So this is an odd one.
Have you ever been lying in bed, after midnight, and there are no lights on? Anywhere? Everything is pitch black, and you're just lying there waiting for unconsciousness? Well, I usually listen to something to get to sleep. I used to be able to get by with music, but that changed for some reason.
Now, I can only abide by spoken-word. A podcast, audiobook, YouTube video, something like that. Last night, I opted for a podcast. I ended up listening to an episode about Creepypasta (a catch-all term for urban legends which originated online, like Slenderman). One story in particular hit me. Hard.
TL;DR: don't listen to scary stories in the dark while attempting to sleep.
1.
"…Okay, okay, I got one. I got one. So this mom 'n dad, they've got two kids, right? And they're your typical kids, y'know, so they get kinda wild sometimes. So these parents, they decide they need a break, and they're gonna head out for a night on the town. Maybe catch a movie, go dancing, drinking."
The ground floor of the Turtle Game Shop was dead quiet, without a single light on, except for the incandescent glow of the laptop computer in Joey Wheeler's lap, and the ambient light of a nearby street-light outside. Surrounding him at the card table where he sat, Yugi Mutou, Téa Gardner, Mokuba Kaiba and Connor Brinkley sat silently, leaning toward the blond with the kind of excited apprehension that could only come from a good, old-fashioned scare-fest.
The two children—dressed in pajamas and sitting wrapped in their respective blankets—were particularly engrossed. This had more than a little to do with just how casually Joey was telling the story. He wasn't trying to frighten his audience; he was just…talking.
"So they call their babysitter. It's this older kid from the apartment complex down the street, she's a good sort. You know the kind. She's the good, homespun kinda girl you'd expect to see on the next season o' Glee or something. Now, they don't even call her until the kids are asleep, so the babysitter's gonna have a pretty easy time o' things. She's just gotta be around just in case something happens."
Joey leaned back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before sweeping his eyes across the others.
"So the babysitter shows up, Mom 'n Dad head on out, and things go fine for a while. She gets bored, though. I mean, this is a teenager, sitting around wondering whether she's gonna get some free money or if one o' the little monsters is gonna wake up. So she decides she wants to watch some TV. But the thing is, she can't watch anything downstairs 'cuz there's no cable hooked up down there. These're responsible parents, right? Don't want the kids watchin' too much garbage. So she calls the parents' cell phone. Sees if she can watch somethin' in their bedroom."
A slow sort of smile spread across Yugi's face.
"So Dad picks up, says there's no problem with that. Go right on ahead. She heads into the bedroom, and before she hangs up she's got one more question: she wants to know if she can't go out into the backyard 'n cover the angel statue outside with a sheet or something. It makes her nervous. I mean, wouldn't it make you nervous?"
Connor frowned at this, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Joey's face went completely stone-set. "…Dad's quiet for a second. Then he says, 'Get the boys. Get out of the house. We'll call the police.'" He waited a beat. "'We don't own an angel statue.'"
Connor's frown flipped into a smirk.
"The police found the kids and the babysitter, in pools o' their own blood, three minutes after the phone call. They never found any statue."
Then he looked around, and his eyes caught on something.
"…What the f—!"
All eyes followed Joey's, and locked dead-center on the angel statue sitting outside the glass door in front of the store.
2.
It wasn't until the laughter finally died down, and Connor was done making faces at Joey and Tristan—who had found the (Styrofoam) statue at a yard sale, and had been waiting outside to plant it—that they all noticed one member of their party was silent.
"C'mon, Moku-man, that was good," Joey said, chuckling. "Gimme somethin', wouldja?" When silence was his only response, Joey's voice suddenly turned serious. "Turn on the lights." Nobody moved for a second. "Turn on the fucking lights."
Tristan did.
Before anyone else had a chance to think of anything to say, Joey was beside his young friend. "Hey," he murmured. "C'mon, Champ. Look at me. Hey. Look at me. You cool, man? C'mon, it was just a story. Hey. Hey."
Mokuba finally blinked, looked around, and let out a slow, unsteady breath. He saw Connor, staring at him, and something transformed in his face. He manufactured a smile onto his face. "S-Sorry. You guys, ah…got me good. That, ah…that one…yeah. That was a good one, Joey." He looked over at Tristan, still half-haunted, and flashed a thumbs up. "You, too, Tristan."
The blond shared a look with the others before saying, "…Yeah. Well, y'know, I have my moments. You sure you're okay?" He put an arm around Mokuba's shoulders and pulled him close; an instinctive gesture, made without thought.
Mokuba nodded. "Yeah. I'm cool."
But—and this did not go unnoticed by any of the others—the young Kaiba made no real effort to move.
This story, while told with a couple of liberties for the sake of Joey's voice, is called "The Statue." You can find it pretty easily on the Creepypasta Wiki, but for the most part, it's exactly as Joey told it.
I just wanted to share it, and this is the best way I know how.
I don't know the original creator of this story; but all credit goes to him or her.
It's a simple story, but sometimes those are the most effective. Particularly when it comes to horror.
Au revoir.
