Entities and The Stranger Next Door
By: Sana Irfan
Tags: Mystery, Horror Fiction, Fiction, Darkness, Entities

That is a nightmare more terrifying than any other.

"I remember seeing this figure in the doorway I just knew it was a child"

"A presence comes into my room paralyzes me then leaps on my body and assaults me. Hit me so hard at the time is worth just knocks me off or my mattress"

I used to live in this old house when I was in sixth grade up until high school. Some weird things happened other than like noises or feelings because I felt like having a true paranormal experience.

It was more than just feeling like someone is watching you, not always but mostly. There were little things that would happen here and there so it’s weird. It was not just like in one year, they were over the whole five years that we lived there. It was a five-bedroom home two-stories and there were four bedrooms upstairs and one bedroom downstairs.

So my brother was in the room downstairs and then my twin little sisters, me and my parents were upstairs. My room was above my brother’s bedroom and my twin sister’s room was above the garage.

The first thing that I noticed about that my room was really really cold all the time and it’s weird because my brother’s room was never cold so it’s like why would there be such a weird difference in temperature in my room and you would think that it would be my sister’s room since they were about the garage so either it could really hot or get cold.

Well, that was in the case so that’s like one of the weirdest things but it kind of makes sense and does not make sense because I don’t know what happened in that room or why my room is coldest??

Science, psychology, and religion of old grappled with this phenomenon can any explain the mystery of the entity.

It had been started by a child, A mysterious child. My family was at my granny’s home for three days in another city, for a yearly get together party, and I was here in my home all alone for my exams.

I was standing at my room’s window and stretched out my arms out and let out an exuberant sigh of relief as I scanned my surroundings I couldn’t help but notice the elevated deck gave me the proper vantage point to see my neighbor’s backyards.

I saw in their vibrant garden a grill and a hammock. I turned my head to view my neighbors to the left that’s when I saw him under a large oak tree adorned in colorful Christmas lights was what looked to be a young boy swinging away on his playset.

Great I thought, I bet his bedtime is a lot earlier than any party I throw would be ending. I continued to look at the boy. His back was turned to me. He wore a hoodie and gloves which struck me as odd since it was summer and pretty warm inside.

I brushed it off and assumed the boy was sick. I went back inside and began to make fresh juice. I leaped off the couch and finished my juice.

The sun was setting as it had been several hours I was all alone in my room. As I looked at the house I had seen earlier, my face scrunched to show a look of confusion and surprise.

The boy I had seen swinging earlier was still there.

He was still swinging under the ambiance of the little tree. "Weird," I said. I turned back to the swinging boy, he could not have been swinging this whole time.

The weather suddenly got cool and it began to drizzle. I would have been willing to go out until it passed but then I just stood still there. And I saw it, the boy was still outside on his swing. He was still in the same position, an outfit I’d seen him in all day back turned to me wearing the same hoodie and gloves.

I stood there for a minute lost in thought. The boy had stopped swinging, he sat completely for a moment before slowly rising from the rubber seat of the swing.

He began to shake violently falling to his knees and scraping the dirt below him. Even where we were standing were able to hear his quick bursts of shrieking and gurgling. I became concerned, Was the boy ok?

It looked like he was having an asthma attack or a seizure. I started to run to the boy to help but stopped after a couple of steps. His mother had run out.

I looked at her completely sober. She was a frail Hagged woman with a grey knotted mane of hair on her head. Her skin was pale and her eyes had bags underneath. It looked as if she hadn’t slept or had a proper meal for ages.

Mrs. Langer rushed out quickly and holding a small orange botel, the kind one would receive from a pharmacist. After she reached her boy she knelt and poured several white pills into her hand.

Before she could even finish offering the pills to her son, he had grabbed her arm and buried his face into the palm of her hand and hailing the pills.

Mrs. Langer pulled away and began to rub her wrist and it appeared that the boy had hurt her which did not surprise me due to how skinny the woman was. I watched intensely without uttering a single word.

After a moment or two, the boy simply rose back to his feet, sat back down on his swing, and resumed his leisurely activity. Mrs. Langer grabbed the now-empty orange bottle and proceeded back inside still clutching her wrist.

I was shaken up. I had no idea what I had just seen. The next morning my head throbbed and I was severely parched. I stood up in the arid sensation and my mouth and throat were quickly replaced by feelings of nausea.

