I could not stop looking at her. Her face was painted all white and her eyebrows were drawn with some purple pencil, or at least I think. The rest of the bus seats were completely empty but she decided to sit right next to me. Not behind or in front. Right freaking next to me.

It was one of those nicer buses that New Jersey Transit had. It was short and the electric destination sign still shone brightly because the screen was still new. The inside was air conditioned even though it was fall, but air conditioned nonetheless.

I tried my best not to stare but it was near impossible. The majority of her right eye was white with a small speck of her black pupil peering through.She also had these giant black braids stacked on the top of her head but the majority of the side seemed to be shaved.

“You stare at all pretty women this long?”

“ Oh, uh- I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to-”

Her head started to turn toward me and I could see her face more fully. Her left eye seemed to be the only thing normal about her, brown and unaltered. When she spoke, I could see how yellow her teeth were against her black lipstick and I think she pierced her gums too because I saw a large black metal ball jutting out above her two front teeth. I put my tongue over the same spot underneath my upper lip, wondering what it would feel like.

“No need to apologize, really. It kind of gives me an excuse to talk to you.”

“Huh?-”

“I mean, I see you on this bus nearly everyday and I thought to myself, ’why not? He kind of looks like a more depressed and lonely version of Cole Sprouse.”

“Um- “

“And I don’t mean it in a bad way. I mean it in a kind of romantic sense, I guess. Sometimes I just catch you staring outside the window and you have this, this look in your

eyes and-”

I technically could of just stopped her right then and there but I’m the type of the guy who can’t make eye contact with the Starbucks barista I see every morning, so it was a trial to attempt to get any words in. Whenever I tried to speak, I felt my voice going inward, almost as if it was lodged in my throat.

#teen #bus #goth #attention #colesprouse #shortstory

It was fun at first when I was twelve, playing petville and sharing dumb videos with my friends on facebook. Now I’m in college hunching over my phone, eating shrimp fries while I observe distant friends’ stories-- some are traveling abroad to countries like Peru and Japan, others are in obsecure cafes, and some, some are just with friends. Happy.

I smile at the content and then I scope around my dimly lit bedroom, fully aware of the stark difference between the screen and my surroundings. Feelings of shame and envy overcome me. But like any addict, I go back to the same posts to comfort myself.

#socialmedia #shame #envy

#facebook

Dear Dr. Waren,

You told me if I couldn’t say something out loud, I could write it out, right? Well, I’m going to tell you what happened in the woods, what happened that brain-trembling night.

I was in the forest, searching for my two younger brothers, Jess and Boone. My stomach was quivering. It does that quite often, actually. It’s the feeling of almost falling off a cliff, like you’re going to die but you’re not. Anyway, I guess I should tell you why I was looking for them in the woods, Doc. You see, my brothers liked to look for things, dead things per se. And while I was napping on a bench in the park, they decided to take a little trip to the forest. Me being their older sister, I couldn’t let them flash a dead rat in my mom’s face. So, I went into the woods despite the fact I had a horrific episode of the shakes just a week before that day. But I figured it would take only a few minutes to find Jess and Boone and drag them by the ear home.

I was wrong. It didn’t take long for the sky to turn a dark blue, so dark that the glowing full moon above became my only source of light. I was trembling through the woods. The trees that crowded around me had branches that looked like long fingers, fingers that could grab you from behind and take you to God knows where. Next, I saw a lock carrot-colored hair in the grass. Boone’s hair was that color. I picked it up and noticed it was wet at the end with something red. My fingers went numb and dropped the lock of hair.

My vision blurred as I quickly walked through the trees. I can’t remember what exactly I saw next, but I think it was a note. It read “Always watches but has no eyes.” At least I think the paper did. I was paying attention to something else, white and black static was dissolving the sky and ground around me. Cold sweat rolled down my back and I had the feeling that someone or something was watching me. I didn’t want to find out, so I quickened my pace.

I ran until the static disappeared. Then, I saw some strange object glowing green in the grass. Jess’s glow-in-the-dark watch. As I picked it up, I noticed something was strange about the ends of the watch. It was sort ripped on the ends, as if someone pulled the watch off his tiny little wrist. My stomach was shaking and it shook throughout my whole body.

Suddenly, I noticed another page attached to a tree. My eyes could not see it, because a sea of black and white static ruined my vision. I turned my head for a quick glance behind me and then I saw him or it. I’m not sure what it was. The creature was tall, almost as tall the trees around it, and it had a eyeless, noseless, and mouthless face as pale as the moon above it, along with a black suit as if it needed to disguise itself.

I sprinted to the right and went straight until I reached the park. I’m surprised I made it out alive. I had lost the feeling in my toes; it happens when I get really frightened. Everything went black after that. I can’t remember anything else, Dr. Warren. All I remember is waking up in a hospital bed and my parents hugging me as soon as I opened my eyes. But, the funny thing is when I asked my mom and dad where is Jess and Boone, they said they didn’t know my brothers.

Days passed and goed, but Jess and Boone never seemed to show up. Not in the house. Not in the park. Not anywhere. It seems like they disappeared, but everything night I see them in my dreams and the monster standing not too far away from them. My parents think I’m going insane for believing that what I saw was real which is probably why they hired you to analyze me. And to be honest, I wish they’re right. . .But it doesn’t explain why I found a glow-in-the-dark wrist watch in my pocket. The ends are all torn. . .

From,

Marina

#slenderman #oldworks #thriller #?

He asked.

With my mouth-straight

And voice dead,

I respond,

“An eight foot ledge?

A jump?”

Red, blue, and white lights can be seen

From a distance

In the street down below.

“That’s not what I meant,”

He stated

With his voice like a firm handshake.

Police prep a parchute blanket down below.

The corner of my eye met his

And a warm tear drop escaped.

I turned myself around

And clapsed in his arms

With a simple reply:

“A friend.”

#