Akecheta's Journey - Nervous Norman and the Dirt Forest

The smell of burning was very strong as the rising smoke covered the lower half of both their bodies. With each second that passed they were edging closer to their demise. The diner man was screaming in fear "Stop this, you don't need to do it, please", Akecheta closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes, he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of begging for his life as his last moments alive. The Children of the Sun danced around chanting continuously in delight, preparing to make their next sacrifice.

Just as skin was about to touch fire, there shone a light coming up from behind the two bound men. The excited tribe looked in awe at this and immediately cut down Akecheta and the diner man and carried them to safety. The Sun had risen just at the point of sacrifice which had let The Children of the Sun to believe that these two were connected somehow to the sun and needed to be spared. They marched around with the two "chosen" ones, carrying them while facing the sun and again doing some sort of voodoo chant in an unknown language before letting the pair down. They suddenly disappeared then, whatever the sun had said to them sent them back in the direction of the dirt forest which they had come from.

"Lucky escape huh" Akecheta said while slowly returning to his feet and picking up his bag of weaponary. The diner man sat there shaking and just nodded in response. "So...em...do you have a name? or do I just know you as near death experience buddy?" This time the man responded " Norman, or nervous Norm to those that know me". Akecheta laughed and asked "What gave birth to the meaning of this name?" Norman finally stood up and pointed his shaking index finger at Akecheta "If you seen what I have seen on this goddamn island then you would understand why I am the way that I fucking am now lets just get out of here"

Attempting to walk back towards some sort of civilization Akecheta was wondering what Norman meant by his last comments but didn't wanna ask any more questions at this time. Trekking back through the dirt forest for hours they realized how far they actually were from any sort of town and it was starting to get late, darkness was creeping up on them. Up ahead was a small hut that was worn out but would provide necessary cover for the night. They spent the night not really saying much to each other, both were trying to get their thought together to what just happened, it seemed surreal. Akecheta stood at one side of the hut and Norman the other, darkness was now fully upon them.

Rain started to fall heavily from the sky. Akecheta went out and managed to gather some to use for drinking water and shared with a reluctantly thankful Norman. "Norman what did you mean by what you have seen on the island" asked an inquisitive Akecheta.Norman;"Well lets just say that the monster that you are searching for isn't the only thing here" Akecheta questioned him further but just as Norman was about to reveal exactly what he meant there was a loud angrily sounding growl coming from out side the hut.

The pair looked at each other, finally making eye contact. "What was that" Akecheta shouted out, "That my companion sounds like an answer to your questions" answered Norman.  The noise was circling the hut as if stalking its prey, a thought crossed Akechetas mind - "What if its the Wendigo?", he quickly jolted to the door ready to confront the creature but Norman stopped him "Don't, it's not what you think it is, it's something just as deadly but in the dark you won't stand a chance".

The rain beating off the roof of the hut along with the growl of the beast was frightening. They both looked at each other wondering what their next move was when the door that was being held together by a piece of timber blew open and standing at the base of the open door way was a large hyena like creature snarling at them as the rain fell ferociously from its body. Norman tried to slip past it but it swiped at him with its sharp claws knocking him to the ground, his stomach was slashed open from the abdomen.

Akecheta reached ino his bag and took out a large carved out knife. He stood there staring at the beast ready for it and the beast looked directly back at him, salivating, ready to attack. It was now a fight to the death between Akecheta and the bloodthirsty animalistic creature.

You look like you've seen a ghost

By Gerard Gilroy

Oliver and Arthur met in primary school and became best friends in the summer of 2000 when they were seven years old. Oliver was a chubby baby-faced kid. Arthur was stringy, had crooked front teeth and was almost as tall as Oliver. But seeing the two side by side accentuated the size discrepancy. The friends quickly set a routine for themselves. On most weekends, the boys would have sleepovers and followed this pattern;

They got things going at 8pm by watching The Jungle Nation; their favourite film and waited for Harney's Hot Hot pizza to be delivered. Then they played the Switch-A-Roo card game for at least an hour while finishing off the pizza and then another film, usually one from the Old Watering Hole series or the He's on Patrol! Trilogy which finished around midnight. Then they climbed into their sleeping bags and looked at each other from either side of the living room excitedly and chatted for a while. Their conversation got less energetic as the night grew darker and later. They eventually nodded off to sleep, anticipating the arrival of their old friend Phil.

