u/DaniWitDaVibez

Read part one here

https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheCreeps/s/tIyrNP6CPU

When I close my eyes, I see a room, my living room. Snapshots of a moment frozen in time. Neecy to my right. Mark to my left, and Darius…well, Darius is on the floor, holding his stomach, tears streaming down his face in a pool of his own blood. Aside from his choked sobs, everyone is so still… so quiet. When I look over at Neecy, she’s looking off….at something. I will my body to turn, but I can’t make myself move. Like that day at the coffee shop, she’s focused; nothing  else exists.

I feel a cold breeze flow past me and then a light tug at my shoulders. My body relaxes for a moment as if giving me permission to move. I feel myself begin to turn around; something feels incredibly wrong. Something else is here?

I wake up with a loud gasp. It takes a moment to realize where I am, but the unmistakable popcorn ceiling from my bathroom clears up any doubts. The sound of running water fills my ears as it spills over the bath and onto the tiled floor. I quickly lunge to turn it off. I could feel my stomach beginning to turn again. Another restless night.

I took a deep sigh as I got out of the bath. My feet were sinking into cold water, making me regret I hadn’t just gone to bed the night before. Thick acid quickly climbs its way up my throat. I tried rushing to the toilet but missed completely. Last night's dinner and more of that weird goo shot out of my mouth, splattering onto the floor. I hobble my way over to the toilet, laying my head on the cold plastic. My mouth feels dry, and the lump in my throat makes it hard to swallow.

Stretching my arm up to the sink, my fingers strain until I find my phone. I quickly tap on the screen. It's gotten much worse since that last coffee shop meeting—constant throwing up, wild mood swings, vivid dreams. And this same dream keeps coming back. I’m certain of it.

With blurry vision, I typed out “It's happening again.”

30 minutes later, there’s a faint knock on my door. Mark stands there with a cup of coffee in hand, his smile quickly fading as he takes in my appearance. He steps in.

“By the way, your building smells like shit.”

“Ugh, I know the guy from upstairs, got in to some shit with his girl, she wrecked the whole floor.” I moved over, letting him in.

“Where is it?” His eyes scan my apartment.

“Bathroom,” I said, closing the door.

“Made it all the way this time, nice,” he said, giving me a thumbs up as he walked over to the bathroom. I groan as I lie down on the couch, feeling a sharp pain in my stomach. I tried to take my mind off the knot in my throat. I thought back to that night in the cafe. We agreed, we all did. If anything changed, we’d let each other know. I'm beyond positive. Mark is the only one who kept his word. He’s reliable, kind to a fault.

That’s when it happened the first time. He was the first person I called.

** a week days ago**

“Mark?” My voice came out raspy.

“Yeah?” he sounds surprised.

“Can you come over?” I can barely speak.

“What happened?”

“I really can’t explain it. Can you just come when you get a chance?”

When he got into the apartment, everything was covered in black goo. My stomach was twisting in knots. My hands were throbbing and bruised as I dunked the sponge in the cleaning solution. It did little to nothing as I tried to scrape it off the ground. Everything from my face to my feet was covered in it. I didn't even hear him step inside.

“Rowan, what the fuck is that?”

I jumped when I heard his voice.

“I don’t know. I…I don’t know. I can’t stop; my lip shakes. scrubbing the floor vigorously

He came closer, bending down slightly . He doesn't say anything for a moment. Then, quietly, almost as if to himself. “It's moving,” he mutters. He leans down to get a closer look.

I’d been too busy trying to get rid of the stuff that I hadn’t even noticed, but he was right. I watched its movements slow and sluggish; the goo reached out like tiny little hands, trying to connect with another puddle, then quickly snapped into one big blob.

There was this deep magnetic pull that made the stomach bulge out. It's trying to claw its way out, threatening to rip out everything inside in order to escape. I put my hand out trying to grab the bucket, but before I could, I was heaving and retching once more. Thick globs leave my mouth and nose, landing on the floor with heavy thuds. A fiery sensation sticks in my throat as my stomach tries to expel this unknown fluid all at once.

