im sorry i haven't posted in a loooong while... so here's the revised version!



I was walking down the alley near my favorite restaurant on my way home while thinking to myself when I saw a figure in the distance. I walked down the alley to see what it was when it stumbled and fell. Getting closer I saw it was a woman, half conscious in the alley. She smelled of alcohol, and was covered in blood on her back.
I knelt down and asked her if she was okay, but the best answer I got was a painful groan. She was now unconscious. I thought to myself, “why me?” as I pick her up. She was surprisingly light. I thought that I might as well take her to a hospital, so I started running. As I approached the end of the alley, I realized that I looked like I was instead kidnapping a woman, so I panicked. Instead of taking her there, I took the road towards my apartment. To my surprise, no one saw me and it seemed like time stopped because no one was driving around when the street I was on was one of the busiest in the city. After arriving to the building I rushed to open the door. After I opened it, I took her toward the couch.

After putting water into my coffee pot, a noise startled me. Looking back behind me, I saw that she was lifting her hand up into the air trying to reach me, before she passed out again. I walked toward where she lay, and I put my hand onto her forehead to check her temperature. She was slightly warm, so I took her out of her blood drenched clothes and put her into a sweat shirt and shorts that didn't fit me anymore. After the beep of my coffee pot I went back into the kitchen and made myself coffee,and I watched her awhile. When I got cold from the nightly breeze, I turned on the heater, and went to bed.

In the morning I awoke to a loud, “Hey Zach, I got your mail again!!! Are you gonna get it or what?” I got up and rushed toward the door. I opened it and took the small bundle of mail my neighbor brought and closed the door after groaning. My guest was sound asleep, and I wondered how she could sleep through that. “I guess she's used to it...” I thought aloud. I flipped through all of the letters and found nothing but bills and junk mail. I walked over to the woman and checked her pulse. “she's okay. Alright, it's time for me to go to work.” I said as I went to take a shower. After getting dressed I left with haste, because I was going to be late. I was lucky getting to work because I ran and got all of the walking lights.

After arriving to the autopsy room, I greeted with a good morning from my partner Cain. “How was your day off? What did you do? Why were you five minutes late? You're always early, was it a girl?” he said, questioning me.

“It was an okay day, I went to my favorite restaurant, I was late because I woke up late, and no it wasn't because of a girl.” I replied, knowing he would nag me all day long about it if I didn't answer him.

“Well you deserved a day off, we all do, but crime doesn't stop if whenever we want it to. Next time, don't get so into it.” after that he told me t start my report, and we worked on it the rest of the day. The way home, must have been crazy because I got two calm times before that. Every street was as busy as ever. It took three times the amount of time it usually takes for me to get home when I don't have a car, and it as in the middle of the night! By the time I got home, it was sunrise.

I opened the door and asked the dark apartment, “Hello? Anyone awake yet?” I looked toward the couch and saw that the woman was now waking up. She rose up like a zombie, and when she turned her head toward me, she had a funny face. She looked like she had an upside down V for her mouth. She then questioned, “Excuse me, but where am I and who are you?”

“My name is Zach, I took you here, to my apartment when you passed out in an alley. I can take you home if you want. But I don't have a car at the moment. If you live nearby, I can walk you there after I get the stains out your clothes.” she nodded in disagreement.

“I don't have a home...” she looked at me with disappointment and lowered her head. After she told me her news, I went to the kitchen and started thinking about what she said while taking out my sadness by cooking.

“I was hungry so I made fried rice, if you want some here you go.” I set the bowl of rice on the table for her and she gladly took it. “Don't eat so fast!” I said as she started shoveling spoonfuls into her mouth. I got up again after giving her a bowl and went back to the kitchen to start on a couple pieces of salmon. After I cooked it I gave half to her, and ate half myself. After we ate, we talked and got to know each other.

In the beginning hours of sunset and dusk, I started feeling as if someone were watching me... so I excused myself from the conversation while yawning. “what could this be? A ghost? No, I haven't seen or heard a ghost since before middle school...” I thought to myself as I left the room. After I reached my room, I was going to think about what made me this way, but when I reached the bed I felt unbearably tired and weak. When I crawled into bed, I pulled the sheets over my trembling body. I fell into a deep sleep in about ten seconds.








'Dream start'

I was suddenly back in my middle school years, shortly after I moved to a new house near a church. Strange how I go from living next to a graveyard, to living near a church. I guess thats how I lost my power to see and hear ghosts, because I could no longer be near them, or help them for that matter... I have always been scared, yet fascinated by them too. There was one that wore a long, black silk cloak,and had short, dirty blond hair that lightly brushed her shoulders every time she crept across the living room at night. Sometimes she would tell me things like what she liked to do when she was alive. But one night I didn't see her, and I started worrying about her because she had became my friend. I rose from my sleeping quarters and walked toward where she usually came from, but I reached a dead end in a doorless hallway with a mirror at the end. I reached out and touched the cold hand of my dead friend. I then sobbed at the sight of her second death.

