by Jacob Raya
Hope in the Hearth
Jacob Raya
Contents
1: Tough Night at Work
2: The Report
3: A Dinner Party
4: An Uninvited Visitor
5: Loved Ones of Anguish
6: Dawn of Perpetual Demise
7: Checking Out Early
8: Nyctophobia
9: A Catastrophe of Terror
“Be who you are, not what they are.”
- Jacob Raya
1
Tough Night at
Work
I work a solid eight hours Monday through Friday and don’t complain as most people do when they have to go to work. Unlike them, I look forward to going every day. It may sound a little boring, but if you like to do it and it’s your passion, it won’t get boring. However, some things still change while on the job.
I remember once on a Friday night I was one of the last ones to leave. Before I went, a group of coworkers and myself were talking about recent stories in the news and a bunch of other random stuff. This included random things such as what we were doing over the weekend or what we would be doing the next week for our new projects.
One of my coworkers, Mark, suddenly interrupted my friend Michael talking about his weekend plans to throw a party for his grandmother.
“Man, Mark, why the hell did you interrupt me? I’m trying to say what I’m doing this weekend! You got your say!”
“I know, Michael, sorry, but I just got a news report from my phone about a major catastrophe.”
“And what would that be?”
“Okay, it will scare the shit out of you, I promise!”
“Well, no one’s stopping you. Tell the damn story already so I can get back to what’s more important than a selfish lie!”
“Okay. There’s this couple driving down a dark road. But it’s so dark, and even though it has a few street lights here and there, it’s still dark enough that you have to use your high beams when you’re driving down it.”
“Sounds boring, can I get back to my- “
“Wait, I’m not done, man.”
“Well, hurry the hell up!”
“Okay, the couple was driving down the dark road, which, by the way is only like, 20 miles away from here.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“No, man, I’m serious, it’s close to where we are! But, in the middle of their road trip, they hit a deer on accident. The poor fellow didn’t survive, so the couple called animal control to pick up the carcass. They had to wait a good 15 minutes for animal control to get out there, so they waited in their car. Unfortunately, their lights began to drain due to their car battery being too low.”
“Damn, man! Just get to the point already, Mark!”
“Okay, sheesh, you sure are grumpy!”
“Yeah, because I want to go home! I mean, you already interrupted me!”
“Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, so their car battery died, all their lights went out, and they had to use their spare flashlights. The boyfriend, who isn’t named, said that he had to check to see if he could somehow reboot the car battery. The girlfriend, who also isn’t named, called her mother to tell her that they will be at her house shortly.
She was on the phone with her mother the whole time the incident happened, in which the only technical witness was the woman’s mother, who heard all the terror unfold. The mom explained to authorities that the boyfriend let out a painful scream.
She got out of the car really quick and saw that he was missing and little spots of blood were found on the hood of the car.
She was panicking too much that she couldn’t keep her head straight. She yelled to her mother that his body must have been torn in half due to his lower body being in front of her and the upper body nowhere to be seen. She couldn’t handle the sight and got back in the car, where the mother said she heard her daughter’s last words being, “Oh my God! Mom!”
And after that, the phone cut off to where the authorities found her corpse lying over both of the front car seats. There was little blood on her body, but so much on the seats it left the car smelling worse than death itself.
Her phone was also sitting on the seat with the call ended to her mother, along with blood, even on the phone. The police then started an investigation for double homicide, and it’s still in progress to this very moment. No one knows who killed them, but they must have been brilliant, and very quick. Like, maybe superhuman or something-”
“Oh for God’s sake Mark, that story is fake and we all know you just made all that shit up!”
“No, I didn't! Find the current events on the news tonight! I guarantee you it will make you stay up all night!”
“We’ll all see if it’s real or if it’s just some dumb old hoax! Right, Matt?”
“I guess,” I responded.
“I know, man. We’re all tired. Now we can finally go home!”
We all were tired after that long-ass story, so we got our stuff together and started to head out. It was getting late, so most of my coworkers left except for Mark; myself included. I just remembered that I had to get some extra groceries for the weekend.
I ended up going a few blocks down to a 24-hour supermarket; that way I didn’t have to go to the store for the next couple of days. I was enjoying the beautiful and cold night when I felt a brisk breeze that seemed out of the ordinary for this time of the year, which was spring.
It confused me, but I just brushed it off and didn’t give it too much attention. I continued walking down the street to the supermarket, and in the middle of my small journey, I was distracted by the sound of running water.
It sounded like there was so much water that it had filled up the area it was coming from and had to make its way to the sewer. With my curious personality, I went to investigate, and thought that my groceries could wait a few more minutes.
The sound led me to a nearby water hose on the side of an apartment building. The water was flowing down the sidewalk into the drain and looked as if it has been on for quite some time. An excellent guess of mine would be at least six hours or more.
