Day 6... 4:30 P.M.
I finally told someone. Mike was the person I told about the tape. What I had seen, and everything that's happened to me. Rather than see fear in his face, I had seen delight. He thrives best on the edge from what I've seen. The look on his face. I didn't expect that from him. It was as if he had just won a million dollars. He asked if he could possibly see the tape. I was stunned. I'm sure the look on my face and the way I was staring at him only fed his hunger for the tape. So I told him I would make a copy as soon as I got home. He looked completely satisfied. I got up from where I was sitting on his couch. I walked over to the door. I reached for the knob, opened the door and turned to Mike and said that I would come back the next day. The door closed behind me with a silence. I stood on his porch and stared out at his overgrown lawn. There was a single windmill in the tall grass. It spun lazily in the calm afternoon breeze. I walked down the porch steps and down the walkway towards the sidewalk. The sky was overcast. Just like the past few days. Everything under that sky had a sad glow around it. Maybe it was just me. I myself felt as if someone was following me. I gave the occasional glance back. Nobody.
The walk home had ended faster than it usually does. Though I only live 2 blocks over, it feels like much more. My house had a gloom blazing from it. I don't know what it was, but I could feel it. It felt like something was in the air. I headed through my front lawn and up the steps. The screen door had some flies on it. I found that somewhat odd. The front door was closed. I remembered leaving it open. I pulled open the screen door and walked in. I immediately felt as if the air conditioner was on. I felt this cold sensation come over me. I couldn't help but shiver. I closed the door behind me. It shut with a scary silence. I walked to the center of the living room. I took a deep breath, and then exhaled. The air felt stale inside my lungs. Then I noticed that the air in the room was a bit stuffy. Something was hanging in the air. The front door had been open, but it was oddly stuffy. I walked into the den to get the spare VCR. I wanted to get copying the tape over with as soon as possible. It was just sitting in the corner of the room next to my old stack of books. I bent down to pick it up. As I was crouching over the VCR I felt as if someone was behind me. The small hairs on my back seemed to stand up and sent a sensation through my back. I got that feeling I usually got when I felt like something was going to jump out from behind me. I froze in the spot I was in. To scared to move. Too scared to turn my head. Whatever it was, I felt like it walked away from me. My knees were getting sore from crouching the way I was. I picked up the VCR then stood up. My knees let out a satisfying crack. Almost afraid to do so, I turned around and slowly walked back into the living room. I half expecting something to come out from it's hiding place. I placed the VCR on top of the one that was hooked up and set into the entertainment center. It took a bit of doing, but I managed to get behind the TV and hook everything up right. I had some dust on my elbows and wrists. I dusted it off then looked around the room. Something was missing... Ah yes the tape and a blank tape. I looked around the living room. I didn't see either beyond the clutter that was everywhere. Perhaps in my bedroom. I walked through my small hallway lined with family pictures and into my bedroom. I looked around, and then seem the tape on my computer desk. I walked over to the desk and picked up the tape. But there still was no blank tape. I rummaged around on the top of my desk. Nothing. I opened the top drawer. Found it! A quiet scratching noise caught my attention. The degree of the scratching was so eerie, I felt as if someone had dropped a bucket of ice into my stomach. I looked around the room with fear. The scratching could still be heard, but from where? Then I seen from where. Above my headboard there were lines. As the scratching went on, the lines got longer. There were 3 lines in a vertical formation. I thought of someone standing on my bead scratching the wall. Then it sank in. Though there was no visible form, something was scratching the wall. I kept staring at those lines. Then they just stopped. No more scratching. Silence. My legs were locked into place. I had to force myself to walk. My teeth were tightly clenched together. I felt as if ants were crawling all over my body. I walked over to the side of the bed and tried to get a close look at the lines on the wall. At the bottom on the centerline, something was protruding from the wall. I reached for it and pulled it from its resting place on the wall and examined it. It was smooth and slightly curved. A little smaller than my index finger. It was yellow and looked like it was rotting. There were a few chips in it. Then something flashed into my head. A finger with a rusty nail impaling it through the nail. I dropped it on the floor. It was someone's fingernail I was holding. I wasn't feeling too good in my stomach. A wave of nausea came over me. I fought it. I hurried out of my bedroom. I walked through the hallway with family pictures hanging on the wall. I felt as if all their eyes were burning holes through me. Here I felt they were alive in their frames. I closed my eyes and walked faster. I got into the living room. I forcefully put the tape into the VCR and hit play. In a hurry I put the blank tape into the other VCR and hit record. I stood there before both VCRs dazed and feeling as if I was going to pass out. I took a few steps back and let myself fall on the couch. Only I was a few steps short of the couch and in the angle I was stepping back, I hit the corner of the coffee table and fell backward. I hit my head on the corner of the couch and passed out.
When I woke up hours later, it was in a large puddle. The room was pitch black and my head was spinning. I was on my back facing the ceiling. I tried to get up, but my head weighed me down. As my hands hit the floor, the water made a gentle splashing noise. My head hurt so badly. I was going back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. I was more worried about my throbbing head than the fact that I was freezing. I took in air in short breaths. The cold was biting at my insides. I was lying down for what seems like hours. I looked over at the VCRs clock. 2:51 a.m. God I was out for hours. I tried to get up again. I managed to sit up this time. I tried to use my hands to help me get up, but I slipped and ended up on my back again. I sat up, and then tried again. I got both feet under me. I slowly stood up. As I was rising, I heard the scratching noise again. It was somewhere in the room. Every hair on my body stood up. I felt as if there was something walking around me. That feeling I got when I felt like someone was behind me was all over my body. I couldn't see anything but the clock on the VRC that was in front of me. For a second it went black, and then it was visible again. As quietly as I could, I walked over to it. Just to the right of the VCR there was a lamp. I felt around in the dark for it. Felt up the slender metal and clicked it on. No one was in the room. I turned around and seen the puddle. And also the cold on my breath. I turned back around and seen that the tape had stopped recording. I ejected it and examined the copy. Without another word I hurried to my bedroom. I locked the door behind me and made sure there was enough light. I walked over to my desk and found a label, placed it on the tape and marked it as "copy" with a black sharpie. I was feeling something on the back of my head. When I reached and touched it, I felt something warm and wet. I brought my hand to my face and seen that I was bleeding. Too scared to go into the hallway bathroom, I grabbed a towel hanging from the back of my door and tightly wrapped it around my head.
Later on in the afternoon, I would be giving Mike the tape...
Day 7...3:10 A.M.
I can't sleep. The previous day is what I'm still running through my head as well as the big bump on my head. I finally got the bleeding to stop.