I scrambled to the bathroom and dropped to my knees clutching the porcelain for dear life. Within a couple of minutes, I began to vomit and immediately felt better though not enough to have a very productive day.

I mentally prepared myself for a day of movies, videogames, and junk food and planned a study schedule. After a couple of hours of lying and my borderline vegetative state, I heard the mailman make his stop at our door.

In no mood to get off the couch, I ignored it and continued binge-watching the zombie show. Everybody was raving about was probably not the best idea to bo observing such grotesque gore.

Well, it felt as if a war was being waged in my stomach and I sucked it up and continued to watch.

Several episodes later I made my way to the kitchen and popped in a giant TV dinner into the microwave. Well, it cooked I decided I would bring in the mail from earlier.

I unlocked the front door and let in some much-needed fresh air. I stood at the door and scooped up the contents of my mailbox. Sifting through the junk mail and the bills when I saw I’d received a package.

Without scanning the box for more details I brought the small box inside and cut off the tape. I opened it only to find a small orange bottle like the one I’d seen my neighbor holding last night.

I was puzzled and searched for the mailing label on the box. A mailman had delivered it to the wrong house. Annoyed, I let heard a big sigh.

I was not in the mood to get dressed and leave the house for anything, let alone awkwardly meet new neighbors to tell them I have the pills for their weirdo son.

I looked out of my back window and saw the boy was swinging away as usual. I heard my microwave go off indicating my food was ready.

With one last glance at the child, I told myself the pills can wait as the boy had scarfed down several the night before. I tossed the bottle of pills aside and made my way to the kitchen.

After eating I felt fatigued which cause me to fall asleep on the couch. I woke up from my sleep to the sound of commotion inside my home. The repetitive beeping of a large vehicle in Reverse echoed through my brain.

Nightfall had arrived and my house was engulfed in almost absolute darkness.

The only light I could see was a dull grey from my now idle television and the swirl of red and blue illuminating through my windows. The scene that I awoke to was almost surreal and I thought for a moment that I was dreaming.

I got on my feet and looked through my front window. A crowd had gathered on my front lawn. They were facing the ambulance that was parked in the driveway of the Langer house.

I threw on a light coat to hide my stain most likely rancid smelling sure I had been stewing in all day. I still gazing at the crowd when the soft murmuring of the crowd around me erupted into a frenzy of screams and cries.

I turned to the door of the Langer house and red began to fill my body.

Two policemen exited the house followed by a paramedic who wheeled out a gurney. The top of the gurney was the bloodied body of the seemingly lifeless Mrs. Langer.

From where we were standing we were able to see the pale bruised wrists of the poor woman hanging from the side, blood running down and dripping from her fingertips.

It began to twitch in her head bobbed around as the paramedic pressed an oxygen mask to her face and hoisted the gurney into the back of the ambulance.

One of the policemen made his way over to our now frantic group of screaming men and women, ordering us to disperse and return to our homes. Everyone began to bombard the officer with questions asking what happened and If they were safe.

"You have nothing to worry about people, it appears a group of coyotes attacked Mrs.Langer in her backyard, we’ve since located and neutralized the animals", remarked the officer avoiding eye contact with anyone before him. It was clear he was lying through his teeth.

I raised my hand and showed it above the crowd and what about the boy? Was he hurt? The officer shot me a look of irritation and cleared his throat as he hesitantly announced, " He was not anywhere near the scene of the attack.

We assumed he got scared and ran away for safety and we are in the process of looking for the child, If anyone sees him please call 911 immediately". With that, the officer turned his back to the less than satisfied crowd and almost ran back to his cruiser.

I turned to Paul ( the other neighbor) who beard a look of dismay. He turned and shot an apathetic smile before patting me on the back and making his way inside.

I stood there for a moment after the crowd slowly disbanded. Was this my fault? Did it have something to do with the pills? I quickly disregarded the paranoid thoughts that plagued my mind and walked back to my home.

I slid through the front door that I had carelessly left ajar and shut it behind me as I slid down and cut my hands around my head.

There was a legion of emotions coursing through me as I pondered my next move. I knew I had to get the pills out of my house, though the chances were slim.

I did not want any blame being directed to me for not returning the pills sooner. I knew I had committed at least one federal crime when I unknowingly opened somebody else’s mail.

