24 Jun The Mediterranean Encounter

Posted at 11:00h in Strange and Unexplained by CreepypastaStories.com 0 Comments

📅 Published on June 24, 2022

“The Mediterranean Encounter”

Written by Corpse Child
Edited by Craig Groshek
Thumbnail Art by Craig Groshek
Narrated by N/A

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🎧 Available Audio Adaptations: None Available

⏰ ESTIMATED READING TIME — 18 minutes

Rating: 9.00/10. From 3 votes.

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Before we get into things here, let me ask you a question. What would you say if you were told by a close friend of yours that you’ve known all your life that they encountered something strange in the ocean while on a cruise? Would you believe them?

Just something to sort of think about as you read this. As I kind of just said, this story isn’t mine. Actually, I have nothing to do with it in any way. I wouldn’t be here now, telling any of this to you, if it weren’t for the fact that he refuses to write out this story himself.

Honestly, I can’t blame him for being against the idea. For several reasons, you’ll probably better understand as you read this. I have my own reasons for doing this, as well. The biggest one is that, if on any possible chance what I was told is true, then this shouldn’t stay quiet, I guess…as well as this. I wanna help him to reach out and see if anyone else has had this happen or knows about what was described to me here. Maybe it can help me understand it all a bit better, too.

Douglas and I had been friends since the sandbox. We’d gone through just about everything two youngsters could back in the day. We went through school together, hung out, got into all kinds of trouble (even ended up spending a few nights in lockup, usually over drunk shenanigans) together. We were brothers. Blood be damned.

We graduated together, too, which was where we’d ultimately end up going our separate ways. I chose to pursue a Bachelors in IT, while Dougie (at least from what he always used to tell me at the time) went on to pursue a degree in English Literature. This was about five and a half years ago now. Over that time, things, of course, evolved in both our lives. I got through a year of university, where I then took up an offer with a company specializing in software design.

I’d ultimately end up just taking on the career full-time, which I’m confident has been the right choice for my life thus far. During this time, I also met my wife of three years, Liliana. Through all of this, though, I all but completely lost touch with Douglas.

That was, until just yesterday. It was honestly a chance encounter; a freak accident, if you will. I was at the café just at the edge of town, waiting for my order, when he was sitting down next to me. It felt like a scene out of a movie at first, you know? Two childhood friends meeting up again after years of being apart, not recognizing each other at first. That changed almost immediately when he gave his order, though, with me recognizing his voice.

So much had changed about him physically, looking far more grown and hardened than the last time we’d seen one another. He’d grown, too. I used to eclipse him by a good two feet, give or take a few inches. Now, though, I was only meeting about chin-level with him. In spite of all of this, though, his voice, his deep yet smooth voice, was just as distinct as ever.

“No way…” I said, turning to him with shock plastered all across my face. “Douglas? Dougie, that you?!”

He turned to look at me. Like me, he didn’t recognize me at first. He just sat there, looking bewildered at me until I told him who I was. His eyes then went wide like mine, and he exclaimed, “Allen?!” We then jumped from our stools, laughing and hugging. It was a moment that was every bit surreal as it was heartwarming.

Soon, my order was ready, and I offered for him to sit and have lunch with me. He accepted, and we spent the next half hour or so laughing with memories of old times as well as catching each other up on current events while waiting on his order (he ordered two large well done NY style steaks and a large basket of fries — requesting all to be made fresh). That’s how this particular topic first came up. The strangest thing to happen to the both of us in the five years since we’d last spoken.

I remember I’d just thrown the topic out as kind of a joke. You know, a sort of “Now that we’ve established what’s currently going on in each other’s lives, what else is there to really talk about” type of ice breaker. I went first, telling him about the night I managed to catch a meteor shower while out driving late one night. Following them, was, what I could only describe as a large, dark, twisting shadow, far off in the distance, shaped like an eight-sided sort of star or something.

This was a true story, something that actually happened, but I’m not going to dive into any more on that here as, again, this isn’t about me. This is about Douglas’ story. Thinking about it now, though, after what I’d heard, I am curious now just how much the two events might be connected in some way.

