Followed

Inspiration: Easy by Bonnie McKee

Whatever this thing is, it's fucking with me. Not like purposefully trying to scare me I think, but more along the lines of just TOUCHING things. It all started the day I sped away from the forest. I made it home safe in one piece, ran from my car up the 3 flights of stairs, and had thrown myself through my front door, locking the padlock. I'd locked all the doors, grabbed my .22 rifle from my closet (though I knew it likely wouldn't make a difference), and a blanket, then propped myself against the arm rest of the couch to stare at the door.

There I stayed the rest of that evening and long into the night, turning on the T.V to play late night news so I could have some sort of background noise. When I woke up the next morning I'd been dazed, wondering why I had fallen asleep on the couch, then the events prior crashing back into my memories when I glanced at the front door.

The padlock was unlocked.

I remember throwing myself off the couch to lock the door, then doing a sweep of my apartment, rifle held in an iron grip. But there was nothing missing. Not from the kitchen, bathroom or even my bedroom. I even went as far as checking my closet. It was large enough to comfortably place a round card table and chairs inside, no doubt it could hold a person larger than me.

But nothing ever seemed to leave my apartment. From that moment on, things just got stranger. Every room that I walked into; if I touched something, used something or even picked it up, the moment I left and came back it would be moved. At first it had scared the shit out of me, years of horror movies flashing through my mind of demons purposefully moving things to make you more afraid, waiting for the moment they could possess you. Then later it became apparent that whatever it was, was possibly curious.

When I'd gone to pick up my sheep skin rug, I threw it onto the floor planning to fix it later, then later in the day I found that it was straightened out. After I made food, ate and came back my knives would be clean. The only thing that was never touched was my china cabinet full of crystal skulls that stood next to my T.V. I was beyond grateful when I found them untouched, fearing they might have been stolen. But every single one was present, and unmoved.

The first time I heard it in my home after getting back to a semi-normal routine was almost torture. I had set up my laptop to connect to my T.V through Bluetooth to listen to YouTube, then cleared away the rugs, blankets and pillows so I could roll around the floor, and just flow into any yoga position that came to mind. I started off easy as usual, forward folds and leg balancing moves for a good 30 minutes. Then after my limbs were warmed up I started to work on my inversions.

I'd been working on my Scorpion pose for some time before this whole mess had started, and I was just itching to get my muscles working again. I planted my forearms to the ground and swept my legs up above me. I flexed my back muscles, and slowly bent backward toes pointed toward the ground. I was just barely able to touch my toes to my head when I heard it. It wasn't a deep growl like the first time I'd heard it, more of a purr. Something you'd imagine a lion would make if he were happy and not trying to kill you.

My whole body tensed at the sound, my balance was thrown off and I pinched a muscle in my back trying to keep myself from toppling over. I forced myself to straighten out, and my knees came down hard onto the floor as I released the pose. That was 2 things I would need to ice later in the day. I turned over onto my butt and swiveled my head around the living room, back protesting the entire time. There was nothing around me; nothing was touched.

I felt like I was going insane. Every time I turned around something strange was happening. I felt I should go to someone for it, thinking that schizophrenia might be the culprit, but I didn't want to be filled with drugs daily. I started to become anxious, my palms were sweating and I could feel my muscles tensing.

I was afraid, that was obvious. And I could feel a full-blown panic attack about to hit me so I did the only thing I could think of; Sit down and breath calmly. I quickly crossed my legs facing the source of the noise, placed my hands palm up on my knees and straightened my back as much as my pinched muscles would allow.

I breathed calmly, pulling air into my lungs until they protested, slowly releasing until I couldn't anymore, then repeated the process a few more times. A quote came to mind as I sat and calmed myself down.

"Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it." I said to myself, already feeling my muscles release.

That was a week ago, and nothing had happened since. The apartment was silent and still, no matter how many times I touched something to see if it would be moved. I would purposefully practice Yoga randomly in whatever room I was in. I felt ridiculous, realizing it WAS all in my head.

I sighed heavy, getting out of bed to start my morning. I was planning on hanging out with my friends for the day. We were going to play laser tag, then going to see a movie. I made a quick breakfast of eggs and hash browns, then jumped in the shower. I shampooed my hair, then applied conditioner and used it as a leave-in.

I shut the water off, grabbed a towel and dried off as I walked to my room. I decided to wear something I'd be comfortable running around in, but was also cute. I put on a pair of green cargo pants, my black long sleeve shirt, and comfortable combat boots. They weren't heavy and clunky, and had amazingly soft souls. I checked myself in the mirror, and loved that I got a Kim Possible vibe.

"If only I had Red hair." I said to myself with a slight laugh as I dug through the piles of jackets on the floor of my closet. As I dug deeper I realized my leather jacket was missing. I must have dropped it in my hurry running out of the forest a week ago. It put a damper on my mood, knowing that I hadn't realized it was missing until now.

Instead I grabbed my faux leather jack with the cloth hood. I grabbed my keys off the counter and locked the front door on my way to my car. As soon as I sat in my car, I put the key in the ignition. It wouldn't turn, so I had jam the key with my palm a few times until it turned over.

We ended up playing 3 rounds of laser tag. I won 1, then tied a game with one of my friends. After, we decided to eat Pho before we headed to watch the movie. We're all horror movie fanatics, and I wondered if the genre was such a good idea given the fact that I had just gotten over a paranoia episode.

My friends asked me if I was O.K, and I debated telling them what had happened while I was in the forest, but decided not to freak them out even more before the movie. I assured them I was fine and we found our seats.

The movie was about some girl who was being haunted by an entity who was trying to take her first-born son, after some woman in her family had made a pact with the devil. Generic horror script in my opinion. I was happy to say that I was royally freaked the fuck out. After the movie, I hugged all my friends goodbye, and promised to hang out with them sooner rather than later.

I pulled up to my apartment around 30 minutes later. It was late in the afternoon by the time I walked through the front door, and I was so tired I didn't see the item on the floor in front of me. My foot connected with the object, sending it skittering across the floor to knock against the corner of the kitchen counter across the way.

Confused, I placed my purse and keys on the couch as I walked into the kitchen to turn the light on. The lights came flooding on, momentarily blinding me as I rounded the corner. When my eye sight cleared, I noticed what I had kicked. It was a skull, about the same size as the ones I had in my cabinet. I was suddenly angry. How dare someone come into my home and touch my collection, let alone leave it in front of my own doorway.

I picked it up, feeling the smooth surface and realized it wasn't one from my cabinet. But that left the question as to who would leave me a decorative skull outside my door. I turned it slightly, noticing It had slightly cracked at the apex from where it had connected with the counter. I turned it more to see if I had damaged it anymore, when my eyes focused on the jaws.

Whoever had made the skull did a very good job. I ran my fingers over the teeth, when suddenly one came loose. My heart dropped to the floor as I stared at the piece of bone. I became light headed, vision becoming blurry. I swayed backward and tried to catch myself on the counter, only resulting in swiping some glass off the surface. I registered my back hitting the floor, then the darkness overtook me.

It was a real human skull.

Thank you very much to Crystalga, Tenfangirl, Coolprix, .73 and whoever is anonymously reviewing. If anyone has any feedback lemme know. I love to know how I can improve on anything I'm doing. If you have any ideas about what you'd like to see in this fanfiction let me know that as well. I'd love to incorporate new ideas. The inspiration songs aren't exactly a song to go along with the story, but more along the lines of whatever I was listening to on Youtube that made me wanna write.

Until next time!