I decided I would anonymously place the box of pills in the Langer’s mailbox and dash back inside. I grabbed the pills from my couch and glanced out of the back window. The Christmas lights in the oak tree were as bright as ever illuminating the grisly crime scene that lied just below.

Blood and ripped clothing veiled the ground.

That’s when I saw them the boy’s gloves and a hoodie was lying amongst the carnage.

My heart sank, I thought the boy was dead or at the very least critically injured. Tears began to fill my eyes as I bang my fists on the windowsill. The sudden burst of sound emanated throughout my home. I hadn’t made a peep since I entered.

The sudden contrast in sound made the shameful silence that followed even more noticeable. During the grim silence, I heard it. The low spine-tingling gurgle that flowed from my bedroom, I froze.

Barely breathing I listened keenly for another sound. To my dismay, I heard it again.

Another disgusting gurgle, now louder and fiercer almost like a growl. The lights in my home were still all off aside from the weak aura that radiated from the idle television. I was frozen still and my body rebelled against my mind’s desire to move.

Instinct began to kick in my eyes adjusted to the darkness and a fight-or-flight became a quick reality. I did not know what was in my house. All I know was I was definitely going to choose flight.

I pulled out my phone and fumbled for the flashlight app. As I took a step towards my back door, my eyes were glued to the short hallway that connected to the main area of the house to my bedroom.

That’s when I saw it.

A small creature began to crawl from the hallway. I could barely make out any of its features. It looked human but on all fours, the way it moved was eerie and awkward.

The appendages moved sloppily in its head was to the ground. I heard the same terrifying gurgle from the creature and realized it was sniffing the floor and what happened next still feels me with dread.

When I looked back, the flashlight app I had opened had finished, loading up and powered on through the phone. The bright light pierced the darkness and lit up the monstrous figure. I felt sick.

Do you ever get the feeling in the middle of the nightmare where you start to suspect you are not in reality and you are begging yourself to wake up?

That desperate feeling of despair course through every fiber of my being.

In front of me stood the "Langer boy", with heard all the layers of clothing he usually wore. I was able to see him for what he was.

This was not a normal child.

His skin was tattered and worn out. Wrinkles and scars embellished his body. He slowly raised his head to the source of the light.

Our eyes met.

His eyes or the worst part however intense the darkness around his mother’s eyes were, they could not compete with the boys.

The black around his peepers only worked to showcase his dilated pupils in the unnatural color of the irises.

I might as well have been made of stone.

All my ability to move had completely ceased. I could only stand there and watch the situation. Unfold before me the boy slowly turned his body to my direction and began to take steps, closer and closer.

He left bloody prints where his hands met the wood grain of my floor.

It was not long until he was less than a foot from me. For what seemed like an eternity, he did move neither of us did.

My mind was warped and panic and I thought I was passed out before I had the chance. The boy rose from his animal-like posture. He was now standing on his feet, arms dangling to his sides. His eyes peered into mine. I stared back, still paralyzed with fear.

He began to sluggishly turn his focus from my eyes to my hand. The one that still clutched a bottle of the pills. As soon as he realized what I held, he broke the silence and let out a demonic shriek like that of a banshee.

Only his mouth moved as his jaw dropped.

This awoke me from my trance and I fell still facing the boy. He crouched so that his face met mine. His mouth was still agape exposing his sharp mangled teeth.

The tiny razor still contains small shreds of what I assumed to be his mother’s flesh.

He stretched his arms towards me and unraveled his blood-stained hand. Instantly I knew what he was after. My voice trembled, "You watched your pills, right?" He continued to stare at me.

I lifted my hand and began to open the small orange bottle. With shaking hands, I poured several pills into the palm of the boy and waited for a minute and did not know time could move too slowly. I just wanted him to leave.

Eventually, the boy’s mouth shut and curled into a faint smile. He turned and made his way to the back door. He shot one final glance to me as he tilted his head back and consumed all the pills I had given him.

With an audible gulp, he pushed open the door and wandered back to his sanctuary. I watched as the boy took a seat on his swing and began to sway forward and backward like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

I managed to shut my back door before collapsing to the ground. It had been a week since that night and I had returned the pills as planned.

Mrs. Langer was dead and now his husband had taken over feeding the mysterious pills to his son whenever he needs.

I had never questioned anyone about what transpired that night and I had not reported the incident.