Douglas seemed to think as much also. Almost immediately after I told him about that, his face looked similar to how a veteran would when talking about time in the field. “Hey, is everything okay?” I asked him. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t reply at first. He just sat there, across from me, staring right at me yet through me at the same time. My mind started hurriedly trying to come up with an apology and a way to try and change the subject when I heard him take a deep breath. I stopped and prepared to listen. From there, he told me the following story; his account of his strangest experience at sea, which he and I both have affectionately dubbed “The Mediterranean encounter.” I have not edited any of his words or the way he said them, nor have any of the names he mentioned been changed.

***

It was mine and Donna’s 6^th anniversary. Can you imagine? Six years… I could never tell you how I’ve managed to keep her around that long.

We decided this year to make the cruise through the Mediterranean. It was one of those things we’d both wanted desperately to do for years, but something neither of us had the money or available time for. Not until the end of about two months ago, that is, when I was told that I’d accrued vacation time. Paid, too.

So, seeing this as an opportunity that’d only come around once, I started making every arrangement possible. I managed to score us a decent luxury package on the cruise, including the unlimited all-you-can-eat buffet pass, unlimited use of the spa, hot tubs, and swimming pools, and unlimited free wifi plus free use of their Netflix subscription. It cost a pretty penny, sure, but for what Donna’s put up with for six whole years, it was more than worth it.

Heh…good thing the time was paid, right? We’d spent the better part of those last ten or eleven days making sure we had everything, which of course meant shelling out even more money than we already were. Anyway, by about 5:30 that Friday morning, we were up bright n’ early, headed for the docks where the cruise liner was. We got there around 6:45, about half an hour or so before the scheduled loading time.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones, either. There were about a dozen n’ a half others campin’ there when we arrived. Donna found this relieving while I found it funny, you know? Gotta wonder what time they dragged their asses out of bed, right? Well, anyway, we joined ‘em, and Donna starts chattin’ with a few of ‘em immediately. You may or may not remember, I don’t exactly do the best with crowds.

So I was just standin’ there, waitin’ on the boat to arrive, mindin’ myself, when I noticed the others just starin’ daggers at me. I mean, this man looked like he was primed to jump me at the drop of a hat. Obviously, I didn’t know who he was or what had him all in a bad mood; and I wasn’t about to try askin’ him about it, either. I tried to ignore him, making as little eye contact as possible while still keepin’ a loose eye on him just in case he was off his rocker n’ had plans for my early funeral.

He didn’t move. Just stood there, starin’ daggers at me. No one else seemed to notice him, either. I did notice, though, that his attention wasn’t actually fixed completely on me. I saw his eyes move around, glarin’ at everyone else the same as he was with me.

I didn’t say anything about it, given that he hadn’t done anything yet. I still kept my eye on him, though. His eyes, there was somethin’ wrong with ‘em. The more times I took passin’ glances back n’ forth from him, the more I saw he wasn’t all right, you know?

I didn’t really see what at first. But after a moment, I saw that his eyes were dark, lookin’ almost pitch black, almost like he didn’t have no eyes. I know, I know, sounds weird n’ all, right? I see the look on your face.

Trust me. I get it. I honestly woulda thought the same. Hell, if what happened after hadn’t happened, I’d have thought my eyes were just goin’ screwy with me. Gettin’ old n’ all.

Anyway, there’s a small crowd of us there on the docks, minglin’ around, yakkin’. As time passed closer n’ closer to the time to board, more people started comin’. As they did, as they started mingling in themselves, I began to lose sight of him.

Of course, I’m still on edge about this guy, so I start tryin’ to wade through the crowd as much as I can to find him again. Unfortunately, by that time, so many more people had shown up and were there on the dock that tryin’ to find him was a harder challenge than ‘Where’s Waldo?’

Thing was, apart from his eyes, like I mentioned, it wasn’t like he really stuck out in any real way. The only things I thought might’ve helped me pick him out of a lineup were that he was young, kinda athletic lookin’, like how you were when you tried out for varsity basketball back in the day, you know? He looked honestly like every other guy present; tall, light-colored T-shirt, khaki shorts and sandals. You know, typical beachwear.

Even that wasn’t much help, though, given that a bunch of the newcomers also fit that description just about as well. I must’ve spent a good five minutes or so tryin’ to find the sucker, bumpin’ all around everybody there when the cruise liner finally pulled in. I tried to keep lookin’, but you know how it goes with that sort of thing; people were flockin’ to board, which meant I was essentially dragged along.

