Bad Seafood posted:

Yes, but do link the scene.

Bad Seafood posted:

Also, yes, multiple people can read the same story. You can only read one though.

Parallax posted:

What's a good way to upload audio?

quote:

Most kids grow up hating the dark. There’s this primal fear of the unknown, of what may be lying in wait for you behind the shadows.

I’ve always thought it the other way around. The light is terrifying because it tells you that something is there. Even if you can’t see it. Let’s put it another way. Say there’s an abandoned house. Entering the house and finding nothing but darkness all around is pretty nerve-wracking, I’ll give you that. But what if you did find light deep inside the house? Hell, it doesn’t have to be deep inside the house, it could just be a room visible from outside the house.

You don’t think that’s scary?

What if you replaced the word light with something else? Like a face, or the faint outline of a figure. Adults might say that someone was squatting in the place, or that you must have been mistaken. Very reasonable and logical explanations.

Kids, though… kids see something else. Ghosts, monsters, or even murderers like the ones that appear in the movies that our parents never let us see. Oh, sure, shrinks might say that kids have active imaginations, and are prone to making things up. But kids are much more perceptive than people give them credit for. When you’re young, society has yet to properly hammer in the rules of life. You’re more of a wild animal than a social beast, prone to relying on your instincts. And no instinct is more vital to survival than fear.

There are stories of dogs and other animals reacting to earthquakes before they’re even there. Your instincts tell you what you should be afraid of. Growing up is the process of suppressing these instincts, because sometimes, you just need to overcome the challenges in your path without running away. Other times, though…

Having lived in an apartment for most of my life, those automated light sensors were an every-present facet of my life. Every time I returned home from school or cram school, those automated lights would turn on whenever I stepped out of the elevator. Or, sometimes, even before. I remember nearly pissing myself back in 3rd grade when I stepped out into a bright hall devoid of any other existence. Now, I realize that the motion sensors were probably reacting to the elevator doors opening. I’ll laugh inwardly and shake my head, and tell myself, dang, kids really do have active imaginations.

Kids are by nature inquisitive, and once they want to know why something’s happening they’ll resort to all kinds of things to find out. I was no exception, and I was dying to find out just what was up with the lights. I’d walk around the hall, watching the lights flare up each time I passed under them, marveling at what surely must have been magic. They might have taught electricity in schools, but then again, I wasn’t really a model student by any means.

One day, though, something felt off. As I paced back and forth, I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was being watched by something. But when I sped up my pace and reached one end of the hall, I turned back to find nothing. Nothing but a light at the other end.

I stood still, holding my breath, waiting for the light to fade, but it just stood there as if was waiting. Only when it finally flickered off did I allow myself to take a breath. Then the light came back on, only this time it was the second last light from the end. Then the third. Then the fourth.

I ran. I rushed down the stairs, with the lights following in my wake. Luckily, my family lived on the 5th floor, and I’d always been the outdoorsy type. Even so, I was shaking and out of breath by the time I reached the first floor. I ran out the doors and into the streets, finally taking cover inside a convenience store until my parents, worried that I had not come home, came to find me. I remember being grounded and not allowed to go out after school. Which suited me just fine.

I don’t know why the lights suddenly came on, or why they headed towards me. What I do know is that the kid next door vanished a few days later, and that they never found him. What I do remember is telling him about what had happened to me, and getting angry when he didn’t believe me. I dared him to try it for himself.

I also know that sometimes, when I look out through the peephole on my door, I can see the lights on and nothing else.

Sometimes shadows are just that. Shadows. But light? The presence of light symbolizes the presence of something else.

And I don’t think I’m fully prepared to find out just what that something is.

Endorph posted:

The last woman on earth posted alone on SA.

She received a day probation.

ZepiaEltnamOberon posted:

More tragedy then horror in my humble opinion.

Parallax posted:

Namtab posted:

interesting voices

e: maybe you should be backwards batman instead

Senerio posted:

He had been waiting for this package for a while. He had signed up for a special Halloween bag-o-crap site a few weeks back, and the package was supposed to get to his door yesterday. He had left a scathing review earlier, but didn't feel bad. They deserved it. If they hadn't wanted negative feedback, they shouldn't have promised him two day shipping and gotten it to him in three days. He opened the box, and there were three smaller boxes inside: a red one, a blue one, and a green one.
He started with the red one, it contained:
A Deck of Halloween-themed playing cards
Cheap Halloween masks
Pack of gum, pumpkin flavored

Crap, as he suspected. He paid $9.99 for this?!? That's okay, there were two more boxes. He opened the Green Box. It had three DVDs.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby Doo
Monsters, Inc.

Western Garbage. Maybe he could sell them on eBay, but he wasn't sure he'd get much for them. The third box was his last hope.
A Devil Survivor Candle
Jack Frost doll
A broken DS.

