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Note To Readers: This story takes you into the mind of a paranoid young man, who has just started a place of his own, away from his loving parents. Just bear in mind that this is NOT an average teenager, this one is a coward geek, who is spending his first night alone and away from his parents.
The main character's thoughts are being conveyed in Italics characters.
"Bla-hah-hah-hah! Independence! Bla-hah-hah-hah!!"
"Excuse me, Pete! What's so funny about it? What's so funny about getting independence?" I looked at Pete, I was angry now. Just something about this stupid guy always got to me. Now he's killing himself laughing, jerking his body back and forth.
"Knock it off Pete! What's so funny about what Tom has said? Are you nuts or something?" Mark looked at Pete in disgust, wondering why this jerk would always choose to sit with us, when in fact this was just about the largest college cafeteria that you could find in Redwood. Pete was not your usual type of character. He was bigger than Mark and I, his part Irish background has given him the orange-coloured hair and light skin with freckled face.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha! C'mon Tom," Pete said, "you don't expect me to believe that you're really going to leave you mama's side and find a place of your own. I don't believe it. You have always been such a mama's boy. You always gotta go home at a certain time. Christ! You wouldn't even go to a movie with us after school when we asked you to, and now, out of the blues you're claiming you want to get independence?"
Pete was still laughing and smirking, both hands holding onto his tummy.
"Hey! Leave Tom alone, willya? If he says he will, then he will. Waddaya know?" Mark stood up in my defense now. Mark had always been good to me. He lived about a few houses down the street where I lived. I always felt like he was my bodyguard. Yup, we're known as "the geeks" by many because of the way we part our hairs and the way we dress, and somehow also because we're smaller than most boys. Well, I guess all geeks are physically smaller.
I do not mind being a geek. In this Redwood College one way to survive is to be a well known geek, so nobody will challenge you. I see so many others that are not supposedly geeks got challenged and beaten up everyday, so I'm quite contented sitting at a corner being a geek, then no one will bother me.
"Listen, you geeks," Pete stood up, held Mark's shirt in his hand. Twisting the front of his shirt, he brought himself in front of Mark's face, lips tightening as he spoke. "I damn well will laugh if I find that funny, I damn well laugh if I wanted to, and there's no way you geeks can stop me. So I'm laughing, so what? What are you going to do? Are you going to fight me, eh? You want a fight? Oh yeah, I'll fight you, I'll fight the two of you together."
"No, no! That's okay Mark! Don't worry! Pete is right, I have not been out with the boys, so I guess whatever I have said here comes as a surprise to Pete." I stood up and began separating the two of them. I was afraid for Mark. He was no match for Pete when it came to fighting. We simply weren't the fighting type.
Pete turned his head and looked at me, amused at what he had just heard.
"You're chicken, aren't you? You don't want to fight, you know you won't be able to fight me. Jesus! You two are chicken shit-no-guts-cowards," he continued to mock us. "Bawk! bawk! bawk! bawk! Chickens, chickens!"……he paraded around the table, flapping his arms, making a scene to get everyone's attention. Everyone around us was looking at him, and then at us. Then He laughed and continued to mock as he walked away. My blood was boiling inside. I just wish I had the guts to really give it to him between the eyes.
One of these days, I'll fix ya, you fool! Just wait and see! One of these days!…one day!…and you'll regret it! I'll be so strong I'll pick you up by the neck and I'll slam your face down to the ground and rub your face in it. One of these days I'll……
"Jerk!" Mark cried out, "wish he wouldn't sit with us. I'm tired of him. Why can't he just sit with someone else and pick on somebody his own size?"
"That's probably because he's a chicken shit himself," I said.
I moved to this neighbourhood not so long ago with my computer. This is a nice and quiet little town, with very little traffic and very few people. Although I would prefer having the convenience of shopping at my footsteps downtown Toronto, having this quiet place for me right now to do my writing is all I need.
Heck, I am single. I have no worries. I just have to take care of myself.
"What would you like to do, son? Now that you are a graduate, have you looked into anything yet?" I could still hear my Dad's voice asking. My Dad has always been on my back pushing me to do something. When I've finished doing one thing nice, then he'll rush me to do the next thing.
"Give me a break Dad. You think it was easy for me to get all these credits? I worked hard on all these credits, you know? At least say something nice about this." Although I answered him this way in my head, I was always polite not to upset him; I always gave him the answer that he would like to hear by saying something like:
"Well, I have always wanted to be a writer, a screenwriter, maybe. If I get famous, you'll be the first one to know, Dad."