I tried to press forward for about another minute n’ a half before finally givin’ up, realizin’ that I couldn’t even see Donna no more. Took me damn near fifteen or twenty minutes just to find her again. Not that she gave a damn. When I’d found her, she’d already gone n’ unpacked our stuff in our suite n’ everything.

For a while after that, you know, things were just fine. Donna started makin’ good use of the unlimited spa access while I decided to hit the casino, even managin’ to come away with a decent winnin’ by the time I left. I’d honestly just about forgotten about the kid from the docks. Like I said, I thought at the time that maybe I was spookin’ myself.

Well, believe it or not, next thing I know, I actually spot him at the other end of the hallway outside the casino leadin’ to the swimmin’ pool area. Like he was on the docks, he was just standin’ around, starin’ menacingly at everyone in the room. I almost wanted to duck n’ cover, you know? Like he was about to break postal or somethin’. But he didn’t do or say nothin’. He just stood, glarin’.

I told Donna to meet me back in the room while I went to check on somethin’. Of course, I was going to try talkin’ to this guy; see what his deal was, why he was givin’ everybody the evil eye. I went up to him. He just stood there, still, like he was a statue or somethin’.

I asked him, “Hey pal, what’s your deal? You lookin’ for somebody?” he didn’t say nothin’, just kept starin’. Like last time, I noticed he wasn’t even lookin’ at me but rather at everybody.

Finally, he actually went n’ looked at me. Call it whatever you like; a “delayed reaction” or whatever, but it was right then that I realized I was right about what I said before, about his eyes. I swear to God, Allen, those weren’t human eyes. The rest of him looked perfectly normal, sure, but those eyes of his…

No, no, those were the eyes of…I don’t know what. But they weren’t of a person, that’s for damn sure. They looked like two pieces of coal were embedded in his skull. Let me put it to you this way; you remember that old movie “Village of the Damned,” all the creepy little kids standin’ around with their pitch black eyes? That’s a lot like what he looked like.

I tried askin’ him again what he was doin’. This time, he looked at me and opened his mouth like he was about to say somethin’. But his mouth, it opened up, wider than I thought possible. Then I heard him let out what sounded like some sorta wheezin’ sound, like he was havin’ trouble breathin’ or somethin’.

I almost didn’t catch him when he actually said somethin’ cause it startled me so bad. His voice, if you could call it that, I guess, sounded like what I’d imagine the Grim Reaper soundin’ like; all hoarse n’ raspy. Like a snake, almost.

“Yyyooouu mussssstt esssscape,” I think is what he said. Somethin’ like that, anyway. Again, I wasn’t sure, given that I barely registered any kind of words from how he was talkin’. I know it had somethin’ to do with “escaping” something. What exactly, though, would have been just as good anybody’s guess as it was mine.

I looked at him, obviously gettin’ pretty nervous now. I mean, hell, what would you have done if it was you, Al, standin’ there, locked in a starin’ contest with this guy n’ all of a sudden he starts talkin’ all funny about “escapin’?” I asked him if he was alright and what was wrong with his eyes. He answered with this:

“The Sssstaarr isss coommminng! Yoouuu aaaallll mussst fleee, flesshhh chillldd!” Then, ‘fore I could do or say anything, the sucker takes off like a bat out of Hell. I was left standin’ in the middle of the hallway, completely lost. Who in the name of God was this guy, n’ what was his deal, you know? I was about to follow after him when I felt Donna pullin’ me away.

I looked to her, probably lookin’ confused as all get out, because she asked me if everything was alright. She asked me who I was talkin’ to, to which I answered, “I have absolutely no goddamn clue.” Bein’ honest, here, Allen, I still don’t know who, or maybe what he was or really what he was doin’ there.

Anyway, so Donna n’ I head back to the room n’ order room service n’ all that. That night, she fell asleep watchin’ TV, using the most of the “Unlimited cable n’ wifi,” while I just laid there, wide awake. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get that guy out of my head for the life of me. I couldn’t stop picturin’ his eyes, his raspy voice. Mostly though, I couldn’t stop wonderin’ just what the hell he meant with what he’d said.

I kept thinkin’ about what it was he said we had to run from. “The star,” he said. What star, though? This led me to start lookin’ through my news feeds on my phone, seein’ if maybe there was some kinda asteroid or somethin’ supposedly headed toward Earth. I figured maybe he’d just seen somethin’ like that on the Internet n’ was now runnin’ around, tryin’ to spook people that the world was endin’.

