Masked Man

There once was a man who lived a simple life. He had a family and he had a good job. He lived in Michigan in the wealthy part of the state. He was a happy man.

One day he returned from work to a darkened house. There wasn’t a light on in the house. His put his key in the lock and twisted but it was jammed. He began to take it out of the door but it wouldn’t come out. He shook it, trying to free the key. Nothing.

He turned around and looked at his car, parked in the garage. The garage door was closed. He couldn’t remember closing it.

The garage was dark and shadows loomed from every corner. He felt cold. There was a crack in the foundation by the door and the breeze was slipping in. He rubbed his arms and flicked the light on.

Red light blinded him and shadows jumped out at him from the shelves and behind boxes. They screamed at him and reached out to claw his face. They had red eyes and glowing red bodies that dripped red liquid. Their nails were long and they had no legs; just arms.

He turned the light off and ran to his car. He jumped in and closed the door. He was breathing hard. The screaming figures scared him.

He turned the ceiling light on and screamed. They furiously hit the glass on his car and shrieked for him. He searched his pockets and pulled out his keys. He shoved them into the ignition but the car wouldn’t start. He cried and hit the wheel. He pushed the button to turn off the light and take him back into the dark.

It switched to green. Then the light switched to blue. Then it switched to an eerie red.

A wrinkled finger reached over from beside him and hit the light again. It turned yellow again.

The man turned shakily to look at the passenger seat. A man in a white mask sat there next to him. The mask was cracked and faded; stained yellow with age. His eyes were bright orbs in black pits. They fascinated the man. The masked man stared at him with his hands resting on his legs.

“Hello James,” he said. His voice was low and husky. “Don’t you remember me?”

James stared at him, looking in his eyes. They were a beautiful green. Images flashed in his mind. He shook his head and closed his eyes, turning his head away. No. It can’t be. Not him. It wasn’t his fault. It was his boss’s fault. He wouldn’t kill a man.

“Are you ready to join me, James?” the masked man asked.

“No,” James whispered. He looked up at the man, desperate.

The man tilted his head and the mask tilted with him, always shocked and concerned. “Why do you want to stay, James. You have nothing keeping you here.”

“I have my family,” James said, but it sounded more like a question.

The masked man gestured with his palm open to the back seat. James slowly turned his head and saw his little daughter, little son, and wife bloody and gagged with the seatbelts hanging them.

James screamed. “No! What have you done!?”

The masked man narrowed his eyes and tilted his head the opposite way.

“Come now, James. It isn’t that bad anyways. She didn’t love you; does that help?”

“I’m not going with you,” James murmured, staring at his family. He could barely keep his stomach down. He thought he was going to throw up from their black pits for eyes mouths stuffed with bloody rags.

“Don’t do this to yourself, James,” the masked man said. He unlocked the car doors. “Don’t run away from us again.” The red, screaming creatures from outside the car seeped in and strangled James, holding him down on the seat. James eyes bulged out of his head and he choked.

“See you soon.” And the mask miled.