"A writer! Why do you want to be a writer?"
"I don't know," I answered foolishly, he always made me feel foolish, "I love to write, that's all. And I think I'll be good at it, that's all."
"Leave the boy alone. He's a big boy now, leave it up to him to decide." Mom said to Dad. No matter how old I was, Mom always referred to me as "the boy".
I've made up my mind. I have to pack my bags and go someplace else. I will never be a grown up as long as I stayed with them. Not that I don't love them or anything, I love my parents, but I just need my own space.
So I've got myself a part-time job, and spent half my time working, the other half writing my stories. I had submitted to a few places, but none of them have replied me yet. I saved up some money, and managed to rent this tiny three-bedroom bungalow in this quiet neighbourhood. The owner of this house is a Canadian, his name is Danny and everybody here calls him Dan. He looks like he is in his mid. 50's. He lives with his wife in another house about 3 blocks down the street.
When I first saw this bungalow, I thought it was nice. The front porch was freshly painted and the front steps were remade. He told me that the old steps were falling apart so he had to make some new ones. He also told me that a couple with a daughter had lived there for several years before me. The man was a truck driver and he was always on the road. Then one time he was out on the road for a long time and never came back. The woman called his work, but was told that her husband hadn't worked there for months. Then the woman had problems in keeping up with the rent afterwards so Dan had no choice but to ask her to leave as he was still paying the mortgage of the house.
So here I am; sitting in my rented three-bedroom house, with my sandwich and my coffee, 11:00 p.m. on this Friday night, suffering from writer's insomnia. I turned on the computer, trying to type a few lines……
"Bam, Bam, Bam" I heard knockings…. What? Who could that be at this hour? Who dare walk on such quiet neighbourhood at this time?
I tilted my head to one side and listened, but there was no sound.
Ah well, perhaps it's my own imagination.
"Bam, Bam, Bam"…. What? There it is again! Maybe someone is having car trouble and needed a phone.
I got up from my chair and went to the door and turned on the porch light. I looked out from the peephole, and thought that I would find somebody standing there.
To my surprise, there was nobody there. What? Is this some kind of childish jokes?
I remembered I did something like this, too, when I was a kid. I would go and knock on that fat lady's door and then quickly run away and hide around the corner, peeping out, killing myself laughing at the sight of that agitated fat lady who lives down the street. She would always come out and when she found nobody, she would put both hands on her
hips and swear like hell. Once she saw my friend and I run away, she held up her hand and made a fist at us. We ran away laughing as if it was the big fun of the day to agitate her. Now maybe I am getting a taste of my own medicine, some kids are here to agitate me!
I opened the front door, went down the porch. I walked around the sides of the house. No one was there. Well, perhaps my insomnia has brought on this imagination. I shrugged my shoulders and I went back inside the house.
I began to type again. Then I heard the knockings again.
Who the insane hell is this? Don't you know I am a writer and cannot be disturbed? I have to write while the inspiration is still in my head.
I swung the door open, and quickly went outside. Again no one was there.
I closed the door, stood there and waited. Peeped out the hole, to try to catch a glimpse of that someone. Ten minutes had passed and I still couldn't see anybody. So maybe there really wasn't anybody at all.
Then I turned around and began to walk to my desk, and it happened again. I dashed over to the door and peeped out quickly, but again no one was there.
G-h-O-s-t!! All of a sudden I had goosebumps all over me. The God of Fear had quickly descended upon me.
Is this house haunted? That's one thing I've forgotten to ask Dan about. Yeah, it could be haunted, and he didn't tell me about it. Damn! Why didn't I ask him this 101 question "Is this house haunted?" when I came to see the place? But are we supposed to ask this kind of question when looking for a place to stay? Wouldn't that have made me sounds like an idiot?
Hey, ghost! Whoever you are please don't hurt me. It's only poor old me. I am a Nobody, I haven't made it to the world yet. I want to be a writer. Please don't hurt me.
I quickly turned off my computer, changed into my pajamas, then went to bed right away, even though I was not really sleepy yet.
I lay in my bed, tossed and turned, and I just couldn't fall asleep. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, if I live long enough to go through this night, I will go and ask Dan what's going on here. Why all these knockings?
As I lay in my bed, I could still hear the knockings on the door. I couldn't fall asleep, so I tiptoed to the door again and peeped. There was no one out there again. I was disappointed and I came back to bed. I suddenly felt very cold. I had to pull my blanket right up to my chin.