At least, that was the best sorta explanation I had at first. You know how kids are; just about everything they’d see on the Internet would be holy writ n’ if they see somethin’ about the world endin’, they’ll start doin’ weird stuff; including, I guess, wearin’ scary lookin’ eye lenses n’ talkin’ all funny. But even that wasn’t addin’ up because even blatantly searching “star colliding with earth,” there wasn’t anything of the sort.

It wasn’t till about 3 or 4 n’ the mornin’ ‘fore I managed to finally shut my eyes n’ get some sleep. In spite of this, though, I was still tossin’ n’ turnin’. I was havin’ the absolute weirdest nightmare, Al. I was seein’ these groups of creatures; aliens of some sort, I’d guessed.

Some of ‘em were sorta like people. But they didn’t have no skin. It was like I was lookin’ at a person without skin. There were a bunch of ‘em, too, all these skinless…things. Even weirder were their heads. They all had these wriggling heads that seemed to squirm around constantly. I remember thinkin’ just how disgusting and creepy it looked.

The others, though, were almost worse as far as lookin’ freaky. They didn’t even BEGIN to look human. I honestly don’t even know how to try describin’ ‘em. They had five of these weird lookin’ arms or tentacles or somethin’. On each one of ‘em, though, were these elongated sort of faces that looked like they were screamin’.

The two seemed to be fightin’ about somethin’; I don’t know what, obviously. They were on this gross lookin’ planet where the ground looked like living tissue. Like it, too, didn’t have any skin, if that makes any kind of sense to you. The skinless ones were just rippin’ the others apart, you know? That’s when from seemingly everywhere and nowhere at the same time, I heard that same raspy voice sayin’ “Its comin’ for us all,” or somethin’ like that.

Then, I remember seein’ somethin’ big in the sky. It looked like the things the skinless ones were beatin’ up, right? Except this thing was gigantic, and it had eight arms instead of five like the others. In the center of it, though, was this giant hole, like a mouth or somethin’, that began swallowin’ everything whole.

Instantly, I watched everything get sucked up into it.

That was when I woke up, sweatin’ like a pig. I remember my heart was poundin’ somethin’ fierce. When I woke up, it was mornin’ out, Donna was comin’ out of the bathroom from gettin’ ready. She must’ve seen me panicking over somethin’, ‘cause she started askin’ me if everything was okay.

I didn’t know what to tell her at first. I told her I just had a nightmare, like the ones I used to have when we’d first started seein’ each other, about me n’ her gettin’ caught up in some fatal accident on the road or somethin’. How was I supposed to explain that, you know? Plus, I figured, once again, it was just a stupid nightmare, right? No sense in gettin’ her all riled up over my head screwin’ with me.

Shakin’ all that off the best I could, I took up her offer to go get breakfast. This seemed to do the trick at first. Helped, of course, by the fact that they were servin’ blueberry pancakes n’ bacon. You know me, Al, but I can’t say no to a nice spread like that.

Well, anyway, I sit down with my plate n’ start diggin’ in when, who do I see, but the weird-eyed kid again. This time, though, he looked completely normal. His eyes weren’t black no more. They were just regular lookin’ eyes. He was actin’ normal, too; just sittin’ there with his plate of food, yakkin’ with someone, a buddy of his I guess, like you and I are now.

I was confused all over again. I wanted to go over n’ ask him again what the deal was the previous day, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to cause a scene. Plus, I wasn’t sure at the time how much of what I’ve been talkin’ about actually happened.

Even still, I kept my eye on him. Just in case, you know? After breakfast was over, I told Donna I was going to be out on the deck for a while, takin’ pictures. She told me to make sure to get a few of the Greek mainland, wantin’ to put those in her scrapbook. From there, she said she’d be spendin’ the day in the spa an’ to meet her back in the suite later that night.

Now, Al, understand that I wasn’t actually wantin’ to take pictures or anything like that. No, I was wantin’ to go topside because that’s where I saw the kid headin’. And before you say it, I know exactly how that sounds. But, I just couldn’t shake the feelin’ of somethin’ bein’ off about him.

Even if it was just an act, I still wanted to know why. Why was he tryin’ to spook me like that? Was he dangerous? Was he just actin’ all nice n’ gentle now to make me drop my guard? What, if anythin’, was he plannin’ to do?