Mark backed away for a moment but kept observing me. When I was done, he reached his arm out to help me up.

I grabbed Mark's arm. “ It just won’t stop,” I whimpered as I rubbed my throbbing chest. He helps me up and over to the couch. He tells me to “Lie down,” and I do. He walks back over to the goo. He watches silently, as if looking at it for just a bit longer is going to give the answers he needs. I lay back on the couch. I was exhausted.

I keep my eyes on him as Mark scoops some of it in his fingers. My brows furrow as it hardens for just a second before losing its shape and snapping back down to the puddle.

“Yeah … this is definitely some sort of black, shit?” Mark said, holding it up to the light. He then brought it up to his nose and sniffed it. I heard him swallow hard, licking his lips. He shook his head quickly and wiped it off. He looked over and noticed I’d been watching. “Let's get you to bed,” he said with a smile.

Mark stayed the night. He helped put me to bed. I don’t remember falling asleep, but I do remember hearing, ever so faintly, the sound of slurping coming from the living room.

The next morning, I felt empty and weak. I could barely stand up on my own. I tried my best to make my way over to him.  The whole house felt unbelievably cold. Each step sends a shiver down my spine.

“Wake up, dude,”  I said, sitting next to him. My body throbbed all over. His eyes opened, sitting up quickly before realizing where he was.

Neither of us said anything before I decided to break the silence, “I want to thank you for staying the night. And uh, thanks for cleaning up, you really didn't have to. Especially with your dad and all….” His chest began to rise and fall rapidly. His face turned a bright red.

“Can I tell you something?” he said quietly, a tense shift from his usually chill personality.

“Yeah, of course,” I tried to give him a smile, but my stomach was starting to turn again.

“I knew you were going to call me.” He turned to me as he spoke. His chin had black stains on it.

“What?” I asked,

“I knew you were going to call me- I don’t remember much of that night, when all the weird shit happened at the cafe, ever since that night. I- I don’t know, it just like I can see little snapshots of what’s going to happen.”  His face hardened as he spoke.  “The moment you called its like I lost control of my body. I tried, I really did, I didn't want to come. One moment I was helping my dad with the shop, then you called, and the next thing I know… I'm here.”

He took a deep sigh, got up, and walked to the kitchen. I watch, and he grabs a cup of water, taking big, loud gulps.

“When you opened the door, you looked so frail… It reminded me of Dad on his bad days, you know. I couldn’t leave you like that.” He paused for a moment .“After I put you to bed, I swear I was just going to clean up a bit. Make sure you don't have to overwork yourself. I couldn’t control myself. It was calling to me. I mean, literally reaching out to me. I drank it, I drank it all.”  His hand tightened around the cup.

He looked at me, barely meeting my eyes.

“You ate whatever that shit was?

“I couldn’t believe it either, I just couldn’t stop,” he said.

* present *

“You’ll have to call them! ” I shouted from my room. “They're your friends,” I shrugged. Changing out of my goo-stained clothes.

“I don’t get why you're so weird to them. They’re good people,” Mark said.

“And I don't doubt that, Neecy was acting super weird that night, aside from everything else that happened, and not to mention, where the fuck did they go after that? They just fucking left us.”

He raised his brows at me. I shrugged. “I don’t care, man, I said what I said,” he rolled his eyes at me as he put the phone up to his ear.

After a few missed calls and much, much convincing, Neecy and Darious sat in my living room. They listened as we told them everything. Darius tried but failed to keep a straight face as Mark explained what’s been going on.

After we finished, they just sat there. Minutes passed, and I felt myself getting annoyed.

“Any thoughts, comments , concerns maybe…” I said.

“I mean, that really sucks, guys,  but what can we really do to help. We’ve got our own shit going on.” Darius responded.