Please God! Whatever it is, please protect me from it. I don't want to die yet.
Vampires!! Shit! Could it be a vampire? I know it sounds crazy, but I might be a target for female vampires since I live alone in this house and in this quiet neighbourhood. But are there real vampires?
Stop it Tom! You're a big boy now. Why are you thinking up all these things? Don't you know there's no ghosts in the world. And don't you know the vampires exist only in the movies?
Wait a minute! I think I know what to do. I will move my bed away from the window. I know they can't stand garlic, so I will put some garlic around the side of my bed. Good thing I have bought some yesterday when I shopped.
I sneaked out of bed and hunched down on the side of it. I looked around me, but didn't see anything at the window, so I'm sure that no one was around to see me. I looked outside the window and saw a few trees there, but nothing else, so I knew I was safe. I hope whoever it was at the door won't come over to this window to look in on me.
I moved my bed to the middle of the room. It was quite heavy and I had to make an effort to do it. Then I hunched over all the way to the kitchen, and in the dark I opened my fridge. Thank God, for the garlic and onions. I took out the whole package of garlic and the whole package of onions and went back to my bedroom. I broke up the garlic in
tiny little pieces, then sprinkled it all around my bed. I looked at the package of onions. Will this work too? I asked myself. I know the garlic works on the vampires, so maybe the onions will work on the ghosts.
There were six in the bag, so I took them out and put one in each corner of the bed. Then I put one on each side of the bed.
Wait! Maybe I should peel some of the skin off from them to make them more smellier, so vampires won't come near me, I thought. So I did just that.
I went back to bed and pulled the blanket up to my chin. Damn those knockings. Whatever it is , it's still there knocking at my door. Forget it. Even if anybody is out there, he or she must be insane to bother people at this hour. I'm not going to open my door for anybody at this hour of the night, no way.
It was now 2:00 a.m. and I was still wide-awake and scared. Tears were coming out of my eyes, not because I was scared, but because the onions were so strong; the fumes were attacking my eyes. I rubbed my eyes with my hands.
Ouch! That made it even worse. I forgot to wash my hands after I touched and peeled the onions. Now my eyes were really watery, and I could not see a thing. I had to go to the bathroom to rinse them out with water.
I got out of bed again. Went over to the bathroom in my hunched over type of walk.
"Oooh! Ouch! Oooh!" Damn! I'm stepping on all the garlic and onions. Now I've got smelly feet. Now I've got to wash my feet too. Am I going to make too much noise for the vampires and the ghosts?
In the midst of the darkness I looked towards the window, I could see a shadow of something fly by. My heart almost leaped out of my mouth.
What was it? Was it a bat? Is it going to turn into a vampire? Maybe I shouldn't wash my hands and feet. Then at least I will have the smell and it won't attack me.
I hunched my way over to the kitchen so as not to be detected through the windows, and looked for something for protection. Maybe this big knife will do. I only have to drive it through the vampire's chest.
I took a great big kitchen knife, and held it in my hand.
Wait! For more protection, maybe I should get this frying pan too, then at least if I missed the vampire's heart, I can whack its head with the frying pan.
So I held the knife in one hand, and the frying pan in the other hand and hunched my way back to the bedroom.
"Oooh! Ouch! Oooh!" Damn those garlic and onions!
I finally found my bed in the darkness and I lay down, with my big knife on one side of me and the frying pan on the other. I tried to close my eyes, but I wanted to be awake just in case someone or something comes inside my house.
Everything had been quiet for quite some time now. I didn't hear anything, so they must have smelled the garlic and the onions and finally had decided to go somewhere.
Suddenly, I heard someone or something on the rooftop, scratching.
What's that? They couldn't come in through the door and the window; maybe they're trying to come in from the chimney.
I jumped out of bed and went over to the fireplace. There was nothing, no wood to start a fire. I decided to move the hutch over to cover the opening of the fireplace.
Wait! Maybe the hutch is not heavy enough to block them from entering, I'll get the couch too. Now whatever comes down is going to go for the bedroom first, so I better not to go back to the bedroom, I better hide here behind this sofa chair, so at least I can see everything if anyt hing or anyone at all come in through this chimney.
Wait, I think I bought a jar of those round candies from the store, why don't I sprinkle them on the floor so if anyone or anything does manage to get through the chimney will trip and fall. Yeah, that's it, I'll do that. I'll sprinkle the candies out on the floor.
