I’ve lived in my house now for 10 years and I’ve heard the ghost stories of the abandoned church that sits down the street. There are plenty of different stories that have been created over the years. Like the transparent man who sometimes appears wandering at the back end of the church said to be there to taunt you with gifts of pleasure. But anyone who actually knows, knows the man isn’t transparent at all. Or the story about a body floating in the tree on winter nights will full moons. That doesn’t happen either. The only thing many of these stories have correct is that it is a man whom appears but he isn’t a ghost, he’s something far more sinister than that. In fact, there are no ghosts in the church because I don’t believe him to be ghost. However, there is something happening there that is quite unsettling. Something mischievous and perhaps even evil. over the years people have become infatuated with this strangeness that they have given birth to many different stories but only a few have actually experienced this horrible man. Me being one of them. I’ve experienced one such occurrence. Only one, that I cannot quite explain or have fully moved passed.
There’s a bus stop I used occasionally that sits off to the side of the church. I used it mainly in the mornings but there were those rare instances where I used it in the late hours. Every time I’m there I can’t help but feel that eeriness that people have so often felt. Something about that place with the old abandoned church makes it feel as if something otherworldly is lingering about in the shadows. Watching you perhaps even looking into your soul.
This particular time occurred around 9pm. I was on my way downtown to meet a friend. I sat down on the bench and pulled out my phone. The evening darkness was beginning to slide over the road and houses. There was not a person in sight. After a few minutes of me making a few texts I noticed a man walking toward the bus stop dressed in a very nice silk suit. It glistened in the faint light of the lamp posts. His shoes were black and shined with a business luster. He looked like a business man headed to a meeting but it was so late that he must be going to dinner. I figured he was on his way to his BMW but instead he stopped at the bus stop and sat down.
I sat silently for a few moments before he said something to me.
“Nice night huh,” he said pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
“Yeah, its not too cold.”
“Oh yes, I never liked the cold. I love it when its really hot. Those are the best days.”
“Yeah, hot days are nice but I don’t like it too hot. But I bet on those really hot days you can’t wear your nice suit huh,” I said trying to make a joke. He was kinda cute.
“Oh, the weather never dictates what I wear. I wear what I want for the purpose of the person.”
I shrugged my face not quite understanding what he meant but definitely catching the scent of arrogance.
“Phil,” he said as he extended his hand offering me a cigarette.
“Lilly,” I replied as I waved away the offer.
“Not a smoker huh. You don’t mind do you?”
“Not really and I smoke sometimes.”
“Just not now,” he said sliding the pack and lighter smoothly back into his pocket.
“Well, just when I’m drunk.”
He let out a small laugh behind his smirk.
“What do you like drinking Lilly? I’m a whisky man myself.”
“Vodka mostly.”
“Ah yes, Vodka. Remember, a glass for the vodka. And for the beer, a mug.”
I smiled and looked over at him. “I’l try and remember that.”
“Is that where you’re going?”
“Yes, going to meet a friend downtown for a few drinks.”
“Well, should be a good time. It’s a perfect night for drinks.”
“Yes. I could use a few drinks after this week.”
“Long week?” as he took a drag from his cigarette.
“Too long.”
He let out a quick flash of smoke before sucking it back in. “Relaxing over a few drinks and enjoying the moment is what makes it bearable to do it again. “ I nodded in agreement. “I say, have drinks. Have sex. Enjoy the pleasures that life has to offer because life can seem long but its really not.”
I smiled, “drinks and sex are two different things.”
“Are they really?”
“I’m meeting a girlfriend actually. Well, a friend that‘s a girl. Not actually my girlfriend girlfriend. Just a girl who’s my friend. So um, yeah.” I sunk my head down in slight embarrassment.
“Oh, even better,” he said taking another puff. I just smiled and quickly turned my gaze to my phone.
“What’s your girlfriend’s name?”
“Amy.”
“Does Amy like threesomes?”
“Excuse me?” I said in slight disbelief.
“You know, threesomes. Like you, me and her.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said throwing as much attitude as I could.