To be a caring citizen, I turned the water off and looked around to see if anyone had forgotten to turn it off. There was nothing; just a bitter, utter silence with the dark path leading into the alleyway. I started to walk back when I felt a wet drop on my head. It wasn’t raining that day, so it couldn’t have been rain I felt.
I looked up, and there were no windows open for any possible drops of water that could have exited the apartment building, which seemed highly unlikely. I shrugged it off as a teardrop and continued walking when another one plopped on my forehead.
I touched my head, and with a feeling of anxiety, I took out my phone for some light, as it was dark and the only source of light was about 30 feet away from me coming from the street light. I looked at my index finger and was horrified to find that it was a little drop of blood that had landed on my forehead.
I frantically looked around and shone the light from my phone in multiple directions. I looked around a bit more and saw a little path of blood coming from above a stairwell. My heart felt like it had stopped beating and was now pumping more fear than blood. I was taking a huge risk, but I thought, if someone needs my help, I’m going to give it to them. I walked a few steps up the stairwell and followed the trail of blood. It was still dark all around me with no signs of light at all; just my phone.
After a few more steps I came across a paper that read, “This building has been vacant as of November 2nd, 2028 due to insufficient financial costs and could not exceed the demands of property management.”
I figured out eventually that this building I had been passing by for the last year was vacant, and no one had lived here since. With
fear in my heart, I still wanted to press on, but also felt that I should get my groceries at this time.
I ended up forcing myself into something I may never forget, and could tell others about a great mystery by continuing up the stairwell. It could even be better than Mark’s fake story.
With the last few steps that led to the top of the stairwell, I came across a vast pool of blood. It smelled horrendous, and I looked around to see if there were any dead animals or bodies. I only saw the pool of blood, and to my shock, a sound came from a scratch on the wall by the door that was in front of me.
The door seemed to have been broken into, and there was a little light I could see coming from inside. I opened up the door and saw a small flashlight that was sitting by droplets of blood. At this point, I wanted to make a run for it, as I could have stumbled onto a murder scene. I walked a little further into the hallway and let my light shine into the dark corridor.
What I saw would never make me sleep like a baby again. My light caught the edge of a foot that had scratch marks and blood all over it. I slowly walked towards it and discovered a body. It was a murder scene, as it was the body of a man.
He looked like he must have been in his mid-30s, and he must have been homeless due to his worn-out clothes. His whole body was covered in blood, but even more terrifying was the fact that he was missing his eyes, ears, and nose. I thought, what horrid person would want to take other human beings’ body parts. Especially as crucial as those three!
I tried to get out of there quickly, as I was trembling with anxiety and fear. My veins filled me with a hot feeling of dread. Almost like being put over a fire, but one that had a corpse under it. I decided to take a picture of him and report the incident to the police.
I left the apartment building and went racing to the supermarket. Still trembling with fear, I even went to the grocery store and bought my groceries. I ended up asking a couple of others around me if they remember hearing about a murder at the vacant apartment building called, “Storm Creek Living and Housing.” The fine gentleman I asked said, “Sorry bro. Never heard of a recent murder there.”
“Are you joking with us?”
“No, I swear to God I'm not!” I showed them the pictures I took, and they seem almost as scared as I was when I had first found the body.
“Just call the police and they’ll take care of it.”
“But who do you think killed him?”
“Don’t know, but as I said, man, just let the authorities handle it, sound good? I got to go, bro, have a good night.”
“Thanks, you too,” I said with very little confidence.
I was left there confused, as they seemed to brush it off so quickly, like it was nothing, merely another murder.
I got my groceries and rushed back to the factory. When I arrived, I noticed there was still one more car there besides mine. It probably could have been Jimmy. He’d been trying to fix a broken computer for days now and wouldn’t sleep until it was done. He noticed that when I arrived I was in a hurry and had a worried look about me.
“Oh hey, Matt, why’re you looking like you’re in a hurry?”
“I’ve got to get back home quickly to tell my fiancé something.”
“Oh, okay, sounds pretty important if you’re rushing. Are you okay, man? You sound a bit worried?”
“No, not at all man, I’m fine. I’m just exhausted.”
“Yeah, so am I. Well, have a good weekend, Matt!”
“Yeah, you do the same, Jim.”
I quickly ran to my truck and tried to find my keys, but after looking for a solid five minutes, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I looked in my pockets, jacket, grocery bag, back and front of my car, my trunk, under my seats, everywhere, but there was no sign of them. I looked to see if they were under my car when Jim came up to me.
“Matt, you left your keys hanging in the break room again. Dude, this is like, the third time this week.”
“Sorry, Jim, I’m just a little tired and forgot them.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? You sound like you're panicking or something.”
“No, I’m not. I just stuttered a bit because, as I told you before, I have to get home.”
“Well, okay then, I’ll see you Monday, right?”
