I place my hand on my stomach as it growls thinking back when the last time I ate something was. The small empty bag of chips on my counter doesn't necessarily count as food, so my next best bet is to check the fridge. I get up from my bed still wearing my blue and grey checker boarded pajama pants I put on this morning after I got out of the shower.
Before I leave the room I quickly glance over at my clock. -10:02pm- it reads in an infrared color scheme. Yes, yes, I know, 10pm and still in pajamas? It was Sunday and I had nothing exciting planned , so I binge watched multiple movies. Anyways, I make my way out of my room and head down the dark hallway. Pictures of me as a kid are scattered across the wall on the way to the kitchen. "How weird" I think to myself as I scan the images of myself as a toddler, wondering why people are so obsessed with documenting every single moment through a lens, whether it be a planned, staged moment or something spontaneously caught on camera.
I open the refrigerator door and hear the suction of the door as I pull it away from its counterpart. "You're hungry too?", my cousin Chris asked from the couch he was laying on once he heard me digging in the fridge. As big and tall as he was, it was no wonder he was hungry. This guy can eat a full course meal and an hour later, be ready for another full course meal. "Yea dude, but there isn't anything in the fridge" I told him. "Wanna go buy something real quick?" I asked, knowing it was fairly late anyways. Chris agreed and I walked back to my room to change into some jeans.
As I put on my jeans, I could've swore I heard a rustling of leaves coming from the huge tree outside my bedroom window here at my dads house. The big, lush green tree full of leaves has always been a source of shade for me when I wanted to relax outside. It's been pretty huge since I was a kid, now I'm 23 years old and still it remains towering over my dads house. Considering that my dad lives in a nice neighborhood, I would've thought the tree would have been cut down by now since it's so old, older than my dads house that's for sure, but it's never been touched, aside from its trimming. But for me to hear a rustling in a tree that big, whatever it was had to be fairly big. No way in hell a hawk could move branches in such a manner that would catch my attention from inside my room. I brushed it off and told Chris "let's go, I'm starving. Let's just go somewhere pretty close, I don't really feel like driving". Chris nodded and we stepped out the house.
We decided on going to a fast food joint that's only 2 blocks away from my dads house. A place where you can "have it your way", supposedly. It's pretty dark out, even with the street lights on. But there's something eerie about tonight. I can't really pin point what it is, but I didn't like the feeling. The only way I can describe what it felt like was like being watched from a distance. You know how sometimes you can feel someones presence once they enter the room? That's what it felt like, just multiplied by 10. A feeling of being watched combined with a gut wrenching feeling that someone, or something was with us. "Benjamin, you alright man? You have this constipated look" he asked as we made it to the corner of our block. "Yea I'm good dude, I just think the hot Cheetos I ate earlier messed up my stomach, but I'll get over it after we eat". As I said that, Chris pointed out that every other street light was off. "Yo look at the lights. I know sometimes one or two shut off, but every other street light is off". He was right ; On, off, on, off, on, off, on, off. We both walked in the middle of the street and we can see that the lights kept this pattern for at least a good 10 blocks. "That's kinda freaky don't you think?" He asked me. The feeling in my gut only got worse after that.
There's an elementary school right on the corner of my dads house, that's where I went as a kid. It still looks exactly the same. A pinkish tone to the walls, some chipped paint here and there......The trees. The trees looked exactly the same as they did when I was a kid. A skinny trunk, with a full head of green leaves. Branches sticking out left and right. Not like the tree outside my bedroom window, no not like that, these trees were tiny in comparison. 15-20ft high I would estimate.
The walk to the fast food joint felt like an eternity when in reality we have only been walking for about 5 minutes. We are both just shooting the shit, talking about a few good looking girls on our block. "Did you see Priscilla in those shorts today? Damn!" Chris went on to explain how he lusted for the girl 5 houses down. As he was explaining what he'd want to do to her, I couldn't help but notice the trees by the elementary school rustling as they did earlier when in my bedroom. "Sshhh, shut up for a sec" I warned Chris while he gave me this weird blank stare. "What's wrong? You look constipated again man." "Did you hear that?" I asked pointing in the direction of where I heard IT. "Nah I didn't hear anything. Maybe it's just the wind" he said, and weirdly enough, that comforted me. He was right, the wind picked up and it got a bit chilly.