I'm looking over at Mark. “See, I told you they’d be no help.”

“It's okay, Rowan, if they don’t want to talk about it, it's cool,” Mark said, looking over at them. Neecy once again looks off into the distance.

“I just don’t understand why y’all won’t be upfront with us, y’all left us alone after what happened at the coffee shop, and we tried to- what the fuck do you keep looking at?” I said as I turned around to see what Neecy was looking at. Neecy's arm shot out to grab mine with a tight grip.

“No, not yet, I can’t tell you…I mean, I would if I could, but I literally can’t.” For the first time  since I’ve met her, she looked at me.

“Neecy, none of what's been going on makes sense. Please just tell us.” I said, bending down and meeting her eyes.

She nodded, but her eyes drifted away, back to the corner of my living room, like she was looking for something.

“I think we’ll all find out sooner than you think,” she said, still gripping my arm tightly.

She blinked for a moment, snatching her hand back. When she opened her eyes back up, in them I saw a reflection. Not of me. Something pale, white, too massive to fit in her eyes, much less my apartment.

I gasped, backing away from her.

In that moment, the air became fuzzy, thick like when you would rub your hand on an old TV.  Almost everything became silent all at once, no sound of cars passing by, no buzzing lights, not even my own breathing.

I became acutely aware of everything around me. Everything felt too real. Too high definition. Just like that night at the cafe, everything around me felt like it was shaking.

The hairs on my arm began to stand. And I had this feeling in the pit of my chest that we were in danger, but I couldn’t tell why. My head snapped over to the wall as the familiar ringing of my clock began to chime. I was confused… It wasn’t even 12 yet. The clock read 11:44.

Wordlessly, Darius and Mark got up at the same time as they made their way behind the couch. Their reflections barely reflected on the large window that faced outside. I tried to track their movements as they moved behind me, but my head remained fixed in place. I felt a cold pressure on either side of my face. No matter how hard I tried to move, my eyes were the only things I felt I could control.

Mark and Darius left my line of sight. The thumping of footsteps came to an immediate halt. The chime from the clock seemed to get louder with each passing moment. Neecy then got up. No, she was lifted up. Her body was stiff, her head wobbling like a newborn baby. Her feet didn't move; they dragged across the floor. She practically floated into the kitchen and out of my view. I heard some shuffling, the sound of a drawer opening and closing. Nobody said anything. I don’t think anyone could. We all stood still like pieces on a chessboard. My heart began to pound in my chest.

I heard the sound of Neecy’s feet dragging, coming closer. When she came back into view, she floated for a moment, and she was then placed flat on her feet.

I felt pressure on my shoulder, like that night at the cafe. Cold and unfamiliar. The chiming of the clock felt almost melodic. Her eyes darted next to her. I watched as the skin of her cheek pressed down, like someone was whispering in her ear. Her eyes widened and became distant.

She begrudgingly walks behind me as well. If I squinted, I could slightly see their reflections. Mark to my left, Neecy to my right. Darius stood in the middle…. But as I squint, I notice there was another figure that stood behind him. Pale, white, and rapidly growing in size. My heart sank as white wings seemed to expand behind him. Once again, the missing statue watched over us.

The sound of rock scraping on itself echoed loudly over the clock's unrelenting chimes as it looked over at Neecy. I hear her make a low whimper. She tightly shuts her eyes. Her body leans forward like someone is pushing from behind her. For some reason, I can distinctly feel the pressure on my back and the weight of something in my hand.

With a hard shove, she takes a step forward, my body unintentionally lunges forward, and I can feel my feet moving. She stands beside Darius, but he doesn't seem to notice she’s next to him. I could hear sniffling. Who it came from, I don’t know. I felt something grab hold of my hand and lift it up. I moved my eyes down, and my hand is still firmly by my side. When I look up, I see Neecy’s reflection, arm raised high above her head, knife in hand, glinting in the apartment light.

