go cool off but as I was about to walk out the front door, my TV and PS3 turned on. I must have left it on when I played it last and then the power went out.
The theme for Street Fighter x Tekken was playing and the title screen was shown. I tried turning off the PS3. It seemed to take longer than usual when I pressed and held the button down. I just turned off the power points connected to the tv and PS3 and figured screw it and walked to my bedroom. As I walked a few steps away from the lounge, I heard a deep growl. It sounded like the exact same thing I had heard before a while back. I looked behind me and saw a dark figure on my couch, it looked like the previous owner of the house named Ben. Amanda had told me prior that he killed his family out of insanity from his addiction and lack of control when it came to playing his games. He appeared to have a dark mist surrounding him. It looked like smoke but I didn't smell anything burning. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?!" I questioned. I was ready to punch the guy's lights out. I was ready to take my pent up anger out on him, but he sat there and said nothing.
I was pretty annoyed by this point and angrily stormed up to the dark figure on my couch and to my horror, he turned to me and a smile grew on his face. The appearance he ha-... it had... was disturbing. His flesh was half melted, seared at the touch and his eyes were glowing yellow. He held a controller in his hand and proceeded to talk in a really deep voice. "Bringing games into this neighborhood are we, Paul? It isn't a good idea, you know. Have you heard the rumors? Terror Lane is making a name for itself. A street to avoid, according to the police. They've even taken it off radars, maps and even made the address illegible. What better way to make a... killing... than here?"
"Why drive people away? Why push away those who want to help you?" I asked.
"This house fucked with my psyche, I completely changed... and now... I'm a new man. It will corrupt you too!"
"Why do this?! ANSWER ME YOU PRICK!" I shouted so loud with such intensity, I started seeing stars. That... thing... didn't like my response and got up off my couch. It then proceeded to punch me several times in my stomach, my ribs and my face. I was winded by the time he was finished and I could barely stand up without grabbing at the bruises he left me. He then threw one of my controllers at me and I was knocked out.
I awakened to complete darkness. An abyss. Black floors, black walls, I couldn't see anything. I shouted for help at the top of my lungs. All I heard was reverbed echoes of my own voice trailing off like I was in a church. Ben didn't like that I shouted for help either and charged at me. I covered my eyes and defended myself. A loud crunch came from behind me and everything was visible in front of me but the darkness behind me, was not. I heard distant laughter. Ben's voice was heard at a distance chanting:
"Run, Paul, Run. RUN, PAUL, RUN!"
I ran from it as fast as I could. "Get away from me!" I shouted in a panicked frenzy as I ran from the evil that came chasing behind me. I couldn't figure out what to do at this point as a shot of adrenaline was constantly pumping through my body. My eyes were focused on the path ahead of me and my mind was clouded with fear, doubts and hatred. He grabbed my legs and dragged me to the center of where the darkness appeared to channel into. I panicked and looked around for help. I saw an idle phone floating above me on a wall in arms reach. I called the cops and they saw the damage done around my house but no sign of the "dark mist" that I described or another person nearby and they constructed a search party and went around the street. They assumed I was mentally ill from my history and locked the house for investigation, evidence gathering and interviewing the neighbors about me and my "mental state". I guess they called you guys soon after to review me and here I am now.
That's all I know...[]
Detective Lucas, finally reading through the terrible tale, sat back in his seat and sighed deeply. He rubbed his strained eyes and asked the Sergeant about events in his own past and he looked at Paul and nodded slowly. Lucas turned around and said in the most calming manner he could that this was a problem bigger than they first thought.
"This unnatural darkness, Paul. How did it start?" Ben asked, curious to see if his story and Paul's were similar. "I was getting my life together and then those I knew ran out on me." Paul said rubbing his forehead. Ben then tapped Lucas on the shoulder again and a few words were uttered and Lucas nodded. He then slowly turned to Paul.
"Your... unnatural phenomenon seems to have similar circumstances and even occurred in the same street as our Sergeant Ben here. You lived in Terror Lane and so did he."
"Wait so he was the one who lived here before me?" Paul asked, clenching his fists and grinding his teeth. Both the Detective and the Sergeant turned to each other a final time. This time they smiled at each other and then a twinkle gleamed in Ben's eye. They turned to Paul and their grin grew wider.
Ben's face melted and his eyes gleamed yellow. Detective Lucas' body appeared to set on fire and the burning flames incinerated all of his skin away. Paul tripped backwards over his chair in fear. Lucas was now a burnt skeleton still staring at Paul... still smiling. He appeared to still be alive. Ben then projected a dark aura from his body projecting outward.
"I was struck by random horrors for no reason, Paul. My family hated me, I didn't have any friends and the world hated me, so I decided to hate it right back. Now I'll make the world pay!" Ben then widened his grin to a grotesque length from cheek to cheek with long sharp teeth and drool receding from his mouth.
"Starting with you!"