The first sleepover took place when the boys were about to go back to school that same summer. It was August and Arthur didn't talk to Oliver for at least a week afterwards, which is a long time for best friends. Oliver thought they could patch things up once the school term came around. But Arthur avoided him in the playground and in the corridors and wouldn't come to the phone when he called. Although they would talk again and everything would go back to normal, Arthur didn't stay in his house until Oliver’s birthday in December. Oliver convinced his apprehensive friend that Phil was a friendly ghost. He had been waking Oliver up for years and never once haunted him, rather they hung out together.

So, the years went by and Oliver and Arthur would fall asleep around 1 or 2 and later be greeted by Phil; a forty-something-year-old man with a speckled beard, brown, thick-rimmed glasses and a long coat with enough pockets to hold plenty of sweets and chocolate for the boys. He looked just like the living. It took Arthur at least five or six sleepovers to not feel on edge anymore. It helped that Oliver adored the mysterious man who claimed he was “a friendly ghost from the other side”. Phil explained that the ghosts from the TV and comic books were nothing like real ghosts who were cool and fun to be around.

By the time they were eleven, the boys were maturing and the started to watch different films like Ghoul Wars, Finney’s Adventures, Murder Afoot and M.A.2: The Moonscar Killers. They also found Phil to be a little boring and a bit childish. Arthur suggested to Oliver that they tell Phil to bring another ghost with him who was "cooler" as he put it. Oliver defended Phil at the time but after further discussion he came around to the idea. Phil arrived one foggy Saturday night in January 2003 and after they ate his Mercury Bars and packets of Zombie Crunch Arthur gave the reluctant friend a nudge to the arm. Oliver didn't want to hurt Phil 's feelings, but he went ahead and said,

"Phil, we think you're great, but…", Oliver stumbles through the sentence, eyes at his feet, "If you have other ghost friends, you should ask them over. Maybe someone...-" "-cooler, our age", Arthur finishes.

"Sure. Of course." Phil is almost speechless and stands up from the sofa.

Arthur; "You're cool, but we are older now Phil." Oliver finds the courage and adds; "We want someone like us."

Very little is said after that. Phil shrugs his shoulders and gives the boys a hug each. He hesitates to release Oliver when he lets go, but finally does. The ghost gives them a wave and smile and then leaves the house. It was nearly 4am and Oliver's sadness filled the living room, so without saying a word the boys went back to sleep. Before they did, Arthur could hear Oliver sobbing through his sleeping bag that he had cocooned himself in.

                                                              ---

The next morning the boys made their way into the hall on the way to the kitchen. Oliver turned to the front door as its lock began to rattle violently. The door swung open. Phil the ghost stormed into the hallway.

"Oliver! I love you with all of my heart!", he shouted out.

Oliver backed up towards the kitchen as his mother Leanne rushed into the room. She halted in her steps at the sight of her ex-husband. Before the shock let her get a word out of her mouth, Phil the ghost said, “Leanne, just let me hold him!"

"Paul...You can't come around here. Not in your state." She gestures Oliver and Arthur to back away.

"Oliver loves me!"

"He doesn't know you Paul...You're scaring the children... I have to call the police." She picks up the receiver in the hallway.

"Just give me a minute with him. He's our only baby." Paul falls to his knees and squeezes Oliver like it’s the last time.

Leanne drops the receiver and drags their stunned son away. "Oliver! Get yourself and Arthur up to your room now and lock it! How long have you had a key Paul?

"I love you both so dearly," Paul stays on his knees, weeping. "Can't you see that?"

"Paul you're like a ghost! Your eyes are hanging out of your head!"

"I can come back and we can be a family again."

"You're on that shit again aren't you. You'll never change!"

"That was Paul. I'm Phil now. Phil can change"

Oliver sits behind the railing at the bottom of the stairs with Arthur behind him.

"Get up them stairs! Go!

Oliver feels Arthur’s arm tugging at his jumper, they say nothing and walk up to his bedroom, overhearing the ongoing argument, "Leave us alone Paul--" "take me back Leanne, please!" Arthur locks it shut and Oliver lies in his bed facing the wall. The argument continues downstairs but is muffled behind the bedroom door now.