I shut my eyes tight.

The sound of a knife piercing skin was all I could hear; loud gasps and grunts sounded off from behind me, and something wet began to hit the floor. And even though I didn’t see any of it, I could  feel it all. The cold handle was warming up in my hand with every thrust. How the knife pierced through his skin, the warmth of blood spilling into my hand  over and over again until.…

A heavy thud.

Gurgles and the sound of strained breathing were the first human sounds I'd heard in what felt like hours.

To my left, I heard gagging, loud, aggressive heaving, and wet splatter, and I hit the ground.

The sound of rock grinding on itself sounded off once more, and I felt invisible arms lift me up and off the couch. I squeezed my eyes tightly. My feet dragged across the floor until I we finally stopped.

When I opened my eyes, I stood over him. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t open my mouth. My eyes took in the grotesque sight of Darius on the ground, blood sinking into my brand-new carpet. Hands tightly holding his stomach tightly, trying to stop the blood. Tears rushed down his face.

Mark grabbed the knife away from Neecy, and before I could try to stop him, he slit his palm and held it over Darius's body. A dark grey powder spilled out from his cut covering him. At the same time, my  stomach began to twist and turn. I clutch my hands over my mouth, but the viscous black goo explodes, like a hose shooting all over his body. The goo begins to mix in with the dust like an ungodly concoction. They begin to reach out to one another as it clings to his body.

Over and over I wretch until my throat is burning. The goo begins to dig deep into Darius, slithering its way into his body almost like it was alive, squelching and popping accompany it until it's all gone. I stop vomiting, and instead of ash, blood drops from Mark's hand, hitting Darius’s barely conscious face. His skin began to stretch and move on its own; little lumps made waves under it.

I leaned in closer, trying to get a better look before a stinging pain came. I screamed in pain as black gushed from my arm. I looked over at Mark, the knife in his Hand covered in black. He looked at Neecy, telling her to come over to him. Neecy is now once again able to move on her own to try to run away, but Mark quickly grabs her by her braids, and, digging the knife into her arm, her arm swells.

She screams as their blood begins to converge into the black goo spilling out of mine. The air around me began to feel like static, and I felt lightheaded and dizzy.  The blood pooled into him in the same way as before, snaking and popping its way inside him.

It was a small spec at first, but like oil and soap, it quickly started to overtake his skin, small vanes of white racing over each other to cover every bit of skin, his fingers stop twitching, his chest stops moving, and his eye loose their light as they stay frozen wide, hands still clutching his stomach.

In that moment, the heaviness in the air lifted. The ringing of the clock stopped mid-chime. A weight was taken off our shoulders, but none of us felt any better. Neecy threw herself on the floor. Her hands and jeans were covered in the leftover residue. She reached out to touch his fingertips, barely skimming his body before she yanked them back.

“No, no, no, please, Darius,” she said, crying, she reached out to him again. Mark and I look at each other, not sure of what to say. She looked up at us, her skin becoming pale from the blood loss. “He’s made of stone,” she sobbed, her bloody hand caressing his face, leaving bright red stains.

I felt lightheaded, barely able to focus on what she was saying, too much was running through my head. I looked over at Mark he looked sick, his hand still bleeding. I reached out to Darius myself. Dry, hard, stone. Stiff but still warm to the touch.

We stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do. No more clock chimes. No more choked gasps. None of that black shit was to be found.

Just the 3 of us and a memorial of a once-loved man's last moments.

You could see it from almost anywhere in town, nearly 15 ft tall, impossible to miss. Especially on my morning walks. It was like a beacon drawing you in towards the center of town. Wings that peaked over trees hung as if exhausted. A weary face carved in exquisite detail. Long, strained marble arms holding a golden vase that poured water into two cups held by small children who sat at its feet. Their faces look joyful and bright in comparison. They are holding out small cups until they spill into a small pool below.

