Campfire Tales

[Man Who Sold The World 0]

I'm definately sharing this story whenever I go camping again:

 

I've got this friend, let's call her Lily. She works as a waitress at one of those 24 hour strip clubs in my area and her friend Caroline is a stripper there. Well, Caroline has a 3 year old and was on her way to work one morning when the babysitter called in sick. So, she called my friend Lily who was off on this particular morning and asked to cover for awhile until she could find another babysitter. Lily agrees and when she shows up, Caroline leaves and her 3 year old son is fast asleep on the couch. Lily has a seat on the couch and as she turns on the TV she notices one of those clown statues on the right hand side of the TV. It's a little distracting, so she goes into the kitchen and calls Caroline. She asks if it's okay if she can move the Clown statue by the TV because it's a little distracting. Big problem:

 

Caroline doesn't own a clown a statue. Lily goes over to the TV and the 3 year old is gone and so is the clown "statue". She starts freaking out and tells Caroline, who hangs up and promptly heads over to her house. Lily investigates, calling the kids name to no avail. Lily goes outside in the backyard where several pictures of Caroline along with her panties lay out all over the grass. Lily continues shaking and calling for Caroline's son. As she goes back into the house an alarm lets off coming from the kitchen. Lily runs into the kitchen and smoke is coming from the oven along with a loud, teeth-shattering scream. Lily knows she has to open the oven but she doesn't want to.

 

Fast forward to about 10 minutes. Caroline shows up, bursts into the house and calls for Lily. No answer. She calls for her son. Again, no answer. She hears a sly, sadistic, somewhat menacing laugh, and runs into the kitchen. All over the kitchen tiles are pictures, mostly from Caroline's photo album. She picks up a picture that stands out. The miget clown has a machete imbedded halfway into the neck of Lily and is looking into the camera with a twisted smile, eyes glazed over. On the back of the picture in red marker: "DINNERS IN THE OVEN".

 

(You could really get more graphic with the story, and it's definately open for a switch up and alternate ending)

 

 

And now you fuckers, balls up and share a scary story you would tell/or have told at a campfire or just when you're drunk/stoned.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray

South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

 

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television

North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

 

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom

Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

 

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen

Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

 

CHORUS

We didn't start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world's been turning

We didn't start the fire

No we didn't light it

But we tried to fight it

 

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser aand Prokofiev

Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

 

Roy hn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron

Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

 

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team

Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

 

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev

Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

 

CHORUS

 

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac

Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"

 

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball

Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

 

Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia

Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

 

U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy

Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

 

CHORUS

 

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"

Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

 

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania

Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

 

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex

JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

 

CHORUS

 

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again

Moonshot, Woodsto/ck/, Watergate, punk rock

Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline

Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

 

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide

Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz

Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law

Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

 

CHORUS

 

We didn't start the fire

But when we are gone

Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

[Guest Felonies!]

You're fired.

[Guest DRH 502]

OHHHHHHH WE DIDN'T LIGHT IT BUT WE TRIED TO FIGHT IT

 

*Night at the Roxbury-esque headnod*

[Vyce 0]

Spookiest story I read recently was about Black Eyed Kids.

 

I don't really know what I'd call this story if I was submitting it for publication in Fate or something of its ilk. "Brian vs. the Evil, Black-eyed, Possibly Vampiric or Demonic But At Least Not Bloody Normal Kids" doesn't have much of a ring to it. (Shrug.)

 

But that's at least an accurate title.

 

As so many things do, it all started out innocently.

 

My Internet Service Provider used to have offices in a shopping center before they moved to their (comparatively) lush accommodations elsewhere. There was a drop box at that original location. The monthly bill was due, and thus, there but for the Grace of the Net I went.

 

It was about 9:30 p.m. when I left. From my relatively isolated apartments, it's about 10-15 minutes or so to downtown (Abilene has a population of about 110,000).

 

Right next to Camalott Communications' old location is a $1.50 movie theater. At the time, the place was featuring that masterwork of modern film, Mortal Kombat. I drove by the theater on the way into the center proper and pulled into an empty parking space.

 

Using the glow of the marquee to write out my check, I was startled to hear a knock on the driver's-side window of my car.

 

I looked over and saw two children staring at me from street. I need to describe them, with the one feature (you can guess what it was) that I didn't realize until about half-way through the conversation cleverly omitted.

 

Both appeared to be in that semi-mystical stage of life children get into where you can't exactly tell their age. Both were boys, and my initial impression is that they were somewhere between 10-14.

 

Boy No. 1 was the spokesman. Boy No. 2 didn't speak during the entire conversation -- at least not in words.

 

Boy No. 1 was slightly taller than his companion, wearing a pull-over, hooded shirt with a sort of gray checked pattern and jeans. I couldn't see his shoes. His skin was olive-colored and had curly, medium-length brown hair. He exuded an air of quiet confidence.

 

Boy No. 2 had pale skin with a trace of freckles. His primary characteristic seemed to be looking around nervously. He was dressed in a similar manner to his companion, but his pull-over was a light green color. His hair was a sort of pale orange.

 

They didn't appear to be related, at least directly.

 

"Oh, great," I thought. "They're gonna hit me up for money." And then the air changed.

 

I've explained this before, but for the benefit of any new lurkers out there, right before I experience something strange, there's a change in perception that comes about which I describe in the above manner. It's basically enough time to know it's too late.

 

So, there I was, filling out a check in my car (which was still running) and in a sudden panic over the appearance of two little boys. I was confused, but an overwhelming sense of fear and unearthliness rushed in nonetheless.

 

The spokesman smiled, and the sight for some inexplicable reason chilled my blood. I could feel fight-or-flight responses kicking in. Something, I knew instinctually, was not right, but I didn't know what it could possibly be.

