thestory

by Meredith Andrew I walked into my brother’s room. It was 10:00 at night. All of the lights were on and he was getting ready for bed. This is the perfect time, I thought to myself. I’ve always had a thing for scary stories. I just love to see the reaction of all of the victims. Some laugh, some cry, and some just sit there expressionless and speechless. Now it was my brother’s turn. He would be my victim tonight. As my brother was getting ready for bed I was debating which story to tell him. As I listened to his electric toothbrush I decided to pick the one story that I knew would get to him. The story about the siblings. I quietly chuckled to myself. When I saw my brother Tyler walk out of the bathroom I felt a jolt of excitement. I hurried him into bed so I could begin my story. Finally the time came when he asked for his bedtime story. I flashed him one of my best most innocent smiles and I asked him if he would be brave enough for a scary story. He nodded his head and then I began.
 * The Story **

“I apologize for my storytelling abilities but just listen. The story begins with two siblings, just like us, an older sibling Pete, and a younger one named Sammy, short for Samantha. They were home alone because their parents were going out to dinner and a movie. While their parents were out, strange things were happening around the house. There were unusual noises, strange shadows, and a gloomy fog that surrounded their house. It was the typical creepy setting to any horror story.” I looked to see the expression on my brothers face, it was perfect; he was getting nervous. So I kept on going. “Do you know what happened?” I asked. My brother shook his head no. “Good,” I thought “he’s interested in the story.” “They died of course,” I told Tyler. “Nahhhh I’m just joking. What really happened was that the siblings were starting to get really scared. They tried calling their parents a couple of times but every time it went directly to voicemail. They were literally all on their own. That’s when it got really weird. The power went out in their house. The older sibling of the two decided to go check the power box to see what was going on. Naturally with the fog and all he assumed that it was the storm that caused the power outage. “So Pete walked down the stairs to see what was going on. As he was walking down the stairs he thought he heard a second pair of footsteps behind him. He turned and saw nothing but the darkness of the empty space behind him. “When he reached the power box he saw that a wire had been cut. ‘A storm could not have done that,’ he thought to himself. That’s when he knew they were in danger. “Pete spun around and sprinted up the stairs a quickly as he could. He needed to see if his little sister was okay. He sprinted down the hallway past the kitchen, turned the corner and rammed his shoulder as he turned. He finally reached the family room where his sister was. The only problem was that Sammy was not there. He just stood there, his face in shock. That’s when he heard it, the noise of the shower. He immediately began to relax. His sister was safe and getting ready for bed. “He turned and slowly walked up the stairs, his dark brown hair wet from sweat. He turned to the left and entered his room. Pete decided to wait until Samantha got out of the shower to make sure everything was OK. He sat on his bed in the darkness of his room, the only light coming from the house next door. He hummed a little tune to himself. His mother had taught him when he was young to hum when he got scared. She told him it would help him calm down. He waited, a couple minutes had passed and he decided to check on his sister. He walked down the hall to the bathroom and knocked on the door. Knock, knock, ‘Sammy?’ No response. Knock, knock, still no response. Knock, knock, knock! He was freaking out. Pete turned the doorknob and discovered that the door was unlocked. ‘Sammy I don’t want to see you naked but if I have to I will. Just say something so I know your okay.’ There was once again no response. Pete swung the door open, walked over to the shower and tore back the curtain. His sister was nowhere to be found. He turned to his left and saw a note written in the steamed mirror. He shuddered. There on the mirror was a message. A message that would probably haunt him for forever.” I stopped telling the story to look over at Tyler. He was sitting up straight with his eyes bulging out of his head. “Why did you stop?” he asked. “Just checking,” I replied. Just then the lights in our own house began to flicker. “Stop it Claire, that’s not funny,” Tyler said. I looked at him with a smirk and calmly replied, “I’m not doing anything.” I held my hands up as proof that it wasn’t me. I must admit the lights had perfect timing but it was a little creepy. I started laughing nervously. I didn’t know what else to do. I glanced at my little brother and saw the terror on his face. That was the last thing I saw before the lights went out. I could feel Tyler squirm under his sheets. He was scared. “I’ll go check the power box,” I told him. I felt his hand shoot up and grab my own. “No,” he said very sternly, “you’re not going anywhere without taking me with you”. I got up with Tyler still holding my hand. “It’s going to be okay, Ty,” I said my voice shaking a little. “Then why do you sound like you think its not?” he responded. I said nothing. I checked my cell phone. “Shit.” “No service.” I could see some of my little brothers face illuminated by my phone. He was bugging out. We started walking down the hallway to where the power box was located. I nervously glanced around but had trouble seeing since the only things you could see were lit up by the moon coming from outside. The only things that I could make out were the curtains draping the windows. I stared at them as I walked and held Tyler’s hand. There was something slightly off about the curtains. Almost as if there was something tangled inside of them. I knew it had to be my imagination playing tricks on me. I was psyching myself out because of the scary story I had just told. I slowly turned my head away from the curtains and then I saw it. That slight movement that I had been expecting to see. I snapped my glance back at the curtains and I was able to make out a pair of shoes. I felt Tyler’s grip tighten and I knew he saw them too. Our pace began to