"Oliver..." Arthur doesn't know how to comfort his best friend. Oliver turns over to face him. They exchange a little, awkward glance before Arthur blurts out, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Side Note ; As mentioned above this story was written by "that guy" Gerard Gilroy. If you enjoy it I will take all the credit, if you don't its his fault :)

Dog Whisperer

The love between a man and his dog can be very powerful, some even saying that the science behind it all could lurk in our genetics. Dating back as far as 13,000 years ago there was a connection between humans and dogs with it all starting with wolves who followed humans looking for food but then over time a bond developed, and then in turn dogs were bred who evolved alongside people. Many households have dogs now, in the U.S it is thought to be around 9 million houses which is about 24% of the population. When you come home from a hard days work and see your dog wagging its tail it gives you that needed serotonin boost but this uplifting feeling isn't only for you, it's for the dog also as it's the happiest part of the day seeing their owner arrive back home.

A man who went by the name of Draven moved over to Chicago from Romania along with his pet dog  - Riley, who was a Doberman. The two were always seen together, attached at the hip some would say. Draven didn't like to interact with people too much, maybe it was just how his culture is but he preferred it this way. He worked as a night time security guard for a warehouse on the city's edge down by 31st Street Harbor which usually involved him and Riley sitting in a small open office on the computer which was interrupted every hour to do the parameter check. He was a man that was very much ruled by routine, everything was meticulously planned out, even down to the time he woke up at and the time he would go for his morning coffee at.

Draven had only one guy he would associate with or call a friend, a man named Vasile who was a  fellow Romanian whom he met down at a local kennel shop and ran a business called "The Dog Whisperer". Vasile introduced himself as a man who could talk to dogs and this caught Draven's attention, which was not something that was easily done. Since then the two met up weekly at each others homes and Vasile showed Draven what he meant by "He can talk to the dogs".

Around the town of Chicago a lot of people started to go missing, almost nightly. Seemingly every street pole and shop window were smothered in flyers wanting information about the people that were missing, the police treated these cases as missing people but everyone knew there was something more than that going on around this one area of Chicago.

Vasile would join Draven on his night shifts two/three times a week, the two would google strange dog behaviors for hours on end with Riley being their test subject to try them out. After a few weeks Draven started to become skeptic of Vasile's ability to be able to talk to dogs , all he had seen was him telling a few dogs to go fetch him items and he basic sit, leave it and stay commands. He certainly had a way with the animals but as far as what he said he could do, Draven wasn't so sure anymore and was starting to think that his business was just a scam.

Awaking one morning Draven was shocked to see that Riley wasn't there. In a panic he searched the nearby neighborhood frantically shouting at people in his deep masculine accent"Did you see my dog" but no one had seen his beloved Riley. He rang Vasile to tell him what happened in the hope that he could help. Before he could get any words out Vasile had told him in his monotone smarmy accent "Relax, he's over here but is hungry bring food" before hanging up. Needless to say Draven rushed right over.

He ran up to Vasile's dreary looking apartment which had the door wide open and questioned why was Riley there. Vasile sitting calmly in his armchair rubbing Riley responded "Because I asked him to come over", Draven was perplexed looking but also fuming "You're nothing but a scam, you can't talk to dogs, if I ever see you again you won't be able to talk at all". He then ordered Riley to come on but the dog didn't budge , he ordered again but still no movement, Vasile sat there laughing while rubbing his hands together.

In a full blown rage Draven attacked Vasile, using his much larger frame to throw Vasile around the apartment then while leaning over him he started punching him repeatedly. His face was smashed up and blood dripping from the dozen wounds on his face Draven finally stopped and went over to Riley. "Let's go boy come on, lets go" but Riley sat, back up straight all proud looking as if he was oblivious to his owners commands, meanwhile from the corner of the room Vasile was budging a bit.

"Ha ha ha hahahahahhahah" he was now laughing uncontrollably, Draven was now wondering what he had done to his dog, he clenched his bloody fists and started to walk back over to Vasile who sat up and said "I told you to bring food and you followed my orders, good boy Draven" before whispering over to Riley "Sic 'em...now" pointing directly at Draven when saying now. Riley's face immediately turned into a snarl before leaping at his former owner which let out a terrifying roar like bark.

Draven managed to dodge the leap but knew he was trapped in a corner. Tears fell from his eyes as he looked directly into his one time life companion that he loved so much's eyes and knew that he wasn't the same dog. It wasn't death that scared Draven it was the fact that this had happened to his best friend. Moments later there was nothing left of Draven, absolutely nothing!!!. Vasile sat back up on his chair petting the now obedient Riley.

CryptKeeper

A long long time ago when man was only new on this earth there was a book, this book was called The CryptKeeper. The book was said to have been magical and once it's owner had wrote something in it then it was thought to have come through. It had been lost over the course of time but along the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand it had been found recently by a man called Benjamin.

