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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Writer_On_a_Perch on 2024-10-15 11:09:50+00:00.
I've never had a kid before, but I've always loved my nieces and my nephew. I can remember the way the world looked as a kid, and I can see it in their eyes. That feeling that whatever is around every corner is new and exciting, that what tomorrow brings it'll carry with it the warmth of a sunny day, or the comfort of a rainy afternoon.
As a grown man the sun left my skin spotted and weathered, the rain left me shivering and cold, life had left me homeless and quite alone. It was easy to feel miserable, but those three kids didn't need to have my misery thrust upon them, that light in their eyes shouldn't dim around me. So I always tried my best to be their weird uncle. The one with the backpack and smelly socks, the one with a tooth grin and fun stories. I won't ever tell them this story though.
It was a child I had never met that woke me up that morning, my place of rest still shaded from the morning sun, slick with dew as it clung to my ragged windbreaker. "Excuse me? Excuse me?" A small voice cut through the morning traffic and buzz of cicadas. It was tinged with hope and fear, I knew those two feelings well.
My eyes parted slowly, embracing the morning sunshine. I saw before me a small blonde boy, his bushy blonde eyebrows and chubby physique almost immediately endeared me to this kid. "I'm awake, I'm awake." My voice cracked as I rolled over.
His thick eyebrows furrowed as he spoke again, "I'm really sorry to wake you up. I just don't have a phone and I really need to call my mom." His small voice had that deep fear in it that kids always had when they were worried they would get in trouble over something completely reasonable. My lips pulled up into a smile as I rubbed my messy hair. "Do you know her phone number buddy?" I reached into my bag and pulled forth a cracked dusty phone as he recited it by heart.
I suppressed a chuckle, someone had clearly drilled that phone number into him. I looked down at the phone's cracked face as it half heartedly turned on only to flash an empty red battery symbol and die in my hands "Fuck." I said under my breath, fumbling in my bag for a charger.
"Aha," I lightly intoned while I revealed a charger from my pack. "Sorry kid this might take a minute before you can call her." He swayed awkwardly on the spot as his fear of the whole situation was yet to be abated. I felt for this kid, I knew what it was like to be alone in places you're not familiar or comfortable with. It was my whole life. I patted the seat next to me and smiled brightly, attempting to infuse every ounce of kindness I could into my gaze, "Wanna sit?" He looked indecisive until I pulled out a big bag of Skittles. "Plenty to go around."
He plopped on the bench beside me and pulled a single skittle from the bag placing it in his mouth, before grabbing another one. "What's your name buddy?" He placed a purple skittle on his tongue, "My name is Trenton. But my mom calls me Trent." I offered him my hand which probably could have been a little cleaner, "I'm Melvin, but people call me stupid."
"Is it okay if I just call you Melvin?" He asked with an adorable sincerity. I laughed and smiled "That's fine with me Trenton." He smiled back, now being less cautious with the Skittles. "Do people really call you stupid?" "Sometimes. But I tell them to hang up and call me back when they're smarter." He laughed, "that's a stupid joke."
My phone now read 3% as it's screen feebly flickered to life. "You can call your mom now Trenton, just keep it plugged in alright?" He nodded enthusiastically and dialed her number. She picked up after three rings and a stern but gentle voice crackled from my shitty speakers. "This is Miss Waters how may I help you?" "Mom it's me, Jake and his mom left me here. Yes about 20 minutes ago. I'm sorry mom." I listened intently to the mother's furious tone as she reassured Trenton that none of this was his fault, it was then that he handed me the phone and said "She wants to talk to you."
I made a big goofy frowny face of fear and he giggled. "Hi there." I said casually. "I need your name and location please." I opened my mouth to speak but my eyes drifted over the large field of the park for the first time since I had opened them. A small black shape caught my eye as it bobbed up and down. I squinted and it sharpened just slightly into a shape that could have been a man. "Hello are you there? I need your name and your location now please." His mother asked a little forcefully.