“Believe me, if I continued with this meaningless chatter that’s where this was headed Lilly. If you want, it can be just us two.”
“If you think this is working in your favor, you had better get a clue.”
“I don’t need anything Lilly beside your pussy.”
I was taken aback and could feel the situation getting tense. I threatened with the only thing I could think of.
“If you don’t stop, I’ll call the police.”
“Go ahead.” He just sat calmly taking drags of his cigarette as he leaned back into the bench. I got up to walk away but before I could go he said, “Do you think your father Ray is burning in hell?”
I stopped in complete shock. How did he know my father’s name?
“What did you say?” I asked as I turned reaching for the pepper spray I kept in my bag.
“Your father died two years back, right. Do you think he’s burning in hell?”
“How do you know my father’s name?”
“I know a lot of things about you Lilly. I know a lot of things about everyone. You know, I think he would have loved watching me rail you and your girlfriend Amy in your bedroom. I would have made him watch too. He always wanted a threesome but your bitch mom wouldn‘t do it. Maybe that‘s why he cheated on her.”
“How do you know that ? Now I’m really calling the police.” I began to dial and when I put the phone to my ear all I could hear was static and a faint moan of pain like it was off in the distance.
“Did you hear that? That moan? Yep, its what you think it is.” he said in an arrogant tone. He kept smoking his cigarette and outstretched his arms on the back of the bench. The fear started filling my chest and a tense terror straightened my spine. What was going on here? What was happening?
“Come on Lilly, sit down.”
“If you talk to me again I’m going to pepper spray your fucking face.”
“I wouldn’t like that Lilly.”
“I warned you,” I pulled out the can and pointed it at him. He just sat calmly puffing away at his damn cigarette.
“Try me.”
I was so scared that I didn’t hesitate to spray him but it didn’t have any effect on him. He just sat there staring at me. I stood there in shock as fear and horror filled my eyes.
“It truly amazes me how easy it is to fill you all with fear,” he said standing up and flicking his cigarette on the ground. “But at the same time, its just as easy to buy you with the simple pleasures of life.” He calmly walked over to me through the mist of pepper spray. I was frozen in shock and couldn’t move. He grabbed my wrist and pulled the pepper spray can out of my hand.
“Why not enjoy the pleasures life has to offer? Isn’t that what you want? Isn‘t that what you did?”
I finally screamed for help and tried to get out of his grip but it was like an iron clamp.
“Who’s going to help you Lilly? You didn’t help your father as he laid there dying. You weren’t even there when he let out his last breath. Where were you? Oh yeah, fucking your boyfriend because the grief was too much to handle. Isn’t that how you justified it to yourself? You hated him for cheating on your mother and how did you drown out that hate? By satiating in your pleasures.”
I was absolutely horrified with what he was saying. The worse part was that it was true. How did he know about my deepest regrets and guilt? My sins? How? I looked into his eyes and they had nothing behind them, no emotion, no life, just stone glossy eyes that I felt staring straight into my soul reflecting my horrified face. I felt all my emotions in one jumbled mess, overwhelming me. I felt guilty, sad, horrified, scared, lost and shocked all at once. I couldn’t control anything about what I was feeling and finally toppled over in tears. He let go of my wrist and just stood there watching me cry. “Pathetic,” he said finally. I just stayed there hunched over on my knees sobbing and drooling over myself. I looked up and he was nowhere to be found.
I don’t know who he was but I can’t get him out of my mind. I feel I’ve forever been tainted by him. He’s always in the deepest recesses of my mind. No matter where I am, he is those dark reminders that creep up and over my mind leaving me in unsettled fear that perhaps he is peering into me right at that moment. Laughing at me, enjoying the pain of my life. I sit here alone, but I still feel him, hovering over my shoulders. Watching. I live in fear of my own thoughts because I know he watches. He watches all of us. All our guilt, regrets and sins. Its horrible knowing he knows of my existence, its worse still that I have nightmares of me having sex with him. On lonely nights, only the deep voice of my greatest fears provides any kind of thought and in the darkness that lingers around us all exists things waiting for our greatest weakness.
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