Benjamin was an orphan, he never knew his real parents as they died when he was only a baby, a tragic farm accident resulted in both of them being killed. He was raised by an Uncle of his who was a good man but when Benjamin turned eighteen he moved out, he wanted to find himself and always had a passion for writing. He loved the idea of creating a unique world inside a story that other people would read, most of his stories were fiction and in the horror genre. He lived in a small apartment which he paid for by working in a local corner shop much to his dismay but he was never happy in it, it was just used as a way to get by until he could get his writing career up and running.

Local legends was what enthused him the most, on weekends he would drive to different towns/villages and get to know the locals by quizzing them on the history of the place. He described each place as having a different feel to it and these feelings were what he based his stories on. His name was starting to get known around the place, "The Writer Boy" was what he was known locally as. It sounded a little condescending but it was some sort of publicity. Surrounding where he lived were the open plains, a great place to clear the mind and Benjamin used this area to free his imagination.

The plains were magnificent, such beautiful scenery. On a bright evening after work Benjamin decided to go camping out in the plains, he had his favorite spot down tucked away behind a large boulder that had beautiful forestry enclosing it. After pitching his small shabby looking tent he went for a wander around down by the stream that ran just west of  the boulder and sat there pondering for a while, his brain was now in sync with the relaxed burble of the stream. Lost in thought glaring into the stream he noticed a box like container that was stuck on the banks on the stream and being a curious individual he went over to get it. It was a metal box that was seemed to be welded shut, he shook it a few times and heard a rattle inside, his curiosity was starting to get the better of him now.

He brought it back to his tent, holding it close to his chest like it was the last treat available at a children's birthday party. Sitting in his tent with his legs crossed he continued to shake it and as the rattle got more adventurous so did his ideas of what this could possibly be. He took out a small pocket knife and tried to edge it open enough to be able to get a grip on it but no luck. There was a small hole on the face of the box that he tried with his knife but again nothing happened, his irritation grew as he continued to poke at this hole angrily before his blade snapped off. Reaching into his overnight kit all he had that would fit into the small rounded indented hole was his writing pen, he shoved it in and turned it clockwise; similar to how someone would try wriggle out some earwax, and lo and behold the lid of the box slowly started to raise until it was fully open.

What was inside was a dusty looking old brown book with a pen attached to it. Benjamin opened it and saw a few sentences on the front page ; " Prophet will come, Towers will fall, Famine will strike, Greed will cause wars, Sinking of a large ship, Revolutions will take place and extinction by ourselves". Benjamin was intrigued by this as the book was clearly very old and definitely before most of these events happened if not all. He was also excited as he needed a new cool looking book to write in, something that was full of character and gave the story some life. He sat out under the boulder on a rock and began writing about a story that was in his head for the past few days, it was about a quiet botanist who plans to spray the plants with a deadly scented virus. He spent most of the evening writing this before going to sleep in the relaxing silence that night time out in the plains brought.

The next morning he packed up his equipment and left for work. On arrival he noticed his boss was upset and after asking what was wrong he was sunned by the response he got "Twelve people killed, killed by some virus off the plants down at the garden shop they said". Benjamin's face dropped, he went pale white and immediately went to check it out. At the garden shop which was a no enter zone at this point, people told him the exact same thing that his boss told him, the plants did it!!

He ran to his apartment, locked the door and took out this book. Sweat pouring from his bewildered face, he read over what he wrote again and it matched exactly what just happened. "Is this the strangest coincidence ever or did this book make that happen" he stuttered out loud before quickly jotting down " Make my pockets full of chocolate". After a few minutes his pockets were full of exactly what he wished for, he was stunned. All kind of thoughts crossed his mind - Good, bad and the downright crazy ones. After a lot of thinking he listened to the devil on his shoulder and wrote yet again in the book this time was for him to make it famous as a writer. Days later after his fame wish came to fruition he went back out to the plains and disposed of this book in a way that it will never be found again.

Exactly one year after he first came across the book he looked into the mirror in his luxurious bathroom hat was bigger than the apartment that he used to live in and saw that he had aged,a lot!! He was only nineteen but looked like a man hitting eighty.

The CryptKeeper book was made up of demonic black magic designed to cause mayhem on earth. "He who writes shall pay the price one year to the day of twenty years per etching" this was inscribed in the language of the doomed at the bottom of the box. Benjamin died a few weeks later of old age, and to think he aged twenty years over chocolate.