 If you had a keen eye for art, you could tell the smaller ones were sculpted by a different artist, though they did their best to match the original piece. It's the sort of thing that, once noticed, can't be unseen. Like in this grand, expensive project, someone thought, "This looks too somber, throw some kids in”. Engraved at the base, it read "In remembrance of Rufus Angelus, pouring onto others from which he did not have” 1858-1897.

It was the main landmark in town. You would see kids, teens, and adults meet up at that very spot before heading off to do whatever. Over time, I became accustomed to seeing it. So accustomed in fact that this morning. I didn’t notice. When I walked into the coffee shop and saw Mark, I didn’t notice. In fact, I didn’t notice until he brought it up to me in passing.

“Good Morning, stranger,” I said as I walked in.

The scent of coffee beans and freshly baked muffins filled the air. Lo-fi music played quietly in the background. The yellow lights were slightly dim, making you feel warm and welcomed the moment you stepped in. Mark was looking out the large windows as birds flew by, brows furrowed. He wasn’t his cheery, happy self. A slight frown sat on his face as he looked across the street towards the park. He snapped out of it when he noticed me standing in front of him.

“There she is, my favorite customer,” he said, giving me a smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. “Mmmhm, sure, I bet you say that to all your customers,” he reached over, handing me my cocoa.  

“Eh, only the ones that are up this early,” he said with a shrug.

“Dad’s having me try a new recipe for the croissants. Here. Try, on the house,” he said, sliding one over to me as I paid for my drink.

I picked it up, and it smelled heavenly. The second I took a bite, I could feel it melt in my mouth. “This is so fucking good, your dad is a baking genius,” I said, taking another bite. Sometimes it pays to be up at the ass crack of dawn.

Mark gave a half-hearted laugh as he looked out the window again.

“Yo, you good?” I asked my eyes to follow his to see nothing but an empty street. He didn’t say anything for a moment. Just kept looking out the window, “Helloooo earth to Mark,” I said, snapping my fingers in his face. He looked back at me, slightly annoyed.

“Look outside, notice anything?” I looked at him for a moment, giving him a confused stare, then looked outside,

“Uhhhhh… I see some parked cars, a nice sunrise.” I looked back at him,

“Look at the park, genius, notice anything?” he said, pointing toward the park. My eyes followed. I looked out the window again. Except this time, when I looked at the park, I noticed it. Well, I noticed what was missing…

 “It's not there,” I said aloud.

 “Yeah…” he responded. I could feel him standing behind me now. We kept looking out the window as if waiting for any given amount of time would bring it back.

“I always walk through the park to get here. It's a good shortcut and you know, like, we don’t live far from here.” I nodded along, interested in where he was going with this. “Well, today I woke up late. So, I was rushing my ass to get here. I know my dad owns the place, but you know how he’s been lately- anyways, while I was cutting through the park, I could’ve sworn it was there.” I listened intently. I didn't understand why he was so worked up.  “Remember Neecy and Darius from high school?” I nodded again. “They're like the few other people who come around this early. So, when they came in, they had asked me what happened to the statue. That's when I looked and-”

“The statue was gone,” I said, cutting him off. My eyes were glued to the empty spot in Angelus Park.

“I think so. When they pointed it out, something felt off, I guess… Honestly, I was confused because, well, obviously I would’ve seen if that massive fucking thing was gone. But I-I didn’t,” he said.

 “I don’t know… I know it's silly, but I texted my brother, and he had no idea what I was talking about. Usually, he knows everything that’s going on. I don't know how to explain it, but I keep getting the feeling I wasn’t supposed to notice it in the first place.” He said, looking over at me.

As I listened to him, flashes of my walk this morning forced their way back into my head. I mean, sure, it's not like I could always see it, especially if I was leaving from home, but at the bare minimum, I could see the top of the statue's head while I walked towards town. This time I didn’t.