I was on edge, an’ this “nice guy” act he had on now wasn’t makin’ me feel no better. So I grabbed the camera n’ went to the deck. I was snappin’ pictures, some of the scenery, yeah, but also a few of the weird lookin’ kid, too. Like he was in the cafeteria, he was just soakin’ in the hot tub, gigglin’ with a couple young honeys, actin’ all casual.

I musta watched him for at least the better part of an hour an’ a half. After that, though, I gave up, seein’ that he wasn’t doin’ nothin’ suspicious or anything. Plus, I saw my camera was out of film, so I had to return to the room. While I was on my way back to the room, I heard it again—the weird, snake-ish voice.

It said, “The fleessshh will nnnooot sssuurviiive! The ssstaaar hasss foooouund uuussss agaaiin!”

I remember lookin’ around, tryin’ to see where it was comin’ from. I started kind of freakin’ out, too, when I didn’t see nobody around, you know? I felt like I was losin’ it. I started feelin’ somewhat dizzy, right? Then, out of nowhere, everything around me just immediately goes dark n’ I started seein’ those things from the night before; the star-lookin’ ones.

They started appearin’ all around me. One of ‘em spoke again, sayin’ “Come wiiittthh usss. Fllleee to the Ghaaa’aaassssst!”

“What?” I asked him. I was in such a frenzy; wonderin’ what the hell was goin’ on, who, or rather what these creatures or whatever were, and what they’d even said. Before I said anything else, though, I watched the things sort of blend together, morphin’ or joinin’ together to form a big ball that squirmed and wriggled, like I said earlier, with the heads of the other things, you know?

It then said “The Ghaaa’aaasttt, the mooonnn thaaat liiivvveeessss.” I wanted to scream. It was absolutely disgustin’ n’ frightenin’ to look at the thing, whatever it, or they, were. Then it said, “Weee brrroooouught yyyoouu heeeerrreee. Wee ssssaaavveeed yyooouu!”

Then, I started seein’ that giant star again, the one I told you about from my dream the night before. I saw it, as well as a whole sort of universe. I watched as everything around me; stars, planets, and these three suns — yes, I said THREE suns — get swallowed whole by the thing like it was a Dyson vacuum cleaner. It spoke again, sayin’ “Weee ssssaaavvvedd yyyoouu ffrrroooomm the ssstaaarr, frrroomm Khaaaeeeoossss! Buuttt heee haaassss fooouunndd ussss aagaaainn!”

Now, Allen, ‘fore I go any further, I need you to know that everythin’ I’m tellin’ you right now, everythin’ I heard, was real, understand? I know for a fact I wasn’t dreamin’ anythin’ in that moment, or with anything I saw and heard afterward. This ain’t just another dream I’m talkin’ about right now.

I saw everythin’ shift back to the weird sort of landscape I saw from my nightmare again. I saw the creatures fightin’ again, with the skinless people just absolutely brutalizin’ the other ones. Everywhere, left n’ right, I mean, they were just merciless. Next thing I see, though, is the eight-armed giant suckin’ this planet up like the rest. I then see the star lookin’ ones sorta carryin’ one of the skinless ones through space, you know, ferryin’ it. Eventually, I watched it get released, and it woke up.

But that’s not the strangest part, Allen. What I saw next, what I saw it do, made my heart stop. I watched it create the world! I mean, planet Earth, created by this tiny little alien using its own sinewy lookin’ mass to form the planet n’ everything in it.

I was speechless. I didn’t even have it in me to make any sort of sound. I mean, this couldn’t have been real… could it?

But it was!

I don’t know how to prove it, yet, but I know everythin’ I saw was real! It was then, when I saw it, an’ I know it still is now. From there, I watched the evolutionary cycle of the Earth. Or should I say, cycles. See, from what I saw, Al, Earth resets itself. The creature, the skinless thing from the devoured planet, every so often sorta hits “factory reset” on the world. An’ what happens to us? Well, every creature alive turns on one another, killin’ an’ even eatin’ each other till only one is left. That one then becomes one of them, one of the skinless people from the other planet.

Why, you ask? I’d be damned if I ever knew. I don’t think we’re supposed to, either. I think it’s one of those things people talk about bein’ “Incomprehensible to humans,” you know? Somethin’ we couldn’t ever understand. God knows I don’t, then or now.

