It happened out of nowhere. I was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner because my parents were out on a business trip for a week. They were very important business workers that had trips like these all the time, where I would babysit for a week sometimes two. It was just me and my younger brother Sam, who was 7. Now I know it isn’t good to have a 7 year old up at 3:00 in the morning, playing around and jumping off the walls like a rabid monkey. But it was a Friday evening and we always did fun things like this on certain occasions, such as my parents being gone.
I will give you a lay out of the house, When you walk in from the front door, the kitchen is directly on the left, living room on the right with a fireplace and flat screen TV down the middle on the right was my parents’ room on the left was my brother’s room, then there was an up stairs leading to my room. It also had a play room and downstairs was our very own movie theater. It was a cozy home, and we all loved and cared for it.
It was 3:20 in the morning and something startled me. It was a repetitive thudding sound on the living room floor. I thought it was the movie that was playing for Sam so I told him to turn it down because we didn’t want any complaints from our nosy neighbors. Still hearing the repeating thudding sound on the floor and also getting a little worried that my brother hasn’t responded to me yet, caused me to check on Sam. As I approached closer to the living room the thudding got louder with each passing step I took. As soon as took one more cautious step to enter our living room I had a short scream of horror.
There, on the floor was my brother staring at me, directly in the eyes while his small little head pounded on the ground non stop while blood rushed from the left side of his head, where it was hitting and impacting the ground. His eyes were cold and obviously filled with horror. He was hitting the ground so much and so hard, I started to hear cracks on the floor. I felt bad because I just stood there watching, almost about to throw up before he said, “Maddi, please help… I don’t know what is going on, I’m not doing it! It’s the man!” his voice trembled each time he spoke a word. I realized that his eyes weren’t staring into mine, but staring past my head. “He watches us Maddi, especially you. He watches you from behind, and he is right now,” he said those words even while his head still continued to hit the carpet floor. I was so tremendously terrified.
I looked behind me and nothing was there, I quickly turned my gaze back to my helpless brother and I rushed towards him. I got a few mere inches away from him when he stopped. His head was in the air, still looking beyond me. There was blood everywhere and it kept seeping out of the side of his head. I couldn’t be more worried than any other time in my life. “Maddi, I don’t feel so good, is it okay if I rest in your room?” he asked with a few short pauses in his speech. “Of course little buddy, let me get you bandaged up and get an ice pack,” I said with tears in my eyes. After bandaging him up and giving him an ice pack, I led him up to my room, kissed him goodnight and left the door cracked, just the way he liked it.
I went back downstairs to the living room and I turned on a movie and popped some popcorn, and cleaned up the blood, I was still shaking and still in shock. I could barely focus on the movie because I was looking and the spot where my brother was hitting his head. Then I remembered what he told me. “He watches us Maddi, especially you.” The thought repeated in my confused mind over and over. It wasn’t long until I heard a creak coming from upstairs. Being paranoid it shook me. I darted towards the stairs, it was just Sam standing there with his teddy bear and his favorite blanket. “Hey bud, you alright? Need anything?” I asked. He didn’t answer. When I took a full look at his face, panic set into my shaking body. He stared at me, with coldness in his eyes, he was frowning. He looked very angry, like I stole his favorite toy. “What are you…?”
Before I could finish my sentence, he fell head first onto the house’s wooden stairs and his body cracked and twisted in ways I can’t even describe while hitting the stairs. When he hit the floor there was a blood curdling snap that made the hairs on my neck, arms and spine stand up. His neck was broken, I rushed over to him and I called his name many times with no response. I wanted to believe he was alive, but in my heart I knew he wasn’t. Only a cold stare and with his blanket in one hand and his teddy in the other. I looked up two notice two things. It was hard to see at first because of the tears that filled my upset eyes. The first thing was the clock that read 3:33 a.m. which was weird because it must have been an hour after the events that occurred.
Our family isn’t religious but we had a cross that hung in our living room above our couch. It gave us comfort whenever we felt alone. That is why I was terrified to see it hanging upside down. When I was watching the movie, it was hanging right side up. I put it aside and called 911. At the funeral, we buried Sam with his favorite blanket, favorite teddy bear, and his favorite pajamas. Besides the whole gloomy feel to it, it was a beautiful funeral.
I was 16 when that happened and that was the first of many encounters with upside down crosses. I went through high-school depressed and I lost friends, lost connection with my parents and had anger issues. I just wanted Sam back. College is better. I am 20 years old and I rented an apartment down the road from where I go to college. I hate it. When I moved into this broken, misfit of a place, I realized that there was at least one cross in each room. When I asked about it, the owner said it must have been the past owners and left them there. A little annoyed I hung up the phone. I hated seeing crosses, it reminded me of the day that haunts me in my dreams. It was practically burned into my brain at this point and it was still hard to move on.