I felt my stomach drop. Logically, I'm aware that this is a bit of an overreaction. But this felt primal. Like turning the lights off late at night and then running up the stairs; unexplainable but understandable. Seeing how worked up he was, I kept Mark company until customers started coming in. I told him I'd text him later to make sure he was okay.

The town was slowly coming to life by the time I’d left. My eyes wandered off in the direction of the park. Curiosity got the better of me, and I crossed the street. The hairs on my arm stood as I walked over. The air felt thick, electric. I looked back at the cafe and saw Mark working away. I made my way over to the fountain.

 I don’t know what I was expecting, but yeah, it was gone. My eyes drifted to where it was supposed to be, my mind trying to fill in the blank space. A thousand questions rose up as I looked at the platform. There wasn’t as much as a scrape. The two kids sat in their spots holding their cups up to the air, but now there was nothing there to fill them.

The park went eerily still, no breeze, no bird song. Everything felt slightly uncanny. The thick static air felt more pronounced as I walked around the pool. I put my hand on the cold marble, feeling the bumps of the engraved words. I wondered to myself how the fountain even worked. There wasn’t even a hole too feed water into the statue.
“Maybe they just turned it off last night…” I thought out loud, “something they've never done…”

 I was lost in thought when I heard a familiar voice from behind me, “Ma’am, we need you to exit the premises. We’re closing the park until further notice.” I turned around to see Mark's older brother, Deputy Caputo.

“Sorry, Brandon, I'll get out your hair,” I said, walking past him.

 He cleared his throat, “I'm in uniform, that’s deputy to you,” he said with a wink. I rolled my eyes. “The rest of my team is coming in a few minutes. Are you okay? Need a ride home?”

I took a deep breath. “I really think it's best if we just keep our interactions to a minimum. You should go check on your brother,” I responded while avoiding eye contact.

His smile faltered for a moment, but came back. “Always nice to talk to you.” He held my gaze momentarily. “You're free to go,” He said, as three more officers pulled up in their squad cars.

When I got home, I fell into a deep yet restless sleep.

A vast whiteness surrounded me from all over.

I can’t tell if I’m moving, but it felt like I was.

I walk through a brightness so blinding, my mind is having a hard time deciphering what's up and what’s down. After what felt like hours, my body felt drained, and my feet and legs ached terribly. I wanted to stop.

I slowly realized my body wasn’t my own, and I had no choice but to keep going. As I kept moving, I saw the top of a head. Then the tips of the wings. All was slowly coming into view the closer I walked. Each step makes the space around me shift into different shades of white. The air felt stiff, dry, and heavy, making breathing hard.

 A deep, low groan began to shake the space around me, followed by a labored breath. It was so loud it made everything in this vast nothingness shake. My body moved involuntarily as it followed the sound.

The rest of the statue seemed to blink into existence, holding the same pose as it did at the park, except now it watches as I move towards it. A part of me knew it was always there, though, in the same way you know the sun is going to rise or the breeze is going to blow.

It seemed to be tripling in size; it was almost impossible to make out its features. The rumbling continued, each breath so loud it burst my eardrums. Warm streams of blood began running down my neck. I tried to put my hands over them, but nothing could block out the sound.

When I finally came to a stop. I was in awe as it towered over me. I couldn’t help but stare, and slowly its face began to come close. Filling my vision, expanding beyond belief. It came closer and closer, yet its body stood still. Its breathing reverberates in my head, my mind unable to adjust to the statue's monolithic size.

Somehow, just as I could tell the statue had always been there, I could tell I wasn’t alone.

It looked down at me, its gargantuan eye hovered over me for a moment before slowly enclosing me within its carved-out pupil. I felt myself in awe. Seeing every chip and chisel mark in unbelievable detail. I could feel my body vibrating as its loud breathing and labored gasps bounced off the stone and onto my body like the lashing of whips. I didn’t care anymore; I was in awe. Astounded by how something so terrifying could be so beautiful, I feel my skin start to pop and burst, unable to bear the brunt of the vibrations hitting my body.

