Follow Me into the Dark

Moving is always a tough challenge, especially in the middle of your high school years. Going to a new place with all new people that you don’t know, and who don’t want to know you either. A big city that never sleeps and never stops moving, life passing you by before you even realize it, before you even take a breath to glance around.

Trevor hates moving.

His stupid parents decided to pull their roots and weed their garden they built for themselves in their small town, one they’ve been living in since the beginning of time it seemed like. They picked a random city, Denver, and packed their things and off they went to Colorado. Trevor was in the middle of his sophomore year when this happened, his younger brother and sister in their third, fraternal twins. They were certainly a handful.

He never thought that he’d leave the little bubble he once called home, but here he was, questioning everything he’s ever believed. Couldn’t his parents have just waited a couple more years until he went to college? They were so inconsiderate, never thinking of Trevor’s feelings.

Maybe I should talk to them about that, Trevor thought to himself. He just ignored it though, shoving the way he feels deep inside for another day. It was not the day to deal with that kind of stuff. Instead, he had to deal with waking up in the middle of the night to his sister, Autumn, sobbing. Their new rooms were so close to each other and the walls so thin, he could hear everything.

He shuffled into her room, walking like a zombie. He definitely felt like one, too. He sat on the edge of her bed and she pretty much leaping into Trevor’s arms, shaking from crying. He shushed her and hugged her tightly.

“What’s wrong, Autumn? Bad dream?” He asked, becoming worried. His sister has never been this scared in her life, even when she has nightmares. There was no response, just heaving hiccups as she tried to calm down. Her heartbeat was finally able to return to normal. Finally, she leaned back into his arms, looking him in the eyes. There was nothing but terror reflecting back at him, the sparkle that she usually has gone.

“It wasn’t just a dream.”

Autumn’s eyes flicker to the ceiling and Trevor slowly turns around to look, almost dreading what he might see. There’s a girl on the ceiling, looking about the same age as him. She looks like she is glued to her place. She’s staring straight at Trevor, her gaze burning holes in his head. She doesn’t have any body parts from the waist down. Her black hair hangs like a curtain, but not enough so Trevor can’t see her face. Oh, he can definitely see that. She doesn’t have lips, just a mouth that is sewn together. She tilts her head, like she is estimating him. Trevor slowly moves backward, his breath taken away from the sight of this monster.

After what feels like forever of nothing, the three of them not doing anything, the girl tries to smile at him, a horror that gives him chills running up and down his spine. He blinks, and she’s crawling towards him now, slithering like a snake attacking its prey. And that’s exactly what he is right now, prey. He can’t think of anything but himself as he comes back to his senses and runs as fast as he can out of the room, slamming Autumn’s door behind him, leaving his sister alone with a monster. What he doesn’t want to admit is that it might have been on purpose.

Trevor doesn’t realize what he’s done until he’s back in his own room, hiding under the covers like a kid, out of breath. Because honestly, he tries to act like he’s this mature adult, when in reality he’s just a scared little boy underneath a tough guy façade.

He squeezes his eyes shut as tight as he can when he hears his little sister’s desperate screams.
***

Trevor’s family is falling apart slowly. His guilt is eating him alive. If he’d stayed with his sister, he’d be dead instead, though. That’s a fact. His parents are fighting out of control, their arguments earthshaking. Matthew, Autumn’s twin, is shattered. He doesn’t leave his room, isolating himself from any kind of contact at all, too torn up about the loss of his best friend. And Trevor’s responsible. He’s responsible for it all.

Dark circles become more obvious underneath his eyes, the haunting he’s feeling on the inside finally showing on the outside. Whenever he closes his eyes, he sees the monster, and he just can’t handle that. He doesn’t even dare go into Autumn’s room, terrified. He suggested to his parents that they never open the door, never in a million years. They said they wouldn’t any time soon. He doesn’t think they have the same reason in mind, though.

After the funeral, Trevor’s parents are swamped, too busy to acknowledge his presence. It’s the only time he would willingly accept their help, and they’re ignoring him. In the back of his mind, he knows it’s definitely all about him; it’s about Autumn, his sister. The sister he murdered. He still can’t shake it out of his head, the thought taking over. Is he really guilty? He tries not to think about it.

