Terror Lane Epidemic

Written by AgentVamp

"Get away from me! I shouted in a panicked frenzy as I ran from the evil that came chasing behind me. I could not figure out what to do at this point as a shot of adrenaline was consistently pumping through my body..."

"Hold up a second! You have to start from the very beginning so we can gather how this event even happened!" Detective Lucas was getting impatient at Paul and slammed his fist down and scrunched up the paper. He gave Paul a tense stare for not getting to the point but Sargeant Ben could understand why such an ordeal would take so long to recall. I mean after all he went through a similar ordeal when he was 15 years old. He barely coped with it today... (Don't know this reference? Check this out in a new window! Through the Grass).

Paul took a deep breath and looked at the detective with fear in his eyes and swallowed with a lump in his throat and wrote down on several pages of paper on the desk his entire ordeal. This time it was written accurately and in detail. He pressed the pencil down and wrote it like he was writing an award winning novel. With a purpose and with the Truth, or at least that's what Detective Lucas hoped. This was what was described on the several notes of paper presented in front of Detective Lucas. He read the following:

''How it came to be was the most twisted ordeal I have ever come across... I read those, you know, horror stories on the internet and they were nothing compared to this. I moved in Apartment 13 a couple of weeks ago. I was told it was on sale cheap for very personal reasons but they never explained to me what the reason actually was. It sounded like they had to get out of the apartment and needed a change of scenery. It never creeped me out personally as I said I have seen and heard alot of creepy shit in my life. I was used to it. I was accustomed to a very hot and enclosed home but this one was very different. Very large, very open and alot of storage space. This was very hard for me to get used to as I grew up in very humid places all my life but I was excited for change.''

''I decided to push myself into going out and getting to know the area so I would know what I was in for. I had just walked out my door when one of my new neighbours named Amanda came running out the door with what looked like boxes of random items stashed in a rushed type fashion. She looked at me with great surprise and noticed my belongings inside where I resided. She took one quick look at the apartment behind me then she glanced at me and fear struck her face. She took off and ran down the stairs and into her car. I could hear it screeching down the road in a blaze of burning rubber and smoke from a mile away but I didn't think anything of it, I figured she was just in a hurry to go to her family since it was the Holiday Season. I glanced back to my apartment and saw nothing out of the ordinary so I watched a couple of late night movies and went to bed soon after.''

''The next day, curiosity was eating at me to see if Amanda was back safe and sound. I ate some scrambled eggs and tip-toed to the hallway door. I kind of respected my neighbours a bit because I didn't want some sort of biker thug or anything like that to break down my door and choke me for being too loud. I looked across the hall and approached her doorway. I knocked a couple of times only to notice that the door wasn't shut. It tilted open slightly and I took a peek inside.''

''"Uh, H-Hello?" I said in a quiet and shaken voice hoping not to be too loud for anyone else. "What happened last night? Why the big rush?" I asked with great concern but there was no response. I figured she was asleep and looked around the house for it. Very intrusive of me I know but I wanted to know if she was ok. She was my neighbour after all. I'd have to get to know her sometime. I glanced at a torn piece of paper on her kitchen bench. It read "Apartment 23" on the back of it. I was very confused at why it had my apartment number on it so my instincts told me to read it. It read: ''

"Paul, if you read this, move out. My friends across the hall where you lived ran out in fright. They were horrified what happened in there. I don't know what is going on but I heard a bunch of screaming from your apartment. It happened when they moved out and continued to happen while you moved in. I know it can't be you doing it but it prevents my sleep and scares my friends away. I am moving out. Blocking prevents alot of actions but not every action can be prevented. Will keep in touch, <3 Amanda."

''"Screams?" I whispered to myself with confusion. I had heard nothing the last 2 weeks and I slept like a baby. I am a very light sleeper aswell so if any screams were to be had, I would have heard them by now. I turned around and walked out and kept the note. I was also pondering why she mentioned that extra part of blocking. I had no clue what it meant. Well at least not at the time. It was very quiet all of a sudden when I sat down and drank my orange juice. Not the type where you can sleep soundly, I mean the type of eerie silence when something doesn't feel right. ''

''I went about my day, rearranging furniture in my house as it was a very tight fit in the apartment itself as it is. After about 10 hours moving furniture, taking food breaks and making calls to redirect services to this house, I was exhausted and crashed to my couch where I took a long nap. At exactly midnight, a distant scream in anger was heard. I woke up in a fright and looked out the window upon the city streets below. Nothing out of the ordinary. I sighed from not knowing what it was and I slowly dragged myself back to bed and finally got some sleep.''

''A couple of weeks went by till 3 days ago, nothing of interest really happened worth noting down until then, but that was when things were getting noticably creepier. I had forgot about the events that occurred and was keen to get my PS3 set back up from the pile of boxes that I hadn't unpacked yet. I dug through the boxes and set it up. I hoped to take back my skills in Street Fighter X Tekken and bring them back to life. I was thrilled that I finally got things going. I had played alot of matches until 11:30pm and realised I had a lot to do tomorrow so I turned off the game and went to bed.''

''I woke up to a louder shout in anger and a slam of what sounded like a controller hitting the floor and that piped me up real quick. I took a baseball bat that my brother gave me and I creeped toward the lounge room light switch. I slammed them on and shouted '''"HEY!" '''but to no avail. Everything was as I left it. Clean as crystal. I was so certain that it came from the Lounge Room and it sounded exactly like an angry gamer would be like. I was frustrated that I was hearing all these weird noises. Maybe my hearing had gone bad? I didn't know that and it sounded like a possibility at the time. I turned the light off and went to sleep.''