 Dark black puffs of what should have been blood shot out from my arms, chest, and legs. The sound penetrated, hitting every inch of my body with a loud crack. I knew it should hurt. I knew I should scream and cry. But I felt myself feel almost joyous in my pain. I reached out my arm, watching the stringy bits of loose skin dangle from it. Bits of the dark substance and meat barely hung on before falling off my arms and legs, hitting the ground with a barely audible squelch.

The air began to feel chalky and musty; it filled my nostrils like an intoxicating gas. My hand touched the cold stone, smearing the black ichor within its eye, as I began using my body to paint with fervor.

 I woke up with a gasp, heart thumping rapidly in my chest. I was cold and shaking. My legs and arms felt sore and heavy. I checked my phone, and I had a bunch of missed calls from my parents, my job, and even a few from Mark, which was odd.  When I checked the date, I realized I'd been asleep for…..4 days?. My head was spinning. That’s when I got another text from Mark, “Hey, I’m sorry to keep texting you, but can you meet me at the coffee shop tomorrow? It's very important.” I stared at my phone for a second, “Yeah, just let me know the time,” I shot back.

By the time I got there, the shop had closed for the day. I sat with Mark watching as he finished up his last few tasks.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I'm done now.” He looked so tired, his eyes were big and puffy.  

“Had a long day?” I asked, he sighed, “Well, my dad really can’t run the shop anymore… so I come in and out as needed. Opening, closing, managing. At this point, I do it all…Thanks for coming through,” He said with a smile. “I'm just waiting for the others to get here,” he said, walking behind the counter and heating up some coffee

“Others?” I asked. As if on cue, Darius and Neecy knocked on the door, looking equally as exhausted as the rest of us.

“Hey, guys,” Mark said with a tired smile.

After some polite conversation and leftover doughnuts, Mark held up the now half-empty coffee pot, pouring some into a cup. “I'm glad y’all came. I don’t know how to explain this, but I have a feeling that you guys will understand.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve been having these dreams, weird fucked up dreams. They feel so real, though. And… I've been having problems sleeping; it's not just me either. My brother has been having issues sleeping at night. The past few days, he’s woken up screaming at weird hours or sleepwalking. I told him to come with me tonight, but he’s on duty.” Each word was reluctant and measured. “This all started a night or two after the statue disappeared.” his face was red, unsure if this was a good idea or if he was even making any sense.

“Why would we?” asked Darius,

 “Because…” Mark said, trailing off, “In my dream last night, I saw you. All of you.” He continued, “I was looking at it. That face is engraved in my mind now.” He sounded so serious, “I could also see all of us standing around it, Rowan in front, Neecy to the left, you to the right, and I was behind. This thing it- it was  was fucking huge. I couldn't even make out the top of it, and it was covering Rowan and Darius with its shadow.” he turned his head towards me. “It was looking at you.”

I knew what he was talking about, yet it felt weird to admit out loud. Neecy’s gaze shifted to behind me. Darius was uncomfortable, unable to find a good position to sit in, which let me know they knew what Mark was talking about, too.

So I spoke up. I told them all about my dream. The moments that matched with Marks. Mark looked relieved.

Darius looked over at Neecy before he spoke. She refused to look at him.  “We have, too,” Darius cleared his throat. “She's worse than me. She can’t sleep more than 30 minutes at a time. She keeps waking up screaming or walking to the corners of the room in her sleep,” he said, looking over at her. She didn’t respond. Mark looked at her, too,

“ Like my brother.”

Darius nodded.“At first I didn’t believe her, but then I started getting them too, the dreams that is. I don’t know, I haven’t slept a full night in days. To be honest, I can barely close my eyes.” He said.  “Are your dreams similar to ours?” I asked. He sighed, nodding his head. I could tell he was exhausted but relieved to know he wasn’t alone.