“Yes, I’ll be there, man. You can always count on me.”
“I sure hope so. Well, have a good weekend, man!” “Okay...thanks...you do the same…”
With a discussion like that to end a work night, I grabbed my keys and went on my way back home. Luckily, I didn’t have to commute too far, as my house was only seven minutes away from the factory.
I got back home, but the house was dark with the porch light being the only thing on. I unlocked the door and remembered that my fiancé had a job interview the next morning and had to get to bed early. I had to keep it quiet the rest of the time I was up, and didn’t shower or eat that much.
I watched a little bit of TV for a good hour or two and heard the clock strike 2:00 a.m. I was getting fatigued and shut the TV and the lamp next to me off. I felt so tired that I completed my last tasks before going to bed subliminally.
Feeling very sympathetic for my fiancé, I decided to sleep on the couch, as I didn’t want to wake her up. With so much tossing and turning, as I was uncomfortable, but also with the horrifying image of that dead man back at that apartment building, I couldn’t even imagine falling asleep.
I thought about what could have happened to him. With myself being on the edge of finally drifting off to sleep, it hit me. I felt a feeling that I was falling from my body or that my soul was drifting slowly away from me.
That’s no surprise, because I got that from time to time, so I stayed up for a few more minutes. With the image still in my mind, I thought it could have been an animal, as there were scratch marks on his foot. But what animal would want to eat part of his body and remove his eyes, ears, and nose?
The thoughts raced through my mind for minutes at a time. One after the other, thought after thought, who or what could have killed him? I eventually started to drift away from it and tried to fall back to sleep.
I felt that the police would take care of it, just like those two guys said back at the supermarket. I eventually fell asleep and woke up to my fiancé making herself breakfast. It felt that I was only asleep for a few minutes. I leaned up and checked the clock and wanted to fall back asleep immediately, as it was only 7:00 in the morning.
“Good morning, babe!”
“Oh, good morning, honey.”
“I made you some breakfast.”
“Thanks, but you didn’t have to do that. I could have made myself a little something.”
“Well, I did anyway, so if you're tired you can go back to sleep and warm it up later.”
“That sounds good; I did go to bed a bit late, anyway.”
“How late did you stay up?”
“I don’t know, maybe like 2:00 in the morning.”
“Wow, that is late, don’t ya think, Matt?”
“Yeah it is, but I had a rough night and watched some TV before I went to bed.”
“Oh, you had a rough night? What happened? Did you get into a fight with someone on the way back home?”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that.”
“Well, then what happened?”
“Okay, before I say anything. Just to let you know, I did make a report to the police an-”
“WHAT! A report to the police! Why? What happened, babe?”
“I’m going to explain right now! Unless you want me to tell you later when you get back from your interview?”
“No! That’s fine. I want to hear why you stayed up so late.”
“Okay, well it all happened after work.”
“Yes, go on.”
“So I was walking to the nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries when I heard what sounded like water going down a drain.”
“And?”
“I followed where the sound was coming from, because I f
ound it odd, as it didn’t rain at all yesterday. I mean, it’s May, it doesn’t rain that often where we live in May.”
“Okay babe, where are you going with this?”
“I’ll finish it pretty quickly; it’s short and I’m almost done.”
“Sounds interesting,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes playfully. “Continue.”
“I was investigating where the water was coming from, and it turns out that someone had left a water hose running by the side of a vacant apartment building. The apartment building has been vacant for a year, which I didn’t know until I stumbled across a piece of paper. But, before that, I turned off the water hose and started to walk back out into the street. Halfway there I felt a drop of something hit my head. I stopped and looked up, as there was no water dripping above me.
I couldn't see, as it was dark, and took out my phone for some light and found nothing. I kept walking and felt another drop on my forehead, but this time I swept my finger across and saw blood on my finger.”
“What? Blood? What happened, Matt?”
“I’ll get there, hold on!”
“Oh, fine!” Rebecca said with irritation.
“So I looked up and saw a little stream of blood coming from the top of the stairwell. I followed the stream up the stairs, where I eventually came across that paper that said the apartment had been vacant for about a year. I followed the rest of the trail of blood up the stairwell and found myself in front of a broken door. When I opened the door, it led to the entrance of the hallway on one of the apartment floors.”
“Oh, my…”
“Before I walked in, I saw a little scratch on the side of the door. I got a little scared, but-”
“Yeah! I would too!” she interrupted. “Especially with all that blood and the broken door! Babe, why didn’t you leave after you saw all that?”
“I did leave, but before I did, I saw something you would think is fake or that I made up.”
“TELL ME NOW!” she practically yelled with impatience.
“Okay, okay! So I walked in slowly and saw a hint of light coming from a little area of the hallway. It was a flashlight with blood on it, and pulled my eyes to the dark corner of the hallway, where there was a dead body.”