One month ago was the first encounter with the man since Sam’s death. It was a Sunday evening and I was studying for an exam on nuclear science. I was very nervous about the exam and I didn’t want to fail. The lamp that was shining the paper on my desk distracted me from studying and I was getting restless. I finally looked up from my desk to see clock, it was 2:50 in the morning. I had to get some rest before school in the morning. I went into my well-lit bathroom and started to fill the bathtub with warm water and once it was full, I put my toes in to feel the water, it calmed my nerves and immediately relaxed me.
Before I got all the way in I lit some candles and turned off all the lights and sat down while the bath water surrounded me. At that moment nothing could disturb me, all the pain, suffering, anxiety, and depression washed away for a while. Even my brother’s death seemed to not bother me as much. It was just me, and only me. I don’t know how long it was when I heard a knock. “Who’s there?” I said. The knocking continued. Then it soon started to turn into pounding. It was so loud I felt it would break down the door at any second.
“Stop that whoever you are!” it had a sudden stop, like it went away as soon as I finished my sentence. Then out of nowhere, the candles blew out. I was so confused about what was going on. I put on my towel and went outside my bathroom into my bedroom. It was quiet, not the kind of peaceful quiet, the too silent kind of quiet. Something was wrong and I noticed the air shifted and something directed my gaze to my alarm clock. “3:30” it read. I remembered the time my brother died was 3:33. I teared up, I didn’t want to remember! A tear fell down my cheek and into my towel. Just then there was an ear-piercing shriek of complete madness. I fell to the floor out of shock. As soon as I hit the ground the shrieking stopped.
I found myself sitting back in front of my bathroom facing the cross. A small creek came from the cross as it started twisting upside down, the time slowly ticking by as it was nearing 3:33. Afraid to stand up, I just sat there, watching as the bottom of the cross neared the top of the ceiling. As soon as the clock reached 3:33 a.m. the cross reached its final point before everything became black. My lamp shut off, my kitchen light I kept on shut off, it was total darkness and it was cold, as cold as death could be.
Then I heard my little brother’s voice. I wanted to believe it was him, I really really did. But I knew it wasn’t. The creature speaking from my brother spoke. “Maddi, I’m back, and I am scared, please help me.” It came from the hallway. I grabbed my phone that was being illuminated by my alarm clock. I turned on the flashlight. It gave me a warning saying my phone was at 10 percent. I swiped it away and like an idiot I left the room looking for my brother. I still knew it wasn’t him but I just wanted to see him so bad my emotions took over. “Sam? Sam where are you? I need to see you please!” I said with tears welling up in my eyes once more. “Maddi! I am over here, help me,” he called out to me. I kept searching through the apartment with my eyes still trying to adjust to the darkness. There in the corner of the laundry room, I saw Sam facing a corner of the room.
“Sam, come out from over there and come be with me,” I said to him, I really wanted to hold him in my arms and tell him everything was going to be okay. He quickly spun around and surprised me a little. “Maddi why didn’t you help me?” he asked in a disappointed tone. I couldn’t answer all I could do was mouth out the words, “I… I just…” That was all I could get out. He stepped closer to me in the light I gave off with my phone. Blood started rushing from his head, his eyes widened, wider than anything I had ever seen. His voice got deeper as he kept walking forward at a slow, rhythmic pace. “You could have helped me Maddi… You could have saved me Maddi.”
I was getting terrified but I couldn’t move, I wanted to but I just couldn’t. I soon realized I was crying. He stopped in front of me. “WHY DIDN’T YOU HELP ME MADDI?” His voice was something not of this world, I soon heard screams coming from everywhere and Sam’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his jaw went down to his stomach and it was filled with complete darkness. The sounds that came from his mouth were like a cry for help. Then Sam let out a scream that rattled my bones and scared the humanity out of me. I ran… I ran to my room, shut the bathroom door, locked my bedroom door, leaped into bed at sat under the covers.
This has been an ongoing thing for a month and last night it was the worst of them all. This time I actually saw what was taking form of Sam. The crosses went upside down everywhere as usual I tucked myself under the sheets to wait it out, but his time the sheets were pulled off of me with tremendous force and I was stuck, lying on my back unable to shut my eyes. I saw it, it stood at least 8 feet tall, its eyes were almost complete white with two tiny black dots for its pupils and his mouth mumbled gibberish or some kind of language I didn’t understand. He approached me and each second that passed by felt like hours, the room was freezing. The smell was of death, and all I could do was watch. He must have been only two inches away from away before he screamed. I couldn’t shut my eyes or anything. He backed off and neared the door. In a demonic voice he spoke.
“It’s a shame, he needed your help and all he got was a b***h for a sister. I’ll come for you tomorrow, the last thing you will ever see is me, dragging you to hell where you belong.” With that he left. I haven’t rested at all, my eyes hurt, my body aches and my friends have been wondering where I have been. I don’t want them to come check on me. I can only think of what will happen tonight. I really don’t want to be dragged to hell, I want a second chance. I will do anything… anything.