Just Trying to Make You Think

I am a strong believer, for the most part, that something isn’t scary unless it can actually happen. If you are a strong believer in this as well, you may not believe what I’m about to say is frightening. But then again, you weren’t there. What I’m about to say is not fiction, I did not make this up one day when I was bored staring at my computer screen. I could, undoubtedly, make a piece of non-fiction to this same affect, but it wouldn’t have been the same, because it would not have had the same truth as this story has. I guess that if you don’t believe me then, well, at least I’m giving you something to think about.

I was, I believe, twelve years old. And I was alone, and I know this. I don’t remember who I told this same story to but they suggested that perhaps this happened because another person was there, he was apparently a skeptic, but I knew what happened and I wasn’t the only one who knew what happened. Someone else knew too. Her name was I think something along the lines of Annie, and she was there with me too I suppose. But I doubt it was her, she was our golden retriever and as far as I know, she couldn’t talk.
We were living in a three story house, and I had suspected the worst of it for quite some time. Have you ever turned to look at to your left, thought you saw something, but you had already began looking the other way, so you turned your head back but the old lady in with the walker wasn’t there anymore? Well, if it didn’t happen just like that I’m not surprised; I don’t suppose it happens often everywhere.
We had our computer in the living room at the time and of course I was “wasting my time” playing a game Age of Empires and was listening to the T.V. too. I think Scooby-Doo or something. Annie was lying next to me on the floor looking towards the sofa.
Now, it may just be easier for me to draw a map and present the houses layout to you that way, but I suppose I could describe the house to you in text.
Out front (which was actually out back but we used it as the front of our house) there was a small round-a-bout made of gravel for the cars, attached to the actual house there was a deck that came out about 15 feet with a couple of steps leading up to it. You would come in through a glass sliding door and come into the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen you would take a right and there would be another door about 5 feet in front of you to your right with a staircase leading down into the basement.
If you kept going forward you would enter the living room through a doorway without a door. There would be a desk to your right with a large mirror behind, likely decorated with special glass paint and certain shapes depending on the holiday that was closest. In front of you about 10 feet there was an entertainment system and to the left of it was the computer about 7 feet from where you’re standing. To the right of the entertainment system there was the sofa.
If you stepped about 2 feet forward and looked to your right you would see a hallway leading to a few doors and a staircase. And now I think you know enough about the house to understand the short story (very short) that is to follow
Now then, if I was sitting at the computer and Annie was to my left and the doorway to the kitchen was to my left and the hallway was to my left and behind me. Then I had a clear shot for the kitchen, but I had to pass by the hallway.
I don’t remember what I was doing on Age of Empires and I doubt you care, but I was very enthralled in what was happening. I didn’t even really notice that my parents and siblings had left when they did, but I know that I acknowledged there leaving. So when the voice came, I at least knew it wasn’t any of them. I am also pretty sure it wasn’t any of the neighborhood kids because of the fact that there weren’t any. The neighborhood we lived in wasn’t necessarily happy plaza central so we were pretty much the only kids.
“Dylan” I heard it say.
I took in the noise, realized where everyone was, turned around and had my heart skip a beat pretty much in the same instance. Not a very amazing feat but for me at the time just thinking and moving at the same time seemed pretty amazing all in its self.
People have asked me, “Dylan, how do you know you weren’t just hearing things”, and I would be happy to believe that I was just having a momentary lapse into insanity, but Annie would not allow such a thing to happen, nope not to me.
When the voice came, and this is the part that always, even now, makes me shiver, she lifted her head walked over near the doorway to the kitchen and looked down the hallway. She stood looking down the hallway for what could only have been about 5 seconds and then let out a loud bark.
Now then, I will interrupt the story here so that I can hopefully instill into you the fear that I had when all of this occurred.
I do not need for you to close your eyes, but I do need you to imagine that you are twelve. Imagine you are in this exact same situation. Take a way all the knowledge you have as of now unless you knew it when you were twelve. Imagine it is you in this situation, really put yourself there, now it’s not calling my name, no, it’s calling your name, you have a dog who hears it too, and reacts in the same exact way. And you can clearly see that she is barking at nothing. Now imagine what you would have done.
I’m not gonna lie; if this were to have happened now, when I’m fifteen, I probably wouldn’t have done anything different. Mainly because even now at the age of fifteen I’m still not a complete idiot, and at the age of twelve I was even less of one.
I, as quickly as my legs and nerves would allow, made my way over to where Annie was barking, telling my self not to look down the hallway, but of course I did, but luckily curiosity did not kill to cat this time and I didn’t see a thing, nothing at all. I grabbed Annie by the collar and made her come with me outside, and funny thing was, she wasn’t very reluctant either.
To make a long story short I waited outside on the deck with Annie for about 15 minutes until my parents and brother and sister got home. Lucky for me I have a mom who won’t discourage me when I tell her these things, in fact I was told by her that when I was little I used to apparently be friends with a little black haired girl only I could see.
Yeah, well that’s about it, not fantastic ending with an exploding house or death by fright, just your run of the mill spooky story, but I hope that you do take one thing away from this, and that is the true feeling of fear that something like this can instill in a person. Heck, maybe it can make you believe that this is one of those things that can happen and there for is deemed worthy of being frightening.
If nothing else I hope that it at least made you wonder.
If nothing else I hope it gave you something to think about.