"I'm sorry ma'am I just woke up. My name is Melvin Poole. We're at Green Park down the trail about a half mile." I said quickly as to not incur her ire. Yet my eyes never left that shape as it bobbed up and down. It was strange, it had gotten close enough to tell it was clearly a man, but his gait was off. His head rose and fell too much, far more than the inch or two most people's did as they walked at a steady pace. "I'll be there in 25 minutes exactly. I want you to stay on the phone with me for the entire time, do you understand?"
I smiled, she was smart. My name, where I was, and not letting me hang up on her. This kid was in good hands. I frowned however when I looked at my phone. It's battery was draining quickly. "Ma'am my phone's battery is about to die I'd say you have a minute or two left before it's dead again. I could almost hear her teeth grit through the speaker. "I'll be there in 20. Be prepared to accept my call when I'm close. Understand?" I felt myself immediately feel smaller than her as her authoritative voice echoed from my phone. "Of course, I'll be here with Trenton, I won't let him out of my sight." Her goodbye was curt and short.
My eyes once again darted towards the odd man from across the trail as Trenton began to speak about a new game he had recently taken up. I did my best to listen but my eyes won the fight with my ears as my attention was solely focused on the bobbing man. He had been walking in a straight unbroken line for the past few minutes now, his heading seemed to directly intersect with the shaded bench we now sat upon. Trenton was oblivious to this as he finally had let himself relax, I wasn't about to cut that short, yet I could feel my own body beginning to tense up.
There was something so deeply unsettling about this man as more details began to peek from the haze of distance. His black coat, his black bowler hat. If I didn't know any better I would have assumed he was attending a Renaissance Festival or a Funeral. The way he walked however made me wonder if he was the reason for the funeral rather than your average attendee. What was worse was that he seemed magnetically attracted to this bench I sat upon now. Every step taking him closer to where we resided.
I wiggled my charger in the phone's socket to no results. The phone's battery was now completely dead. Trenton laughed at something he said, and for the first time the man's head turned. He slowly brought his head all the way until his chin nearly rested on his shoulder, at first I was relieved, his gaze now broken finally. Yet when Trenton's laughing stopped, the man once again faced the bench as he continued the bob towards us.
A cold chill went down my spine. He had turned his ear towards the laugh, as if to absorb every decibel he possibly could. Now I was struck with indecisiveness and fear. Do I stay with him and wait for his mom like she said, or do I grab this kid and run?
The man's pace was steady and rhythmic like a puppet on a string, his masters hand steadily making him lurch towards us. The morning sun cast his shadow off to his side, it was so long and thin, as if it too wanted nothing to do with and was attempting to flee from him.
"Trenton, buddy let's go somewhere else." I said, my voice not yet revealing my fear to spare him. He looked at me his brow once again furrowing, "I can't do that, my mom is coming right here and I don't want her to be mad at me." My eyes darted back and forth between him and the steadily approaching shape in my peripheral. "She'll be mad at me Bud not you, I promise. I think she'll find us faster over here anyway."
He frowned and said "I can't leave. I'm gonna stay right here." He stopped and let his head hang, "If you wanna leave that's okay." I tried my utmost to not let an ounce of fear into my voice. I would never leave this kid here alone with this creepy fuck. "I'm staying right here then, alright?" He smiled.
The man was now close enough to read his expression. I wish I couldn't. Upon his face rested the most unpleasant smile I had ever laid eyes upon. It was a toothy grin that revealed the spaces between all of his teeth, small gaps to the black abyss that was his mouth. The corners of his mouth were pulled up against his cheekbones in a way that looked like it was carved into marble.
I had never seen a man this unsettling in my entire life. His fingers drummed against his leg one by one, two slow to be a rhythm to any music. Just one finger at a time. He was upon us. Trenton finally took notice of the bobbing man and stopped munching on the Skittles.
I desperately wanted to look away yet I forced myself to be transfixed by his ugly mug. This guy was a threat, my deepest of senses knew this. Every ounce of that superhuman ability we all have within us was triggered by this fuck. He addressed me first as his gait finally took him within ten feet of my bench. He tilted forward ever so slightly as he spoke, so his teeth were the closest thing...
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