''I was very tired the next morning and felt like I had no sleep. I had a very slow day which I guess was okay considering the circumstances but still, it was a day. I sluggishly made my way throughout the day feeling like I did more work than yesterday when I came home. I needed to relax and being addicted to Street Fighter x Tekken just pushed me even further to chill out and keep gaming. I played through to 11:30pm which looked like a coincidence at the time but it was somehow set perfectly like last night. I went to sleep soon after. I again awoke to an unsettling and yet louder, longer scream than before. I bolted to the lounge room without my bat this time and turned on the light in a hurry with no delay. Everything was normal, again as I left it before.''

''I was so angry at the events occurring and I shouted in anger "What do you want from me?" . I of course was talking to myself as all I heard was distant barking from dogs in the street. I then went back to bed, wondering why these events are taking place. I thought to myself with exhaustion and dozed off without knowing. This morning at 10am I woke up and considered seeing a doctor about my health from hearing strange things occurring. I went and saw several doctors all within my general area and all said the same thing. To get used to living in a new area. I told them I was right and was just relieved to hear that I was going crazy. As odd as that sounds, I'd rather be going crazy than horrible events actually occurring in my house without my knowledge.''

''Since of the horrible sleep from the night before I thought about eating out but quickly fell asleep again on the couch. Just to test my theory if something was actually happening within my house. I started dreaming. I dreamt that I awoke on my couch with a mysterious dark force with loud shouting emanating from it chasing after me. I ran and ran and ran until I couldn't run anymore and stumbled over. The darkness then caught up to where I was and somewhat consumed me. I woke up in fright and took a deep breath. I decided to go get a glass of water. I went to my freezer where ice blocks were but no cooling was being produced. I looked into the fridge and the fridge's power seemed to be out. I was angry and tired enough already and I didn't feel like dealing with this crap so I then attempted to turn the light on to get my bearings, but the light did not turn on. I clenched my fists and shook my head at my own misfortune. I was about to go downstairs to cool off but as I was about to walk out the front door, my tv and ps3 turned on. The theme for Street Fighter x Tekken was playing and the title screen was showing as normal. I don't remember leaving it on I thought to myself and tried turning off the PS3. It seemed to take longer than usual when I pressed the button because it refused to turn off. I just turned off my TV and figured screw it and walked to my bedroom. As I walked 10 steps away from the lounge I heard a growling sound. Not like an animal growling sound but it sounded like the exact thing I heard before. I looked back and saw a dark figure, identical to my appearance with a sort of dark mist surrounding him. I spoke to him and said "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?!" I was ready to punch the guy's lights out but he sat there and said nothing. ''

''I was pretty annoyed by this point and angrily walked up to the dark figure on my couch and to my horror, he turned to me and grinned menacingly. The appearance he ha- it had... was horrifying. It had the appearance of my face, half melted and eyes glowing yellow. He held a controller in his hand and proceeded to talk in a really deep voice. "Bringing games in this neighbourhood are we, Paul? You know the previous owner played games like you too. Although he got so frustrated he cursed the very house he lived in and threw his tv out the window. This apparent curse happened to fill the entire apartment complex with fear and dread, leading others to never come again."''

''"Why drive people away from here?" I asked. "These games will haunt you for life! You should have never come here!" I persisted with "Why?! ANSWER ME YOU COWARD!" It apparently didn't like that and got up off my couch. It then proceeded to punch me several times in my stomach. I was winded by the time he was finished and I could barely stand up. He then threw his controller at me and my vision went dark. I awakened to a dark abyss. Black floors, black walls, there appeared to be nothing in sight. I shouted for help at the top of my lungs. It didn't like that either. A loud cackling came from behind me and everything was visible again but the darkness behind me, was not. I ran and ran from it as fast as I could.''

''"Get away from me!" I shouted in a panicked frenzy as I ran from the evil that came chasing behind me. I could not figure out what to do at this point as a shot of adrenaline was consistently pumping through my body... It grabbed my legs and dragged me to its center. I panicked and looked around for help. I saw an idle phone floating above me. I then called the cops and they put my house in lockdown. I assumed they then called you guys to where I am now.''

Detective Lucas, finally reading through the terrible tale, sat back in his seat and sighed deeply. He asked the Sargeant about events in his own past and he looked at Paul and nodded slowly. Lucas turned around and said in the most calming manner he could that this was a problem bigger than they first thought.

"This unnatural darkness, Paul. How did it start?" Ben asked, curious to relate his story and Paul's together.

"I started to get my life together and then those I knew ran out on me." Paul said rubbing his forehead with a big headache. Ben then tapped Lucas on the shoulder again and nodded. Lucas then put his head down and slowly turned to Paul.

"Your... unnatural phenomenon seems to have occurred in the same street as Sargeant Ben here. You live in Terror Lane. He lived in Terror Lane."

"Wait so he was the one who lived here before me?" Paul asked clenching his fists in deep hatred. Both the Detective and the Sargeant shook their heads and then turned to each other a final time. This time they smiled and  then something gleamed in Ben's eyes. They turned to Paul and grinned.

Ben's face was slowly melted and his eyes glowed yellow. Detective Lucas's face then proceeded to do the same thing and Paul tripped over his chair in horror. Ben then emanated a dark aura from his whole body. "I was struck by random horrors for no reason, Paul. My family hated me, I didn't have any friends and the world hated me, so I decided to hate it right back. Now I will make the world pay!" Ben then widened his grinned to a grotestque length from cheek to cheek with long sharp teeth and drool receding from his mouth. "Starting with you!"