 

I rolled down the window very, very slightly and asked "Yes?"

 

The spokesman smiled again, broader this time. His teeth were very, very white.

 

"Hey, mister, what's up? We have a problem," he said. His voice was that of a young man, but his diction, quiet calm and ... something I still couldn't put my finger on ... made my desire to flee even greater. "You see, my friend and I want to see the films, but we forgot our money," he continued. "We need to go to our house to get it. Want to help us out?"

 

Okay. Journalists are required to talk to lots of people, and that includes children. I've seen and spoken to lots of them. Here's how that usually goes:

 

"Uh ... M ... M ... Mister? Can I see that camera? I ... I won't break it or anything. I promise. My dad has a camera, and he lets me hold it sometimes, I guess, and I took a picture of my dog -- it wasn's very good, 'cause I got my finger in the way and ..."

 

Add in some feet shuffling and/or body swaying and you've got a typical kid talking to a stranger.

 

In short, they're usually apologetic. People generally teach children that when they talk to adults, they're usually bothering them for one reason or another and they should at least be polite.

 

This kid was in no way fitting the mold. His command of language was incredible and he showed no signs of fear. He spoke as if my help was a foregone conclusion. When he grinned, it was as if he was trying to say, "I know something ... and you're NOT gonna like it. But the only way you're going to find out what it is will be to do what I say ..."

 

"Uh, well ..." was the best reply I could offer.

 

Now here's where it starts to get strange.

 

The quiet companion looked at the spokesman with a mixture of confusion and guilt on his face. He seemed in some ways shocked, not with his friend's brusque manner but that I didn't just immediately open the door.

 

He eyed me nervously.

 

The spokesman seemed a bit perturbed, too. I still was registering something wrong with both.

 

"C'mon, mister," the spokesman said again, smooth as silk. Car salesmen could learn something from this kid. "Now, we just want to go to our house. And we're just two little boys."

 

That really scared me. Something in the tone and diction again sent off alarm bells. My mind was frantically trying to process what it was perceiving about the two figures that was "wrong."

 

"Eh. Um ...." was all I could manage. I felt myself digging my fingernails into the steering wheel.

 

"What movie were you going to see?" I asked finally.

 

"Mortal Kombat, of course," the spokesman said. The silent one nodded in affirmation, standing a few paces behind.

 

"Oh," I said. I stole a quick glance at the marquee and at the clock in my car. Mortal Kombat had been playing for an hour, the last showing of the evening.

 

The silent one looked increasingly nervous. I think he saw my glances and suspected that I might be detecting something was not above-board.

 

"C'mon, mister. Let us in. We can't get in your car until you do, you know," the spokesman said soothingly. "Just let us in, and we'll be gone before you know it. We'll go to our mother's house."

 

We locked eyes.

 

To my horror, I realized my hand had strayed toward the door lock (which was engaged) and was in the process of opening it. I pulled it away, probably a bit too violently. But it did force me to look away from the children.

 

I turned back. "Er ... Um ...," I offered weakly and then my mind snapped into sharp focus.

 

For the first time, I noticed their eyes.

 

They were coal black. No pupil. No iris. Just two staring orbs reflecting the red and white light of the marquee.

 

At that point, I know my expression betrayed me. The silent one had a look of horror on his face in a combination that seemed to indicate: A) The impossible had just happened and B) "We've been found out!"

 

The spokesman, on the other hand, wore a mask of anger. His eyes glittered brightly in the half-light.

 

"Cmon, mister," he said. "We won't hurt you. You have to LET US IN. We don't have a gun ..."

 

That last statement scared the living hell out of me, because at that point by his tone he was plainly saying, "We don't NEED a gun."

 

He noticed my hand shooting down toward the gear shift. The spokesman's final words contained an anger that was complete and whole, and yet contained in some respects a tone of panic:

 

"WE CAN'T COME IN UNLESS YOU TELL US IT'S OKAY. LET ... US .... IN!"

 

I ripped the car into reverse (thank goodness no one was coming up behind me) and tore out of the parking lot. I noticed the boys in my peripheral vision, and I stole a quick glance back.

 

They were gone. The sidewalk by the theater was deserted.

 

I drove home in a heightened state of panic. Had anyone attempted to stop me, I would have run on through and faced the consequences later.

 

I bolted into my house, scanning all around -- including the sky.

 

What did I see? Maybe nothing more than some kids looking for a ride.

 

And some really funky contacts. Yeah, right.

 

A friend suggested they were vampires, what with the old "let us in" bit and my compelled response to open the door. That and the "we'll go see our mother" thing.

 

I'm still not sure what they were, but here's an epilogue I find chilling:

 

I talk about Chad a lot. He's still my best friend, my best ghost-hunting companion and an all-around cool guy. He recently moved to Amarillo, but at the time this happened was still living in San Angelo of Ram Page fame.

 

I called him and talked to him briefly. He had two female friends with him at the time, both professing some type of psychic ability.

 

I started telling him the story, leaving out the part about the black eyes for the kicker. One of the women (we were on a speakerphone) stopped me.

 

"These children had black eyes, right?" she asked. "I mean, all-black eyes?"

 

"Er ... Yes." I said. I was a bit taken aback.

 

"Hmmm," she said. "One night last week, I had a dream about children with black eyes. They were outside my house, wanting to be let in, but there was something wrong with them. It took me a while to realize it was the eyes."

 

I hadn't even gotten as far as them wanting to come in.

 

"What did you do?" I asked.

 

"I kept the doors and windows locked," she said. "I knew if they came in, they would kill me."

 

She paused.

 

"And they would have killed you, too, if you had let them into your car."