Why!!

A nice respected family moved over to Geneva from Naples ten years ago. The father a doctor, the mother stayed at home and looked after the three children who now are grown up with two of them living away which left this one boy at home. This boy was special, born with a slow brain that disrupted his speech and also a condition called Acromegaly which caused an increase in the secretion of the growth hormone after normal human growth has stopped. Aged 12 he was six foot tall, now aged 24 he stands at an incredible seven foot six and looks to be continuing to grow. Hands like shovels and feet as big as most peoples heads, this boy certainly was odd in stature.

He kept to himself, mostly up in his room which was situated in the top floor of the house, the only room on that floor. He enjoyed painting, often painting very artistic pictures of love and beauty which was something that made him smile. He was a sensitive person and showed his emotions quiet regularly which from the outside was a strange site to see this gigantic person speak in such a soft manner and often breaking down in tears when he didn't get his own way or if the fish were't fed in a day. Things got to him deeply and he was aware of how he looked that's why he spent most of his time hidden away, people were uneducated about him and labeled him some horrible names, not to his face of course.

His mother loved him deeply and still treated him as if he was a child , his father also loved him but had a hard time showing it, he wasn't ashamed he just felt as if he let his son down in some way. An opportunity came about where an art gallery had an opening for new artists to showcase their talents and after much deliberation the overgrown man decided to enter. He spent the next few nights carefully coming up with something that would impress the people that needed to be impressed. On the day of note he went along with his mother and when it came the time for him to unveil his work, he did so to the applause of the crowd and more importantly the judges. He was crowned the winner and received not only the award but also a contract with this art group that traveled around the country as a sort of mobile art gallery.

He said goodbye to his parents with a heavy heart, they were worried about him but also happy that this opportunity came his way. For the next few months he traveled around loving what he done, he also grew an extra inch in the mean time but his bizarre look took a back seat in his thoughts at the moment as the happiness from painting took over his main state of emotion. Money in his pocket and making a life doing what he loves, what could go wrong?

The next week they pulled up to a town and in the town was a small shy girl named Shelly who had a wonderful sense of artistry about her. She joined the group from then on due to her special talent, over time she grew a close bond to the ever growing man. They certainly were a strange looking friendship, it was a case of little and large, Shelly was only up to his waist but they complemented each other beautifully. He felt free to share his emotions with her and she in return listened and wanted to be a shoulder for him to cry on, she was amazed by him and how such a large man had such a freedom to share how he felt. They would talk for hours after work about similar interests they had and just about a lot of random stuff, time nor inhibition restricted the two.

Aged 25 he had his first ever kiss which was also Shelly's first kiss. The pair had an amazing connection but shortly after their kiss Shelly received a letter from home ; her parents wanted her to return home as there was an opening at a major college in the area of Teaching, something she didn't really want to do but she essentially had to do what her parents wanted of her. She broke the news to the recipient of her first kiss the next day, he didn't take the news well and broke down in overwhelming sadness before angrily demanding that she left right away and to never contact him again. Shelly ran off crying and later that day she left for home never to be seen again.

The now seven foot eight man monster was in a constant state of anger, it wouldn't pass, he was unable to calm down it was like he had turned into the complete polar opposite of what he once was.
His anger drove him away from the art gang , he left a demolition behind him breaking everything he saw in sight and tossing the people that tried to stop him like they were children. Now he just walked the streets breathing heavily and frightening all that laid eyes on him, He entered a shop that sold items for couples in love and completely destroyed it, shouting in a rage " WHY!!!" repeatedly while punching the wall over and over. The police were called but once they saw what they were up against they decided that physical force was not an option here so they tased him which only made him tickle so they shot another bolt followed by another which brought him to his knees, even at this height he was still taller than most. Eventually they managed to subdue the angry giant.

He was institutionalized after this and spent most of his days in isolation banging on the reinforced door again and again shouting "why why why" which was followed by a rather softly muttered "Mommy". His rage was too much and no medication was able to cure it. A scientist was called in to take a look at him , he was placed in shackles and brought down to a dirty cold underground laboratory where the scientist ran tests on him. He was amazed at this large man and how he just snapped like that, but he didn't want to try and help him, he used the man as a test subject for his own personal gain and through his charm he was able to establish a friendship of sorts with the anger fueled giant.

The scientist requested to have this man turned over to himself for "Scientific" reasons. On the letter to confirm this, he signed the document that read  Dr. Frank N. Stein.