Quite the ha

the wildest rear end posted:

ZEp story

Parallax posted:

I was walking home one night and found a DVD case in front of my apartment building. Nothing unusual, people throw trash in the trash all the time. Boy, had this case been worked over, though. It looked like it had passed through at least two raccoon intestinal tracks. I went to pick it up and throw it away and noticed that something caught the light of the street lamp inside. I opened the case and inside was a perfectly pristine DVD. Someone had written in sharpie the letter 'X' and drawn some sort of lumpy potato person with wings. I took the DVD and went inside, throwing the case away in the large garbage bin before going inside. Out of curiosity, I put the DVD in and a cartoon started to play. "This doesn't seem so bad," I thought to myself, as blonde hair and sakura petals floated across the screen...

quote:

“Popobawa”

Justin looked up. “What?”

“That’s the name. Of the demon. Funny, huh?”

Justin wasn’t quite sure how to answer. Andrew had been born stubborn. He never let things go. He’d known this ever since the day they met, getting into a fight on the playground over swing rights. It’s why Justin was so worried when his friend starting becoming withdrawn and listless a few weeks ago. He had hoped Andrew asking to come over was a sign things were getting back to normal.

“Yeah, sure, it’s...pretty crazy. Why bring this up now?”

Andrew was staring straight ahead, brow furrowed. Concentrating.

“This demon has a very specific sort of nature,” he slowly began. “Once it starts its work, it doesn’t stop. Not until it wants to.”

Justin frowned, leaning forward on his bed. How many times had they spoken late into the night about the occult, aliens, and crushes.

He was momentarily distracted by the sound of a fire truck racing down the street, its lights dancing across the room. When he turned back to his friend, Andrew was still staring at the window.

“It cares if I can convince you to believe in it. It wants me to talk about it...but it’s enraged if people deny it. If it gets angry…” He paused, a bitter smile creeping across his face. He looked exhausted. “It wont start with me. It might not even end with me.” He turned to look at his friend.

Neither of them spoke for a while. More fire trucks. It was Justin who broke the silence.

“You can’t be serious. What do you actually want?”

“I need you to believe.”

“In Popobawa?”

“Yes.”

“In the thing you just told me about tonight?”

“Yes.”

Justin was at a complete loss. He stared hard into Andrew, searching for a sign of a joke, a prank, anything to explain this behavior.

“I know it’s crazy,” Andrew sighed, looking at his hands,”If you ever gave a poo poo about our friendship you must know I think it’s crazy. You must know that about me at least, after all these years.”

“It’s just, you’re the only one that would ever believe me.” He looked up, eyes wet,”and you have to believe me. You have to believe it.” His voice trailed off, ”you have to.”

Justin looked at his friend. He’d never seemed so small before. So haggard. He put his hand on his shoulder and drew him into a hug.

“Hey...it’s no problem man. Sure. But how about we get some sleep tonight, alright? And then we can figure out what to do about this tomorrow. We’ll fix this, okay?”

Andrew shuddered, almost imperceptibly. And maybe Justin didn’t notice it. Or maybe he noticed it in a way that didn’t matter. Or maybe he imaged it entirely. They separated.

“Yeah, sure. We’ll figure it out tomorrow,” Andrew sighed,”Sleep tight, partner.”

Justin pulled the blanket over himself and turned onto his side. It was eerily bright outside, but he finally managed to let his mind drift off into the unconscious. In its place, strange dreams began to filter in.

“You really believe in Popobawa?”

“Yeah, sure.”

He began to feel a tightness in his chest.

“You really, truly believe?”

The tightness was starting to move up to his throat

“Of course I do”

When did it start raining…?

“That’s right. Of course you do. That’s okay. That’s alright.”

Justin couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a dream like this. How long had it been? And did he leave the window open before it started raining?

“I really thought you would get it...I’m so sorry...I really...I really thought you would…”

Justin thought for a moment it was strange for god to be apologizing to him, especially when he couldn’t say anything back. He couldn’t say anything back. He started to panic for just a moment, and then: nothing.

Andrew was staring at his hands once again.

Slowly

Slowly

He looked up towards the window

Senerio posted:

He had been waiting for this package for a while. He had signed up for a special Halloween bag-o-crap site a few weeks back, and the package was supposed to get to his door yesterday. He had left a scathing review earlier, but didn't feel bad. They deserved it. If they hadn't wanted negative feedback, they shouldn't have promised him two day shipping and gotten it to him in three days. He opened the box, and there were three smaller boxes inside: a red one, a blue one, and a green one.
He started with the red one, it contained:
A Deck of Halloween-themed playing cards
Cheap Halloween masks
Pack of gum, pumpkin flavored

Crap, as he suspected. He paid $9.99 for this?!? That's okay, there were two more boxes. He opened the Green Box. It had three DVDs.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby Doo
Monsters, Inc.

Western Garbage. Maybe he could sell them on eBay, but he wasn't sure he'd get much for them. The third box was his last hope.
A Devil Survivor Candle
Jack Frost doll
A broken DS.

Quite the ha