By now my bedroom stunk like hell. I could smell the garlic and the onions all the way from the family room here. And my family room was in a mess, disarray furniture and spilled out candies all over the floor. I sat in the corner behind the sofa chair. I was so tired I just wanted to go to sleep. Suddenly, I heard something. Yeah, something was coming down the chimney.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I heard the noise again. I held onto my knife.
Wait, what if it's not a vampire, then I would be committing murder if I killed someone. I think I better stick to my frying pan.
In the tiny little hole between the hutch and the fireplace, I could see something lurking there. It stuck its head in. It was black, a pointy-nose monster, perhaps?
Critters!! Could that be those critters from space, like in one of those alien movies that I had seen? Am I glad that I have my frying pan with me! At least I could use this as a shield just in case it fire off its needles at me.
I could see its beady little eyes through the opening. Then it stuck its head in, peeked around, then it wiggled all its way in.
Damn! It was a squirrel! You damn little son-of-a-bitch! You have scared me half to death. You damn little thing you. How dare you come in here? I'll kill you! You damn little thing you!
I quickly jumped out from behind the sofa, waving my frying pan, ran over to the damn little squirrel.
I've got to catch you, you damn little thing, you have scared me all night long. You…
"Oooh! Ouch! Oooh!" BAM! BOOM! I STEPPED ON ALL MY CANDIES, AND I FELL OVER ON MY BEHIND.
"OUCH!" I cried out loudly.
"Shit! That hurts!" You little bastard, I'm going to catch you, don't think you can get away with it!
The squirrel just stood there and looked at me. Then it turned towards the sandwich that I had left besides the computer, carried the leftover, came back and looked at me in the eyes. In the dark I could hear it saying…..
"Are you hurt? You need some help? I would like to help you get up, but I'm too small. Perhaps in the morning you will feel better."
Yeah right, in the morning I will feel better.
I could not get up right away. My back and my butt were hurting so badly. Well, at least I know what was causing the noise and the knockings now anyways. I wasn't afraid anymore.
Well, maybe I will just fall asleep out here on the floor with all my candies.
I closed my eyes to get some sleep. As I lay there I could see another one of them come in. It looked at me, then it took some candies and left.
How dare these little creatures to come and intrude my place. They even looked me in the eyes, took my sandwich and took my candies, and then thought nothing of it.
Who do you think you are? Coming in here as you please. You think you own this place? I'll deal with you in the morning, right now I just want to get some sleep. I'm tired and my butt is hurting.
I looked over to the end table and I saw the phone there. I've got to tell my landlord Dan about this. I don't care what time this is. I wanted him to feel my pain and misery.
I crawled over and I dialed the number and it was picked up almost instantly.
"Hello Dan!" I said. There was a silence on the other end.
"Tom? Is that you?" A husky voice, so I must have woke him from his sleep.
Ha-ha-hee-hee!!!
"Yeah, it's me. I hope I didn't disturb you." I said, knowing what the answer would be.
"As a matter of fact, you did. I was sleeping. What's up?" He didn't sound so happy.
"There was a couple of squirrels running around the whole place tonight. Can you do something about it and ask the animal control to come in and set up some traps to catch them?"
There was a long pause, I could feel his eyeballs roll up, in disbelief that he had been awaken for this.
"Oh yeah of course. I'll do that in the morning. As a matter of fact I was going to warn you about the squirrels, but it had slipped my mind. You see, the former owner always fed these squirrels everyday while she was there. They felt like they're part of the family, but ever since she left these guys just thought that they owned the place."
There was another pause.
"And there's also one more thing."
"Yeah? What is it?" Please don't tell me it's haunted.
You will hear the woodpeckers on the trees, and sometimes, they come to the door too. So don't be surprised if you hear some knocks.
Oh yeah! Now you're telling me, after I've signed the lease and paid my first and last months' rent.
"Why, sure I can handle that if it's really the woodpeckers," I said. Suddenly I felt really stupid. "Well, sorry to disturb your sleep, I just wanted to let you know about the squirrels before they wreck your house, that's all."
"Thanks, well, goodnight."
"Goodnight." I put the receiver down.
So it was the woodpeckers the whole damn time! I lay down on the floor and looked around the mess. I could still smell the garlic and onions.
I felt like an idiot.
Copyright (c) SandieAngel :o),
November, 1999.
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