Well, either way, I was brought back to the real world by feelin’ somebody pullin’ at my arms. It was the kid again. When I was in my senses again, I found that I was, somehow, for whatever reason, standing on the edge of the cruise liner, like I was about to jump or somethin’. Just faintly, I could hear them whisperin’, still in that same raspy hissin’ voice, “Cooommee. Fleee thissss wooorrllddd, fleeeessshhh chhhiiiilld! Cooommmee wiiitthhh uuuuusssss tooooo thhheee Ghaaa’aaasssstt!”

I was surrounded by everyone on the ship, including Donna. The kid slowly helped me down. I asked him, “Hey, what’s goin’ on? How’d I get up here?” He replied tellin’ me that he’d seen me apparently walkin’ to the ledge, “lookin’ all weird,” accordin’ to him, kinda like how I said he was before. He told me I’d started talkin’ all funny, too; sayin’ stuff about the “Star was comin’” or somethin’ to that effect.

He then told me that I’d been mutterin’ somethin’ about a livin’ moon, about tryin’ to go there when I was walkin’ up to the ledge. That’s when it clicked, and I became scared. I was about to jump. I was about to jump in the ocean, to my death, an’ I wasn’t in control of my body. I almost died, an’ I wouldn’t have known till it was too late.

After that, I essentially bunkered myself inside the suite for the rest of the time. For obvious reasons, I didn’t feel safe comin’ out again. Even though this was a disappointment to Donna, she was willin’ to put up with it n’ still have fun, even if I wasn’t enjoyin’ it with her.

Even still, this didn’t make things much easier for me. Every night since, includin’ up to last night, I keep seein’ it; that giant star beast. I keep seein’ it, gettin’ closer n’ closer to us. But more n’ that, though, Al, I can feel it now. I can’t explain it, but I feel just this tinglin’ feelin’ now; this sense, almost, like the closer it gets to Earth, the more frantic it becomes.

I still wonder if, had I not been stopped, would I have jumped? If I did, what would’ve happened to me, exactly? I’d like to say I’d have drowned. Morbid as that sounds, at least that’d have made sense, right? But somethin’ tells me I might not have. They were tellin’ me to come with them somewhere. “The Ghost,” I think they called it. Though where or even really what that is, an’ how I was apparently going to get there by jumpin’ into the ocean, well…you’d have to ask someone who ain’t me.

So yeah, that’s the strangest thing to ever happen to me, to date, and probably to ever happen in the future. Now, I know this’s a lot. Trust me, if our places were switched right now, I’d have probably asked you what the hell kinda goofy stuff you’d been smokin’ long ago. But I swear, Allen, this all happened. Everything, just the way I said it now.

You’re probably the only person who’ll believe me, given what you told me about what you saw. I don’t think anyone else will, though. That’s why, despite this all happenin’ about two’ three months ago, I never tried tellin’ any of this to anybody else. I still hadn’t talked about any of this with Donna. I never knew what exactly to say. Bein’ honest, I probably wouldn’t have said anythin’ to you until you told me what you saw.

I won’t lie, though. I’m scared now. This now tells me that everything I saw, everything I was told, was true. No, this wasn’t too long ago, right? That means this thing really has found us.

***

To say I was lost would be the pinnacle of understatements. I stared at Douglas, wide-eyed and jaw-slacked. Not only that, though, I could also feel sinister chills crawl all up and down my back.

It wasn’t long, maybe only a minute, after he’d finished telling me this story that the waiter brought out our food. By that point, neither of us was really hungry. We only got a few small bites each before we decided to call it quits on lunch. After that, Douglas and I exchanged a very brief, very fearful sort of goodbye before splitting our separate ways. In a way, it felt like that’d be the last time we’d ever see each other again.

I’ll admit, it was only until just a few hours ago, in the middle of the night last night, that I started feeling like there was truth to Douglas’ story. It was about 3 or 4 A.M. that I woke up, feeling what he’d described as that same sense or “tingling feeling” of something approaching. I don’t know why or how, but I can feel it getting closer and closer. As I do, I can feel my head begin pounding, and I can hear the same sort of voices he described; all raspy and hissing.

“Thee sssttaaaarrrr iiissss cooommmiiinngg! Yyyyooouuu muuuussstt fleeee, flessssshhhh ccchhhiiillldd!”