Stitches

   It was July fourth of 2012 and John had taken the night off of his job as a ventriloquist to spend it with his wife and one year old child. All was going well as the three shared amazement with a burst of fireworks. John, his wife Lucille, and their child Christina had a great time as they watched the fireworks and played under the stars. Later, after all celebrations were over, John and his family entered their house to prepare for their nightly slumber. All was silent in their small suburban home for the first hour or so of rest.

   But, the silence was to be short lived as John and his wife were awoken to a sudden crashing sound coming from down stairs. John urged his wife to get their baby and hide in the closet till he was to return. He then grabbed a metal baseball bat that he kept in the closet and slowly left the room and headed to the stairway. As he slowly descended into the darkness of the stairway and light glare of moonlight, John could here a faint laughter in the distance. The laughter continued till John reached the bottom of the steps.

   John slowly crept into the kitchen where he noticed shards of glass lying spread out upon the floor. As he entered the kitchen he noticed that all was once again silent. He slowly squatted down as he raised a shard of glass from the floor. As he peered into the glass he was startled to see the reflection and silhouette of a man standing in the corner behind him. As he seen this, John quickly spun around to hit the man, but was quickly subdued by a jabb from a syringe as he fainted.

   John slowly awoke with unclear vision as he felt damp grass and smelt smoke. He quickly got to his feet with tears coming from his eyes as he looked up to see that his home was completely engulfed in flames. John quickly began calling out for his family as he ran toward his home. But, before he reached the house, there was an explosion as John fell back onto the ground to take cover. As John lied on the ground, he felt himself losing consciousness again with everything fading away to darkness.

   As everything faded, John barely caught a glimpse of the silhouette he had seen moments before, with laughter echoing throughout. John later awoke once again to see himself lying in a pile of colored leaves and with a breeze of cool October winds. Confused, he quickly made his way to his feet to notice that he was now standing in the middle of a large forest. John now believed himself to be in a string of dreams. He sighed with relief as he began his hike through the forest.

   Not long after his hike, John came across an old house blackened with ash and burns. This house resembled the one that he and his family were living in together, but it was still intact with light shinning through the windows from the inside. John stepped onto the porch and walked toward the door, he could hear a soft feminine laughter coming from inside. After hearing this John quickly stepped inside and called out the names of his loved ones. "We're up here John," came a soft voice from a room above.

   In hearing his wife's voice again, John quickly made his way to the bedroom above him. He then slowly opened a door to see his wife slowly laying their child into her crib. After this, she turned to look at John as she held out her hands with a smile. Without hesitation, John quickly stepped toward her and reached his arms around her as he leaned in to kiss her. After the kiss, Lucille slowly grasped John's hand as she pulled him toward their bed and pushed him onto his back with a smile.

   After laying him down, Lucille pulled opened John's buttoned up shirt as she began to kiss him again. John was surprised at this behavior, but enjoyed it. It was feeling good and strange till John began to feel a sharp pain within his sides. John quickly looked down to see that his wife's fingers were changed to large black claws and were now being dug into his sides. He tried to wale out in pain, but was quickly muffled by his wife's right hand as she raised her face to reveal that her eyes were now that of buttons and her smile was stretched and stitched.

   As John's heart began to rapidly beat with fear and pain coursing throughout, he peered at the door as he began to hear a similar faint laughter as he heard sometime before. The laughter grew as a man with a stitched vest and suit came into view. The man had jet black hair with pail skin and button eyes. His large smile was also stitched across his face on both sides. "Who are you," asked John as his wife moved her hand.

   "In life my name was Johnathan Cross," said the man as he stepped toward Christina's crib and raised her up into his arms, "But now I am known as "Stitches"." Stitches then walked toward John and leaned toward him to reveal that Christina's face was changed in the same way as Lucille's. Seeing John's expression and teared reaction, Stitches began to laugh. "Would you look at that," he said with a smile, "She has my eyes." "Why" John asked as his vision began to fade due to pain.

   There was no answer, stitches just laughed as John slowly lost consciousness. John later awoke as he was again lying in a completely different place as before. This time he was lying on an old cobblestone driveway leading to a large boarded up building. The sign by the driveway read: Crowshaven Asylum. After reading the sign, John slowly got to his feet and began walking toward the large double doors of the old asylum.

   He opened the doors and immediately caught his breath in disgust as a strong smell left the building. With the stench John did not want to enter, but covered his nose and mouth as he stepped into the building anyway. As John stepped inside and closed the doors, he noticed that the large halls were dimly lit with candles. With this John could faintly see dark silhouettes swinging from the ceiling on both sides of the halls. John turned and grabbed an old lamp from beside the doors as he stepped toward one of the silhouettes for a closer look.

  John was startled and stumbled back as he noticed what was hidden in the shadows of the hall. The hall was full of corpses that had been surgically cut into separate parts and restitched with strings to look like puppets in a masquerade. After letting out a light yell, John could hear a familiar laughter at the end of the hall. Tired of the constant disturbing images of dreams, John was anxious to confront Stitches. So, after getting himself stable, John quickly made his way to the end of the hall and entered the room.

   As John entered the room, he noticed that nobody was in it. Only a small study with a desk and shelves of books. The room was lit with candles and hanging lamps. On a small table by the door was a sickle, impaled into the wood with blood stained across the blade. As John seen the blade he quickly walked over and grabbed it as he pulled it from the table.

   As he grabbed the blade he was quickly tackled by someone from behind. John turned to see that the one who grabbed him was Stitches with a large smile upon his face. After resisting and rolling around, John quickly grabbed the sickle and stabbed it into the side of Stitches' throat. After stabbing Stitches, John quickly got to his feet and began to shake as Stitches' body changed to that of a policeman. As he stood shocked at what had just happened, John heard as the door swung open.

   Within the doorway was more policemen with guns in hand. One of them called out for John to turn himself in. But before he could react the policemen began firing their guns at John. John fell back into the wall and slowly slid to the floor as he watched blood drain from his body. His vision then faded to darkness as he slowly drew his last breath.

   After this, John opened his eyes to a white empty space. In this space was a mirror standing in its center. Seeing this, John slowly stood to his feet and walked toward it. He walked toward the mirror and hesitated as he seen the reflection was that of Stitches. He then slowly snapped as he began to laugh maniacally at the mirror, for he now knew and remembered, that he was Stitches.