Sociopath: person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.

Trevor closed his laptop, deciding his research was finished. Words were jumbling together and he couldn’t think straight. He was on his computer for the task of some dumb English paper at his new school. It was definitely not about psychopathy, and he has no idea how he ended up there.

All of a sudden, Trevor is standing outside of Autumn’s door, staring at it. He touches the wood, running his hand across the smoothness. He grips the cool brass knob, just holding it for a little bit until he gathers up the courage to turn it all the way. When the door creaks open, he expects the girl to be there, nonexistent lips turning up in a smile, just like that night. She’s not there, though.

The bed was made, the covers new. The sheets weren’t wrinkled whatsoever and the sight of it made Trevor’s hands shake. The back of the door had scratches covering from something that was definitely not human. He looked around, everything so neat. His sister’s room was always a mess, toys thrown everywhere and clothes all about. She could never decide on what to wear. Thinking about it almost made him miss the huge bloodstain on the floor in front of the door. It reminds him of how his sister almost made it, almost came out alive.

His dad says that almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Trevor stepped over the stain, a reminder of the girl’s face running through his mind. He looked up to the ceiling, where she had once been.

Trevor had only been in Autumn’s room that one time since they moved in, never in the daylight. When he looked, he saw an entrance to the crawlspace. His parents never told them that existed. They probably thought he’d take advantage of it and basically live up there, not coming down until they moved back to their hometown.

He climbed onto the bed, the only way to reach it without a ladder. As he got closer to it, he wondered how his parents didn’t notice the fact that the door was nailed shut. This was literally horror movie material. Lucky for him, but the nails were loose and he was able to rip the board off, letting a ton of dust be released.

This was probably where the monster came from. Trevor used all of his upper body strength to bring himself up into the small amount of space. From the looks of it, he could sit up straight without hitting his head on the roof. The distance of the crawlspace was only the same amount of space as the room below it.

This was terrifying, but still thrilling. There was nothing up there. Trevor frantically looked around. There had to be something else. He just needed something to explain the reason why it happened. An explanation is all he wants.

He leaned against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest. He felt something sharp poke his back. When he turned around, he saw something shiny sticking out of the wall. He blew some of the dust off it, trying to see it clearly. He grabbed it, testing. He heard a click, and it was a door opening. It was a tiny handle, like something from Alice in Wonderland.

Inside, he expected a dead body or maybe a person to fall out the door, landing on and crushing him. Well, that didn’t happen. A person did come out, though.

The girl from the night his sister died fell straight into his lap. She didn’t look exactly the same, though. She had working legs and an actual mouth. She was wearing a pretty white dress and a matching bow in her black hair. Her mouth didn’t smile at him, but he could see it in her hazel eyes. She was beautiful, a sight he wanted to see every day. And he did, going to the crawlspace every chance he got. His parents were still grieving, they didn’t notice him disappearing. She didn’t like to leave her little home up there either, so he would just come to her.

Her name was Violet, and her voice was angelic and chimed easily. Trevor could listen to her talk all day. She was nice, kind, and smart; basically everything you want a girl to be. She wasn’t up to date with social media and stuff, but he was okay with that. Her humor could use some work, too, but he never mentioned it. He laughed along to her jokes anyway, even if he didn’t get them. She might’ve appeared as something to fear before, but anyone could change if they were shown love. That’s what was happening to Trevor. He was in love.

After a solid month of them seeing each other, Violet would whisper awful things to him in that sickly sweet voice of hers, sounding like a melody when the words were horrendous. She would tell him to do things to his family, different ways to get rid of them, seductive. She made him remember how much he secretly hated them all, resenting them this entire time.

“I helped you with your sister, now you need to help me. You know where your dad keeps his guns, right? It’d be so easy. Too easy.” The way Violet’s eyes lit up at death and her magnificent laugh at killing was something Trevor thought of when he put a bullet in each of his family member’s heads.
Violet didn’t come back after that.
Trevor wasn’t too bothered by this, though. He was bound for this path eventually. What he did realize, though, is that the monster wasn’t anyone but himself.