quicken and then turned into a sprint. When we reached the laundry room we quickly entered and slammed the door behind us. I locked the door and took Tyler over to where the power box was. I released his hand and then climbed on top of the dryer to open the box. There were no wires clipped but when I tried the switch the lights refused to turn on. “Holy balls, this cannot be happing to us,” I thought to myself. The next thought that came to my mind, my brother asked out loud. “Is someone after us?” I simply looked down at him speechless. “Yes, Ty. You need to be brave, everything will be okay.” But was it? I wondered. “What’s going to happen to us?” I was not prepared for this; I didn’t think I needed to be. I climbed off the dryer and took Tyler to the corner. We sat there for a couple of minutes and then I decided to take action. I had to answer my little brother’s question. It’s my job as a big sister to protect him. I started to stand up and once again I felt a tug on my hand. Tyler wouldn’t let me go. “Don’t worry Ty, I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to go get some things that we can protect ourselves with. Stay right here and don’t move.” I could barley see him nod his head. I bent down and kissed his forehead and told him I wouldn’t let anything happen to him. I walked out of the laundry room, turned the corner into the kitchen. I collected all of the knives I could find, but when I opened the cabinet where we hid the gun, it wasn’t there. I could feel myself start to shake. “He has it,” I thought to myself. I started to walk back to the laundry room when I heard a noise; it was human footsteps. The only thing was the noise wasn’t coming from behind me. It was coming from above me. He was listening to every move I made. My pace quickened once again as I entered the laundry room careful not to drop the sharp knives. I quickly closed the door and locked it. “Tyler, you still there?” I asked. I heard him manage to croak out a yes. “Everything is going to be okay, I promise, there is someone dangerous in the house, that’s all” I told my brother. “Why are you saying that like its no big deal?” he asked. I didn’t answer him. “All I know is that we need to get the hell out of here.” Tyler grabbed my arm careful not to stab himself with the knives that I was carrying. We quickly tiptoed to the front door cautious that whoever was in the house would not find us. I turned the doorknob and pushed. The knob still turned but the door wouldn’t budge. We were locked in. “Stay here, I’m going to go check the back door.” I told Tyler. I handed him a knife so he would feel safer. I quickly walked to the back door. When I got there I checked the knob to see if it would turn. No luck. “Why was it locked?” I wondered. I ran back to my brother to make sure he was okay. That was when I saw his hands. Tyler was standing there with his hands in front of his face covered in blood. “What the hell happened” I asked him. “I saw her,” Ty said. “She was hobbling past me and she was covered in blood. Claire, I don’t think she’s after us, I think she’s trying to hide from someone. I tried to help her. But she shoved my hands away” He said with a confused look on his face. “Tyler I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Now I was worried. I hope Sydney was okay. Maybe she was taking it too far, which would be weird because its not like her at all to over do it. I told him once again that I would be back. He nodded. I started to sweat because I was so nervous. I ran up the stairs and turned the corner. And then I heard it, the shower. The water was running almost as if nothing was going on. Maybe Sydney was washing the fake blood off her shirt. I tried the doorknob; it turned. I slowly opened the door expecting to see Sydney in the shower singing to herself, but that was not what I saw. I looked into the shower and saw Sydney covered in blood dead on the floor. I screamed. This is real; it’s not a prank anymore. I was trembling when I saw it. The words that would haunt me forever if I survived the night, it was the message in the steamed mirror. I read the words over and over again. I couldn’t take it anymore, I ran back down the stairs, stumbling in the dark. When I reached the front door I saw Tyler. He was fine. “Shit, Tyler, you were right, she was hiding form someone.” Tyler looked at me confused. “When I found her she was dead, Tyler, he killed her.” “Who?” Tyler asked. “The same man that is going to kill us” I replied. “Why is he going to kill us?” Tyler asked. “Because, Ty, there was a message, a message on the mirror.” I said. “Like in the story?” Tyler asked. “Yes but this time its real” I said shaking. “Well what did it say?” Tyler asked. “You’re next,” I whispered. “Claire, I’m scared.” “I know Tyler, me too.” I took his hand and ran back to the laundry room. I locked the door and took Tyler to the corner. We cuddled up knowing that we would never be able to hug each other again. That’s when I saw him. He was in the room with us. He was going to kill us both. I glanced over at Tyler and I saw that he had grabbed the knife that I had given him before I took him to the laundry room. He was gripping the knife with his life. As the man came nearer, Tyler grew stiffer. I was trembling because I knew my life was drawing to its end. When he finally reached us, the next things that happened seemed to be in slow motion. The man bent down to grab Tyler, as Tyler’s hand went up with the knife in it. His knife met the man’s chest. I screamed once again. The man fell to the ground, still living. I yelled at Tyler “finish it!” Tyler shook his head. I snatched the knife from my little brother and launched it directly into the man’s throat. He made a gurgling noise. He was dead, it was finally over. We were safe. I will still always remember that night. The message on the mirror, my best friend lying dead on the floor, how I held my brother thinking it was the last time I would ever do so. Just then I felt the bus come to a stop. I woke up from that horrible memory and continued on my way home. When I arrived, all I wanted to do was to take a long, hot, relaxing shower. I walked into the bathroom to turn the shower on. I started to undress while I waited for the water to get warm. I looked at myself in the mirror and there it was. The same message I had seen many years ago, “You’re next.”