The rest of the way was pretty much the same, the lights were still in the same On and Off pattern and I kept hearing strange noises up in the trees. Every time I asked Chris, he said he heard nothing. It got to the point where he assumed I was playing a trick on him to freak him out, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut whenever I heard the trees. We arrived at the restaurant, and I felt so much better inside the dining area. "3 double cheeseburgers, large fries and a Coke" Chris ordered. Once he paid, I placed my simple order of a chicken sandwich with fries and a lemonade. While we waited, we sat down at a table by the window. Not 2 mins after we sat there, Chris' order was ready. "Damn that was fast" he said. He got up and walked to the counter. As he's getting the food, I glance over out the window and notice that there's a tree on the sidewalk. A tree. One. A single tree smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk. I didn't want to look at anymore trees to be honest, I was over them. But something compelled me to look up into the darkness of the tree. I don't really know if my mind was playing tricks on me or I was still paranoid, but I saw its eyes. Crimson red, beady eyes. Eyes so big and wide, they couldn't possibly be human. My gut and heart dropped at the same time. I was petrified. I wanted to look away but I couldn't. I couldn't tear myself away from looking into its eyes. My heart rate increased. I can't ever remember a time where I can say that I've legit been terrified. "Number 66". I don't know how I kept myself from getting up and running out that place. "Number 66". I had to leave. "Dude get your food. What are you staring at?" Chris asked with a puzzled look in his face. "You've been staring out that window for a few minutes, never blinking." When he said that, I looked back out the window and nothing. I saw nothing but a passing car and darkness. I didn't see anything in the tree. The relief I felt was incredible. I felt better. I convinced myself that I watched too many horror movies that night and I just needed to chill, eat, and sleep.
I got my food and out we went. We had just crossed the street when Chris says to me "wanna race home?". I gladly accepted his challenge Even tho we each had our own bag of food to carry. The faster I got home, the better. "On 3" I told him. "1.....2..........." He held that pause for a while so he can cheat, I already know this guy. "3!" He yelled. Like a couple of horses about to be released from their gate, we were off. I was always a fast runner, but Chris was tall and big and had long spider like legs. 5 of my strides were 2 to strides to him. Somehow I'm beating him, leaving him a good 10 ft behind. At this point we are about to pass the elementary school. SNAP! I tripped over a nice sized branch that was on the side walk that wasn't there before and I trip and fall. My food and drink spill on the floor, I scrape my knee pretty bad. But I didn't feel a thing. I didn't feel the burning, stinging sensation of the skin I scraped off. Instead, I felt complete terror. As Chris caught up to me and towered over me like the skyscraper he is, he asked if I was ok. But I didn't bother to respond, not yet at least. It revealed itself. I finally saw what has been stalking us, or what has been stalking me I should now say. Behind him on the tree above I saw those red eyes. Eyes full of hatred and malice. It was standing on a branch. It had large talons, bigger than any birds I've ever seen. The head looked like an oversized owls head, but instead of a beak, it had a slit with jagged teeth inside.It's hands had huge, twisted claws. Moving its head the way an owl moves its head, it stared at me and smiled. It was holding the branch above its head with both hands and it was shaking the whole tree. Other than shaking the tree, it made no noise at all. "You alright Ben?! You completely ate it!!!" Chris asked. "Keep running" I told him in a low hoarse tone. We made it back to the house and I was dripping in sweat, my body was shaking and my leg was beginning to hurt after the adrenaline wore off. "You lost your food, here take some of mine" Chris offered a burger but I told him that I wasn't hungry anymore. I knew he'd be hungry again in minutes if I took it, so I just decided not to. "Did you see or hear any of that? On the tree close to where I fell. The leaves were moving, you've had to hear that at least" "Hear what? I didn't hear anything. You were just staring at me in your constipated stare again." I didn't want to sound crazy anymore, so I walked back down my dark hallway and make my way into my warm soft bed.
I just want to go to sleep and not even try to comprehend what I had experienced. As I drift off to sleep, I hear a familiar sound. Still half asleep and groggy, the sound comes with a familiar feeling. I turn over and walk to my window so I can shut it. Before I can close it, the huge tree begins to call to me. The leaves are rustling so violently, I already know what lurks in the high above darkness of that tree. Hanging off a branch, I see it. It sees me. It feels my terror. I shut the window as fast as I can. I plan on sleeping in the living room tonight. I put my hand on my stomach as it begins to growl, "damn I'm hungry."
Submitted April 08, 2016 at 04:28AM by Handoftheking93 http://ift.tt/23gfJOr nosleep
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