She was almost sliced in half by a medium florescent scythe. The thing doing it intrigued me because I could smell him, he smelled of sulfur and fermented herring, and when he sliced at the woman, I could feel the air particles run away in fear. Terror struck my conscious and made me call out for my mother loudly. I soon was comforted by the sound of my mother and father rushing to me calling my name. “Zach, whats wrong!” I pointed toward the mirror and saw that nothing was there. They looked puzzled because my arm had a large gash down the middle of it and there was nothing that could have done it. They took me to the E.R. and it was found that no household object could have done it. The doctors were dumbfounded at the sight of my incident. I still have a scar from it to this day. The next night I tried and tried to not go back to the hall where the mirror was but it drew me in somehow. I slowly crept toward the mirror with a blanket and a toy gun. As I approached the mirror, I attempted to throw the blanket over the mirror so that the man couldn't come back, but I was too late. The man stepped out from his icy cold throne and just stared into my eyes. His look would make anyone scared, and I was terrified. He reached back behind him and pulled out his weapon of choice. I backed away as he walked toward me and when he said my name, I blacked out.

I woke up in a cold sweat. Reaching around toward my phone, I checked the time. 3:01 am. “Well that explains the dream...” I arose from the bed and went straight to the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and took out the speedster model knife from behind my sink. I always have a secret place for precious things. While pressing the button to fling out the knife, I peered into the mirror and saw the thing that scared me the most. I was the man. He had a different look to him. He looked like he was depressed. He also had a demented smile on his face. He stepped out of the mirror, and broke it on his way out. Then he took a swing at me. I barely dodged him, and swung back. He pushed me against the wall and I woke up again.

It was a dream within a dream. I was screaming at the top of my lungs when the woman came in and asked in a scared tone, “what's wrong?”

“I'm all right, it was just a nightmare.” I said.
“Do you need a sleeping mate?” she said playfully, “Or do you need a night light?” After asking, she hopped into the bed next to me and fell asleep. I grew uncomfortable but had to deal with it because she fell asleep almost instantly. It took about thirty minutes to get to sleep because I was still trembling, and the woman hugged my arm about ten minutes before I fell asleep.

It was morning when I awoke to the smell of eggs, bacon, and oatmeal. “Mm... oatmeal is my favorite...” I mumbled as I rose up from my bed. I realized it was almost 2:30, but I didn't care about going to work yet. I instead hovered through the hall and into the kitchen. As I weaved through the chairs and the table, I heard a knock on the door. I was going to answer it, but I only went to the counter where I had a bowl of oatmeal with my name on it. I turned around to see yin in an old dress shirt and underwear that I was going to wear but now can't. She looked at me and gave me a good morning. I took in her features as I ate. She was tall, had silver hair, and had purple eyes. She was an odd one. “I'm late for work, I can't finish breakfast with you, I'm sorry.” I said as she peered into my eyes with a sad look on her face. I put my work clothes on ate the last spoonful of oats, and left without telling her that she had her clothes ready.

This time I got to work early enough to not get teased by Cain, so we worked on a new body for the rest of the day. When I arrived home, I questioned the darkness again, “Anyone home?” but to my surprise, no one answered. I went to the bathroom, when I heard the woman in the shower humming a song. It was like background music, but sad... I went toward the toilet, and relieved myself while saying, “Don't look, I'm peeing!” she didn't answer, so I got curious. The humming suddenly stopped and I looked into the shower curtain. No one was there and by the temperature, the water had sat there for awhile now. I turned toward the sink, pulled out the knife, and flipped the knife out. I turned toward the door and I was frightened by the sight I saw. It was the woman, but she had a twisted look to her. She looked depressed and demented at the same time... Then suddenly, she said, “This body is boring. I need a new one. Your friend was very unlucky to be able to see ghosts and find that knife you are holding right there.” her body burst into a million black particles. The particles then smashed themselves together and formed a tall man... He smelled of sulfur and fermented herring.





It was him... The man... From my dream...


Instead of pulling out a scythe like before, he pulled a younger version of me out of the mirror. The younger version of me called out for my mother just like I did at that moment back then. The man snapped his neck in two, and I felt and unbearable pain. The body of the young me turned into black particles, then they smashed themselves into each other. This time the woman became the body of choice, and her neck was snapped too... I couldn't bare it anymore, I ran toward him as he started snapping the necks of every person I loved. I slashed him in two, but he just smashed together. He then picked me up and threw me against the wall, and my back was broken as the wall had a hole of which I was now in. I looked at him and the last person I saw under his grasp was the woman from the mirror... I yelled, “No!! Not her!!” before I blacked out.

When I awoke, I was inside a straight jacket inside a room full of white padded walls...





By: Zachary Winn