Scarecrow

Oliver was an average teen; he would stay up late, hang out with friends, and go out to drink every now and then. It was all fun and games, until he eventually got tired of doing nothing. He decided he would start something productive. A job, he thought, would be the best choice.
He always enjoyed helping out with other people in his community, so he wanted to do something that could be local. There was an elderly couple, around the age or sixty, who needed help with raking old leaves in their lawn. When they asked him if he could help, he immediately said yes. They told him he could start tomorrow at around 5 p.m.
Oliver was incredibly excited about this. He was finally doing something productive that would help out with locals! So, at around 5, he arrived. They had given him a rake upon his arrival, and thanked him dearly for doing this. They left soon after, for the wife's sister's birthday party.
Their lawn was quite large, and because of this, there were many leaves. He had a garbage bag with him, in which he would collect the leaves. Around half an hour in to raking the leaves, he noticed something at the far end of their lawn; a scare crow. He didn't mind it at first, but as he got closer, he felt uneasy. It didn't look like an ordinary scarecrow. It had a leather jacket on, torn up jeans, shoes, but no hat. It looked incredibly realistic, and he would have gotten rid of it. However, he ignored it, and assumed it was made by the eldery couple.
At around 8:30, the couple had came home. They thanked him, and gave him $20. He was just about to leave, when he asked, "Hey, where did you get that scarecrow? It's pretty creepy." They looked at him, puzzled. Then, the man said, "We don't own a scarecrow." They looked all aroud, and noticed nothing. The scarecrow had vanished. This made Oliver's stomach churn, but they shook it off. They thanked him, said good-bye, and went inside.
Two days later, he was asked to work again. He went at the same time, and began raking. That's when he noticed the scarecrow, again. But this time, it was different. It was incredibly closer to the house, and had formed a large grin across his face. Luckily, there wasn't any leaves next to it, so Oliver didn't need to go over. At 6, he was done, so they thanked him again. This time, he never told them about the scarecrow. He feared they would have called him insane.
The next day, Oliver was walking home from school. While doing so, he passed by the eldery couple's house. Upon looking, his heart stopped. At least two cop cars were present, and one ambulance. There was caution tape all around, and he could see stretchers being carried out with bodies covered with a white blanket. He ran up to an officer, and asked what had happened. He was told that the couple were brutally murdered and mutilated last night, and asked him if he had noticed anything strange.
Oliver was speachless. His voice tembled as he told them about him raking leaves, and descirbed the scarecrow. They all looked at him, as he mention the black leather jacket that it was wearing. One officer came over, with the exact same jacket in his hands. The officer asked Oliver if that was the jacket that it was wearing, in which he answered yes. The officer holding the jacket put it in the back of one of the police cars, and began to explain what may have happened.
As it turns out, there was a serial killer on the loose. He would go to small local towns, and did his tasks. He was spotted a few times, wearing a leather jacket. Now that he had left it, they could now find out who he was. They thanked Oliver for explaining what he experienced, and he walked back home.
When Oliver arrived home, he found a note on his bedroom door. His parents were gone out for the weekend, and had left some food and money for him. They would be back Sunday. Oliver never left his house that day. He left all windows and doors locked, and would only have a friend or two over, instead of going outside.
He invited over his cousin, Sasha. They hung out for the day, but he never mentioned the scarecrow. At around 10:30, she left to go home. Oliver watched movies, and played video games for the rest of the night until around 1:30, in which he fell asleep. He was too tired to walk upstairs to his bedroom, so he slept on the couch in the living room.
At 4 in the morning, he woke up to the wind coming in from one of the windows in the living. His heart pounded, as he remembered locking it. He went over, and opened the curtains. It had been broken open sometime that night. He froze for a minute. All he could think of was that scarecrow, and it's creepy grin. Suddenly, he heard scatching. Slowly, he turned around. What he saw, had kept him dead in his tracks.
At the corner of the room, was the scarecrow. It was on its feet, staring at him, with the same grin that it had before.
Category:Mental Illness
Category:Historical Archive