I looked over at Neecy, waiting for her to interject, but she didn't say anything. Zoned out on whatever was on the wall behind me. I went to turn around. I wanted to see what she was looking at, but she grabbed my arm, quickly, gripping it tightly. I looked over at Darius, but he seemed as confused as I was. “Don’t. Don’t turn around. Not yet”. She said, squeezing my arm even tighter. I looked at her for a moment; I don’t know if it was the tiredness or the possibility of a shared delusion, but I listened. I let her warm hand grip me as she looked over at Mark. “You too… just trust me,” she said.

A quiet rumble started from underground. The vibration went up my legs to my brain. It started feeling fuzzy, my eyes vibrated in my head as the cafe started shaking. The intensity is growing by the second.

The chairs that were stacked onto tables started falling with loud bangs all around us, and the coffee pots were falling off the counters, crashing on the ground, shattering into pieces. The ceiling lights quickly blinked on and off, the bulbs bursting, then leaving us in darkness. The decorations were swaying, crashing,  and breaking into one another.  It was suddenly hard to breathe.  

I looked over at everyone.“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, my voice shaking as Mark grabbed me and dragged me under the table. Neecy and Darius are joining us shortly after. We were all wide awake now as the rumbling continued. Pieces of the ceiling crashed on the table above us, shattering loudly. Bits of the tile hit us as it crashed down thunderously.

As quickly as it had started, it stopped. It got quiet all over again. Yet, this was a different silence. No humming of the lights or the fridge, no faint indie pop playing in the background, no sound of cars passing outside. Just silence. We all held our breath. I felt myself shaking, but something told me this wasn’t the end.

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck begging me to get out of there. I was alert, but the vibration in my head made it hard to think. It became more and more intense, making my head feel like it was going to explode.

Panic set in; I had to get out of here and somewhere safe before this building crashes down on us. I ran out from under the table to make my way out of the shop. Mark tried to grab my hand, but I ran. I heard footsteps behind me as I made it to the door. I hadn't even realized I was looking at the ground until I reached for the door.

Pressed right up against the glass was a massive marble face looking in the shop. Looking at me.

  Its face covered every inch of the wide windows as it peered in. It seemed to glow in the dark, its tired, miserable face covered every inch of the outside. I watched as its mouth slowly began to slide open. I took a step back, my head pounding so hard I couldn’t see. I could feel the veins in my eyes about to explode as its mouth fully opened, and I saw rows and rows of human teeth.  
“Look behind you,” said a labored, breathy whisper that carried the weight of 1,000 souls. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew it wasn’t Mark. I knew it was the statue. Its massive mouth kept sliding down before me. The sound of marble sliding on marble was shaking the ground of the coffee shop yet again, moving down until its jaw was barely holding on.

Thousands of voices joined in wailing, crying, screaming at me! demanding that I either look behind me or walk through that door. I couldn’t hear the others, and I refused to turn around, no matter how scared I was.

 I tried making sense of what’s going on, but I remembered Neecys' warning. “Don’t turn around. Not yet.” So I just looked ahead of me, looked right at the statue, at its teeth, at the black smudge it had in its pupil. I tried to make sense of the unexplainable. There were spots in my vision, and I found myself passing out and falling into the darkness.

A few hours later, the sheriff came in for coffee and apparently saw us passed out on the floor, me by the door, and Mark still under the table. The shop looked perfect, like nothing had ever happened. Yet Neecy and Darius were gone like they just up and left.

We tried to explain some of the less fantastical parts, the earthquake and the lights, and asked for the sheriff to do a wellness check on Neecy and Darius. Mark had to shut down the shop for a few days after this. His dad's health took a bad turn, and he let me know that he’d tried to check the security cameras inside the cafe, but they were all down, and the ones outside never caught anything at all.

Mark won’t tell me what he saw that night; he just wants to forget that this is real. I haven't heard from Neecy or Darius since that day.  

Part 2:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Blackcreekradio/s/DDmtAGt13K